Succumbing To His Fear (19 page)

Fear

“Where the fuck is he?” I shouted into the room. I was about to lose my mind. Alfie had disappeared and his phone was off. Both Ben and John had been down to the pizza shop and back and there was no sign of him. Even the pizza shop employees didn’t remember seeing him. Max said it was so busy in there he wasn’t surprised they didn’t see him.

I could tell that Ben was just as panicked as I was. There was nothing either of us could say that would bring the other comfort. My phone rang; making me jump. I quickly grabbed it and felt a rush of relief when I saw that it was a message from Alfie.

The relief was quickly replaced by rage as I watched the video of Alfie, who had been badly beaten and was lying on his side tied to a chair. His eyes were swollen shut, and his face was covered with blood. I could see that he was in pain with every breath he took. When the video cut off I didn’t even think, I called his phone right back. I put it on speaker so Ben could record everything that was said.

“Hello, Alfie’s phone.” An almost singsong voice came through the speaker.

“Who the fuck is this?” I shouted into the phone. Ben squeezed my shoulder, wordlessly letting me know that I needed to keep my cool as much as possible.

“Hunter, it is so good to hear from you again.” I knew that voice, but couldn’t place it. I looked at Ben to see if he recognized it, and the shake of his head let me know we’re both in the dark.

“I want to talk to him. Is he okay?”

“He is a little indisposed at the moment, Hunter. You’ll have to talk to me,” he said with a chuckle in his voice. The sick fuck was enjoying himself.

“And who is this?”

“I am the reason you’re sporting a nice new scar on your side.”

“Unders?” What the fuck was going on?

“Alive and well.” This time his laugh was outright. “Now, my plans for you have had to change some. I didn’t expect to have to go through all this nonsense. But I am nothing if not determined to see that many wrongs are righted.”

“What the fuck are you talking about Unders? What wrongs are you talking about?”

“Why don’t you come and see me and I’ll tell you all about it.”

“Meet you where?” If it got me closer to Alfie, I would meet him anywhere.

“How about you meet me at the pier in an hour.” I looked at Ben and he nodded in response. “Alone, Hunter, and I do mean alone. You wouldn’t want anything else to happen to your little bitch would you?” I wasn’t given the chance to retort because the phone was cut off.

I looked at Ben and saw that he was already on the phone with someone relaying what had just happened. John and Max were looking up maps of the pier. All the information we were given by Unders was vague and I guessed they want to be as prepared as possible. Fucking Unders. What the fuck was his problem?

“Should we call Littleton?” I asked Ben.

“Already done. He’s not going to bring Alfie with him when he meets you.” I knew Ben was right. I didn’t get to ask any more questions because my phone drew my attention again. This time the display indicated that the call came from an unidentified number.

“Hello,” I answered, on speaker again.

“Fear, there are things that I think you need to know.” It was Shutter.

“So fucking tell me. Is there anything you can say that would help me get Alfie back and find out why Unders has it out for us? Hurry the fuck up.”

“He took Alfie?” Shutter asked.

“Sent me a video of him beaten to shit and told me that I have to meet him in an hour.” There was no point in keeping things back. I needed all the help I could get and something in my gut was telling me that Shutter wasn’t trying to hurt Alfie or me.

“Unders is going after you because he doesn’t like that you’re gay.” What? It couldn’t be that simple.

“Are you shitting me? There are gay men all over, why target me and mine?”

“He didn’t father any of them,” he spit out.

“What the fuck are you talking about?”

“Tula and Unders used to fuck around and nine months later, out you popped. She never told him or anyone else. Phil didn’t notice, so she just carried on. A few months back, Tula called me saying she’d been arrested but that she had a way to get herself out of trouble.” Fuck, that sounded like my selfish asshole of a mother. She was always looking for the shortcut.

“So Tula tried to blackmail Unders?”

“That’s exactly what I’m saying. Tula went to him and tried using his paternity of you as leverage to get herself out of trouble. Unders did some digging and discovered that you were gay and something flipped. He’d always been a loose cannon and never a clean cop. But hearing that he had a homosexual son was unacceptable to him. From what I can piece together, framing you for Tula’s murder was a two birds, one stone kind of deal. You locked up and Tula gone for good.” I went from having a deadbeat dad to having a psychotic madman trying to get me locked up for being gay.

“Unders is my father?”

“I have no idea. All I know is that was what Tula told him.”

“How do you know all this?”

“Tula was my sister. I rarely saw her. She was almost twenty years older than me, but she was my sister.” I wasn’t about to get into the mind fucks of my mother’s lineage or my lack of knowledge about it. I would deal with that revelation when I had Alfie back safe and sound.

“I’m not getting into that,” I said, making it clear that our conversation needed to get back to how I could help the man I loved. He was hurt and alone. “I have to meet him in forty-five minutes and I still need to find out where he has Alfie.”

“I might know where he’s taken him. Give me ten. I’ll call you back.” And yet again, before I could respond or protest, Shutter had hung up the phone.

I looked at Ben, John, and Max silently, because I had no fucking idea what to say, let alone think. For days, we had no clue about anything and were swimming in a fuckton of unanswered questions. Suddenly we were getting so many answers thrown at us that it was only confusing us more.

“Fear, come and see this map of the pier. I want you to be familiar with all the surrounding buildings. We don’t need any more surprises. Get your head in the game, man. We can analyze everything when we have Alfie back and Unders is caught,” John encouraged. He was right. I needed to focus on what was important. I had to get Unders out of our fucking lives and, father or not, I was going to make sure he was out of them permanently.

For the next twenty minutes, the four of us studied the map of the pier and went over numerous scenarios that might play out, hopefully leaving nothing to chance. Ben gave me a gun and talked me through how to conceal it and where best to shoot if I had too. I could tell that he was conflicted about giving it to me, knowing that there was a real possibility I would just shoot the dickhead the moment I saw him for what he did to Alfie. I believed there was a part of him that hoped that I would.

Max and John started prepping to leave so they could find their spots on the pier. I knew they’d be nearby if I needed them. Ben was also going to be there, but he was going to meet up with Detective Littleton first.

When we called the detective to let him know the latest developments, we were told to stay put and he would be right over with his boys in blue, that they would handle it. Given that the last time I was left in the care of the city’s finest I was jumped and stabbed, we declined. As both Alfie and I had been accused of murder, you could say that I wasn’t quick to trust that they’d handle anything properly or safely. I knew Unders was to blame for all the bullshit we’d been through and that tarring all the police with the same brush was wrong. But wrong or right, I wasn’t going to leave it to anyone else to sort out.

Daddy Unders had a problem with me and how I lived my life. Well, I would gladly show that son of a bitch just what I thought of how he lived his.

When the phone rang and displayed another withheld number, I snatched it and answered quickly.

“Yeah,” I shouted. The worry and stress had left me unable to control my temper.

“I have him,” Shutter’s voice stated.

“What?” My whole body sagged in relief. He had him.
Please god, let him be okay.

“I have your boy. He’s fucked up, that’s for sure. I’m on my way to the hospital now.” I repeated what Shutter said for Ben’s benefit. The worry that Ben had successfully been hiding was remedied.

“What hospital are you taking him too?” I asked, wanting nothing more than to go to him and hold him in my arms. To make sure that he was going to be alright.

“Clear Hope. Look, I’m almost there. I have to go, but I’ll stay with him until one of you can get there. I won’t leave him alone.” And with that, he hung up.

I looked to Ben and try to convey my anguish over my conflicting need to be with Alfie and desire to end this once and for all. I would not let that pathetic excuse for a man control all our lives for another day. I knew Ben got it because he nodded and patted my shoulder.

“I’ll call Littleton and tell him where he can find you. I’ll see you at the hospital soon,” Ben told me, but I said nothing. There was no point. We both knew the score. Max and John packed up and left at the same time as Ben. We weren’t sure if Unders was watching the apartment building or not, but we wanted him to believe that I was meeting him alone. And as far as we could tell, he was solo too.

By the time I was due to leave, I had achieved a sense of calm. I knew that Alfie was safe and soon Ben would be with him. I knew if something went wrong and I was killed, that everyone I cared about would be taken care of. Hayley and JJ had John back home for good and the guys would look out for each other. I also knew that if I were to go down, I was taking that motherfucker with me. The calm was only on the surface. Underneath I had a steady rage burning. 

Max had left me the keys to his car to drive to the pier. Unders hadn’t specified a location but I knew he’d make himself known when he was ready. I wasn’t sure if he realized that we had Alfie or not, but based on the small amount of information Shutter gave us, it was unlikely. 

I walked along the right side of pier, keeping away from the buildings and alleyways. Max and John would be somewhere in those buildings, already lying in wait. When I reached the end of the walkway, I leaned against the railing and turned so I’d see anyone who approached. While I stood and waited, I let my mind wander over everything that had happened over the past week.

I met and fell in love with a man who I truly felt was the other half of me. I knew that sounded like some fairy tale bullshit and I didn’t give a fuck if it did. With Alfie came Griffin and Lily, who I had fallen just as much in love with as I had their big brother. The three of them completed what had been missing in my life for so long. The only thing darkening the thoughts of my new family, because that was what they had already become, was the knowledge that they would have been safer had I never met them. Knowing that I was the reason for every shitty thing that had happened made the guilt sit heavily in my gut. Not only had the week’s events separated Alfie from his Nuggets, they’d gotten him hurt, I still didn’t know how badly. Hayley had been shipped off and kept from her husband who she hadn’t seen and so desperately needed. John, that poor guy got back from being injured in a war only to be thrown into my clusterfuck. He was kept from his newborn son, who he still hadn’t met or held.

Something caught my attention. Unders, as bold as you like, was casually walking towards me. By the time the man reached me, the anger that had been simmering was just starting to boil. How could this son of a bitch be the cause of all our destruction and pain? The asshole thought being gay was reprehensible but being a murderer was fine? Fucking nut job. 

I stared, waiting for the pathetic excuse for a human to make his move.

“It’s good to see that you can listen, we wouldn’t want anything else to happen to your boy, now would we?” That confirmed he didn’t know that we’d found Alfie. One point to us.

I didn’t dignify his remark with a response; I just waited, keeping my face as neutral as his, so as not to give anything away. 

“I like the silence. Much better than the constant yapping I got from your little fag boy,” Unders spat. The blood that had been boiling was about to erupt. This fucker hurt my Alfie and the look on his face and the way he almost laughed out his last statement lead me to believe that he enjoyed inflicting pain.