Toxic Bad Boy (32 page)

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Authors: April Brookshire

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At his cold expression,
alarm bells rang frantically. “To give you a choice.”

CALEB

“
They’re not here!” Ian
announced. “Let’s drive by that fucker’s house just in case. Kidnap
his mom to do a swap.”

Committing a felony wasn’t
the answer. I was close to breaking down, but I needed to stay
focused.
Think!
Where would he have taken her?

I was about to exit the
parking lot behind the school when Ian said, “Wait! I think I saw
something! Drive behind the gym.”

Increasing my speed, I
circled around the back of the enormous building, and there sat
Gianna’s Jeep. I parked next to it and reached out to clap a hand
over Ian’s mouth. “Shh, we go in quietly.”

My fingers moved over the
screen of my cell phone. I texted to Gianna’s dad,
The gym at her old school
, and left my phone on the seat. If possible, we’d sneak up
on Josh.

The thought of losing
Gianna was unbearable, but that crazy fucker had zero hold on his
volatile emotions and I was afraid he’d take her away from me
forever. Gianna was my whole world. There’d be no life without
her.

The heavy gym door creaked
as Ian slowly pulled it open. The lights were off and scanning
every dim corner with my eyes brought no sign of my girl or the
psycho who had her. A search in the locker rooms, weight room and
equipment closet came up empty. Ian crossed the room and opened a
door that concealed a long staircase that led up to a metal
door.

“
The roof,” he
whispered.

I pushed past him and took
the stairs quietly. The second door squeaked open and my first
glance over the roof’s edge showed the rooftops of a neighborhood
on the south side of the school. Circling around the brick
enclosure of the roof access door, Ian bumped against my back as I
came to a stop.

“
You assholes again?” Josh
spat out, his hand gripping Gianna’s throat as he stood behind her
at the ledge. All he’d have to do was fall back to take her with
him as he toppled over.

“
Let her go, Josh,” I
begged, meeting Gianna’s frightened blue eyes. I didn’t even have a
weapon to defend her with. But neither did Josh.

Sirens wailed dimly,
growing louder as police cars flashing lights neared the school.
They’d be too late and their presence had Josh acting twitchy. His
eyes raced in all directions, searching for a way out.

I cautiously took a step
closer, causing him to jerk her up by the neck. He nodded his head
toward the ground below. “You jump, and I let her go.”

Ian had been edging
sideways in an attempt to come up from Josh’s left. Josh
repositioned so he could see both of us and took a step back on the
asphalt roof. His heels were now up against the low brick
ledge.

I was going wild inside at
the danger to the girl I loved. “Fine!” I shouted, holding my arms
out in front of me. “I’ll jump.”

“
You, too!” Josh barked at
Ian.

“
Fuck that,” Ian drawled.
“Not when I’m dying to beat your ass again.”

I stepped onto the ledge,
drowning in her stormy blue eyes. Josh held Gianna several yards
away, but at least he wasn’t right at the edge anymore. In the
corner of my eye, I saw Ian creeping closer again.

Josh’s crazed eyes needed
to stay on me. “How do I know you’ll let her go?”

The drop to the pavement
below was about three stories high. It was possible, but highly
unlikely anyone would survive it. I’d rather it be me than my girl,
but I’d much rather have the future we’d planned.

“
No, Caleb!” Gianna
shouted as cop cars pulled into the parking lot.

“
Hurry up, or I’ll toss
her over!” Josh screamed, visibly tightening his grip on her
neck.

Ian was now closer to Josh
than I’d managed. Gianna struggled to breath and Josh didn’t seem
to realize he’d cut off her air. She clawed at his arm but he
remained unfazed.

“
Don’t jump!” a female cop
called out from below.

One foot went into the
air. Gianna began fighting Josh in an animalistic frenzy. Despite
his threats, he didn’t immediately throw them both off the roof.
Gianna finally tore herself away from Josh and he went after her,
his obsession overriding rational thought.

At the same time I tackled
him, I saw Ian push Gianna out of the way. I couldn’t worry about
Gianna because Josh wrapped his arms around me and vaulted us off
the ledge.

The moment I felt air
under me, someone grabbed my wrist. I gulped in breaths, my gaze
riveted to the sight of Josh’s broken body on the pavement. A cop
checked his pulse as I felt mine race faster.

My head whipped up to see
Ian gritting his teeth as he held onto me with both hands. “You’re
fucking heavy,” he grunted.

My girl’s beautiful face
peeked over the edge as tears streaked down her cheeks. “Pull him
up, Ian!”

Ian pulled me up and I
gripped the ledge as Gianna reached down to hook her arms under one
of mine. “Get away from the edge!” I snapped at her. From now on
she wouldn’t be allowed anywhere higher than two
stories.

All three of us collapsed
in relief. Safe from plummeting to my death, I told Ian as we lay
on our backs, “You’re my hero.”

Breathlessly, he said,
“Thanks for the awesome first day of freedom, Caleb.” He ran a hand
over his face. “Fucking perfect. First day out and I’m about to be
hauled to a police station for questioning.”

Gianna, who’d been quietly
crying into my chest, giggled before sobbing harder.

“
Don’t worry. I know a
chick who’ll bang you later tonight for three hundred
bucks.”

“
Hold up your hands!” a
voice screamed at us.

Rolling my eyes, I
outstretched my arms as if about to make a snow angel. Ian did the
same, chuckling. “This is ridiculous.”

We were hauled to our feet and handcuffed. I
began fighting them when they did the same to Gianna. “Take those
off her! She’s the victim, you idiots!”

They didn’t listen to me,
but Chris raised hell when he saw his daughter handcuffed. Officer
Novak was the one who got the handcuffs off me and Ian. The cops
had a mess to sort out and Ian was right, we were taken to the
station for questioning.

Josh was gone for good,
but the statements of Gianna and Cece clarified that Ian and I were
innocent. The whole mess ended up on the news, the escape from
juvie, the kidnapping and Josh’s death. It also brought up the old
story of his attack on Gianna, which I made sure she didn’t
watch.

That night, I snuck into
Gianna’s house after going home to shower. As if expecting me, her
bedroom door wasn’t locked.

EPILOGUE

“
To love abundantly is to
live abundantly, and to love forever is to live
forever.”

-Henry Drummond

GIANNA

“
Tell me you love me,” my
fiancé ordered, pinning me to our bed in the off-campus apartment
we moved into last month.

“
Caleb, I have to get
dressed. I’m going to be late for class again,” I whined from
beneath him, failing to buck him off with my legs. It was our
sophomore year and I considered moving back into the dorms next
semester if he didn’t quit making me late for class.

“
Not until you say
it.”

I rolled my eyes, blowing
a strand of hair off my lip. “Fine, I love you,” I
mumbled.

“
Say it like you mean it,”
he teased, his lips trailing down my neck.

“
I love you!” I moaned as
he sucked my nipple into his mouth.

His head lifted, his hazel
eyes dancing. “That’s what I like to hear.”

Biting my bottom lip
couldn’t hold back my smile. “Pervert.”

In reply, he took my other
nipple between his teeth. I wasn’t late for class, I completely
missed it.

But as usual, he dropped
me off at the next one.

*****

CALEB

“
Now repeat after me,” the
pastor said. “I, Caleb, take you, Gianna.”

“
Actually, Pastor Nelson,
I wrote my own vows,” I said, pulling the piece of paper out of my
tuxedo jacket.

I couldn’t tell if he was
annoyed or amused, but he graciously gestured for me to do my
thing. Staring into the future I saw in her eyes, I said, “It’s a
list of promises to my wife.”

Tears glistened in her
clear blue eyes as she remembered another list five years ago that
I’d made her write. She whispered my name softly enough for only me
to hear.

I began reading my
promises aloud to my bride and our friends and family.
“
One
, kiss you as
often as possible.
Two
, do something every day to steal your heart all over
again.
Three
,
make your dreams come true.”

She had the sweetest smile
on her face after number three and I continued reading.
“
Four
, travel the
world with you.
Five
, get a tattoo of your name. Oh wait, I did that last
night.”

Her eyes widened and
people laughed. Just as I’d decided years ago, it was my wedding
gift to her.

“
Six
, give you lots of sons just like me.”

I could’ve sworn the groan
in the audience was from Julie.

“
And seven isn’t for young
ears, so I’ll whisper it to you.” Everyone laughed and leaned
forward in an attempt to hear the naughty things I promised my wife
as she blushed in embarrassment.

When I was done, Pastor
Nelson prompted Gianna recite her vows. “I, Gianna, take you,
Caleb.”

Instead of repeating his
words, Gianna pulled a piece of paper out of her dress, her bottom
lip trembling. “Actually, I wrote a list, too.”

I threw my head back
laughing and hauled my girl to me for an early kiss.

*****

“
Tell me you’ll love me
forever,” I told my wife as we danced at our wedding
reception.

Blue eyes glistened as
they had earlier when I’d spoken my vows. “I’ll love you forever,
Caleb.”

“
Good, princess, because
that’s how long I’m keeping you.”

“
I don’t want to think
that the stories are finite; I want to feel that they can go on
forever.”

-Steven Moffat

Book
Two of the Young Assassins series

COMING SOON

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Brookshire: