Fighting Back (Mercy's Angels) (18 page)

“You did good, Betty Boop. Long way away from kicking my ass, but you made a valiant effort which deserves a reward.” I pulled my limp, jelly arms away from my face, and looked up at the wicked man that stood above me.

“Reward?” I smiled and his lazy grin became sinfully hot.

“Shame I can’t move.” I breathed heavily.

Charlie winked. “You don’t need to move.”

A trickle of sweat fell down my forehead, reminding me that I was a stinky, perspiring mess right now. “You’re not touching me till I’ve showered,” I said sternly. Shit, the determined look on Charlie’s face had me both slightly worried and a little excited. “Uh-huh, no way. I can barely stand the smell of myself and you’re all sweaty.”

“You know, this is the second time you’ve suggested you have a problem with my perspiration. Let me get this straight, it’s okay if it’s in the bedroom, but not in the gym?” He raised a brow.

“Not just in the bedroom. The living room is okay, too, or the bathroom, laundry room, maybe the kitchen, but not on the table, island, or counter because that’s just unsanitary. But, yeah, sex sweat is okay, gym sweat is gross.”

Charlie laughed loudly. “You do know it comes from the same place within our body, right?” he teased, with that wicked grin of his. Just when I had my snappy retort ready, our playfulness was interrupted by the sound of my cell phone. Worried it might be Emily, I scrambled to get it. The caller ID showed an unknown number, which meant it could very well be my sister.

“Hello?” I asked, having regained some composure following Charlie’s mischievous smile.

“Sweetheart,” a man’s voice drawled, “have you missed me?”  An immediate chill swept through my body. I opened my mouth to answer, but nothing came out. The room around me narrowed and my heart echoed loudly in my ears. “I’ve missed you and that hot cunt of yours. Emily is pretty fucking tasty, but she’s a little too used for my liking. You’re fresh meat. Hot, juicy, fresh pussy.” He smacked his lips together and I lurched forward, holding the wall to steady myself.

“Who the fuck are you?” My voice didn’t waver and my fear was quickly replaced with anger. “And where the fuck is my sister?”

Charlie

One more minute, that’s all I would have needed, and Rebecca would have been stripped bare and beneath me. I was surprised her phone actually worked out here; coverage at the cabin was patchy at best. As I began putting away the few light weights we had used, I glanced in Rebecca’s direction. Her face was pale and sickly looking and she seemed to waver for a moment. I stood slowly, watching her carefully as she held the phone to her ear. When she demanded to know who was calling and where her sister was, I knew immediately who was on the other end. I was by her side in a second and snatched the phone from her hand. Rebecca’s eyes flamed with fury, and when she tried to wrestle the phone back from me, I caught her hand and pressed it against my chest, leaning in close so she could hear, too.

“You are either really brave, or really fucking stupid to call this number,” I said with more composure than I felt. My words were met with a low snicker.

“Charlie Cole,” an unfamiliar voice crooned with amusement. I was surprised the fucker knew my name, but I played it cool, not wanting him to know he had caught me unawares.

“A little unfair that you know my name and I don’t know yours, don’t you think?” I knew who it was. The air of arrogance and entitlement in his voice assured me that it was William Levier. I couldn’t imagine Jonas Levier stooping so low as to make threatening phone calls. I’m sure he would have minions do shit like that for him. William, on the other hand, was an insignificant piece of shit with daddy issues, trying to make his own way in the world, and was failing miserably. He didn’t offer me his name as he rambled on with a voice full of conceit.

“I would have forgotten all about this little situation and be happily at home, balls deep in some whore if it weren’t for your dogs.”

I wasn’t exactly sure what the fucker was talking about, but I assumed my dogs were Dillon and Braiden, so I decided to take a chance and play along. “You shouldn’t have touched Rebecca. Then you wouldn’t have had to worry about my dogs.”

The asshole chuckled again. “Well, then I wouldn’t have had the enjoyment of being buried knuckle deep in your woman.”

Only the tensing of Rebecca in front of me kept me sane. I gripped her hand a little tighter over my heart. “I’m going to give you fair warning now, fucker. Get out of Claymont. I won’t ask you again. If you don’t leave in the next twenty-four hours and stay the fuck away from my woman, you will be hunted and gutted, just like the worthless piece of shit you are.” He laughed again and I wanted nothing more than to have the asshole in front of me. I wanted to wrap my hands around his neck until the fucking thing snapped off.

“Firstly, Mr. Cole, you do not want to threaten me. If your dogs have done their work, then they know who I am, which means they know who my father is. Secondly, I have no intention of staying in this hell hole of a town, but I’m not leaving till I have what I came for.” Rebecca’s head rested against my chest and I held her close. “Half a million. I know property value, Mr. Cole, and I know your woman’s property is worth at least that, so transferring the deed over to me will cover it. I will have someone call back at this number within the next hour for a time and location to meet with me and my lawyer. If I don’t get what I want, I will take Rebecca as payment and put her to work in one of my father’s clubs—even though she’s much older than we like our girls, I’m sure she’ll put up a good fight for one of our clients—and she can earn me every fucking cent of that money. You would be surprised at the number of men that like a girl who fights back—I have no doubt a red hot innocent like your girl would make a fortune chained, gagged and flogged.”

Rebecca whimpered and the sound made me see red. “You better hope you can find a hole deep enough to hide in fucker, because when I find you, I am going to rip your heart out and shove it down your throat, and, Mr. Levier?” I let his name hang for a moment, giving him fair chance to correct me if I was wrong—he didn’t. “That’s a promise, not a threat.” I hung up before the prick could hang up on me.

Rebecca’s eyes flew up to mine and she began to shake. Then she started hitting my chest and screamed, “Why did you do that? You hung up on him and it’ll make him mad!” 

I grabbed her fists easily. “Betty Boop!” Her frightened eyes looked at me straight on. “I want the fucker mad. Mad means easily distracted, on edge, not thinking clearly. People make mistakes when they’re mad.”  A tear ran down her cheek.

“He might hurt Emily,” she sobbed. I straightened a little at her words. It hadn’t even occurred to me that Emily could now possibly bear the brunt of his anger. I dragged Rebecca quickly up the stairs, and dialed out using the landline. Braiden answered on the first ring.

“Rebecca just got a phone call from William Levier,” I growled. Braiden was quiet for a moment, and I imagined him sitting silently at his desk, mulling over what I just said. Braiden was a thinker, a deep thinker. He watched, listened, and seemed to see all. Anyone that quiet had to have dark secrets lurking beneath their cool exterior, and I had no doubt Braiden had plenty, but I still trusted him explicitly.

“What did Levier Junior have to say?” he finally asked.

“He wants cash and he’ll take it in the form of the deed to Rebecca and Emily’s property.”

“Or what?” Braiden asked calmly, too calmly.

“Or he’ll take Rebecca and put her to work in one of his father’s clubs.”

“You know he won’t get his hands on Rebecca,” Braiden said matter-of-factly.

“Yeah, but she can’t live the rest of her life looking over her shoulder.”

“She won’t have to and we will. Head back into town, I don’t like the idea of you guys out there on your own. You can stay with me and Dillon. Between the three of us, we can keep Rebecca safe. Don’t use Rebecca’s phone until I’ve had a chance to look over it. The call will most likely be untraceable, but I’ve got a guy that can check it out anyway. Keep your weapon handy, too, Charlie,” Braiden spoke. His efficient composure impressed the shit out of me.

“Braiden, we need to find Emily.”

“On it.” Braiden hung up. Rebecca was still crying a flood of tears as she stood helplessly across the room, staring at me. I wanted to hold her, soothe her fears and tell her everything would be okay. But I couldn’t lie to her; I had no idea if everything would be okay. And I was feeling guilty as shit about stirring William Levier up when he might have Emily within his reach. She needed to hold it together, we had to be strong and smart if we were going to defeat this fucker.

“Pull it together, baby, we need to stay sharp. We are going to get your sister back and these mother fuckers are gonna wish they were never born. You know Dillon and Braiden will find Emily, this is what they do. Hell, Jax told me they’ve handled more than a dozen missing person cases over the last couple of years, and their success rate is better than most.” She took a few long, deep breaths and her tears finally slowed to a trickle. “I’m sorry I antagonized him, I shouldn’t have done that,” I added. Rebecca came to me easily, wrapping her arms tightly around my waist.

“What do we do now?” she whispered.

“I need you to go upstairs and pack our stuff. We’re heading to Dillon and Braiden’s. I’ll lock up everything down here.”

Driving back through town sucked. The cabin was my happy place, and it was where Rebecca had been free to let go of the shit that had been drowning her. Now, as I made my way through the darkened streets of Claymont, Rebecca’s knees bobbed up and down in a nervous cadence, and her lip was caught in a stressed pinch between her teeth.  The dark rings under her eyes were absent, but I knew they would return in the near future. Part of me was pissed as hell at Emily for bringing this shit into her sister’s life. Another part of me wanted to mete out vengeance on the Levier men for their grievances on Rebecca’s own flesh and blood. None of us knew exactly what part Emily had played in this fiasco. Hell, she was married to William Fucking Levier, but the little shit had made it loud and clear that Emily had been put to work in his father’s clubs against her will. The idea made me sick to my stomach. The fact that he suggested the same would happen to Rebecca made my calm façade almost melt away under the blistering heat of anger. My hands were locked in a tight grip on the steering wheel, my jaw clamped down stiffly—I was on the razor’s edge. One of Levier’s men had called a while ago with instructions for a rendezvous in two days, at a hotel back in town. It would give Rebecca ample time to organize the necessary paperwork to transfer the deed to her property over to William. Rebecca begged me to be calm during the conversation and to ask if they had Emily, and if so, if she could speak to her. I couldn’t deny her a single damn thing, so I tried. There had been no idle chit chat though, just the bare essential information with a decisive click and end dial tone. The devastated look on her face broke my heart. This was the closest I’ve come to losing my shit in years, but there was no one here to take it out on.
Going into a rage was pointless and would get us nowhere. Finding that calm place within my soul was a difficult task, but I followed the exercises Dave taught me years ago. But the long deep breaths with the slow repeated mantra of,
keep calm
playing over and over in my mind wasn’t really helping. I used the technique of imagery, and that almost had the desired effect. Imagining my cabin with Rebecca in it, laughing, carefree and happy had my heart rate lowering somewhat, but I was still teetering on the edge of madness.

“Charlie?” Her voice was almost like a faraway echo of tranquil calm cutting through a storm of emotion. “You need to pull it together, you need to stay sharp,” she whispered my very own words back at me. “I need you to keep it together, because if you lose it, I’ll be right behind you.” I released the tight grip on the steering wheel and flexed my fingers before reaching across to take her hand.

“I’m good, Betty Boop,” I murmured. She centered me and kept me focused with nothing more than a few simple words. She needed me to be strong for her; therefore, I would be. There was no other choice.

* * *

Dillon and Braiden’s home was the ultimate man cave. These guys had their pad down! It was a brand new house in one of the few upscale gated communities in Claymont. It was a short drive from Rebecca’s exclusive neighborhood, so I knew it was in an affluent part of town. Obviously the Montgomery Security business was doing exceptionally well. The single story home was located on a large block that backed onto the base of the Claymont Mountain Ranges. The wide open glass doors at the back of the house overlooked a heated pool that was layered in a thick layer of steam as the heat met with frigid air. Beneath the water, the pool was lit with a sparkling array of twinkling lights.  A large hammock hung on the small wooden deck of an ostentatious pool house at the back of the property. Back inside the living, dining and kitchen area was a massive open plan design decorated in contemporary black and white furnishings. On the wall hung photographs, much like the ones that adorned the office of Montgomery Securities. The place was spotlessly tidy, so much so I was afraid to take another step before removing my dirty-ass boots.

“Eli hangs out here with you?” Rebecca asked, astonished. Yeah, their house didn’t really have a child friendly vibe about it—it was too neat and orderly.

Dillon laughed. “Yep, if you look closely, you’ll see the stains as proof. Just don’t point them out to Braiden, he’s the neat freak. I don’t really care, houses are meant to be lived in and Eli loves the pool. It’s a bit cold for it this time of year though.” Dillon showed us to a spare room at the back of the house. It was huge.

“Holy shit. I could fit my entire house in here.” Rebecca admired the open space.

“REBECCA!” came a familiar voice, screaming from the living room. We dumped our bags and made our way back out. Ella hit her at full speed and I stood firmly at Rebecca’s back to prevent her from falling over.

“Fuck, squirt, take it easy,” I huffed.

Ella punched me in the arm—hard. “Don’t call me that!” she protested.

Jax stood in the doorway, actually he more like filled the doorway—I’m fairly certain he’s still growing. In one hand was a bottle of vodka, in the other was Rebecca’s
Clitoria
.

I smirked and nodded to the innocuous looking plant. “You look awkward with that in your hands.”

“Fuck you,” Jax growled.

Behind him came Annie and Eli, followed by Mercy and Dave, then, surprisingly, Lola.

“Who the hell is watching Mercy’s tonight?” I wondered out loud.

“Beth and Blue have got it covered,” said Mercy, bypassing me and heading straight for Rebecca.

I turned and held my arms open. “Where’s my love?” I growled.

Mercy scrunched up her nose. “From what I hear, you’ve been getting plenty of love lately.” I blushed—I fucking blushed—and it silenced the entire room as my eyes settled on Ella.

She raised her hands in self-defense. “I only told Jax,” she said, looking slightly nervous.

My gaze moved to Jax. “I only told Mercy.”

I arched an eyebrow at Mercy, and she shrugged. “I only confided in Annie.”

Annie at least had the good grace to look a little ashamed. “I only told Dillon,” she whispered, and I groaned.

“No one told me, but I guessed as much,” said Lola.

Bunch of fucking gossips
. I rolled my eyes. “Glad our love life keeps you all entertained.”