Ice Cold (An MMA Stepbrother Romance) (14 page)

There was more jockeying at the bank that I anticipated. I had to jump through several hoops to get access to my safe deposit box. I had eighty grand stashed there that I hadn’t told Lex about. At first, it had been just because I was annoyed that there seemed to be a perception that I was a complete fuck-up when it came to my money. After I started to figure out that Lex truly wanted to help me, I just hadn’t figured out a way to tell her about it yet.

In all reality, I knew that MMA fighters had a shelf life of about six years before there were real physical issues that could begin to manifest. So I had been sticking away a few thousand here and there. It was my rainy day cushion, and now I needed every penny of it. There was another twenty grand in the safe at my apartment. It was what I affectionately called my walking around money. In all reality, it was the allowance from my UFC contract. My father was a bit of an ass in how he chose to disperse that to me.

After leaving the bank, I saw that I had a text message from Lex’s number.

The corner of Montrose and Ashland. Hotel Casablanca. Leave the package at the front desk under the name Bob Smith. Leave and don’t come back. If I see you sniffing anywhere around the hotel or trying to pull a fast one, the deal is off, and your girl is dead. Don’t be a hero.

The message was followed up by a new picture of Lex. This time, I could see her face. I was relieved to see her eyes open and that she looked relatively unharmed. But there was a blossoming bruise on the side of her temple that told me they had likely taken her by knocking her out.

They were going to pay for laying a finger on her.

I checked my watch. I had forty-five minutes before the drop. I had to haul ass to my apartment. As soon as I got there, I threw the extra cash in a large manila envelope and put the envelope in a backpack. I looked around the room, and my eyes landed on a GoPro that Kyle had convinced me to buy for our last ski trip out to Colorado. I hadn’t touched the thing since, but my mind started to work out a possible way to turn this situation around to my favor.

There was a reason I took a taxi to the Hotel Casablanca, and it wasn’t just to get there in time to make the drop. As we pulled up outside, I handed the guy a hundred-dollar bill and the GoPro. “There’s another two hundred in it for you if you go around the block and then park back here with your sign off. Put this camera on your dash and aim it at the hotel entrance. Make sure I can see the street outside too. As soon as I see what I need to see, I’ll be back to give you the rest.”

“Okay, man,” the driver said suddenly alert at the prospect of a fat fare.

I got out of the taxi and walked up to the hotel’s entrance. Needless to say, the Hotel Casablanca had seen better days. I had an idea of the kind of clientele the place probably specialized in, and it was the seedier crowd. Not that I was surprised. The front desk staff would be easily bought for the right kind of money. Ransom cash probably wasn’t the only kind of illegal traffic being sent through the hotel.

The man behind the counter looked bored as I walked up. He was barely older than a kid. His pupils were dilated. He was high. I set the backpack down on the counter. “Delivery for Bob Smith,” I said. I wanted to reach across the counter and deck the kid, drag him in the back and ask him what he knew about the lowlife who had Lex. But I held it together. This was all part of my plan.

He pulled the backpack off the counter and dropped it next to his feet without another word. I spun around and dug my hands into the jacket. The taxi was gone from the curb when I walked out. I hoped to shit the promise of more money made sure the guy came back. I started to trudge down the block and just as I reached the corner, I saw the taxi pass by me.

I yanked my phone out of my pocket and opened up the GoPro app on my phone. I was relieved to see that it was already sending a feed. I watched as the taxi slid up to the entrance of the hotel and parked. There was a small deli a half a block away that I had noticed on the way to the hotel. I slipped inside and ordered a small coffee before sitting at a table as far away from the window as possible. I couldn’t get too far away, or I’d be out of range for the camera to transmit back to me.

Luckily, it appeared that I didn’t need to wait long. I saw on the screen a guy with longish black hair dressed in a leather jacket and jeans walk out of the hotel with my backpack in hand. He turned in the opposite direction before starting to walk. He glanced furtively around, clearly looking to see if anyone was following him.

I got up out of my seat and made my way to the door. I stepped out on the sidewalk and looked back in the direction of the hotel. I could see the man moving away at a fast clip. I moved as quickly as I dared back toward the hotel. I saw the man’s head turn out of sight on the far block, and I swore. I sprinted up to the taxi at the curb and slid in the back.

The taxi driver began to protest before he saw it was me. I threw up the two hundred dollar bills into view. “Head to the stoplight, and take a left. Take it slow, and turn your sign on like you’re looking for a new fare.”

The man didn’t protest but did as I asked. As we pulled around onto the next block, I saw the backpack on the shoulder of the man I was tracking. He was already crossing onto the next block. It seemed as if my tail worked perfectly for several blocks as the taxi would get stopped at a light which gave the man just enough room to move onto the next block.

Then he crossed a block and took another left out my sight line. “Pull off to the curb at the end of the next block,” I told the driver. As soon as the taxi slowed to a stop, I handed the money to him. “Thanks, man,” I said.

As I slid out of the car, I heard him call back to me. “Sir, the camera?”

“Keep it,” I said over my shoulder. I didn’t care about the camera. All I cared about was finding Lex.

I kept back far enough that the man couldn’t see me. Another block and he started to climb the steps to a building and went inside. I waited for a few more minutes just to be sure he wasn’t coming back out, and then I quickly moved to follow. I shrugged the lapels of my jacket up around my neck and scrunched low so that my face was obscured as I passed by the building. Then I looked at the number above the entrance and burned it into my memory.

I glanced at my watch. It was just after 4 pm. I decided to wait for it to get dark and see what further instructions came my way. Then I was going to get Lex back, no matter what I had to do to make sure that happened. There was no way I was going to let those bastards keep her any longer than that. Plus, I owed them for what they had done to her.

They were going to pay for fucking with Ice Malone.

I looked up when Bill strolled back into the room. I didn’t know how long he had been gone. I was having a hard time keeping track of time. He had a backpack with him that he threw on the floor. Then he dug inside. He came out with a manila envelope and a wrapped deli sandwich. My stomach growled again, and he laughed. It was an ugly sound.

“Lucky girl. This is for you,” he said. He pulled out his switchblade. “If I undo those bindings, do you promise to be a good girl?”

I nodded. He threw the sandwich into my lap, and I moved my thighs to hold it so it wouldn’t slip off my lap. I felt the release of my wrists as he slid the knife through the duct tape, and I let out a low exhale of relief. I pulled my wrists to my front and started to massage them even as I painfully removed the duct tape from my skin. My arms had gone numb before I even woke up and feeling the blood pumping again lit a fire in the nerve endings in my hands and fingers.

“Eat,” Bill said in a tone that told me it wouldn’t be a good idea to procrastinate. I picked up the sandwich gingerly and unwrapped it. It was ham and cheese. I bit into it and couldn’t stop the small sigh from escaping my lips. It felt as if it had been forever since I had eaten.

“So far, so good, Princess,” Bill said. He pulled his own sandwich out of the backpack. He picked up the envelope that he had thrown on the floor and opened it. Then he stepped closer to me so that I could see inside of it. “One hundred grand. Not a bad day’s work but not quite enough to spring you free. That’s tomorrow, so now we wait.”

I felt my heart begin to race. Shayne didn’t have a hundred grand in cash left. I had no idea what he was going to do, and I had no way to let him know that despite what Bill said, he wasn’t going to let me go. Now that I had seen his face, he couldn’t do that.

“So you will let me go tomorrow?” I asked in a low voice.

Bill smirked. “Of course, Princess. That’s the deal, right?”

I kept eating my sandwich, even though it tasted like ash in my mouth. I had to come up with a plan. “I need to go to the bathroom,” I announced. That was actually the truth. But I also needed to see if I could find anything that I could use or a way to escape along the way.

Bill looked undecided as he took a bite of his sandwich. Then he gave a heavy sigh. He walked over to the seat and knelt down next to me as he slashed away the duct tape around my ankles. I yelped as he ripped the tape roughly away from my skin. He smirked up at me, and I tried to make myself as small as I could against the chair again. He licked his lips as he stared blatantly at my chest. Then he took my elbow and yanked me to my feet.

I wanted to protest, but as the blood rushed back to my legs, Bill’s grip was the only thing that kept me upright. I limped as he pulled me along behind him across the apartment through the kitchen to the door in the corner. He opened it. Inside was the smallest bathroom I had ever seen in my life. There was barely enough room to turn around inside of it with the small sink, toilet, and tub.

“You’ve got five minutes,” he growled. Then he closed the door behind him. I stared at the bathroom. There was a small window above the tub, and I crawled into it as quietly as possible. I wasn’t tall enough to reach the window.

Letting out a frustrated breath, I realized that I had better use the bathroom for its original purpose before he came back. Quickly taking care of that need of my body, I tried to pry open the medicine cabinet. It bounced open with a creak, and I whipped around to see if Bill would come bursting through the door. When he didn’t, I did a quick scan of the inside. There was nothing but a bottle of aspirin, a toothbrush, and a deodorant stick, which Bill clearly wasn’t using. I got the sense that the apartment wasn’t a place that was regularly used, which made me wonder if Bill and his buddy did this kind of thing often.

I turned around in the small space examining every possible option, but there wasn’t anything that I could use anywhere. I cracked the door bracing myself against it so that it wouldn’t make a sound. Bill wasn’t anywhere to be seen in the kitchen. Then I saw his switchblade sitting on the edge of the counter where he had left it.

If I could get to the knife, I might be able to fight my way out. My Saturday afternoon defense course seemed sadly lacking at the moment. I wasn’t prepared for what I was contemplating at all. It was a plan sadly lacking in any kind of real opportunity, but it was all I had, especially if I was going to die anyway. I opened the door a bit wider straining to try to see around the corner. I took one step out into the kitchen reaching for the knife when Bill’s fist landed hard on my forearm.

I yelled but propelled myself forward determined to get to the knife. Another hard blow landed on my back, and I went to my knees. I started kicking and hitting as I felt Bill’s fingers dig into my hair to yank my head back. I reached out as a far as my arm span would allow for the knife and opened my mouth to scream. An arm snaked around my waist, and Bill’s hand clamped over my mouth even as the first noise escaped my lips.

He hauled me to my feet and dragged me backward as I continued to thrash against him with everything I had. But Bill was at least six inches taller than me and had probably at least a hundred pounds on me. For him, it was probably like getting pummeled by a fly.

“That was a really dumb thing to do, Princess,” he said as he dumped me onto the mattress. I immediately got up on my knees when I found myself looking at the end of the barrel of a gun. I heard the click as Bill flicked off the safety. “How about you calm the fuck down?”

I stopped moving immediately. I felt the tears of frustration well up in the corners of my eyes. I hadn’t had a chance, and we both knew it. Bill motioned toward the chair, and I got up quickly. I didn’t want to even entertain staying on the mattress and giving him any further ideas in that direction. I sat down in the chair.

Bill looked at me without any expression, and then he backhanded me across the cheek. He didn’t hold back as he hit me again. I saw blinding flashes of lights in my mind before my eyes cleared. Then as my head rolled back to the middle, I felt the press of the duct tape across my mouth again.

“You’re lucky that I’m not allowed to do anything else than rough you up a little to keep you in line,” Bill whispered against my ear. I pulled away from him. “Because to be honest, Princess, I like my women a little on the feisty side.”

My stomach rolled, and for a moment, I thought I was going to throw up. I had no doubt what Bill meant by his hooded innuendo. “Now you’re going to sit there like a good girl. Got it?”

I nodded my head causing jolts of pain to ring through my head. I had to keep my brain clear, because if the look Bill was giving me was any indication, I didn’t think what he had been told to do with me was going to hold much longer.