A Proscriptive Relationship (53 page)

I shook my head. “No, it’s partially my fault. Now Mr. Heywood and Casey are at Shawn’s mercy. I should have texted Mr. Heywood right away.”

“
He has Heywood too?” Lance gasped.

Jenna suddenly appeared in front of me, rushing towards us with Jane in tow. Jeremy brushed past me, going up to the girls and saying something to them quickly. “Lance,” Jeremy started, gaining his attention. “I need you to do me a huge favor.”

“
What?”

“
Bring my sisters home,” Jeremy told him. “I can trust you, right? Holly and I need to go save your friend and Chris. I don’t want my little sisters coming . . . just in case something happens.”

A shiver went through my body at Jeremy’s words. Just in case something happens . . .

“
No,” Lance refused, shaking his head. “I’m coming with you guys.”

“
No you’re not!” Jeremy and I snapped simultaneously.

Lance looked at us in surprise, blinking furiously. “Why not?”

“
You’ve already been attacked once,” I pointed out. “You’re not going to be in danger again. Please, Lance. Take the girls home. We all need to go, now.”

Lance pursed his lips at me for a few moments before letting out a sigh. “Fine. But only because I don’t want these girls going with you two either. But I’m calling you an hour from now. And if you don’t answer, I’m calling the cops.”

I blanked at Lance’s words. The cops? What if the cops came and Mr. Heywood was still there? “Lance, no. Not the cops—”

“
Sounds good,” Jeremy cut me off. “Give us an hour. If you don’t hear from us, send the police to the old furniture workshop off King Street.”

Lance nodded. “Gotcha.”

“
But Jeremy—” I protested.

Jeremy shook his head at me. “We can handle this in an hour,” he assured me, “as long as we go now.” Jeremy grabbed my hand and then turned to add, “Lance, Jenna will tell you our mom’s address.”

“
Okay,” Lance responded, glancing at me. “Holly . . . Be careful.”

I swallowed nervously, nodding my head. “You too, Lance.”

He grinned. “I’ll try not to hit any squirrels.”

Jeremy pulled me toward the exit of the festival. People gave us annoyed looks as we brushed through the crowd. Someone people gave me wondering looks, probably taking in the look on my face. I probably looked like someone who had just witnessed a murder—I felt like I had just witnessed a murder. Luckily, Jeremy’s car was parked almost right next to the exit. We piled in and Jeremy peeled out of the parking lot.

The ride to the old gang hideout was silent and tense and seemed to take forever. Nerves had me drumming my fingers against my leg constantly, had my heart pounding hard, and kept my breathing uneven. Jeremy’s hands were so grasping the steering wheel so hard his knuckles were snow white.

“
Holly,” Jeremy finally spoke, “our goal is just to get Casey and Mr. Heywood and to escape. Nothing else.”

I swallowed, nodding my head. “Alright.” What else did Jeremy think I’d want to do? Once Mr. Heywood and Casey were safe, I wanted to get out of there as fast as possible.

“
If Shawn tries to bargain with you, I want you to say no to everything,” Jeremy continued in a serious voice. “And when I say everything, I mean everything.”

“
Bargain?”

Jeremy nodded. “Like, I’ll let Mr. Heywood and Casey free if you stay with me.”

My eyes widened in surprise. “What? No, I would say yes to that!”

“
No, you won’t,” Jeremy said firmly. “Holly, it will be pointless if we save Chris and Casey, but you get taken instead. We need to figure out how to get you all out of this.”

I clamped my mouth shut, thinking hard. What were Shawn’s plans? Was he alone? No, he couldn’t be alone. Shawn would never have been able to knock Mr. Heywood down alone. Mr. Heywood was . . . Mr. Heywood. Strong. Resilient. Invincible. That still didn’t help Jeremy and me though. We needed a plan.

Jeremy cleared his throat. “If there’s a chance for you, Casey, and Chris to escape, I want you to take it,” he started slowly. “Even if it means leaving me behind.”

“
No,” I said instantly. “No!”

“
Holly, wait,” Jeremy commanded, glancing at me from the corner of his eye. “Once you guys break free, you can call the cops. If they come and find the gang and me, it’ll be fine. Unlike Chris, I’ve never been arrested or involved with the police before.”

“
But we can’t leave you alone in there,” I whispered in a horrified voice. “What if they . . .”

Jeremy laughed. “Holly, don’t be so worried about me. I’ve got a few tricks up my sleeve,” he said with a wink.

Although he seemed confident, I couldn’t help but feel worried. There had to be some way to assure that Casey, Jeremy, Mr. Heywood, and I could escape. If worse came to worse, I would bargain with Shawn. It wasn’t like he was going to kill me.

Jeremy pulled onto the dirt road that led to the abandoned building. As it came into view, Jeremy cut the engine, quickly unsnapping his seat-belt. I swiped my sweaty palms on my pants before doing the same as Jeremy. He met me at the front of the car, and together we made our way up to the front of the building. The steps groaned in an unnerving way under our weight. Jeremy held me back as he opened the front door, peering in. The main room was pitch black.

“
Holly, your hand,” Jeremy demanded, holding out his hand for me to take.

It felt a little silly taking his hand. It wasn’t like I was a five-year-old crossing the street with her mom. Nonetheless I took his hand, and he pulled me into the warehouse, leaving the door open so the moon would provide at least a little sight. I held Jeremy’s hand tighter as we went further in, losing all sense of sight.

“
Why is it so quiet?” I whispered. The only noises I could hear were the sounds of Jeremy’s and my footfalls. They sounded like a heard of elephants compared to the silence surrounding us.

“
Shh,” Jeremy responded. “We’re going up stairs now. Careful.”

I stumbled on the first step, misjudging the height. Jeremy held onto me tightly as I corrected myself, gaining my balance again. Each step creaked and groaned under our weight, and each time they did I thought it sounded like an air horn going off. It was too quiet. It was unsettling.

“
The Hall of Fame, right?”

“
Yeah,” I whispered, finally making it to the top of the stairs. “That’s where I first saw Shawn.”

It took about thirty seconds to reach the door to the room with all the photos of fighters from the gang, the Hall of Fame. Jeremy pressed his ear to the door, and I copied him. It was silent in the room. Suddenly there was a cough, and I instantly recognized it as Casey’s. I reached for the door and yanked it open, ignoring Jeremy’s protests. Stumbling in the dark room, I ran my hands over the wall until I found the light switch. I flipped it on.

When the room filled with light, Casey was the first thing I noticed. She was sitting on the other side of the room, her knees pulled up to her chest. She squinted for a moment but when she saw me her eyes widened with hope. Jeremy strode into the room, quickly surveying it. Casey pushed herself to her feet, but as soon as she took one step towards me she winced and stumbled forward. Jeremy caught her before I could even move.

“
What’s wrong?” I heard him ask her.

“
My ankle,” she responded, taking her weight off her right ankle. “I think I sprained it.”

“
Where’s Mr. Heywood?” I asked, only slightly relieved.

Casey’s eyes drifted downwards, towards the front left of the room. The door was blocking my vision so I quickly stepped around it, dropping my eyes to the floor. My heart skipped a beat and a gasp left my mouth when I focused in on Mr. Heywood’s limp body. I staggered a few feet forwards and slumped to my knees, hovering over him. His eyes were shut, and it almost looked like he was sleeping peacefully. Except for the blood that covered half of his face.

“
Mr. Heywood?” I squeaked, bringing my head closer to him. “Hey. Wake up.”

“
What happened?” I heard Jeremy ask Casey.

I put my ear to his mouth, and felt relief wash over me when I felt his breath against it. At least he was still breathing.

Casey cleared her throat. “Someone—I don’t know who—attacked Mr. Heywood while he was untying me. He hit him over the head with a shovel,” Casey continued, her voice cracking on the word shovel. “I heard a crack . . .”

For a second it felt like I couldn’t breathe. My chest constricted painfully as I gazed at Mr. Heywood’s peaceful face. That was how Shawn had managed to strike him down? Using a cheap attack like that? Anger boiled up inside of me. Shawn was definitely going to pay.

I gently brushed Mr. Heywood’s hair away from his forehead, my breath catching when I caught sight of a long, deep, bloody gash running along from his eyebrow to his ear. Tears filled my eyes again and my heart clenched painfully. This was my fault.

“
Mr. Heywood,” I whispered, brushing my fingers along his jaw. “Please wake up. Can you hear me?”

There wasn’t even the slightest response.

“
Do you know where Shawn is right now?” Jeremy questioned Casey. “When was the last time you saw him?”

“
Who’s Shawn?”

“
The man who hit Mr. Heywood with a shovel,” I responded for Jeremy, turning to look at Casey.

Casey chewed her lip. “Oh . . . I haven’t seen him for maybe the past ten minutes? He dumped Mr. Heywood and me in here after taking us from the fair. He told me not to leave, and if I did we would both be, um, harmed.”

Jeremy furrowed his eyebrows. “And he hasn’t been back since? Was he with anyone else?”

“
There were two other men,” Casey told him.

Only two? That thought made me feel a bit more relieved. That meant if something went on it’d be three on two. I smiled wryly. Well, more like three on one. I didn’t know how much help I could be to Jeremy. Jeremy set Casey against the wall before coming towards me. He crouched down beside me, taking in Mr. Heywood’s condition. He inhaled sharply, brushing his hand lightly against the gash.

“
That needs medical attention,” he commented. He turned to me. “Holly, take this.”

He handed me a pocketknife and I quickly took it from him, my eyes wide. “Jeremy . . .”

“
It’s for your protection,” Jeremy told me. “We should try to get out right now while Shawn’s not around. The longer we stick around, the higher the chance of him coming back to find us. Right now Chris is a major liability. We have to go.”

“
You’re not supposed to move someone with a head injury,” I commented in a quiet voice, already knowing we had no other choice.

Jeremy smiled at me. “It’s better than leaving him here to die, right?”

My mouth suddenly went dry, and I could only nod.

“
You help Casey, I’ll carry Chris.”

Without needing to be told twice I pushed myself off the ground and hurried towards Casey. She gave me the “you have a lot of explaining to do” look as I took her arm and wrapped it around my shoulder. After a moment of adjusting ourselves so we were both comfortable, I turned around and found Jeremy carrying Mr. Heywood princess-style.

“
What?” he snapped when he caught me staring.

I blushed slightly, rearranging my expression into a blank one. “Um, nothing . . . Prince Charming.”

Casey chuckled as Jeremy’s face heated up. He ignored my jibe and gestured with his head for me to follow him out of the room. The main room was still jet-black, and we all treaded with caution.

“
Jeremy?”

“
Yeah?”

“
Can you handle the stairs?” I asked him, feeling nervous all of a sudden.

There was a moment of silence before Jeremy responded. “Yeah, I can hold onto the railing.” A nerve-wracking few minutes passed before I heard Jeremy sigh in relief, signaling he had made it to the bottom of the staircase without any problems. Casey and I followed easily.

Like a shot, I realized that the front door wasn’t open anymore. Jeremy must have noticed too, because I heard him curse quietly.

It didn’t surprise me when I tried the door and it was locked. Before either of us could speak, light filled the main room. I squinted for a minute while my eyes adjusted, and when they did I locked gazes with Shawn, who was standing on the balcony.

“
Holly! You made it.”

“
Yeah,” I forced out between my clenched teeth.

Casey tugged gently on the back of my shirt. “Holly, help me to the door.” I helped Casey lean against the locked door. She put her back to it, staring up at Shawn. I glanced over my shoulder to see Jeremy still holding Mr. Heywood, a scowl on his face.

“
Poor Chris is in bad shape, huh?”

“
That’s because you’re a coward who uses cheap shots to knock people down,” I shot back at him angrily.

“
Holly,” Jeremy said in a quiet, warning tone.

Shawn laughed, leaning over the railing of the balcony. “Cowardice? Holly, love, I was just using the moment to my advantage.”

There was a pair of footsteps to my right and I looked over and saw a tall, burly man coming towards me. Another pair of footfalls to my left indicated there was someone also coming from that direction. The burly man to my right stopped a good hundred yards away. I watched him warily for a second before glancing at the other man, who had also paused. This man was just as tall as the man to my right, but not as muscled.

My mind was racing. We needed more time! I needed to think of a way that would allow Jeremy, the only one strong enough, to carry Mr. Heywood to his car and to help get Casey there as well. If we could just take out the two men on the ground level, I was positive I could deal with Shawn. I had escaped him once before, hadn’t I?