Coming Home to You (The Rockport Beach Series Book 1) (26 page)

I scream again, this time calling Sam’s
name just as Jason clamps his hand over my mouth.

“Shut the fuck up!” he growls in my ear.

I begin to grow lightheaded, everything
around me moving in slow motion. I see Bella jumping at the screen door; I hear
her muffled barks as the rain falls in front of my blurry eyes. It’s in that
moment that I picture Beck’s face and I feel the tears well up in my eyes. I
can’t lose him now, not after everything we’ve been through.

Sucking in a deep breath through my nose, I
throw my arms back, clawing at Jason’s face and kicking my legs just trying to
connect with something, anything that will get him to release me.

By now I’m sobbing, each breath growing
harder to take in, as I become dizzier. I can no longer see Bella in the
doorway and I fall back against Jason’s chest, my resolve fading fast.

Jason adjusts his arm, this time pinning my
right arm to my side and making it nearly impossible for me to struggle. The
heels of my boots drag along the deck as one of them slips off and is left
behind. But something about seeing that boot on the deck brings out one last
effort in me and I bite down hard on Jason’s hand.

His hand slips from my mouth, but he then
wraps both arms tightly around my waist, securing my arms at my side as he
continues to drag me away from the inn.

With my mouth free, I scream wildly,
calling Sam’s name and screaming for anyone to help me. I can’t imagine where
Jason is taking me considering we’re nearing the end of the dock and the keys
to all the boats are locked in the boathouse near the inn.

“Let me go, motherfucker!” I scream once
again struggling in his arms, my legs coming off the ground and kicking
backwards at him.

Stopping when he reaches the end of the
dock, I yell out Sam’s name one last time and this time I hear, “Kelsey, I’m
coming,” and through my blurry vision and my lightheadedness, I see Sam racing
towards us. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Bella appear at the door to my
office and this time she lunges through the screen and begins hauling ass down
the dock.

I breathe a sigh of relief, but knowing it’s
not over, I stomp down as hard as I can on Jason’s foot, which only causes him
to pull me closer to him. I pray for Bella and Sam to make it in time because I
have nothing left.

Sam stops a few feet from where Jason and I
are standing, his gun drawn, but his hands shaking as he says, “Let her go. The
rest of the guys will be here any minute.”

He’s so close I could reach out and touch
him. Being this close to Sam, this close to being able to get away, makes me
weak. It’s so close, yet so far away.

Jason laughs and it’s disgusting and filled
with hatred. “Kid, you’re way out of your league. You wouldn’t shoot me and you
fucking know it,” Jason says, his voice strangely calm.

But with his eyes focused on Sam, he
somehow misses Bella and she immediately clamps down on his leg and begins to
tug and shake. He howls out in pain as she growls and pulls at him with her
teeth locked firmly in his skin.

In that instant, Jason lets go of me, but
he’s quicker than I am and his hand locks around my wrist, keeping me next to
him. My free hand slaps at his face and I kick at him, connecting with his ribs
and stomach.

My eyes are wide and I freeze when I see
the barrel of a gun flash in front of my face. Jason points it directly at Sam,
and I practically collapse to my knees.

“No!” I call out and again, Jason laughs.

“Call off your fucking dog and I won’t kill
the kid,” he says through clenched teeth.

Without giving it a second thought, I
command Bella to sit at attention next to Sam and she complies, but she’s
agitated and whining.

Jason, with the gun still pointing at Sam,
takes his free arm and yanks my body against him; this time he pulls us onto a
waiting boat at the end of the dock. The sound of a motor running and the
vibration of the water is cutting into my ears as I panic, knowing he’s going
to get away and he’s taking me with him.

The realization hits and I fall to the
floor of the boat, Jason’s hand still gripping my wrist as I sob
uncontrollably. I slap at Jason’s legs, but I’m weak and useless.

Crumpled on the floor of the boat with Sam
and Bella staring at me, Sam’s gun pointed at Jason, I scream out, “Shoot him,
Sam!”

“I can’t, Kelsey,” he says, his voice
pained and his eyes crying out.

“I told you the kid wouldn’t do it,” Jason snaps,
his voice oozing with arrogance as he kneels down next to me. His eyes and his
gun never leaves Sam’s body as the boat begins to pull away from the dock and
when I look up, I see another person driving the boat. Confusion and fear take
over as I cry out Beck’s name over and over.

“Beck! Where are you?” I sob, each word ragged
and strangled.

I swallow hard and fight back the vomit
that has made its way into my throat. Sam and Bella moving farther and farther
away; my only salvation at this point, fading into the distance.

My body weak, my limbs heavy, I don’t fight
when Jason pulls me into his arms and shushes into my hair.

“It’s okay, Rachel,” he whispers, his mouth
next to my ear. “We can be together now.”

Rachel?
I think, just as a sharp pain pierces my neck and everything around me goes
black.

I decide to head over to my apartment
before driving back up to Rockport. I’ve been living in the same couple sets of
clothes for weeks now and I need to get a few more things. I have no idea how
long I’m going to be in Rockport this time, but I do know I need to start
seriously thinking about the future and what I’m going to do next. I can’t
consider the ‘not being with Kelsey’ option anymore. It’s just never gonna
happen. I’m too far gone and I couldn’t walk away from her if I tried.

I’m throwing a bunch of clothes in a bag
when I see the photo album sitting on my bed. Smiling, I pick it up and add it
too, knowing Kels will get a laugh out of seeing these pictures again.
Hopefully it will also reassure her that I’m totally serious about us, knowing I’ve
kept it all this time.

Just as I’m about to take a quick shower, I
hear my phone ring out with a text message. I smile when I read it.

Kels:
You’d be so proud of me. I’m about to go out to the dock and tie up a loose
boat…in a storm.
J

Above it is the message she sent earlier,
the one in response to my needing to get reacquainted with her pussy. That had
said only two words;
CAN’T WAIT,
and
I swear my dick had twitched just reading it. Fuck, I can’t wait to get back to
her, and not just to have sex with her. I miss everything about Kels, and the
thought of being apart from her drives me crazy. How the fuck I’ve survived the
last ten years is beyond me, especially when these last couple of days have been
pure torture.

Exhaling loudly, knowing I’m gonna need to
talk to Pop about my plan when I get back, I type in a quick response to Kels.

Me:
Good job, baby.

I’m proud of her, knowing how much she
hates thunderstorms. I wish I could be there to look after her, but as I glance
at my watch, I know in about an hour I will be. Traffic is going to be a bitch,
but hopefully it’ll be an hour and a half max.

Kelsey’s message comes back to me and it
makes me smile.

Kels:
Love you

I return the words, letting her know I’m
leaving soon, and then throw my phone on the bed and head towards the shower,
throwing my clothes into a pile on the floor. Twenty minutes later, as I’m
turning the water off, I hear my phone start to go berserk, the simultaneous
sounds of text messages and phone calls ringing through the silence of my
apartment.

I stalk towards the bed and pick up my
phone, answering what looks like the third call from Finn.

“Finn,” I answer, my heart suddenly in my
throat. There’s only one reason he’d be trying so hard to reach me.

“Beck, where the fuck are you?” he
practically shouts at me. I can hear the edge in his voice, the anger and fear.

“I’m about to leave Boston, should be up in
an hour or so, why? What the fuck has happened?”

Finn exhales hard. “He got her, Beck. The
fucking asshole got her.”

“WHAT THE FUCK?” I shout down the phone. “I
thought you were watching her, Finn? How the fuck has this happened?” I shout,
trying to pull on my clothes and boots as I pick up my bag and grab my keys.

“I know, I know,” he says, and I can hear
the anger and disappointment in his voice. “Sam was watching her. Kels went out
to tie up a loose boat and that’s where he got her. Sam heard her screaming and
raced out, apparently he had Jason in his sights, but couldn’t pull the
trigger. Just too green, I guess,” he says and I know he’s pissed too. “I’m
sorry, Beck, really.”

I exhale hard. “Do you know where he’s
taken her, any idea?” I ask, slamming the front door of my apartment as I run
downstairs to my truck. Throwing the bag in the back seat, I jam my keys in the
ignition and rev the car hard, my phone switching over to speaker.

“I got there just as he was taking off,”
Finn says. “Got a name on the boat and we’re looking into it now.”

“A boat?” I ask, pulling out and cutting
another car off in the process. Whoever it is blasts their horn at me, but I
ignore it.

“Yeah,” Finn says. “He had one sitting at
the end of the dock, I’m guessing he’s the one who untied her boat and got her out
there. Fucking Sam should’ve known better,” he says, his voice harsh. “He
should’ve gone with her and then this never would have happened. Shit, Beck, I’m
really fucking sorry,” my brother says.

Even though shit has just gotten real and I’m
fucking livid right now, I know my brother feels awful about what’s happened.
And knowing everything he’s been doing, not just looking after Kels, but
running the rest of the town, I know he’s also pretty fucking exhausted right
now.

I exhale hard, pulling onto the I95 out of
Boston. “I know, Finn,” I say, meaning it. “Look, I know this isn’t your fault,
okay? This guy’s clearly experienced at this sort of shit; he was a cop for
fuck’s sake. Don’t beat yourself up about it, okay?”

Finn sighs into the phone. “Kinda hard not to,
Beck,” he says. “I feel like fucking shit right now. I was supposed to be
watching her for fuck’s sake.”

“I know,” I say. “But right now we have to
focus on finding her. Tell me everything you know. I wanna pass on the details
to Ryan too, see if he can’t track anything down from this end.”

Finn exhales hard through the phone and I
can tell he’s trying to calm himself down so he can fill me in. It’s not gonna
do either of us any good fighting right now, and it’s sure as shit not gonna
save Kelsey. And I know Finn is hurting right now, that he’ll be blaming
himself for this, even though it was the kid who should have been watching her.

“The boat was called
Lucky Lady
,” Finn says, a bitter edge to his voice now. “From what
I could gather, it was about forty foot, standard motor, but it looked like he
had someone else driving it.”

“Jesus christ,” I say. “Okay, let me call
Ryan now. I’m on my way, meet you at the station in an hour?”

“Yep, I’ll see you then,” Finn says. “Call
me if you find anything.”

“Will do,” I say, hanging up on my brother.

I nearly hit a car trying to find my phone
on the passenger seat, swearing as I swerve to the shoulder to avoid it.
“Fucking hell,” I grit through clenched teeth, scrolling through my contacts
for Ryan’s number.

“Beck,” he says, answering after the first
ring. “What’s up, miss me already?”

“He’s got her, Ryan, the fucking asshole’s
got her,” I shout into the phone, not bothering to say hello.

“What the fuck?” Ryan shouts. “Hold on, I’m
coming over, I’ll drive you up. There’s no way you should be driving this
pissed off.”

“I’m already on the way,” I say, knowing I
have no patience to wait for anyone at the moment, least of all a chauffeured
service to Rockport. “And I need you to do something for me here.”

“What, anything you need,” he says. “You
okay to drive?”

“Yeah,” I say, undertaking some idiot who’s
sitting on the speed limit in the inside lane, my hand on the horn as I do.
“Look into a boat called
Lucky Lady
for me, will you? That’s how he got her.”

“I’ll head back to the station now,” Ryan
says. “Keep me posted when you get back.”

“Will do,” I say. “And Ryan?”

“Yeah?”

“Thanks.”

“No problem, Beck,” he says. “Drive
carefully and let me know if there’s anything else I can do.”

The drive to Rockport takes over an hour
and with every minute that passes, I feel like I’m going to punch someone. I
have no doubt this fucking asshole knew I was back in Boston these last few
days, choosing to make the most of my absence by going for Kels when I wouldn’t
be there to look after her. It makes me so fucking mad, even though I know
there’s really nothing I could’ve done about it.

What I do know though, is this guy is
fucking dead when I find him.

I pull into the station parking lot and
slam the truck in park, hauling ass inside. Finn looks up as I do and shakes
his head as if to say, nothing so far. I exhale and see Pop stand, walk towards
me, and put a hand on my shoulder.

“They say she put up quite a fight, Son,”
he says. “Made it hard for him.”

I nod but don’t say anything; afraid I’m
going to completely lose my shit if I start to think about what’s happened to
Kels.

“Anything on the boat?” I ask my brother.

“Nothing we can find. You?”