Destroy You (Destroy #3) (22 page)

“Okay,” I said. I got out of the booth and pulled Toni along with me. “C’mon, Wildcat, let’s go home.”

Chapter 28

Toni

“Where are you? Come out here, you stupid bitch!” growled an angry, masculine voice.

“Shh, keep it down, you’ll wake her,” whispered a woman.

He tossed a stack of pictures at her feet. “Can you explain to me why I was given pictures of you talking to a fucking cop?”

“I…I didn’t know. He introduced himself as a neighbor,” she replied, her voice wavering.

Crack!
He struck her face, causing her to cry out and cradle her face. “I can make it right, just give me some time.”

“You came to my work. What did I tell you about coming around there?” he seethed.

“I’m sorry. I needed to talk to you. I know not to call you at home. I wanted to tell you the neighbor was asking questions. I tried to tell you before you stopped by,” she whimpered.

“You look awfully friendly in these pictures. Are you fucking him?”

She gasped. “Of course not!”

He sneered. “You are! You’re a whore, and I’m not going to lose everything for you!”

Her eyes widened as he closed his hands around the base of a lamp. “No! Oh God, no!”

The loud thuds of the heavy lamp hitting her quickly silenced her screams. Blood sprayed from the wounds each time it struck her. After about three strikes, he dropped the lamp with another thud. He stomped through the house and slammed the rear door behind him.

***

I jolted awake, holding my blankets to my chest and breathing heavily.
It was just a dream, not real
, I told myself.

Trent stirred awake. “Hey, Wildcat, what’s wrong?”

“I…nightmare,” I croaked.

“That didn’t sound like happy screaming,” Jeremy shouted from his room.

“Nightmare,” Trent yelled back.

“Anyone want a pizza?” Jeremy called out again.

My skin felt slick and cold with sweat. The last thing I wanted to do was close my eyes and see those images again. “Yeah, I can’t sleep.”

“Okay, baby, let’s go find a movie or something to take your mind off it,” Trent suggested.

I climbed out of bed and wrapped my robe around myself. My skin tingled, and I couldn’t stop shaking. “It won’t get out of my head. I don’t understand why I keep having the same dream over and over again,” I groaned.

Jeremy came out of his room with his laptop. “I just ordered the pizza on my computer. It gave me an idea. Have you ever done a search for crimes that match your nightmare?”

“No. Why would I look up my nightmare?”

Trent rubbed my back, and Jeremy waited silently until I came to the same conclusion they had. My mouth fell open in an
O
when I finally got it. “You think I should research it because it actually happened.”

“I think you’ve been having the exact same dream for about sixteen years. There’s got to be something to it. You’ll continue to be haunted by it until you know either way,” Jeremy said sympathetically.

“That makes sense,” I agreed.

Jer lifted the screen of his laptop and clicked on his browser. Before he had a chance to initiate a search, Trent’s phone began buzzing.

He looked at the screen and rejected the call. Without him saying a word, I knew it was from Trinity. I hadn’t missed the fact he hadn’t answered it.

“Can we just watch a movie tonight and search the net tomorrow?” I asked Jeremy. The last few days had been too much, and tonight I needed to spend time with my two favorite guys.

Again and again, Trent’s phone buzzed without him making a move to answer it. The fourth time it rang, I placed my hand on top of his before he sent it to his voice mail again. “Please just answer it or turn it off.”

He answered the call and put his hand over the mouthpiece. “Are you sure?” he asked me.

I smiled slightly and nodded.

“No more secrets,” he promised and hit Speaker on the phone’s screen.

“Trent! Trent! Are you ignoring me?” Trinity shouted over the phone.

“Relax, Trin, I’m here now. Why are you calling me at—” he looked at the clock on the wall, “—one in the morning?”

“I needed some help, and I came to talk to you. I was hoping I could convince you to meet me at that all-night diner,” she said optimistically.

“I can’t help you, and I won’t be meeting you at the diner,” he said through clenched teeth.

“Oh come on, you can’t still be mad at me for the hospital thing,” she pouted.

“‘The hospital thing’! Jesus, you act like it was a misunderstanding. You let me think you tried to kill yourself just to get me away from Toni. And then you show up at her class and tell her that you’ll get me back? I’m not yours, and I never have been. I think you need to find someone else to turn to from now on,” he seethed.

She paused for a moment. “I don’t think I can go on without you. Don’t abandon me, please, everyone leaves me.”

“Cut the bullshit, Trin, I’m done. You are going to have to figure out your business without me. Good-bye,” he said and went to hang up.

“Wait,” she shouted. “Fine, if you won’t meet me, can I at least tell you right now?”

“Make it fast. My patience with you is very thin,” he replied.

“A while back, I got in over my head with this guy. He was, well, he is a dealer, and I ended up owing money. He told me I could work it off, and I was a little worried he’d want me to trade sex for drugs—”

“Fuck, what the hell goes through your head!”

“I know, okay. But anyway, that isn’t what he wanted. He just wanted me to tell him things, and that didn’t seem so bad. Then he wanted me to introduce him to people in town that used, other dealers, that sort of thing. He kept giving me more stuff, so when he started asking more questions, I didn’t know what to do. They didn’t seem so bad at the time, but now I’m a little worried about what he’s asking me to do,” she confessed in a rush.

“Slow down. Who are you talking about, and what are they asking you to do?” he asked.

“I think you know who,” she whispered.

I gasped. “Miguel?” I mouthed to him. Jeremy had been pretending to be busy with his computer during the conversation, but he set it aside and gave up the pretense.

The muscle ticked in Trent’s jaw. “What does he want you to do?”

“He wanted to know things, like when Toni visits, how often she’s around, how long she stays. When she’d come over, he’d make me try to come up with a reason to pull you away. He told me to find a way to get you out of her house tonight. Look, I’m selfish, and I wanted to be with you, but I’m not heartless.”

Trent was breathing heavy. Jeremy got up and wandered down the hall. I’m sure there was a reason for his disappearance, but I’d wait to find out what.

“Look, I know you’re mad at me, but I was trying to get you out of danger when I called. I’d hoped you’d be at work tonight and I wouldn’t have to worry about you when they came. I didn’t know what else to do. I overheard him on the phone with someone, and it sounded like they were going to do something to you and her roommate if I couldn’t get you to leave. I think they might do something to you anyway. I’m not sure what they want her for, but they’re coming after her.”

“So you were trying to lure me out while Miguel and some mystery person come and abduct my girlfriend,” he shouted.

Trinity scoffed. “I was trying to protect
you
.”

“I wouldn’t have turned to you for comfort,” he said in a menacingly quiet voice. “Don’t call me ever again. Stay away from my bar. I’m done with you.”

“Trent, please, I—”

He hung up on her. “That fucking bitch!”

I flinched. His words sounded like an echo from my nightmare. Jeremy returned from the back of the house, carrying two duffle bags. He’d changed into jeans and a Henley. “Hurry up. I don’t know who’s coming and when, but I don’t intend on being here when they do. I called Reed while I was packing. He’s going to get Kate, and we are all taking a little trip. Daniels and Zack are going to set up surveillance at Reed and Kate’s house to watch ours.

“So we end up on the run after all?” I complained.

“No, we are taking an impromptu vacation, using cash, and not telling anyone about it. Totally a different thing,” Jeremy replied sarcastically.

“I guess we don’t really have time to change, do we?” I asked, although I knew I was going to be travelling in Trent’s T-shirt and my short shorts.

We rushed through the house, jumped in Jeremy’s car, and peeled out of the driveway at the same time as Reed. I was in the back, and Trent rode in the passenger seat, so I leaned forward to speak to them. “Where are we going?”

“Did I ever tell you my grandparents are loaded?” Jeremy said, somewhat out of the blue.

“Um, no, but why would you?” I asked.

“Exactly, it isn’t common knowledge, especially since they’re my mom’s parents. Anyway, they own a small yacht that’s docked in Olympia. It sleeps ten if we pull down some bunks in the galley, but Aiden and Becca can put the little ones with them on the bed and we won’t lose space,” he said.

“Wait a second. Your grandparents own a yacht,” I shrieked.

“I said it was a little one,” he grumbled.

“Okaaaaay. Everyone is coming with us?” I pushed.

“It’s just better safe than sorry, right?” Jeremy asked.

“What about school?” I’m not sure why I was arguing, because if someone was coming after me, staying home was probably a stupid idea, but I hated that Miguel was succeeding in interfering with my goals.

Jeremy gave me an odd look and shook his head. “Toni, next week is spring break. We’ve got like two more days of class before a week off. I think we should just focus on one day at a time, and hopefully we’ll have this settled before the break is over.”

How did I forget it was already the end of March? I’d taken my finals, at least the one I had to take, and my grades had exempted me from taking them in my other two classes. The only things left over the next couple days were surveys about class satisfaction and reviewing the grades on our final exams. I hadn’t missed my allotted number of classes, so I could skip a couple of days.

“So we’re just going to hang out on a boat?” I asked.

Jeremy grinned. “Nope. We’re going to sleep there tonight, with the ship in dock, and then we’re going to head out in the morning. We’re going to go down the coast, because I couldn’t find Trent’s passport. Otherwise, we’d have gone to Vancouver Island for a few days.”

“Does everyone else have theirs?” Trent asked.

“Yeah, I talked to Reed and Aiden, but that was before I rummaged through your stuff. Sorry, but we needed to get out of there, so I couldn’t keep searching,” Jeremy said.

“It’s at my mom’s. Can we make a quick stop? I’d like to warn her and see if she’d like to make a spontaneous trip out of town,” Trent said, worry running through his voice.

“Where does she live?” Jeremy asked without arguing.

“On First, a couple of blocks from the water tower,” he replied.

Jeremy turned the car around. It only took a few minutes before we pulled in front of a small bungalow-style house with tulips filling the flowerbeds near the front porch. The light came on as soon as we entered the driveway. Trent got out and motioned for me to follow him.

A tall, dark-haired woman stepped out on the front porch and flashed a bright smile the moment she saw her son. “It’s pretty late even for you,” she said and raised her eyebrow in question.

“Hey, Mom.” He kissed her on the cheek. “Toni, this is my mom, Lydia. Mom, this is my girlfriend, Toni.”

“Hi,” I said shyly.

“Girlfriend? Well, isn’t this a welcome surprise. It’s nice to meet you. So to what do I owe this middle-of-the-night visit?”

“Toni’s in a bit of trouble,” Trent began.

“Are you pregnant?” she asked, shocked.

My eyes widened and my mouth fell open. “No!”

Trent chuckled. “No, although that would be better. Her ex-boyfriend has been stalking her. Somehow Trinity has gotten herself wrapped up in this. It seems he’s dealing and has been feeding her drugs, probably heroin, in order to get her to watch us. She called me and tried to lure me out with her, and when I wouldn’t go, she let it slip that Toni’s ex was coming for her tonight.”

Lydia groaned. “Damn, that girl has been nothing but trouble. So do you need a place to hide out?”

“We’re actually heading out tonight. I need my passport, and I was hoping to convince you to take a trip to see Aunt Bethany. If the police are right, the guys supplying Toni’s ex are really bad news.”

“Will it make you feel better if I take off?” she asked.

“Yeah, and it would be even better if you’d pick up Melody on the way,” he suggested.

“I’m sure her mom would like to see her. Can you spare her at the bar?” she questioned.