Piecing Together Sydney (A Sydney West Novel Book 3) (17 page)

She took a step back and smiled like a devil. “Wrong question. You should be asking if Jason is really missing. Maybe he just doesn’t want to be with you anymore. Maybe he found his
real
soulmate and is spending the rest of his life with her. Did that ever cross your pretty little mind?”

“He hasn’t been heard from in days. No one can get in touch with him. He wouldn’t disappear on his mom and sister. He’s—” Anger bit into my veins. “Why am I explaining this to you? What do you know? Did you hurt him?”

Lizzie tilted her head back and laughed. It was a loud creepy kind of laugh from horror films. The knot in my stomach doubled in size. There was something off about her.

“No comment.” She walked toward the door. “See you around, Sydney.” With that, she left.

Customers turned their heads to look at me. I forgot other people were in here with us. My cheeks burned from humiliation. My taste for coffee had passed. I bolted out the door and retraced my steps back to the Charger.

No Amelia or Hunter in sight. I sent a quick text, letting them know I was waiting at the car.

What had Lizzie meant by asking if Jason was really missing? Of course he was. Even if he was still pissed at me, there was no reason he wouldn’t answer calls from his mom, sister, or Hunter.

Did she know something I didn’t? Maybe she knew where he was hiding. Could he be holed up with her? Did they get back together? Maybe she was the one holding him captive. My wild imagination was running away again.

About ten minutes later, Amelia and Hunter joined me.

“Any luck?” By the grim look on their faces, I knew the answer was no. Jason fucking vanished without a trace.

Amelia rubbed her stomach. “None. We papered this city like crazy though. I’ll make calls about your wedding tomorrow and explain things. We won’t cancel until the last minute. Okay?”

“Thanks. Let’s go home.” I opened the driver’s door and sat down. After starting the car, I turned down the music.

Amelia sat next to me and gave me a puzzled glance as she put on her seatbelt. “What’s on your mind, Syd?”

“I was in a coffee shop putting up a poster and I ran into Lizzie. Actually, she ran into me.”

Hunter leaned in between the front seats. “What happened?”

I pulled out of the parking spot and got on the road, heading north. “She asked me if Jason was truly missing or if he was just avoiding me. Said maybe he was with his
real
soulmate. She also smelled me.”

Amelia rubbed her temples. “She did what?”

“I don’t know what she was doing. Inhaling my scent? She’s a freak. I wouldn’t put it past her that she did something to Jason.” I hit the steering wheel with my fist, making Amelia jump. “If she hurt one hair on Jason’s head, so help me, I’m going to kill her.”

Amelia hit my arm. “Sydney!”

Hunter made a sound like a hollow laugh. “Don’t say your plans out loud. Then it’s first degree murder. Needs to be in the heat of the moment so the jury is on your side.”

Amelia sighed. “What am I going to do with you two?”

All jokes aside, we needed to find Jason. It had already been over forty-eight hours, and that was not a good sign. That was usually the timeframe to save people according to the shows I watched. I had to have hope. If I didn’t, then all was lost.

God, please let Jason be okay. Don’t take him away this close to our wedding. I beg you!

We were now going on day three, and still no trace of my beloved Jason. The police believed we were looking for a body now. They had a search party combing the beach for him as if he was just going to wash ashore. The media still harassed us with calls, but most had found other stories to follow. My mom kept trying to give me food or something to drink. She’d run her fingers through my hair to make me sleepy while watching TV on the couch. She wanted to soothe me, but I didn’t want to eat or sleep. I just wanted my Jason back.

I decided to take a walk on the beach and clear my mind. Everyone in the house was also morose, and they brought my depression into a toxic black hole.

Out on the horizon, two people were catching waves. I imagined Jason and me out there trying to out surf each other. A haunted feeling came over me as I heard Jason’s laugh playing inside my head because I wiped out that first time I met him. Damn, that boy had me good. My heart ached. Each piece hurt. It was like a dagger playing a sick game in my chest.

He
still
has me, though. Don’t use past tense, Syd.

I sat down on the warm sand, letting the water lick at my legs before being pulled back. If he was here, I’d lay my head upon his firm chest and listen to his heart beat. We’d go to the state fair again. Maybe win…steal…a friend for Scooby. We’d be wed and have so much sex that we couldn’t walk for days.

I fell back and closed my eyes. If only he was here with me.

Someone stood above me, blocking the sun. I peeked through my lashes and saw someone wearing a white shirt and hiding their face behind a hockey mask.

“What the he—”

The mystery person grabbed me and put a wet cloth over my nose and mouth. The more I fought, the sleepier I got. Then all the lights went out.

***

I came to and tried to rub my stinging eyes, but my arms wouldn’t move. I looked around and discovered I was tied up to a chair in what seemed to be a dim basement. In the far left corner was the washer and dryer. I pulled at the rope, but the knot wouldn’t come undone.

“Son-of-a-bitch,” I muttered under my breath. Now was the moment I wished I paid more attention to those action movies when the spy needed to escape from the villain.

I wanted to scream, but didn’t want to lose my voice. If they were smart kidnappers, they probably had me somewhere no one could hear me anyways. Besides, I didn’t want them to know I was awake. That would make them come down and do whatever they were planning to do with me. It was better to be alone.

A moan filled the stiff air. Maybe I wasn’t alone.

“Hello?” I whispered. Were they holding someone else?

“Mmm…” the person said.

I tried to scoot my chair closer to the noise, but it got caught on something on the floor, tipping me over. The good news was it broke one of the chair’s legs and split it up the back. The bad news was I hit my head on the cement.

I wiggled my roped tied arms from the broken wood and sat up. What I needed was a knife or anything sharp.

“Mmm. Errr….” The person kept making noise.

“Shh…” I got to my knees and squinted in the faintly lit room. I saw somebody sitting up by the wall to my right. It seemed like they were handcuffed to a pole. I had to awkwardly roll myself toward the mystery person.

“Hey, I’m here.” I closed my eyes and shook my head. Was I seeing things? The person I found was Jason. My fucking Jason!

“Jason! Baby, everyone thinks you’re dead!” I kissed his bruised covered face and burst into tears. “I was so scared…”

I grabbed the tape over his mouth with my teeth and pulled it off. It stuck to my tongue. I had to wipe it on my shoulder to get it off. “Are you hurt?”

He licked his swollen lips. His hair was caked in dirt, and I wasn’t sure if by his mouth was dried blood or mud. “No, I’m fine…I think. How did she get you?”

I tilted my head. “She?” Cold fear went through me and froze my heart. “You mean Lizzie?”

“Shh, yes!” He looked over at the staircase. “She’s lost it. Talks about us leaving on a plane to Spain and being together.”

Shit. What she said in the coffee shop made sense now. The bitch was bragging about having Jason.

Anger raised my blood pressure. Jason was tied up in Lizzie’s basement as she played cat and mouse with me. I never wanted to hurt anyone more than I wanted to smash that bitch’s face into a cement wall.

I swallowed. “What does she have in mind for me, then?” Nothing good. I was the woman in the way.

Jason locked eyes with me. “Doesn’t matter what she has planned. It’s not going to work. We’re getting the hell out of here.”

I cackled. “Do you not see we’re trapped and tied up at the moment? How do you propose we escape?”

“First, you need to get untied and then find something to break these handcuffs before she comes back.”

I looked around. “Is there a toolbox down here?”

He nodded toward the washer and dryer. “Try over there. She got these cuffs from a box somewhere near there.”

I dragged my body over to the other side of the room and found cutting shears for bushes. It was going to be hard, but I grabbed them and looked over my shoulder, trying to make sure I didn’t cut myself. I got the rope cut after a few tries. Once free, I rubbed my sore wrists. They already had red welts from rope burn.

“She’s an idiot, keeping tools where she keeps her victims.” I looked through the toolbox and found a mini saw. I walked back over to Jason and knelt down, sawing the metal that held the cuffs together.

“Isn’t it a good thing she wasn’t fully prepared? Otherwise, we’d be toast.”

I kept sawing, and it made a grinding noise. “True. Close your eyes so this crap doesn’t go in your eyes.” I put all my strength into it and the chain finally gave.

He had the cuffs on as bracelets now, but it was better than nothing. A car pulled up not too far away. The engine turned off and feet crunched the gravel above us.

“Shit, she’s back.” Jason moved in front of me. “I won’t let her touch you, Syd.”

“Let’s grab a weapon and hide,” I whispered, glancing around for something I could whack that bitch with.

Jason took my hand. “Whatever happens, I’m sorry I took off. I love you and trust you. I was an idiot. With everything going on, I thought—”

I kissed him, shutting him up. “It’s okay. We’ve been through a lot. Now we need to get home and finally get married.”

“Agreed.” He kissed me again and moved away. “She’s in the kitchen. We need to hurry.”

“There has to be something.” I looked in the back where there were black tarps. “Look, I found a rusty lead pipe. Could work.” It was about three feet long, and it was a weapon in the board game Clue, so there was a possibility of it saving us.

He nodded. “I found a baseball bat. I’m glad she didn’t put much thought into this. She had to have kidnapped us on an impulse, or she’s never seen any movies dealing with this stuff.”

“Maybe she didn’t think we’d be here long, or that her awesome rope tying skills would keep us from exploring.”

The door opened, letting light pour in.

“Now or never,” I said to myself.

“I love you, Sydney. I always will,” Jason whispered into my ear, squeezing my hand and then moving away to hide under the stairs.

“Ditto,” I muttered, wishing I could scream how much he meant to me at the top of my lungs.

“Jason, sweetheart. I have a treat for you. Our trip is booked, and I’ll get rid of that bimbo and…” She reached the bottom of the stairs and gasped. “What the fuck?”

I hid in the shadows by the water heater. It hummed, hiding my breathing.

“Baby, you couldn’t have gone far. Where are you—”

Jason came out and swung at her head. She ducked and kicked him in the gut, making him double over and drop his weapon. Lizzie kicked it away. “Really, Jason? You want to take me out? I’m saving you from a miserable life, and this is how you thank me?”

Hatred bit into my blood stream. I wanted to hit her so hard that her head split open like a melon. She smirked and held her hand out to him. “Come on, we can end her together. She’s in here too. Then we’ll live happily for the rest of our lives.”

It was now or never. She had her back to me. I rushed at Lizzie and hit her square in the back. She hit the ground hard and made a groaning sound. I had to have knocked the wind out of her.

“Let’s get out of here!” I shouted.

Jason pushed me in front of him as we made our way up the stairs. My grip on the pipe grew stronger. It was our lifeline.

“Fuckers!” A gunshot went off to my right, hitting the wall.

We turned and saw Lizzie coming up the stairs with a gun pointed at us. I wasn’t sure who she was aiming at, but it would probably hit us both being so close together.

“Can’t we talk about this, Liz?” Jason held his hands up. “You should know this is not the way to win someone over.”

“How could I win when she’s who I have to beat? She’s fucking perfect, and it’s so annoying my teeth hurt. Seeing you two at the flower shop drove me nuts. Jason, you and I belong together, and this whore poisoned you! Are your tits even real, bitch?”

I wanted to hit her again, but couldn’t with Jason in the way. “Yes, I’m not plastic. What’s your excuse? I bet you—”

“Don’t piss off the person with a gun, Syd,” Jason murmured.

To be honest, I knew I needed to be more scared, but we had been in a school shooting. I was in the same room my father died in. My childhood was clouded by domestic violence. It was tiring to keep having to deal with this traumatic shit.

“Either shoot us or let us go. I’m done with games.” I tossed the pipe over the ledge. It clanged when it hit the floor.

She let out a dark chuckle. “You’re acting like you’re the one with all the cards, when it’s me.”

Jason took a step back, using himself as a shield.

Fuck no, he wasn’t dying to save me. That was not how my love story was going to end.

I did what no one thought I would. I pushed Jason down the stairs and leaped on the bitch. She screamed, and the gun went off. Part of the ceiling rained down on us as we wrestled for control of the firearm. If she got it back, we were dead, but if I got it, then we were going to live.

We rolled a few feet, and the gun got kicked under a shelf. I kneed her in the gut and bent her arm back like a chicken wing. “Bitch, you don’t know who I am,” I said, twisting her arm in an attempt to dislocate her shoulder.

She bucked me off. I went for the gun and grabbed it. I held it up to her chest. She gave me a wild smile, blood pouring from her nose. “You wouldn’t.”

I cocked it and pointed the barrel at her chest. “Don’t press your luck.” I side-eyed Jason. “You okay? Sorry about that. Go call the police!”

He moaned and gave me a thumbs up. As he went up the stairs, he looked back. “You sure you’re okay with her?”

“Yes, fucking hurry!” My hand was shaky. I had to hold the gun with both hands to steady it.

She took a step forward, moving a strand of dark hair from her messed up face. “You want to be labeled a murderer? Go to prison and never see
my
Jason again?”

“He’s mine, bitch.” I held my ground. “Don’t take another step.”

Lizzie turned her head to the right, popping her neck. She looked like she was preparing for another round. My stomach was in knots. My heart choked me. What the hell was I doing?

You have the gun. You have the power. Don’t let her take it!

At least that voice knew when to switch into survival mode.

She rushed me, and I pulled the trigger, hitting her in the chest. That didn’t stop her. I fired again and moved aside. Lizzie fell against the wall and cursed my name over and over.

Jason ran into the room with the phone to his ear. “Sydney!” He looked panicked. His face was as white as a sheet.

“I’m okay. Tell them we need an ambulance.” I walked backward toward him with my eyes staying on her. The villain never stayed down, but she wasn’t moving. I couldn’t risk it though.

Please stay down bitch.

I don’t need to be in a horror movie anymore. My life is crazy enough.

I made it to the top of the stairs, and we blocked the door so she couldn’t leave. Now all we had to do was wait for the police to arrive and tell them what the hell happened.

It was going to be hard and insane to explain, but I hoped they believed me. It was self-defense, so live or die, all this was on Lizzie’s head. There was no blood on my hands.

Jason took the gun from my grasp. It had become a part of me in the last few minutes. He laid it on the table and enveloped me in his embrace.

I never wanted him to let me go. I burst into tears and so did he. We sank to the floor and clung to each other like we did during that shooting in Arizona. This time though it was after the fact, but we were still traumatized from it all.

In the words of Lao Tzu.

Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage.