Circumstances Unraveled Page 2

  “I can do so many wicked things with a woman like you.” Mick whispers once more, then my hair is gripped and yanked back.

  My head pulls back hard, my eyes open and I cry out. “Ahh…”

  I hear running feet. “Let her go, Mick. Now’s not the time.” Riley yells out.

  My hair is released as Mick spits on me. He looks to Riley, “You had her. I want her.” He glares back down at me. “Stupid slut. I’ll get mine.”

  Mick gets up and leaves the room. I look around to make sure I’m safe for the moment and curl back up on the bed.

  I’m in for more than I think. Now’s not the time? Does that mean there will be a time? I really don’t like the sounds of that.

  I take a deep breath and try to relax. I need to think this through.

  How do I get out of this hell hole and survive?

  I can’t believe I just walked away from that woman again. Opportunity only knocks so many times. It’s knocked once when we met at Belle’s and it’s knocking now. What am I thinking? Mel turns my crank in more ways than one—such a vulnerable woman ripe for the picking…if I could only get her to see me, the real me.

  I’m not a bad guy.

  Really, I’m not.

  After leaving the café this morning something felt off. Everything inside me told me to go back and get the girl, but I didn’t. I only use my gut when it comes to work and I had work to do. It’s always about work. When will I learn to let things go and make some time for myself? Gabe has always nagged on me about that, and especially now that he has his woman, he wants to see me happy too.

  I’m not the perfect man, I know that. I’ve made many mistakes and I’m sure I’ll make more. The question is; will Mel—the sweet, sexy, spit fire that she is—tolerate the depths of my errors as they come? My gut says yes, but I don’t really know her.

  Shutting my laptop, I reach down into the cooler and grab a beer. I know it’s only two in the afternoon, but I can’t seem to shake this nagging feeling that something’s wrong.

  Mel was going to work she said. Belle and Gabe are together and no phone calls have come through, so what could be wrong?

  I crack open the beer and take a swig. The cold refreshing drink soothes my dry throat. Sitting back in my chair I cross my legs at the ankles and close my eyes. The vision of Mel dances through my mind. The way she looked when I first met her and that mouth of hers. She sure pissed me off with the way she talked to me at first, but I could tell she was playing around, trying to get a feel for me.

  Working with the police, the Canadian Government, and the feds over the years I’ve learned a few things. I know that the way Mel was talking is a defense mechanism. She hides her true self or at least a secret of sorts. She’s a shy one under all that fire she spits. But even though she’s hiding, she can’t hide everything. Like her looks—those gorgeous blue eyes, her long black hair, and her sleek body. I get hard just thinking about her. Damn, maybe I just need to get laid.

  I shake my head to clear my thoughts, sitting forward and setting my drink on the table. Just then my phone rings. Picking it up, I see it’s Gabe calling.

  “What’s up Gabe?” I ask.

  “Hey, man. Have you heard from Mel recently?” Gabe inquired.

  “I actually saw her this morning. She was heading into work, why?” My interest is peeked.

  A breath blows out on the other end of the line. “She never showed up at work. Belle’s freaking out. Mel isn’t answering her cell or home phone, either.” Gabe says.

  She didn’t show up for work? Well, fuck me. There’s my reason for feeling uneasy. Shit! “Has this ever happened before?” I ask Gabe as I sit up in my seat.

  “Nah, man—never. Belle mentioned that she got a weird text a few weeks ago. She didn’t understand what it meant or who it was from, but Mel freaked out about it. It doesn’t seem coincidental now, especially since Mel isn’t answering her phones.” Muffles of Belle yelling comes through the line. “Something’s going on and we need to find her Jack. After what Belle went through…” Gabe didn’t finish his sentence, he didn’t have to.

  “Fuck!” I clutch my cell tight. “Alright, I’m on my way over.” I hang up and begin to pack up my laptop. The reality of the situation hits me hard and my feelings cut me deep. If something has happened to my firecracker I’m damn sure going to find out and get her back. And when I do I’m going to break her out of that shell of hers and make her mine. There’s something about the woman that I felt connected to from the get go and I shouldn’t have let it go. Damn it, I’m not letting go now.

  My bag is packed, keys in hand, out the door I go. Heading to Gabe’s with my mind set on finding Mel before something bad can happen. We don’t know where she is, or if anyone even took her, so I need to calm my nerves before I flip my lid.

  It takes me about ten minutes to get to Gabe’s. I park in front of the bar and grab my stuff as I proceed to let myself in. “Gabe!” I shout as I march up the stairs.

  “Yeah, up here, Jack.” Gabe calls back.

  I open the foyer door and enter the spacious apartment. Belle sits at the dining table with a tall glass of water. Her leg trembles up and down and she clinks her fingers on the glass. I can see the fear in her eyes. She expects the worse.

  I set my bag down by the couch and move to sit at the table. Reaching my hand out I take one of Belle’s and give it a squeeze. “Tell me what’s going on, Belle.” I look right into her fear stricken eyes and wait.

  Belle licks her lips before she speaks. “Well, for starters Mel never misses work—and if she does she always calls me to let me know what’s going on. Secondly, she always answers her phone—if she’s at home, or even if she’s at work. When I called the hospital they said she didn’t show up.” Belle sniffs back some tears that I notice begin to fall down her cheeks.

  “Tell me about this text message.” I nod toward her cell phone.

  Immediately Belle lets go of my hand and grabs the phone from beside her and gives it to me. “I never deleted the message. It’s from unknown dated two weeks ago.” Belle quickly withdraws back into her chair.

  I look at the message. The boys are back in town. The first thought that comes to mind is, who the fuck are “the boys”? I look to Belle and back to the phone. Setting it on the table I blow out a breath. It’s such a basic message, but all so threatening as well. It could mean so much, yet so little. Looking to Belle again, I ask. “Any idea who this could be from?”

  Belle bites her lip and shakes her head. “None.”

  “Mel confided in me a little while back on something. I’m not sure if that has anything to do with this, but it could.” Gabe pipes up.

  Belle and I both look to him. “Well, what is it, Gabe?” I ask.

  Gabe clears his throat looking unsure of himself. “She told me that she was the witness in court to the other men in Belle’s rape case.” Belle gasps and I clench my fists.

  “She never told me about that. I thought they were just put away along with Mike.” Belle whispers. “How stupid can I be? Damn it, Mel.”

  “I’m sorry I never told you that she told me.” Gabe tells her.

  Anger boils deep inside of me. Why can’t life just be simple for once? Time to dig into my tech side and see if I can find where the text originated from if possible and to check if there are any cameras by the café. If it was those men, I’ll find out somehow.

  “Let’s get this started, Gabe.” I look to Belle. “We’ll find her!” I say to comfort Belle, but inside I’m trying to convince myself that Mel’s safe and unharmed. Standing from my chair, I head to my bags to get my computer to start the search for Mel. We have absolutely no leads, but I’m not a man without resources. I’ll use what I can and I’ll find my woman.

  Riley comes into the room and escorts me out to an open area full of women. All the women are around my age and younger. There doesn’t seem to be anyone older than me here. I feel disgust, embarrassment, and anger. How did these men get away with ta
king me and all the others? How dare they do the things they do and think that it’s okay? I feel like puking from my thoughts, from the pain of the beatings, from just everything.

  I start to count the group of us. There are ten of us. We’re all filthy and barely clothed. One by one the men begin to blind fold us, tie our hands behind our backs, and lead us out of the room. None of us fight—it’s like we know better. If we did, we’d just get smacked in one way or another. I need to wait and pick my moment, timing is everything.

  We are put in a truck or van. I’m not a hundred percent sure. I just know it’s big enough to hold us all. There are no windows. It’s dark and it smells horrible.

  Just after the door slams shut and locks, the sobbing begins. Not from me, but the other women. It takes everything in my power to control my emotions. I need to stay strong—if not for me, for them. Some of them look like they just hit puberty for fuck sakes. Someone needs to show them that it’s okay to fight back, to not be weak…but then again not everyone has a past like me and can handle some of the crap these guys are dishing out. Sure, I’m shy. I have my reasons, but when it comes to survival? I fight. Now is the time for that fight.

  I’m not sure if Riley or the other men in the front of the vehicle can hear or see us, but I want to calm the women. Getting themselves worked up isn’t going to help any of us.

  “Shhh…ladies calm down, please. Try.” I whisper, but it doesn’t seem to help any. The women seem to ignore me. I want to help, but I can’t help the unwilling. I get as comfortable as I can in an unknown space with my hands tied behind my back while blind folded and wait out the ride.

  The ride’s a bumpy one and it seems like we drive for hours. We probably do. The doors open suddenly and one by one they begin to call our names. The women whimper this time. The fear of the unknown can’t be hidden.

  They call me. I do my best to maneuver myself up from the floor of the vehicle. A hand grasps me, pulling me forward, and I stumble.

  “There’s my girl.” The voice I recognize as Matt, growls. “You remember me, don’t you? I remember you. I remember that court room, too.”

  I keep silent and let him direct me. I can feel the edge, thinking I’m going to jump down, when I feel a hand wrap around my hips and hold me tight. He lifts me out and I slide down a muscular body.

  Matt, I know his body. He isn’t a bad looking guy. Caramel colored skin, light brown eyes, long black hair and muscular body. Not that I can see him now, but I have seen him on occasions while under their ‘care’. He has changed for the better looks-wise a little bit since college. In other ways not so much.

  “Mmm, I love feeling your body sliding down mine. It makes my dick hard.” He squeezes my ass and inhales my scent before setting me down.

  It takes everything I have in me not to retch all over him. Matt’s a total asshole. He steals and sells women for money. What about that would make me want to like him? Let alone the abuse he has done to me and the other women. I swallow down the bile that has risen in my throat and wait to be led to our new destination.

  I can smell the ocean as we stumble along. The shuffling of the women and the other men in front of us is loud against the hard ground. No idea to where we are, I hope it’s better than the last. I hear a creaking noise as I assume a door opens and Matt shoves me inside. I trip up a stair that I’m not aware is there and fall to my knees. I wince in pain as it shoots up my legs. I’m lifted by strong arms and pushed forward again.

  “Keep going.” Matt grumbles.

  How such a handsome man can be such a cruel creature, I’ll never know. I keep moving forward until someone pulls me in another direction and leads me to sit on what I presume to be a bed. They remove the blindfold and release my hands. I blink a few times as the light is bright after being in the dark for so long and take in my surroundings.

  The room is different than the last. It’s larger. There are actual clear windows allowing sunlight in, but they are high up on the walls where we’re unable to reach—and of course there are bars on them. There are beds laid out (five in total) and only five of us girls are in the room. The others must be in another room. I watch as Matt removes the ties and blind folds off the other women, then he leaves the room, shutting and locking the door behind him.

  I blow out a breath and take in the other women. “Are you all okay?” I ask them.

  They all keep their heads down and don’t speak to me. I get frustrated with this. Why won’t the women answer me?

  “What the hell is wrong with you ladies, are you all just giving up?” I ask more forcefully. I move closer to the edge of the bed I’m sitting on. I hate being ignored. I’m not much of a talker unless it’s something worth saying, so when I speak, I expect an answer. “Fucking answer me!”

  One woman looks up. She looks like she wants to say something, but then bows her head again.

  What the fuck? Why would these women bow to them so easily? Are they that weak?

  Not wanting to talk to the women anymore, not that they were talking anyways, I curl up on my bed and try to get some sleep. One never knows what tomorrow brings.

  I’m startled awake by something rough grazing my leg. Immediately, I roll over in the bed with my eyes open wide to see—and an evil grin upon Matt’s face greets me. My heart rate increases and my breath catches.

  I kick my leg out, trying to remove his hand with no relief. He grabs a hold of my leg and pulls me down on the bed. No one’s going to stop it and the more I fight, the more he’ll probably enjoy it. The last time, when Riley did this, I struggled and screamed and he relished every part of it.

  “My girl’s going to give up some sweet pussy to her Matt.” He growls as he continues to pull me down on the bed and toss the blankets aside. He doesn’t ask me, it’s a statement. Like ownership. Shit!

  Looking around quickly to see if anyone else is in the room, I see no one. Where did all the women go?

  I’m not letting this happen again. I can’t. I won’t survive it. “NO!” I shout and swing my arm out at him. I hit him in the face, catching him off guard. I wiggle away, but don’t get far. Matt pounces on me and pins my arms down.

  “What did you just say?” He slaps me hard across the face. It stings and tears well up in my eyes.

  Bucking my body to try and fight him off, thrashing and kicking, I yell. “Get the fuck off of me, you asshole. I said no.”

  I manage to knock Matt off me and onto the ground. I scramble off the bed and begin to head to the door. I need to escape. I have the door open when I hear a loud bang in the air. A sharp pain hits my shoulder and I scream. “Ahhh…” Tears stream down as pain hits and radiates through my arm just below my shoulder. I start to fall.

  Footsteps run in my direction. Then my body slams down on the concrete. My head hits the floor. I’m dizzy—and see spots and blood.

  “Wrong move, bitch.” A slurry voice tells me right before everything goes black.

  My eyes open to Riley and Matt. Arms flailing about and mouths moving. The voices jumble. I try to move, but I can’t. My vision is blurry and I lie in something wet.

  “Fucking idiot…”

  “Kill her…”

  “Dump her body...”

  “Fuck!”

  Jumbled messages, I have no idea what is going on. I try to speak. “Ri..”

  The men look at me. Riley marches toward me, fist clenched and slam. Sharp pain and nothing.

  I can’t fucking believe it’s been almost two weeks since she has gone missing. Between me and Gabe we’ve done everything we can to search the city and put feelers out on her. As if life couldn’t suck any more, I finally find the woman I want to try a relationship with and on her way to work one day, she disappears. I haven’t seen her since.

  I know women go missing every day, but you never think it’s going to happen to someone you know.

  There are missing person’s reports filed by myself and by Belle. There has been no contact made to her work, friends, or myself.
Her cellphone was found in a dumpster around the corner from the cafe.

  Belle has made contact with all her coworkers about the situation and all the friends they have in common. Not a single person has seen or heard from her. It’s like she just disappeared completely.

  I thought I saw her a few nights ago at Gabe’s bar, but it was just a tourist out for a good time. Gabe had to kick me out because it was ladies’ night and I was causing a major disturbance once I realized it wasn’t Mel. Between the alcohol and the frustration, I was starting to lose my mind. Now that she’s missing, Mel has been on my mind non-stop. I don’t know why it takes her being gone for me to notice what’s right in front of me, but it does.

  Since that night, I haven’t stopped looking for her. Every lead the police have gotten has resulted in nothing. They’re at a stalemate until new evidence comes in, or a new lead presents itself. Because of this, they put the case on hold. I won’t stand for that result at all. Mel’s out there somewhere. I’ll find her somehow. I have money, I have friends, and the resources—so I hope that if and when I find her she’s alive and well. And then I plan to do everything in my power possible to deal with the bastards who took her. I’ll do what it takes, legal or not.

  I grab a cold beer from the fridge, crack it open, and chug it down. The sensation of the cool fluid sliding down my throat feels amazing. I’m not a big drinker, but a nice cold beer can always help chase away the shitty parts of the day.

  I open my eyes and look at the clock. My alarm is going to go off in ten minutes. Day seventeen of Mel missing. I’m about ready to shoot every shady-looking man I find.

  Since I hacked the CCTV cameras and found the exact time my firecracker was taken and where from, I’ve devoted all my time to finding her. The person in the video was well hidden and none of us could make out who the man was with the little detail we had. Believe it or not, the man was smart enough to park out of view—because the make and model of the SUV in the video that Mel was shoved into was non-descript and we couldn’t make out the plates. We know there’s a second man or woman (we aren’t a hundred percent sure which) but the view was just a blur. No new leads have come to light since the videos and Gabe and I have been reaching at straws for anything to guide us.