Page 15 of Black Hearts
They were each already up. Will was in the bathroom, while Bennet sat on the bed closest to the small television set, watching whatever was on. Early morning news, by the look of it. He whipped his head in my direction when he heard me stroll in, and he practically leaped to his feet when he saw the stuffed bag I carried.
“Food is here,” I said, setting the bag down on the other bed.
Bennet dived right in, pulling out whatever he wanted. Will came out shortly after, rubbing his hands together and heading straight for the food. I crawled onto the other bed, rolled onto my back, and closed my eyes. For a few moments, I listened to the sounds of them eating, but then I realized I should probably eat a little more, too. “Toss me something, will you?”
Will chucked a sausage, egg, and cheese sandwich at me, and I caught it, slow to sit back up. As I ate, I told the guys what I saw. The bars on Juliet’s window made them both prickle with anger at Fred, something which I understood. I also told them the plan, how we’d do it in the dark, each of us breaking into the house at different places, hopefully finding Fred asleep. They seemed to approve of the plan, which was good. The last thing I wanted to do was argue with them about what we should do.
If one of us took the front door, another could take the back. That left one of us to hang back a bit, just to make sure Fred didn’t surprise either of the two inside the house.
As I finished the sandwich, I asked, “Will you two keep quiet for a few hours, so I can try to get some sleep, or should I go and sleep in the car?” I watched as they shrugged. They were still stuffing their faces full of food, so I lay back down and rolled onto my side, giving the two my back. They’d kept the curtain drawn closed, the room dark, save for the TV.
My eyes closed, and I tried to get some rest. Oh, how I tried. Sleep pretty much refused to come, no matter what I did. Counting sheep, slowing my breathing; no tricks that usually worked for me. I couldn’t clear my mind, no matter how much I tried. Juliet and everything she was kept popping up in my head. Her gentle smile, her soft skin, the twinkle in her blue eyes.
How could someone like her be Fred’s daughter? Someone like her shouldn’t come from a man like him. They were polar opposites. She had been born to a monster, raised by a monster, fed lies by that very same monster… and yet she was still good. Pure, innocent, naive—but not overly so. She literally was everything.
Since sleep wouldn’t come, I let myself daydream of her. The others were quiet, the only sounds I heard coming from the TV. I imagined busting into that house and saving her, being the hero. I imagined feeling her arms wrapping around my body so tightly she’d never let me go, how she’d cling to me, desperate to feel me against her again.
I think the only reason I dozed off was because my thoughts ran so rampant with Juliet, I grew exhausted.
That, and because the next thing I knew, Bennet was shaking me awake and saying, “Dude, wake your ass up. We have to go.”
I sat up, my head spinning for a moment before I remembered where we were. “What?”
“Rave called me. I guess your phone is dead,” Bennet said. “Will grabbed the keys, he’s already in the car. We have to go to the house, now—”
Shit. I forgot to plug my phone into the charger before laying down. Swinging my legs off the bed, I got up. “What’s going on? Why did Rave call? Give me your phone.” I didn’t wait for Bennet to explain, extending my hand toward him.
He frowned at me, but he gave me his phone, and I manually dialed Rave since he didn’t have him saved. With Bennet by my side, I walked out of the motel room and got in the running car. Will glanced to me, the muscles in his jaw tense. He didn’t say a single word, but I could tell whatever it was wasn’t good.
Rave picked up. “Hello?”
“It’s Jaxon, I’m calling from Bennet’s phone. What’s going on? What did I miss?”
He was silent for a few moments. “Will didn’t tell you?”
Will put the car in reverse and practically floored the gas pedal, lurching the car backward. “No,” I said, my heart beating faster and faster in my chest. “But we’re on our way.” I couldn’t believe I’d slept through a phone call; I must’ve been more exhausted than I’d thought. “What happened?”
“I don’t know what happened, but I just saw Fred speed down the road like a bat out of hell,” Rave whispered. “I’ve never seen him leave the house like that, not even when Juliet was gone. Something’s going on. I got a bad feeling.”
If Rave had a bad feeling, I definitely had a bad feeling.
“He was alone? Juliet wasn’t in the car with him?”
“Unless she was knocked out in the back seat or the trunk, no. I didn’t see her,” Rave said. “I think she’s still in the house.”
“We’ll be there in five.” I hung up the phone, tossing it in the back seat to Bennet, who caught it and threw me a glare. I was fully awake and alert now, and I knew this couldn’t be good. For Fred to rush out of the house like that, for him to leave Juliet… I didn’t get it. It didn’t make one lick of sense, but I wasn’t going to stop and think too much about it.
It was just past lunchtime, the sun out in full force in the sky. I guess we’d be breaking into the house now, take advantage of Fred being gone. If someone saw us bust into the house, oh well. We’d grab Juliet and be out of there before the cops showed up.
To say the car ride over to the house was tense was an understatement. Will pulled around Rave’s car, taking us right to Fred’s driveway. We got out of the car, and Rave hurried over to us. He smelled of smoke, and yet his hands were free of cigarettes. He wore a black leather jacket today, and he rolled his shoulders.
“You want me to help you search the house, or what?” he asked me. Will and Bennet had gone around to the back door. They both knew how to pick a lock. Rave and I walked to the back, and I watched as Will made quick work of the lock.
“Finding Juliet is our priority,” I said. “Then we’ll find Fred.” No matter where he went, we’d find him, even if he never came back to this house. We would hunt him to the ends of the earth if we had to, search through every city, every town. We would stop only when we found him, strung him up, and made him pay for his crimes against Juliet. “Keep watch, make sure he doesn’t come back.”
Rave nodded, and he left to go stand watch in the driveway.
Will got the door open, and he and Bennet rushed inside. I was right behind them, and we spread out through the house. I went upstairs, straight to her room, while Will and Bennet spread out through the downstairs, checking everything out.
