The Ruckus

Jeff Bailey appeared at the door, eyes narrowed and shotgun in hand. “What kind of trouble? Trouble with the law? And why do the two of you look like you’ve had your asses kicked—did you try anything funny with my niece?”

I had a sneaking suspicion he wouldn’t think the things we’d done together with Jasmine were funny at all. He most definitely wouldn’t want to hear how much she had enjoyed it.

“Jasmine has been abducted,” Axel spoke up for the first time. “Randy Johnson broke in while we were sleeping and—”

“You’re saying that Randy Johnson kidnapped my niece?” Jeff interrupted. “And the two of you just stood by and let that happen?”

Okay, he was starting to piss me off. “No, sir, we did not stand by and let it happen. Randy got the drop on us while we were sleeping and knocked us out. We think he might have taken her to his family’s hunting cabin that’s somewhere around here, but we don’t have time to stand around and talk because he has her there now. Will you help us find her or not, sir?”

Well, so much for being diplomatic. Jeff’s finger twitched near the gun’s trigger, and his eyes narrowed even further as he took a step toward me.

I didn’t flinch. I didn’t move a muscle. Yeah, he might have been an intimidating, crazy-ass hillbilly, but he wasn’t going to scare me off. Not when the stakes were already so high.

“I know where that cabin is,” he said, finally. “I can take you there. I’ll get my ATV, and the two of you can follow me in your truck.” He turned without another word. A few steps later, he stopped and glanced back over his shoulder. “I get first dibs when it’s time to shoot him.”

I just nodded as he walked back into the house.

“We’ll see about that,” Axel said, thankfully keeping his voice down as we hurried back to the truck. “Randy is gonna be in a world of hurt when the three of us show up. He won’t even see what hit him.”

A few seconds later, an engine roared to life, and then Jeff sped out from behind the house on his all-terrain vehicle. “Come on,” he shouted. “Follow me and try to keep up.”

“Is he seriously gonna ride that thing in the rain?” Axel shook his head. “Crazy bastard.”

“I don’t give a shit if he wants to ride a magical broomstick as long as he can get us to Jasmine in a hurry.” My truck lurched forward after the speedy little ATV, sending mud flying up all around us. “Hold on. This is gonna be a bumpy ride.”

“Jesus Christ.” Axel sucked in a sharp breath and flinched away from the passenger window as tree branches slapped the top and sides of my truck. “We can’t help Jasmine at all if you get us killed on the way.”

“We also can’t help her if we get separated from Jeff, and he’s not slowing down.”

My hands already ached from gripping the steering wheel so tightly, and my knuckles were white, but I didn’t dare ease up off the gas pedal. Not as long as Jeff raced off ahead, zipping through the trees like it was some Olympic event.

“Everyone has gone fucking crazy,” Axel said under his breath. And honestly? It wasn’t far from the truth. The past twenty-four hours had been a non-stop rollercoaster ride of crazy shit.

Granted, some of the craziness had been good. Some of it had even been pretty fucking epic. But it had mostly been a long, hard slog through crazy weather to end up in crazy places and getting our asses kicked by crazy people.

“It’s going to be worth it, though,” I said, responding to my own thoughts as much as to Axel. “Once we’re sure she’s okay, and once we get her back in our arms, I’m never letting her go again.”

I didn’t dare take my eyes off the narrow, virtually nonexistent trail ahead of us, but I still saw my friend freaking out in my peripheral vision while he braced himself after every bump and curve.

“What are you—shit—going to do if...” Axel’s voice trailed off for a second while he shifted his weight in the seat. “What if she decides she doesn’t want to stay here with us? You heard her last night. She still plans to go back to L.A. when this is all over. And this isn’t gonna make her want to stay around here.”

I didn’t need the reminder. It was all I’d been able to think about before she’d been taken from us, and the threat to her safety had become more important than anything else.

“Her plans might change,” I said, my words coming out a little more abruptly than I intended. “We don’t know what she’ll do when we get her away from that asshole.”