Dark Trio

SEBASTIAN

? ?? Never cared for what they say… ???

Chase and I decided to stay later at the club since Raven and Leah were having a girls' night. Jason and the other staff had been nice enough to pick up the slack for us this week, but it was busy as fuck and everyone was scrambling to keep up. My phone buzzed with a text, but I was dealing with a couple of drunks who had started a brawl over a woman. It took Chase, myself and two bouncers to break it up and get them out of our club.

I wasn’t until a few hours later, nearly 3 a.m., I realized my phone had been knocked out of my pocket and slid under the bar. I remembered the text and checked my phone, ice climbing up my spine when I read it.

Leah: Hey, have you heard from Raven? She told me to come over at seven, but no one is here, her car is in the driveway, and she’s not answering her phone.

Leah:Sebastian?

Leah:Where the fuck are you?

Leah:I can’t get a hold of Jason either and I don’t have Chase’s number. I’m getting scared, please answer.

Sebastian: FUCK. There was a fight in the club and I lost my phone. Raven messaged when she was leaving work to remind me you guys were getting together. She never showed up?

Leah:No. Fuck. I didn’t want to leave in case she showed up. Can you meet me here? I’m going to check with a couple of neighbors. I don’t know why I didn’t think of that earlier. They’ll be pissed at me knocking on their doors at 3 a.m., but whatever.

Sebastian:See what you can find out. We’ll be there in ten and help knock on doors if we need to.

I grabbed Chase’s arm and dragged him out of the club and to the car.

“What the fuck, man?”

“Raven is missing.”

“Fucking what?”

“Leah is there, Raven’s car is there, she is not and she’s not answering her phone. Leah’s going knocking on doors now and we’re going to meet her there.”

“She waited till now to get in touch??”

“No, I lost my fucking phone breaking up that fight.”

“It’s got to be that piece of shit, Andrew. If he harms a hair on her head, I’ll fucking end him.”

“One thing at a time, Chase. Let’s just see what Leah finds.”

We pulled up to Raven’s place to find Leah pacing up and down the walkway. She ran over to the car and hopped in the backseat before we had a chance to get out.

“The next-door neighbor got home about the same time as Raven and they said there was a man here waiting for her. Guys, it was Andrew.”

“Fucking bastard. Do we know where to find him?”

“Sort of,” Leah said, “I was stuck talking to him a while back and he was bragging about a house he’d bought out in the country. I think he said it was on Smithville Rd. Should we call the police?”

“Okay,” I said, “that’s a fairly unpopulated area, let’s head there and hope for the best. There’s no point in calling the cops. They won’t do anything until she’s been gone twenty-four hours. The three of us have a better chance of finding her on our own.”

“Wait,” Chase said, “Leah, do you by chance have the “find your friends” thing on your phone?”

“I do, it’s the first thing I checked when the neighbor said it was Andrew. Her phone must have been turned off.”

It seemed like an eternity before we reached the right road and my nerves were shot. An hour and a half later, we’d checked more than ten different driveways on what was a much longer street than any of us realized. Our nerves were frayed before we finally found his house, his piece of shit car parked out front. The three of us flew out of the car, not even bothering to close the doors. We ran up to the porch and Chase and I started pounding on the door.

“Andrew,” yelled Leah through the door, “open the fuck up, we know you’re home.”

He opened the door so suddenly, shock and rage on his face, he nearly ate my fist. Truthfully, I wouldn’t have lost any sleep over it.

“Where the fuck is she?” I growled.

“Who?” he asked, eerily calm.

“You know who, asshole,” snapped Chase, his patience hanging by a thread.

“Where’s Raven?” Leah asked, voice quiet and controlled, the slight tremor the only clue as to how angry she really was.

“I don’t know why you’d think she was here. We had a fight last week and I haven’t seen her since, other than in passing at work.”

A loud banging sounded behind him, causing him to freeze for a split second. Chase took that opportunity to barrel through him and into the house, seeking out the source of the noises.

“It’s coming from behind this door, but it’s fucking locked.”

“Where’s the damn key, Andrew?”

“That’s none of your fucking business. Get the fuck out of my house.”

Chase growled in frustration, nostrils flaring, and jaw set. He backed up and in a second had kicked the door halfway off its hinges, pieces of it and the doorframe splintering around him.

“Sebastian!” he cried out, prompting me to shove Andrew out of the way and run towards the room.

I froze when I entered the room, Raven cuffed to the bed by her wrists and ankles, a fucking ball gag in her mouth. Tears flowed from her eyes as she tried, without success, to speak. Chase was at her side in seconds, removing the gag, blood pouring from cuts at the corners of her mouth. I worked to unfasten the cuffs at her ankles while he did her wrists. She was red and raw from the four cuffs, obviously having tried to free herself.