Running toward the bedroom, I started to strip off my clothes.
It wasn’t until I looked at my naked body in the mirror that I realized I was crying.
I knew why I was crying.
I was emotional.
My man was quite possibly being released from prison, and I hadn’t seen him in so long that I was seconds away from losing it.
I didn’t know why. I didn’t know how. I didn’t know who.
But I did know that I was meeting at those coordinates with my son in tow, and I was going to keep a positive attitude.
He would be there.
He would be there.
He would be there.
I continued that hope in my head as I frantically showered, shaved, and got dressed in the only sexy thing that still fit.
I just hoped that he would be happy to see me.
The moment that the clothes were on my body, I had a flashback of the last time that I’d really gotten dressed up.
It’d been the day that I’d let Toot inside Trouper’s house. The day that would forever be the day that I’d ruined everything by just letting one single person into Trouper’s home. A person that I thought I could trust.
• • •
“Hey, Toot!” I smiled at my husband’s best friend. “What are you doing here? You just missed Trouper. He went in early because there was an emergency.”
Toot’s smile didn’t reach his eyes.
The poor guy. Ever since Cannel had gone missing, the smile never reached his eyes anymore. It was a sad thing to see, honestly.
That look right there was the reason that I’d stayed in the game as long as I had.
It didn’t matter whether it was a fiancée like Toot’s, a father, a mother, or a brother. They all had ‘that’ look to them. The one that said they were quickly giving up hope and every minute that passed was another minute that their loved one was likely being tortured to death.
“Um.” Toot shook his head, “I was hoping to borrow you for a few seconds. I started to ask Traci, but she is a wreck because of Cannel. You’re next because you’re one of the only girls I know.”
I opened the door wider to let him in. “I was supposed to be going out to eat for breakfast with Trouper, that’s why I’m so dressed up. But since he was called in, I don’t see any reason that I can’t help you with whatever you need.”
When I turned and presented him with my back, he struck.
I next woke up with my arms tied behind my back, and my feet tied at my ankles, on my stomach in the back of an unfamiliar car.
I blinked my eyes, trying to clear my vision.
It didn’t work all that well, so I continued to blink.
I had mascara on my eyelashes, and I was fairly sure that the gunk had leaked into my eyeballs.
Had I taken a nap?
What was…
“I’ve got her. I want my fiancée back. I’ll bring her to the specified location.” Toot’s voice had my foggy brain coming back online.
He wanted his fiancée back?
What?
We went over a pothole of hell, and I groaned when my face hit the leather seat.
Toot’s SUV.
That’s where I was.
In the back.
“You awake?” Toot asked.
I blinked open my eyes and saw him turned around, looking at me.
I swallowed bile.
“What are you doing?” I rasped.
Someone honked and he turned around and started driving again.
“I found out who has Cannel.”
My heart soared. Just as suddenly it plummeted again.
“What? Where?” I asked.
I was genuinely happy that he’d found her. But I was also worried because even though he said he’d found her, I was currently tied up in the back of his SUV.
That didn’t mean good things for me.
“Took some doing.” He cleared his throat, speaking as if I’d never said a word. “Asked around. Every night. Happened to run into some lowlife following a teenage girl at the grocery store. I stopped him, forced him to talk to me, and he got me in touch with his boss. It escalated from there, and I found out that they moved Cannel out of the city because of a perceived threat. Fast forward to now, and I’m trading you for her.”
My mouth all but fell open at his words.
“You know that they’re not going to just give you her, right?” I asked, sounding much calmer than I felt.
“I have to try.” He shook his head. “It breaks my heart, her being gone. Every single morning, I wake up and reach for her, and she’s gone. I can’t do it anymore. I have to try.”
My heart ached for him, but more so, my heart ached for Trouper.
He was never, ever going to recover from this. Not one of his best friends betraying him like this.
“What makes you think they even have her?” I tried to be rational about it.