Reckless Love
Page 38
Thirty-One
Ian
I was glad to be back at the gym. Not only was it good for me to be around other people again—a great distraction from MacKenzie—but I’d also been pushing myself harder.
Part of that was thanks to MacKenzie. She’d been killing me, adding extra sets and upping the weights every day. At first I thought she was doing it to push me away, but after a few days of her coming back again and again, I realized it wasn’t that at all; she was giving me the push I needed to pass my next physical. I was thankful to her for that.
Still, by the end of the fourth day back at the gym, my body was so brutalized that when I got home around seven, I hardly had enough energy to feed myself before stumbling into bed. Not that I could go out partying anyway; I was back in full training mode. But I was so shit tired I fell asleep before my head hit the pillow.
I woke to the sound of my phone in the dead of night. I used to turn off the ringer before bed, but because of recent events, I’d cranked up the volume so that if my sister called, I would hear it.
My arm muscles screamed from the day’s workout as I fumbled for my phone on the nightstand. The clock said it was only ten thirty, but my body and mind were of the opinion that it must be much later.
“Yeah,” I grumbled when I finally found the answer button.
“Is this Ian?” a man’s voice asked.
I pulled the phone away to see who was calling. My phone said it was Sophia. I shot up in bed. “Who is this?”
“Ian…” There was a pause. “Don’t get too excited. It’s Rick.”
“Rick?” My brain was too fucking tired to figure out what was going on. “Rick who? Where’s Sophia?”
“Rick, Cade’s buddy from the adult-film industry. Sophia’s here with me. She’s safe, but you need to come get her.”
I was so upset I couldn’t fucking speak. All I wanted to do was reach through the phone and strangle Rick. I actually held the phone away from my ear for a second, trying to figure out if there was some way to achieve that magical feat. But there wasn’t.
“Just tell me where you are and I promise not to kill you.” Just torture you to within an inch of your life, that’s all.
“Hey, I called you, remember? I haven’t touched her. I don’t know how she found my studio, but she showed up with some guy asking if she could work for me.”
“Don’t you dare hire her. I will end you,” I yelled.
“Are you kidding me? I remember our last meeting, the one where you dragged me out of Sara’s apartment by the arm and told me not to touch your little sister. I value my life, which is why I contacted you as soon as I could.”
“How did you get her phone?” I asked.
“I lifted it from her purse. Listen, in order to keep her here, I had to tell her I’d hire her, so you need to get your ass over here soon and pull her out. Right now I have one of the techs giving her a tour of our facilities, but I won’t be able to stall her here much longer.”
“Just tell me where and I’ll be there,” I said and got up, pulling on clothes as I talked.
He gave me the address, and I was about to hang up so that I could plug the location into my phone. “One more thing,” he said. “I think she might be coked up.”
“How the hell did she get that? I better not find out she got it from you.”
“No. Like I said, I value my life. But the guy she came here with seems a little shady. I told my guys to get rid of him.”
“Don’t,” I said.
“No. We’re not keeping him here for you, sorry. I run a clean operation here, and can’t have you murdering some loser on my property. He’ll be gone by the time you get here. I have a business to run.”
I sighed. “Fine, but if by some miracle he’s still there when I get there, you will have a mess to clean up.”
I hung up, pulled up my GPS, and plugged in the address as I made my way down to the garage and hopped into my car.
Red.
All I could see was the color red. Luckily, my body seemed to be able to operate the vehicle, even though I’d fucking lost it. The address was a good twenty miles away, but I made it there in ten minutes.
Rick’s “studio” was in a semi-posh part of town with a lot of older warehouse buildings that had been renovated into lofts. His film company occupied several upper floors of one of these old refurbished buildings. I took the stairs five at a time as I raced up to the fourth floor where Rick said I would find her.
The scene I walked in on was massively fucked up. It was a movie set with a bedroom all lit up with studio lights, and a couple sitting on the bed, half-naked. The filming had stopped and they were both watching the commotion in the corner.
Two guys held down Sophia, who was screaming, “I can do this. Just give me a chance.”
I ran at the guys, fully expecting to brutally murder them both, but as I neared, I realized they were not so much holding her down as they were trying to keep her shirt on her. She kept on trying to pull it up, and they were restraining her in order to prevent her from stripping.
“Sophia,” I yelled, my voice demanding that she stop her crap, and she did. Taking in a breath, she looked up at me with wide eyes. “What the hell are you doing?”
The room went silent, and guys who’d been forcibly keeping her clothed backed away. When I made it to her and she still hadn’t spoken, I knelt down in front of her, grabbed her arms, and looked into her eyes.
Ian
I was glad to be back at the gym. Not only was it good for me to be around other people again—a great distraction from MacKenzie—but I’d also been pushing myself harder.
Part of that was thanks to MacKenzie. She’d been killing me, adding extra sets and upping the weights every day. At first I thought she was doing it to push me away, but after a few days of her coming back again and again, I realized it wasn’t that at all; she was giving me the push I needed to pass my next physical. I was thankful to her for that.
Still, by the end of the fourth day back at the gym, my body was so brutalized that when I got home around seven, I hardly had enough energy to feed myself before stumbling into bed. Not that I could go out partying anyway; I was back in full training mode. But I was so shit tired I fell asleep before my head hit the pillow.
I woke to the sound of my phone in the dead of night. I used to turn off the ringer before bed, but because of recent events, I’d cranked up the volume so that if my sister called, I would hear it.
My arm muscles screamed from the day’s workout as I fumbled for my phone on the nightstand. The clock said it was only ten thirty, but my body and mind were of the opinion that it must be much later.
“Yeah,” I grumbled when I finally found the answer button.
“Is this Ian?” a man’s voice asked.
I pulled the phone away to see who was calling. My phone said it was Sophia. I shot up in bed. “Who is this?”
“Ian…” There was a pause. “Don’t get too excited. It’s Rick.”
“Rick?” My brain was too fucking tired to figure out what was going on. “Rick who? Where’s Sophia?”
“Rick, Cade’s buddy from the adult-film industry. Sophia’s here with me. She’s safe, but you need to come get her.”
I was so upset I couldn’t fucking speak. All I wanted to do was reach through the phone and strangle Rick. I actually held the phone away from my ear for a second, trying to figure out if there was some way to achieve that magical feat. But there wasn’t.
“Just tell me where you are and I promise not to kill you.” Just torture you to within an inch of your life, that’s all.
“Hey, I called you, remember? I haven’t touched her. I don’t know how she found my studio, but she showed up with some guy asking if she could work for me.”
“Don’t you dare hire her. I will end you,” I yelled.
“Are you kidding me? I remember our last meeting, the one where you dragged me out of Sara’s apartment by the arm and told me not to touch your little sister. I value my life, which is why I contacted you as soon as I could.”
“How did you get her phone?” I asked.
“I lifted it from her purse. Listen, in order to keep her here, I had to tell her I’d hire her, so you need to get your ass over here soon and pull her out. Right now I have one of the techs giving her a tour of our facilities, but I won’t be able to stall her here much longer.”
“Just tell me where and I’ll be there,” I said and got up, pulling on clothes as I talked.
He gave me the address, and I was about to hang up so that I could plug the location into my phone. “One more thing,” he said. “I think she might be coked up.”
“How the hell did she get that? I better not find out she got it from you.”
“No. Like I said, I value my life. But the guy she came here with seems a little shady. I told my guys to get rid of him.”
“Don’t,” I said.
“No. We’re not keeping him here for you, sorry. I run a clean operation here, and can’t have you murdering some loser on my property. He’ll be gone by the time you get here. I have a business to run.”
I sighed. “Fine, but if by some miracle he’s still there when I get there, you will have a mess to clean up.”
I hung up, pulled up my GPS, and plugged in the address as I made my way down to the garage and hopped into my car.
Red.
All I could see was the color red. Luckily, my body seemed to be able to operate the vehicle, even though I’d fucking lost it. The address was a good twenty miles away, but I made it there in ten minutes.
Rick’s “studio” was in a semi-posh part of town with a lot of older warehouse buildings that had been renovated into lofts. His film company occupied several upper floors of one of these old refurbished buildings. I took the stairs five at a time as I raced up to the fourth floor where Rick said I would find her.
The scene I walked in on was massively fucked up. It was a movie set with a bedroom all lit up with studio lights, and a couple sitting on the bed, half-naked. The filming had stopped and they were both watching the commotion in the corner.
Two guys held down Sophia, who was screaming, “I can do this. Just give me a chance.”
I ran at the guys, fully expecting to brutally murder them both, but as I neared, I realized they were not so much holding her down as they were trying to keep her shirt on her. She kept on trying to pull it up, and they were restraining her in order to prevent her from stripping.
“Sophia,” I yelled, my voice demanding that she stop her crap, and she did. Taking in a breath, she looked up at me with wide eyes. “What the hell are you doing?”
The room went silent, and guys who’d been forcibly keeping her clothed backed away. When I made it to her and she still hadn’t spoken, I knelt down in front of her, grabbed her arms, and looked into her eyes.
