Kyle (Scandalous Boys Book 3) Read online

  Eric clears his throat. “Please tell me you’re not suggesting we throw this girl out there as bait? There are other ways to get this guy.”

  Madison gasps. Sarah steps closer to the counter. “I actually think that’s a good idea. Emily wouldn’t have to go by herself. We can go out in groups. But while he’s tailing us assuming, he’s still stalkerish, we can catch him in the act by following him. Snap videos and photos turn it into the police and bam.”

  The whole idea of me being used as bait scares the hell out of me. I shudder in Kyle’s arms. He tightens his hold on me, and I feel the rumbling from his chest as he growls. “Over my dead fucking body! There’s no way in hell we’re going to use her as bait. Think of something else!”

  Relief washes over me, but it doesn’t last. Each plan is worse than the first.

  Madison sighs. “I’m going to order some pizza.” She pats my leg and then walks out of the room. I watch Bryce’s eyes follow her.

  Sarah comes over and hugs me. “I’m going to keep her company.”

  Once Sarah leaves, Bryce leans against the counter and stares at me. “Emily, I’m not going to sugarcoat this shit. My plan is the best option you got right now.”

  “I told you no,” Kyle growls.

  “Yeah, that’s not a very good plan,” Eric says. “There’s too many loopholes.”

  Bryce eyes him up. “Right, person I don’t know. I’m not saying we’d just leave her out there by herself. There are four guys in this house. We’re all strong, and I know Graham and Kyle are quick on their feet if they had to chase and tackle someone. We come up with a simple plan, get proof, a recording, and last name; then we go to the police with the info. Get the restraining order and enjoy the rest of our vacation.”

  “And what if something goes wrong?” Kyle asks. “What if the dick decides he wants to harm her?”

  “Well, obviously you’ll be close enough that you won’t let that happen,” Graham answers.

  Eric starts shaking his head. “I don’t like this, man. There are too many holes in this plan.”

  “I agree,” I say.

  “Well, we didn’t exactly hash out a plan there, genius. I’m telling you what you’re going to have to do to protect Emily. Because right now, you don’t have shit,” Bryce says.

  Eric points at Bryce. “What’s he, a damn law student?”

  Kyle laughs. “No. He’s a criminal mastermind.”

  “For real?” Eric asks.

  Bryce glares at us. “Laugh it up. My dark past is going to save your asses today. So if I were you, I’d shut the hell up.”

  Kyle stops chucking. “He does have a point. If we were to indulge in this plan, we’re going to need a way to keep ourselves out of jail.”

  “Exactly. All our futures depend on it. Because I’ll be damned if I’m going to tell my gorgeous fiancé in there that we’d have to get married in a jail while I’m in some orange jumpsuit. That shit is not happening.”

  I look up at Kyle as he presses me firmer against his chest. He smiles down at me. “What do you think, beautiful?”

  “I’m tired. Can we talk about this some more later?”

  He looks about the room and kisses the top of my head. “Okay.” Suddenly he lifts me out of the chair and into his arms, then carries me off to our room.

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Emily

  I’m exhausted. Mentally and physically. The whole Vince thing is wigging me out. I do feel relieved that Maddy knows, but I’m also worried. How is she going to be from now on? Especially now that she knows Kyle and I are together. I don’t want her to be all mothering, checking in on me all the time.

  Kyle tucks me into bed and whispers, “I love you.”

  “Love you too,” I say back.

  “Get some rest, okay.”

  I feel the bed shift, and I moan, “Don’t leave.”

  “I’m not going anywhere. Just shutting the door.”

  I watch him go to the door and close it. Then he returns to his spot on the bed. Snuggling in beside me, he wraps me in his arms and pulls me against him. “Better?”

  “Much.”

  My phone buzzes me awake the next morning. I groggily answer it. “Hello?”

  “Miss Emerson, this is Lindsey from Dr. Sommers’s office. I was calling because you missed your morning session you had scheduled yesterday, and I wanted to know if you wanted to reschedule for another time today.”

  “Um …” I pull myself out of Kyle’s sleeping embrace and whisper, “Yeah. What time?”

  “We have an opening in twenty minutes.”

  “I can do that,” I say in a hushed voice. I slink out of Kyle’s room and into my old room. I grab some clean clothes and head to the shower.

  “Great. We’ll see you then.”

  “Okay.” I hang up, hop in the shower get dressed, take my meds, and walk out of the house.

  I know I should probably let people in the house know where I’m going. But the cops have been patrolling the place, and I can take the beach instead of the streets. As well as I need an outsider’s opinion about the current situation.

  Trekking up the beach, I make my way to the bus stop. So far no shadows. No crazy stalkers leaping out of the brush or whatever to attack me. My heartbeat steadies a little at this slight comfort.

  As my foot touches the final step, something grabs me with one hand and covers my face with a cloth. My gasp is muffled by a scratchy rag. My heart skitters from a fast pounding to a slow thump thump while blackness webs through my thoughts. My eyelids feel like weights, and as much as I need them open, they shut.

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Kyle

  A chill runs through my body. I stretch to pull Em’s warmth to me, but I’m getting nothing but air and empty mattress. I open my eyes and scan the room.

  Emily isn’t there so I climb out of bed and start looking for her. I head down the hall to the bathroom, knock on the door and say, “Emily?”

  No answer.

  I knock on her old room. Maybe she was changing into her own clothes. “Emily?”

  Again, no answer.

  My heart feels like it dropped to my stomach, and everything inside me starts to ache. I call her phone, but it goes straight to voicemail. What the hell? I’m marching through the living room right as Granger pulls the sliding glass door open and steps in. “Hey man,” he says.

  “Hey have you seen Em?”

  “Uh … not since last night when you hauled her off to your room. Why?”

  “I woke up and she was gone. Something is wrong. She’s not here, and her phone is off.”

  “Okay. Take a breath man. I think you’re just stressed out about the situation.”

  I shake my head. “No. This is different. Have you seen my sister?”

  He points his thumb to the sliding glass door. “She’s out there on the beach with her man. He’s something else. I just brushed my hand on your sister’s arm to get her attention, and he basically threatened my future children.”

  I smile. “He has his moments. Sometimes I want to deck him. Sometimes I’m glad she has him because I know he’ll die protecting her.” Granger follows me out the door and to the beach.

  My sister, Bryce, and Sarah are all under a huge umbrella while Graham is tossing a volleyball in front of them. “Hey, any of you seen Emily?”

  “Since yesterday? No,” Madison says. “Why?”

  “She wasn’t in the room when I woke up. She’s not in the house. None of you guys saw her? I tried calling her cell, but it’s off.”

  I notice Graham stops tossing up the volleyball and the whole group seem to be focused on me. Madison pulls her lower lip into her mouth, then releases it. “Maybe she went shopping and just wanted some alone time.”

  “I don’t think I would feel like this if she were. I’m serious, Maddy. I think she’s in trouble.”

  Bryce gets up out of his chair and cocks his head to the side at Graham. “Come on.”

  “Where ar
e you two going?” Sarah, Madison, and I ask at the same time.

  “We’re going to help you two look for her. The girls will stay in the house in case Emily returns. Lock all the doors,” Bryce says.

  Granger slaps my shoulder. “Sounds like a plan. Come on, Issac. I’m with you.”

  I nod. Madison and Sarah pack up and start heading into the house while Granger, me, Bryce, and Graham get into our vehicles and search for Em.

  Granger and I hit the local shops near our place and came up empty. “Issac, where else do you think she could be?”

  “I don’t know.”

  My phone rings with a strange number across the screen. I answer it. “Hello?”

  “Hello, this is Dr. Sommers’s office. Emily Emerson left us this number as an emergency contact. She had an appointment with us this morning, but she didn’t show. We tried contacting her phone but were unable to reach her. Could we please speak with her?”

  “Emily was supposed to see you today?”

  “She had an appointment to see Dr. Sommers, yes. Can we please speak with her?”

  “Emily isn’t with me at the moment. Can you please tell me where your office is located?”

  She rattles off an address and tells me to have Emily call as soon as she can. I hang up, and Granger has an odd look on his face. “What was that about?”

  “I may have a lead where she was going. She didn’t make it there though.”

  “Okay. Where was that?”

  “A doctor’s office. Let’s go check it out.”

  He makes a weird face. “Dude, doesn’t that sound a little weird to you? I mean, why would you need to go to a doctor’s office while you’re on vacation. She didn’t seem sick when I meet her yesterday.”

  “I don’t know. But we’re going to find out.”

  “Sounds like a plan. Dude, I kind of feel like a detective.”

  Yeah. Only problem is I don’t like playing detective for my girlfriend. The worrying doesn’t cease when we pull into the parking lot of the doctor’s office. “You okay, man?”

  I shake my head. “No. What if we don’t find her?” I ask.

  “Hey, don’t think like that. We’ll find her.”

  “Alive?”

  Granger frowns. “Jesus, dude. Don’t think like that. We’ll find her.”

  We better or so help me whatever happened to her I will personally find the person responsible and murder them.

  Granger hangs back in the car while I enter the office. A small woman is perched behind a large desk. I smile. “Hi.”

  “Hello, can I help you?”

  “Yes,” I say. “I think I spoke to you earlier. You were searching for Emily Emerson?”

  She nods. “Yes. Um … is she with you?”

  “No. See … she disappeared. No one has seen her, and you were the first clue we had as to where she might have been. I understand you said she didn’t show up. But, um … what kind of …” I trail off when I see the diplomas on the wall. “She was seeing a therapist?”

  “I can’t discuss that with you, Mr. …”

  “Issac. I get that. Patient and doctor thing. I’m not looking for what’s in her files, I just … I didn’t know why she had a doctor appointment, but I get it now. Um … do you think I can ask the doctor a quick question? It could help me find Emily. We’re really worried she might be hurt somewhere.”

  “Did you call the police?”

  “I don’t know how well that’s going to work. I mean, she hasn’t been missing for more than a couple of hours. Don’t you have to wait for at least twelve hours?”

  Her brown eyes lower and then go to the door to her left. “Okay, I will let you see the doctor for a second.”

  “Thank you.”

  She announces me and then motions for me to enter. I walk in and spot a woman possibly in her mid-forties spraying a plant. The woman turns, and she smiles at me. “You must be Kyle.”

  “How did … Emily talks about me?”

  “I can’t tell you that.” She motions to one of the chairs. “Sit, please.”

  “I’m not going to stay long. I think Emily is in trouble. The night before she was holed up in my room. This Vince guy who stalked and threatened her is here in Virginia Beach. He may have been sitting outside the house. Emily missed your appointment today. Did she ever tell you anything that might help me figure out where she might be?”

  “I can’t tell you that even if she did.” She shakes her head and frowns. “Are you certain he’s here?”

  “I’ve known Emily most of my life, and I’ve never seen her as freaked out as she was last night. I’m positive he’s here. My sister and my cousin were both with her when she apparently ran into him at one of the shops in town.”

  “Kyle, I advise you to call the police. You may let them know that Emily was seeing me and she missed her appointment. And there is a potential person out there ready to harm her.”

  “There isn’t anything else I can do?”

  Her frown deepens. “I wish I could be more help, but I can’t. I’m sorry.”

  “I understand.” I’m frustrated as all hell though.

  Granger asks as soon as slide back into my car, “Did you get anything?”

  “Kind of. We need to call the cops. We need to send them over to those shops to collect that video feed from yesterday. So we can at least have an idea of who the hell we’re looking for. I have a feeling he has Emily. I just … I don’t get why she would sneak off without letting us know,” I say as I tighten my grip on my steering wheel.

  “I don’t know, man. But it’s going to be okay. We’ll find her.”

  I drive back to the house and call the police.

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Emily

  My head lolls back, and I peel my eyes open one at a time. I feel like hell. As the room comes into focus, I notice the light is dim. I hear seagulls caulking about, and then I see him. My body shudders and I struggle to move, but my hands and legs are tied to a chair.

  Vince pushes off a wall and comes toward me. His dark eyes look black and soulless as he. “HELP!” I scream as loud as I can.

  He laughs. “No one can hear you for miles, Emily. Scream all you want. It won’t do you any good.” I flinch as he drags his finger slowly down my cheek. He draws his face closer to mine and his hot breath pulses against my skin. “Emily, Emily, Emily. I told you I’d find you, babe.”

  I wiggle against the chair, trying to put distance between us. It’s useless though. He lifts his hand and cracks it against my right cheek. “That’s for being a dirty slut! Did you think I wouldn’t find out? Did you think I wouldn’t see you spreading yourself like a fucking whore for that asshole?”

  He saw me with Kyle? Oh, God. Was Kyle safe? I don’t answer him, and this apparently pisses Vince off because he smacks me again. I refuse to whimper or shed a tear even though I desperately want to. “How could you cheat on me like that?”

  “I wasn’t cheating, you dumbass! We’re not even together, you sick fuck!”

  He smiles. “We are! You’re my fucking soul mate. No worries. That asshole will never have you ever again.”

  I spit in his face when he looms in front of me. He wipes it off with a smirk, then backhands me. My vision blurs, and my jaw aches. “What do you want?” I ask.

  He wags a finger in my face. “Tut-tut-tut. I’m going to be talking. You’ll be listening.” He pulls out duct tape and rips a strand off, then brings it closer to my mouth. I try to move away, but he presses his knee into my own thigh causing me to jerk forward. Pain clouds my thoughts as tears form in my eyes. They drop as soon as the sticky film covers my mouth, sealing my lips closed.

  “Look at what you made me do.” He sounds like he feels bad for hitting me, but I know better. He doesn’t feel bad at all.

  I want to scream no one made him do this but him. He is sick and needs help! I want to cry but I realize that’s only fueling his power over me. Even if I’m angry I’m also scared. What if I nev
er see my mom and dad again? What if no one finds me? What is he going to do to me? I’m freaking out. All these roller-coaster emotions are twisting through me, and I want to vomit.

  His cold stare makes me shiver again. I look away. He laughs. It’s deep and sinister. Jesus, he’s going to kill me. “You can’t look at me?” he whispers in my right ear. I twist my head, trying to keep his breath off me. He only laughs more. “Do I disgust you? Huh, Emily?”

  I squeeze my eyes shut and pray Kyle or someone finds me soon. But even as I wish it, I know it’s impossible. I didn’t tell anyone where I was going. Kyle is probably still napping. I should have left a note.

  “How could you betray me like this? Did you think if you ran here I wouldn’t find out?”

  He smacks me across the face again. “I saw you with him. Is that what you traded me in for? Some fucking loser GQ model? You told that fucker you loved him! What about me? I told you all the time I loved you and you just laughed.”

  He said he loved me after the second date. Of course I laughed. We didn’t know each other for a lifetime. We just met. How could he possibly love me at all especially when he’s trying to beat the shit out of me?

  He grabs an envelope and pulls out what looks to be large photographs. “Look at you spreading your legs for him like a common whore!” He smacks me again. “I love you, Emily! This is what you do to me. This is how you throw my love for you back in my face?”

  I try looking up at him, but my skull and neck hurt too much. Tears glide down my face, and I just want the blossoming pain shooting through my eye sockets and jaw to go away.

  “Yeah. You didn’t think I saw him, did you? Grocery shopping like a fucking couple. His hand on my fucking property! What the fuck was hands doing on you? Huh, Em?” He screams as he grabs my face forcing me to look directly at him. “So I followed you. I saw the house you were staying at and I watched.”