A/N: Hey guys! Here's the next chapter. I loved everyone's reviews from the last chapter, I enjoy throwing twists in my stories. Keeps it more interesting if you ask me. And I loved that a lot of you guys were suspicious of Aspen before, it was so hard not to say anything about it. But if you thought that chapter was dark please brace yourself for this chapter. It is much darker, and many of you might hate me after reading it. You'll see why.

Warning: Cussing and extreme violence, please proceed with caution.

Chapter 21

Branch didn't have to wait long at his car for GD to arrive. They both got in the car quickly and Branch began driving to his apartment, not bothering with speed limits.

"What happened?" GD asked him.

"Poppy's missing, I know that asshole has her. We've got to get her back GD." Branch replied, his hands so tight on the steering wheel his knuckles were white.

"How are you going to find her?"

Branch handed him phone, which still had the tracking on display. "Of course you would put trackers on her." GD didn't bother giving Branch the phone back, better to let him focus on driving.

It didn't take long for Branch to reach his apartment. Once inside Branch went straight to his room to grab a few things. He couldn't get his heart to stop pounding, if anything happened to her he'd kill Creek. Branch wanted to kill him anyway, but it wasn't worth the jail time.

He yelled out to GD who was in the living room, "Call Suki, Poppy has two trackers on her. If they take her phone from her I want each of us to follow one. I'd rather Suki stay with you."

GD walked into his room as he found what he was looking for. "Don't you need someone to be with you? Just in case?"

Branch turned around and smiled, "I will have someone with me." He held up his handgun, he knew Creek would probably have a gun as well, but he'd had a lot of practice and he liked his chances. Branch tucked the gun into the side of his right boot knowing it was the quickest way he could grab it if needed.

"Branch, I don't like this idea. I don't think we should split up." GD was trying to reason with him.

"I don't care what you like GD. Right now we have to find Poppy. If both trackers stay at the same place then we can all go together, but if not I need you and Suki to take one and I'll take the other. Let me see your phone so you can track her as well." GD handed him his phone without a word. Branch did what he needed to do.

Branch handed the phone back to GD then walked out to the living room. He grabbed his jacket and looked at his phone. The red dots had stopped, and it was an address he recognized too well. "They're at my old house." He turned to look at GD, who looked very surprised.

"How would he know where you used to live?" GD asked crossing his arms over his chest.

Branch shook his head, he couldn't believe where that ass had taken Poppy. He was doing this just to screw with Branch. "I don't know," he looked up at GD, "but for now that's where he has Poppy. I'm going now by myself, when Suki gets here follow me but if one of the trackers leaves the house follow that one."

"Branch, please be careful. I know Poppy means everything to you, and I love her like a sister. But please don't get yourself killed." GD said to him, his eyes full of pleading.

"She's worth everything to me GD, I'd die for her." Branch replied, his face like stone.

GD nodded and walked up to Branch and surprisingly hugged him. Branch was shocked at first, but reluctantly hugged him back. He was like a brother to him after all. The two separated after a minute and GD caught Branch's gaze, "If this is the last time I see you Branch, I just want to say you've been a brother to me. I couldn't have asked for a better friend."

Branch was too emotional right now to hear these words and he was doing everything he could to hold back his tears, "Thanks man, please take care of Poppy if something happens to me." He then turned and walked to the front door and put his hand on the knob. Before turning it, he looked at GD one last time, "Bye GD."

He could see GD did have tears running down his face, "Bye Branch."

And with that Branch was out the door. He headed to his car and pulled out of the parking lot. Branch put his phone on the dash where he could see it without really taking his eyes off the road. The two trackers were still at his old house so that's where he headed.

There was no way to put into words how scared he truly was. Poppy was everything to him, and he couldn't bare to lose her. He didn't really know if Creek just wanted her back or if he would hurt her so nobody else could have her. All he knew about him was what Poppy had told him.

He knew he should probably get the police involved, but they didn't step in last time so why would they step in now. Creek obviously had law enforcement on his payroll, or rather his father's pay roll. No, Branch would handle this himself and hopefully not get killed in the process. But he would do anything he had to, to get Poppy back and away from Creek. He looked over and saw the trackers were still both in the same place and Branch hoped they would stay that way.

It was still about 15 minutes to his old house and he glanced over to his phone just in time to see one of the red dots leaving the address. Unfortunately, he couldn't tell if this was her jacket or her phone, but he didn't have to think about it as his phone started ringing and GD's name appeared on the display.

Branch picked up his phone and heard his best friend's voice, "Do you want us to follow the tracker that's moving?"

"Yes, I'm still going to my old house. I'm not sure what I'll find there but whatever you do don't lose that tracker."

"Will do Branch." GD replied, and Branch hung up his phone.

Branch pulled into the driveway of his old house, he hadn't been here since his grandmother had died. The place really looked awful, not that it had look grand then, but it had really gone to hell.

There was no other car in the driveway, but he knew one of those trackers was still in this house. He hoped desperately Poppy was here and he could take her away. But he knew that Creek could just have taken her phone and had her taken away. Tentatively he walked towards the house. Branch noticed the front door had been replaced, but that looked to be the only renovation to the house.

Ever so slowly he walked up the few steps to the porch, then grabbed the knob on the door. His heart was racing, and he exhaled slowly not knowing what he might find inside. Branch opened the door to find the light on in the room but didn't have time to think about as something hit his stomach. He instantly dropped to the floor on his knees and wrapped one arm around his middle while trying to get back the air that had been knocked out of him. Branch then felt one hand on each arm lift him up and bring him back up to his feet.

In front of him stood a man, just shorter than him with purple frosted blonde hair and blue eyes. This must be Creek, he thought to himself. He looked to both sides of him to see two rather large men, each holding one of his arms. Branch knew he was in a bit of trouble now but wouldn't give anything away.

"Where is she?" He asked, knowing she wasn't here already.

Creek smiled at him, "Hello Branch, Poppy has decided that she wants me back and left your sorry ass. Can't blame her, I mean look at you," he gestured to Branch, "and look at me. I'm the obvious choice."

Branch smiled maliciously back knowing this guy was full of it, "You can lie to yourself all you want, but you can't lie to me. Poppy chose me, and you can't stand it."

Before he could react Creek punched him. Luckily all it did was give him a bloody lip, but this just fueled his already boiling rage. Noticing that the men's grip on him had slackened Branch was able to get himself free and went after Creek. Before he could reach him though one of the men grabbed him. Branch swung his arm up and was able to catch the guy under the jar with a punch and the man let him go. But the other henchman was right there to take his partner's place. He reached for Branch, but Branch was faster. The guy had both his arms out to grab Branch, but Branch ducked, caught the guy around the middle with his shoulder and threw the man over his body. The man landed hard on his back behind Branch.

At this point the other henchman was after Branch again. He grabbed Branch's shoulder and attempted a punch, but Branch ducked just enough to avoid being hit. With the man's guard down Branch brought his knee up while grabbing the man's head and pulled it down. He heard a crunch on impact and saw blood on his jeans. Then he felt arms around his waist, his only move now was to throw his head back. He was shorter than the man so he only hit his chin and lip instead of his nose, but it was enough to make the man let go.

Branch was starting to get winded, it had been a long time since he'd been in a fight, and if these guys kept getting up he didn't know how much longer he'd last. But both men were out of his way for the moment and he looked to Creek, who looked a tad scared now. He strode over to Creek and grabbed the front of his shirt with his left hand and punch him hard with his right hand.

"Where is Poppy?!" He yelled at Creek, who just smiled in return despite the blood running down his teeth from his busted lip. Out of anger Branch punched him again and this time let his shirt go. Creek hit the ground and Branch stood over him. He got a few more hits in before the two henchmen grabbed him again and drugged him off Creek. Branch was beyond furious at this point but wasn't sure how he was going to get out of this. He couldn't beat three guys.

Creek stood up, blood ran down his face onto his shirt, but he didn't seem to care. He took a few steps towards Branch and hit him again. Creek punched him a few more times and then stepped back. Branch could feel blood dripping off his chin, but luckily just from his lip and cheek. Creek had somehow avoided his nose, which he was thankful for.

Then Creek looked to his henchmen and smiled, "He's yours boys. Have fun." He then went and leaned against the wall and crossed his arms as if he was about to watch a show, and unfortunately for Branch, he was about to.

Branch couldn't fight them off this time, they were both on him at the same time. He could feel hits everywhere from the waist up. Finally, at one point he blacked out from a hit to the head and from all the pain.

Later, not sure how much later, Branch woke up. His head was pounding, when he tried to open his eyes all he saw were black spots. He sat for a few minutes, realizing he was tied up to what he was pretty sure was a chair. Branch breathed in slowly, he didn't want to see spots again the next time he opened his eyes.

Finally, he attempted to open his eyes again, which were both swollen, but he was able to see a little bit still. He lifted his head and saw the three men. They were all cleaned up now, but with some bruises. Branch didn't even want to know how he looked. He could easily feel he had at least a few broken ribs, his knuckled were bloodied, no telling how many cuts he had on his face. He also felt nauseated but tried to hold this down as much as possible.

He looked towards Creek and spoke in a rather hoarse voice, "Where is Poppy?"

Creek smiled again and threw his head up as if a child was talking to him, "How many times are you going to ask that before you get the idea." Creek walked up to him at that point and squatted down so they were eye to eye, "She's not coming back."

Branch held his gaze, "Then what are you going to do with me?"

Creek stood up and turned his back to Branch. Branch had a good idea what Creek was going to do. He was going to die, there was no other option here. Creek wouldn't leave him alive, he would do anything to keep Poppy to himself. After walking about ten feet away Creek turned around and held something in his hand. It was what Branch was afraid of, Creek held his gun. He glanced down to his right boot quickly, but sure enough Creek had 'his' gun.

"I think you know exactly where this is going Branch," Creek started, "I simply can't allow anyone else to have Poppy. She is mine." And then he pointed the gun at him.

Branch had no option at this point, for the first time since he was a kid he cried. He allowed the tears to run freely down his face. No, he didn't want Creek to see this, but he knew now he would never see Poppy again, he would never see his friends again or Smidge. He had many regrets in his life, but there was no time to think of those. He wanted his last thoughts to be of Poppy. Poppy, I'm so sorry. I love you.

He then looked up to match Creek's gaze, he would not die with his head bowed. Branch still cried but he was ready to accept his fate. He then heard a shot, and everything went black.

Suki drove as GD followed the tracker on his phone. "It looks like they're headed for the airport." GD said, trying to keep his cool. He really hoped Branch was alright and that one of them could get to Poppy on time.

Suki put her pedal to the floor, "Well, I better hurry up then. The airport is at least fifteen minutes away. I hope we can catch them in time."

GD nodded, "Me too, Suki, me too."

It wasn't long before they did reach the airport. Quickly they parked and ran inside following the tracker. But Suki ran up to the counter to talk to the clerk first, "Excuse me." The clerk turned around, it was a middle-aged woman who wore her hair in a ponytail and way too much makeup.

Suki continued, "Have you seen a girl with pink hair come through? Young, still a teenager."

The woman nodded, "Yes she came through about fifteen minutes with a young man, about your age." She looked between the two.

"Thank you!" Suki said as she and GD ran off towards the security line, both hoping they weren't too late.

"At least we know she came through here." Suki said.

When they reached the security line Suki decided to take a chance and yell, "Poppy!" She knew the guards wouldn't let her any farther, but maybe if Poppy could hear her if she hadn't boarded a plane yet. The guards of course were instantly by the two of them, but not before Suki had yelled a couple more times.

"What is going on here?" One of the guards asked, he was a young man obviously new to the job.

Suki tried to explain as quickly as she could, "Did you see a girl come through here with pink hair? She was kidnapped, and we need to find her."

The guard looked a bit surprised, "Yes she came through here, with a young man. Do you want me to go look for her?"

Suki and GD both nodded, "Yes please, we have to find her."

"Go sit over there and I'll be right back." The guard pointed to a bench and the two sat down waiting anxiously. If Poppy was still in the airport they could get her back. They didn't have a long wait before the guard came back. Both of them jumped up wanting to hear if he had found her.

"I'm sorry kids, but she already boarded a plane. You say she was kidnapped?" He looked at them both questioningly.

"Yes, she was taken by her ex." Suki said.

"Do you want to get the police on this?" The guard asked them.

Both nodded quickly, hoping this could help them get Poppy back. It was at this point though an even older security guard came to investigate all the noise. "What's going on here?" He asked gruffly to the younger guard. The situation was explained quickly, and the older guard pulled the younger aside. Suki and GD had no idea what was going on.

The younger guard came back to them a moment later and said, "It's being handled already. I can't tell you anything, I'm sorry."

GD and Suki looked at each other confused. "What do you mean it's being handled?" GD asked.

"I can't tell you, just know your friend is safe." And then he walked away without another word.

The couple didn't know what to say, just stood there dumbfounded for a minute before walking back to their car. "So, do you think Poppy's really okay?" Suki asked GD as they walked.

GD shrugged, "I hope so, the guard said she was okay."

"But can we really believe him? What if he's another man working for Creek?" Suki said, hoping desperately that the guard had been telling the truth, but also seeing what else could be happening.

"I really don't know Suki, I can still see the tracker on the phone but if they fly much farther then we'll lose her. I don't know what else we can do for the moment except trust the authorities. I'm going to call Branch and see what's up with him, I'm guessing he'll be on his way here since Poppy obviously wasn't at the house."

GD pulled out his phone as they reached the car and dialed Branch's number. He leaned against it as he waited for Branch to pick up, but all he got was his voicemail. That was odd, Branch always answered. Then he got a bad feeling.

"Suki let's go." He said hurriedly as jumped into the passenger side of the car.

Suki got into the driver's side and looked a bit worried at his tone of voice, "Where?"

"To Branch's old house, I've got a bad feeling." GD replied, feeling a tad sick in the pit of his stomach. He hoped Branch was alright.

A/N: Please do not throw anything at me! I promise things do get better, just bare with me through these awful chapters.