He just finished packing for the long weekend at the cabin. And now he was on his way to her house to ask her to come with. He had finally convinced his mom to let him invite Hailey and Erin. The lie of how the latter was just his best friend and nothing more sold her. But as he walks up the steps of the old rickety porch he finds himself questioning whether it was a good idea or not. His palms become sweaty and his heart is pounding as he anxiously waits for her to answer the door.
His nerves and excitement are quickly washed away as he sets his sights on her. She's upset – that much is obvious as she looks at him with a saddened expression but he can also see the anger igniting a fire in her eyes. His concern overwhelms him as he rushes to her but she shakes her head and puts her hands on his chest to stop him from getting any closer.
His voice is hushed as he asks her what's wrong. She shakes her head again and says her mom's name. That's it, no other explanation is needed. He knows everything there is about Bunny. How she's never home and when she is, it's for a party or some kind of illegal transaction. And how she always has Erin clean up her messes. Even the money his mom gives her daughter for helping at the garage or with things at their house always ends up in Bunny's hands.
"Maybe a weekend at the cabin will help get your mind off of it." He suggests and she sighs as her hands fall from his chest.
"The problems will still be here when we get back." She argues with a certain bite in her voice.
"Exactly." He counters and she glares at him.
"I don't want to wait Jay. I have to help Bunny." It's an exasperated admittance – one coming from obligation instead of an actual desire to do it.
He can feel his disappointment turn into frustration as she inadvertently declines his invitation. "Why? So she can go and make more problems? Every time you help her, she promises to be better and that it won't happen again. Then two fucking days pass and there's something else she needs."
"She's my mom Jay, what do you want me to do?" She questions as she collapses onto the couch behind her.
"I want you to let her be the adult for once. I want you to have some fun and live your life. I wanted you to come with us this weekend but I guess that was a crazy and stupid idea." He knows he shouldn't be yelling at her – knowing that it will only serve to make things worse between them.
He turns back towards the door when she remains silent. It's not until he actually leaves that she utters the words on the tip of her tongue. She shakes her head as the thought of going after him crosses her mind before she goes back over their argument. Her mom walks or more accurately stumbles down the stairs – her flavor of the week following behind her.
"Erin sweetheart, can we borrow some more money. I promise it'll be the last time." The older woman slurs and Erin rolls her eyes. She knows what her mom needs the money for and it causes her to think about Jay's words again. Her blood boils as her mother says her name and pleads with her as she begins to pace again. Feet moving steadfastly over the floorboards of their living room. He vaguely registers his mom's joke about him wearing a hole in the floor as he moves back and forth in front of the couch. The debate on whether or not he should go talk to her and apologize goes on in his head for a while as he thinks about how it could have gone. This weekend was supposed to be fun and he wanted his best friend with him. He wanted to tell her how he feels once they got to his family's Wisconsin cabin. He had already prepared himself to be disappointed because he figured his feelings wouldn't be reciprocated. But he couldn't hide it anymore – everyone else knew except for her and he didn't feel like dancing around it. And now he's disappointed for a completely different reason.
Neither of them are sure how much times passes before they decide to go talk to each other. They meet in the middle of their yards and give each other sad smiles.
Their apologies come quick and are said in unison before a moment of silence falls over them. They both think of their next words and then he cracks a joke about how he imagined that conversation going different. Her smile widens a little as she chuckles quietly and he gives her a bigger smile in return.
"Is the invitation still open?" She looks down in a bashful way and lightly kicks the grass – too afraid to look at him in case he says no.
He hums a contemplative way – acting as if he's actually mulling it over. She shoves his shoulder playfully when she sees the hint of a mischievous smile start to dance on his lips.
"You should go pack, we're leaving in like an hour." He tells her and she nods, her eyes meeting his once more before she makes her way back to her house.
He compares that argument from when they were fourteen – their first of many – to their last conversation. And he thinks about how she has always done whatever she can to help the people she cares about. Even after all that Bunny put her though growing up she still wanted to help in every way. She did that for her even after the wheels of their unstable relationship started to fall off. And it still reigns true now – she was still looking to take care of him even with all he's put her through she still cares about him and loves him enough to protect him. It's a prevalent concept in his mind as he sits down in the driver's seat. Her raspy voice ringing in his ears with her tear filled, hazel eyes looking up at him – as if she's right there with him when he closes his eyes. When he opens them again something small twinkles from the passenger side of the dashboard. He's not sure when the necklace was put there because he hasn't seen it since Erin got it caught in the engine and he put it in his office for safe keeping. But he reaches forward and takes the silver piece of jewelry into his hand. He takes this as his sign and knows exactly what he needs to do.
He speeds off in the direction of the garage, hoping that he'll still find her there. But as he's making his way up the stairs to the loft, something tells him that she's not there. And when he gets to the door he it finds unlocked – confirming his suspensions. The dresser drawers that once held her clothes are now empty and open – letting him know that she was there but now she's gone – again.
He can't bring himself to walk through the rest of the loft so he turns on his heel and walks back out. His feet move of the own violation as if they're trying to get him out as soon as possible but in his haze to leave, he bumps into a toolbox – Kyle's toolbox and out rolls a half dozen white pills. Thinking he's alone he begins rummaging through the drawers of the large red unit finding row after row of tools until he comes to the last three drawers which each have at least twenty baggies of the same white pills stored in them. He shakes his head in confusion before it all falls into place. His hand reaches into his pocket to grab his phone when he's hit in the back of the head with a metal pipe and then everything goes black.
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She tries both of their cell phones again until she gets to their voicemail messages. Hearing their voices through the speaker of her phone soothed her at first – leading her to believe that maybe they were together. But her brother always text when he wasn't going to be home or would be in late. So now their lack of response is causing her to panic even more. Her feet fumble as she rushes into the garage. It's quiet in the large space that is usually booming with various different noises from the roar of engines to the whistling and hissing of tools and the bickering of the men at work. She can hear her heart beating – pounding in her ears before it plummets as she sees the two separate trails of blood leading out the first door in the garage. Her hand flies to her mouth as a sob escapes her lips.
Antonio and Kevin both look from the drag marks and up at her with the noise. They both furrow their eyebrows before they move over to the girl who is like a little sister to them.
"Is that blood?" She already knows it is, she can see the brown droplets and smudges clearly – even from where she stands a good ten feet away. So neither of them have to answer her in order for her to start to make the connection. She startles both of the men next to her as she takes off for the loft. It's a last ditch effort as she searches the apartment. Couch cushions, tables and pillows – things that would not make feasible hiding spots – are tossed to the side in an attempt to find them. She shakes her head and begins crying even hard when she doesn't find them.
"Where are they?" Her voice breaks as she screams out into the room and collapses on the edge of the bed.
"They're going to be ok Nadia." Antonio tries to reassure her as he comes to sit next to her.
"You don't know that Antonio. None of us know where they are or who took them." Her voice is loud as she rakes her hands through her hair – tugging at the dark, long strands in despair.
"Not yet." Mouse interjects as he walks into the room with Hailey in tow– his words gaining their attention.
"But he came here for her and I know that he won't leave wherever they are without her. Their chances of making it out are better with each other." Hailey whispers to the young girl in front of her and it causes Nadia to nod because she has no reason not to believe that. Erin and Jay have always been stronger together and there's reason that sentiment wouldn't be true in this circumstance.
Vanessa stays with Nadia in the loft as the rest of them go back downstairs.
"Jay asked me install cameras a while back. He just told me he wanted the added security but now I'm thinking he knew that there was someone coming for him." He sets one of his laptops onto the hood of the nearest car and presses play. "None of the cameras caught their faces, which tells me that it was someone that knew where they were." He points to the screen as the hooded men first carry Erin's unconscious form out before they see Jay rush in and up to the loft.
"Wait are they back together?" Adam asks and everyone else looks at him as if to say duh. A look of confusion makes it's way onto his face as they all turn their attention back to the computer.
"Look at the corner of the frame." Mouse instructs as he pauses the feed.
Hailey leans in a little closer to the screen. "Is that the-"
"It's bumper of a red Honda Civic." Kevin finishes for her and they take turns looking at the frozen image on the laptop before glancing at each other. Each one of them wondering why their friend's we're taken – by him of all people.
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A/N: I'm so sorry for the super late update. I've really been lacking the motivation and the free time to finish this chapter. But I hope you still enjoyed it and if you did please review - your kind words always help inspire me to continue!
Also for those of you that follow Wrangler too, I'm going to try getting the 5th chapter out within the next few days.