“Of course I cared,” he retorted angrily. “But what the fuck was I supposed to do? Heath told me to take you to your mother’s house and that’s what I’m going to do! You want to hate me? Fine, fucking hate me then. I’m used to it.”

I didn’t reply. I just glared at him as he grabbed Heath’s car key from the coffee table.

I fucking hated Marko for doing this.

I fucking hated Heath for goading his brother.

And I fucking loathed Ryker for wanting to put a bullet in the only man left I ever loved.

Seventeen

Allie

“What’s going on?” Mom asked.

I watched Marko climb into his car and pull out of the driveway.

“Allie, answer me,” she stressed.

How could I answer her when I had no freaking clue what was going on either? If Ryker’s accusations were true, then the last couple years made a lot of sense. I couldn’t hate Heath for it even if it was true. Surely there was an explanation. He wasn’t a greedy man. He wouldn’t wake up one day and decide to do something incredibly dumb as rob a gang.

Ah, fuck, he really did rob them, didn’t he?

“Allie, for the love of God, would just tell me?!”

I turned to her startled face, and for once I saw genuine concern there. Who would have thought it?

“I don’t know,” I eventually answered her.

She glowered at me. “You don’t know?”

I couldn’t stand here another minute. Not when I didn’t know what was going on out there. On our drive over, I saw Matt’s car parked in the driveway of his Uncle’s house. Matt, the most helpful person aside from Heath I had ever come to known, would surely help me at a time like this, right? Plus he had connections! I could find out where they were and I could help Heath somehow.

“Kayden’s asleep?” I asked her.

She eyed me carefully. “Yes. He’s in your bed.”

“Good. Keep an eye on him. Lay down next to him if he wakes up and cries.”

“Why are you telling me this?”

I grabbed my jacket and threw it on. “Because I have to find out what’s going on… Heath needs me right now. I just know it.”

She crossed her arms stubbornly. “I won’t allow you to go. That bulldozer man that just left said not to keep you out of my sight!”

“Mom, I don’t have time to discuss this with you!”

“You want to wind up dead?”

I paused and shut my eyes. God, she just had to say something dramatic, right?

“You’ll be as stupid as your father going out there fighting crime. That’s suicide, Allie! And I won’t have another person do that to me!”

I exhaled and opened my eyes slowly. I blinked back tears and muttered, “Dad never killed himself, Mom. The same people that have Heath… they killed him. He owed them money, and they killed him when he couldn’t pay it back and staged the whole thing.”

When she didn’t respond, I turned to look at her. Her eyes were rimmed red. She shook her head in denial, stammering out, “That-that’s not possible. That’s not true.”

My chest ached and I swallowed back my own emotions. “It is, Mom. When he lost his job, how do you think he floated us by? He was using their money, and he was meant to pay them back when he found one… but you know he never did. The job market dried up, and they brought him down when the time was up.”

She shook and when I took a step toward her, she held out her hand to stop me. The one time I wanted her to receive my affection, and she was still shutting me out. I bit back telling her how horrible it felt to be cast aside like this time and time again! She was hurt? Well, so was I! She didn’t want to believe it? I didn’t, either! But it was the truth, and there was no denying it.

“I’m going,” I told her firmly.

She was too involved in her thoughts to acknowledge me. I took off out of the house, racing to Matt and hoping he hadn’t left in the short time I’d been at Mom’s. I saw his car still in the driveway behind his Uncle’s beat up looking Ford and hurried to the front door. I knocked over and over again, even when minutes passed without response.

“Matt!” I called out. “Matt, please!”

When I heard the door unlock, I stopped. It swung open and Matt’s confused face greeted me.

“Allie? What the hell is going on?”

“I need your help! Please!” I told him hastily. “Please, Ryker took Heath and I don’t know where he is or what they’re going to do to him! They’ve taken him!”

“Calm down, hon. Slow down. Come here.”

I stepped into his arms and he led me into the house, kicking the door shut behind him. He sat me down in a small living room, telling me to breathe over and over again.

“It’s going to be fine, just relax and then tell me what’s happened.”

I clenched my hands into fists and tried calming myself down. I blocked out images of Heath being hurt and focused instead on Matt’s calming voice. He could help me! Marko abandoned me, but Matt was here now and that was all that mattered in that moment.

“Okay, okay,” I muttered after I’d finally calmed down enough to speak.

“Bit better?”

“Yeah.”

For the first time since he let me in, I actually looked at him now with clear eyes. He looked tired, rubbing his nose every few seconds. He smelled of sweat too, and a little bit of alcohol.

“Where’s your Uncle? I don’t want to wake him up if he’s asleep –”

“Forget about all that,” he interrupted. “He’s not here, so don’t worry. Now tell me what’s going on.”

“Ryker showed up in front of the house with all these men,” I explained. “They threw bottles at the house to get our attention. And then when we were out…he fired gunshots up into the air, like he was possessed, and he was screaming at Heath. He said he… he’s been robbing from them. Taking down their cash houses. All the other guys had guns in their hands, and all the while Ryker was threatening to kill him, Matt, right in front of me! After they took him, Marko took me to Mom’s house and then left me without a care in the world! I’m sure he’s probably forgotten all about it!”

I was angry. I knew I was venting about Marko, but he really didn’t spare any time to see if we were settled in the house. He’d just turned around and taken off, furthering my suspicion about him. No matter what that guy did to prove his friendship and loyalty to Heath, that strange feeling inside of me never lessened with time. It just sat there.