Epilogue

My tongue was thick in my mouth and my head pulsed like a motherfucker.

There was also a bright light shining right in my face. I tried to blink my eyes open, but they seemed like they were glued shut.

I managed to roll over and rocks dug into my cheek. What the hell?

What happened? The last thing I remember was...Shit, I didn"t even know. I had sex with Lake. I had some really uncomfortable realizations about myself. We got ready for the event.

It was almost our turn to get out. There were flashes in the windows. I hadn"t dreamed that. Earbuds maybe?

Someone had their arm around me. Joaquin. He tried to protect me.

I finally got my eyes to crack, and hot black pavement filled my vision. Gasping, I shot up, then fell back down as my head spun.

Where the hell was I? Looking around, I was in an old parking lot next to a rundown park. One no one had used in years.

Slapping my chest, I checked my dress.

I still had it. I still fucking had my phone. I pulled it out of my boobs, and the screen lit up. I"d never been so fucking thankful that I hated purses.

Shaking, I opened the messages. There were tons. Almost a hundred. All from the group chat with Gio and Adrian, or Adrian on his own.

Gio:

Where are you?

Adrian:

You should be here by now.

Gio:

Where the hell are you? You haven"t even gotten on the carpet yet.

The messages got angrier and more urgent with each one. The last one was an hour ago at seven in the morning.

Adrian:

You better be alive. I was starting to like you and I"d hate to have to bury you. After I hunt down the asshole who took you.

I hit call, and Adrian picked up on the first ring.

"Where the fuck are you?" He screamed, no sign of the playful idiot.

"I don"t know," I rasped. It sounded like I"d been partying my entire life. I sounded like Rona.

"Send me your location, right now," he demanded. "Gio, Cressida is on the phone. I"m getting her location. Get Storm, we"ll get on the road."

With clumsy fingers, I fumbled through the app and grabbed a pin of my location. He"s lucky I even knew how to do this. Stevo had asked for my location once.

"Where are they?" I choked out. I knew they didn"t know. How could they? They didn"t know where I was. But I had to ask. I couldn"t not ask.

He didn"t answer.

"Where the hell are they?" I screamed, curling my other hand against my chest. "Where are they?" I cried. "Where are they?"

"Nowhere good," Adrian finally answered, his voice grim.

"We have to call the police. We have to–" I rambled.

"No. Listen to me, Beasty. Whoever has them, and we have our thoughts, aren"t people the police will be able to save them from. If you want them alive, you cannot call the police."

I snapped my mouth shut, as I tried to comprehend what he was saying. But it was hard. I was tired, and thirsty, and my head throbbed.

"You cannot call the police. Do you understand me!" he barked and I jerked. "Do you want to see them alive?"

"Y-yes! Of course I do!" I sucked in air but it was like I couldn"t take a full breath. I clawed at my throat, but it didn"t help.

"If you won't help us, we have to lock you up." He tried to sound calm and understanding but I didn"t need that right then.

I needed him to tell me he would stop at nothing to get them back safe and sound. "No! I want them back! We have to save them. They can't die. They can't. I can't lose them." My words were one jumbled string, but Adrian had to understand me. That was the only option.

"Will you help us?" He was keeping his head on straight. That was good.

I knew what Adrian was asking of me. To draw out the Pescis. Be the bait. Work with criminals because in no world were Gio, Adrian, and Storm good men. What made a man good?

I knew what a bad man was. A bad man was Gates. The Pescis. Everything else?

My entire being was realigning as the blinders fell away from my eyes.

"I will. I want to help. I want to fight. For them."

Follow Beasty and the Fashion Boys in the next installment… Crazed.