Chapter 12

Chapter Twelve

I look at the time on my phone as my head hits my pillow. It's late and the last message I got from Montana was over an hour ago. I want to call her. I need to hear her voice.

Finding her number in my contacts, I start typing out a message to see if she's awake when my phone rings and her name pops up on my screen. I hit the accept button and bring the phone to my ear. "Hey, I was just about to text you."

She doesn't say anything, but I can hear her crying. It's not loud but I can tell. "Tanna, what's wrong?" I sit up on the bed.

"I… I just wanted to hear your voice. I'm sorry."

"You can call me anytime, Montana, always. What happened?" I try again. "Is Aliyah still there?"

"Yeah, she's asleep in the other room."

"Okay." Shit, what the fuck do I say?

"I'm scared."

"No one is getting inside that house, Tanna. I promise you."

"That's not why I'm scared. I'm afraid of going to sleep," she admits. "Every time I do, I see him. I don't want to wake up screaming with Aliyah in the other room. What if she hears me?"

"Did you not sleep last night?" I ask. This is the second night I've been away.

"No. I couldn't…"

"I have an idea. Plug your phone into a charger. I'm going to call you on video," I tell her.

"Okay. "

"Be right back." I cut the call and hit the video chat icon. Montana answers and her face comes into view. "Fuck, babe, how long have you been crying? Why didn't you call me sooner?"

Her eyes are red and raw. "I didn't want to bother you."

"You are never a bother." I set the phone up on the bedside table and lie on my side, facing the screen. "Put your phone next to you."

Montana mirrors my movements, her phone on the nightstand and her head on the pillow.

"We're going to go to sleep together, just like this. If you have a nightmare, I'll hear you," I tell her.

"I'm sorry," she says.

"Don't be. I like sleeping with you."

"I don't want to go back," Montana whispers. Her voice is so quiet.

"You're never going back, Tanna." The thought of her going back to that asshole sends a spark of rage running through me.

"I'm not really sure what I'm supposed to do. I don't have anything, Luke. No job, no savings. Nothing."

"You don't need any of that. I have more than enough for both of us. Whatever you need, Tanna, you can have it. "

She shakes her head. "I don't want to be dependent on anyone else. I know I need to get a job. I need to get an apartment. But maybe not when I look like this." She points to her face.

"If you want a job, then get one, but don't do it if you don't really want to." I stop and think about what she said. Her claim that she has nothing. "Tanna, when was the last time you saw your dad?" I ask her.

He wasn't really Father of the Year material, but he wasn't the worst either. He was also pretty well off. I find it hard to believe that he'd turn his back on his daughter, leave her with nothing. Surely if he knew what was happening to her, he would have stepped in, right?

"I haven't seen him for two years," Montana says. "I… Andrew didn't like me seeing him."

"And what? Your dad was okay with that? Just accepted it?" I ask her.

"Not at first, no. I said some pretty hurtful things to him, though. I made sure he would stop calling me."

"He's your father. It shouldn't matter. He never should have stopped," I grunt. She truly was alone, all these years.

"It's okay. I'll get a job and go to school. I can do that, right? "

"You can do anything you want. No one is ever going to stop you from doing anything, Tanna."

"Thank you." She yawns.

"Close your eyes, babe. Go to sleep. I'll be right here."

"Night, Luke."

As soon as I wake up the next morning, I check my phone. Tanna is still asleep. I didn't hear her call out last night, which I'm hoping means she didn't have a nightmare. I pull the charger cord from the bottom, pick up my phone, and take it into the bathroom with me. I don't want to disturb her, but I want to make sure I'm here when she finally opens her eyes.

I take the world's quickest shower, and it's when I'm drying off that Montana wakes up. "Um… Wow." Her voice comes out of the phone's speaker, and I turn around to see her staring back at me. Her eyes widen, and she gasps and covers her face.

"Shit. Sorry." I wrap the towel around my waist, only just realizing I gave her a show. "You can open your eyes now, babe. "

"Hey." She smiles at me.

"How'd you sleep?"

"Surprisingly well. Thank you for last night."

"You're welcome. I… ah… I have to make a stop before I come home but I'll be there later tonight."

"Okay, well, I'll let you go and get dressed."

"Talk to you soon." I hang up and walk back into the bedroom, throwing on the suit the team expects you to wear while transiting to and from the games. Then I pack everything up and text Gray to let him know I'll meet him in the lobby.

By the time I get there, it's not just Gray waiting for me. King, O'Neil, and Liliana along with her brother Alessandro are all there too.

"Did I miss the memo about a party?" I ask with a raised brow.

"Yep, we're going on a road trip to your hometown, bro. I heard there's popcorn and a free flight, so I'm in." King smirks.

"You all really don't need to tag along."

"Yes, we do. You're not doing this on your own. Besides, I'm torturing my brother by making him stay in Canada a day longer," Liliana says.

"Okay, let's get out of here." I look at Gray. "What'd you tell your old man?" We're supposed to fly home with the team, and going our own way isn't usually accepted.

"The truth." He shrugs. "Come on. Let's go pay this asshole a friendly little visit."

My fingers tap along the top of my thigh. "Think this car can go any faster?"

"Sure, if you want to end up wrapped around one of these pine trees, instead of actually getting to where we're going. If I die, Aliyah will kill me." King, who is currently sitting behind the driver's seat, looks back at me with a satisfied smirk on his face. "And then she'll kill you."

"You can't be killed if you're already dead, moron." I roll my eyes at him.

"It's Aliyah. You think she wouldn't find a way to bring us all back just so she could kill us again herself?"

"No, she doesn't like the sight of blood. My sister's not killing anyone," Gray chimes in. "Well, not with her hands. She would, however, put you in a coffin full of venomous spiders. "

King visibly squirms in his seat. "That's just cruel."

"If you wanted me to be nice, you shouldn't have married my sister," Gray counters.

When the car finally pulls onto the main street, I jump out and walk a block up, stopping when I get to the front of Slime's. A closed, boarded up Slime's. "What the fuck?"

"Looks like our man's on the run," Gray says, pointing out the obvious.

I walk up to the glass door and yank on the handle, surprised when it opens without much force. "Who boards up windows and doesn't lock a door?" I turn to Gray with a raised brow as I step over the threshold.

"A fucking idiot," he replies before following me inside.

I glance around at the dilapidated bar. Every piece of furniture has been smashed and glass covers the wooden flooring along with the alcohol that once filled the bottles.

"Huh." I turn at the sound of Alessandro's voice, Travis and Liliana standing next to him.

"What huh ?" I ask him.

"Either your man's got some serious anger issues, or you're not the only one after him. "

"Come on, let's get out of here. We'll stop by the apartment the asshole had your girl holed up in. If he ain't here, my bet is we'll find him there." Gray clasps a hand on my shoulder before walking out the door.