Chapter 15

FIFTEEN

ELLIS

“We’ll take you to our place,” Leland says as we get into the car. He gets behind the wheel with Jackson in the passenger seat, leaving the three of us to slide into the back. “I feel like you’d be safest there.”

“What about Waylon?” Cassel asks.

“We’ll keep Waylon out of it. They can’t go to Tavish’s; his place isn’t secure after those horrible people broke his window.”

That makes Tavish’s head snap over to him. “Excuse me, what? When did my window get broken and how the hell did you figure this out?”

“I just guessed,” Leland says, clearly the suspicious one here.

“Leland, did you break my goddamn window?” Tavish growls.

“Well, I had to let the guy who was inside your house out somehow.” Leland turns around in the seat to get a good look at Tavish, who is squished between Cassel and me.

Tavish looks more confused than ever. “The guy ? What the fuck? Who was in my house?”

“I asked him if I could tie him up like I did to Henry so we could become best friends, but he weirdly seemed turned off by the idea,” Leland says as I realize that I definitely got into the wrong car.

“Who the hell was in my house?”

“I don’t know who it was. He seemed pretty cool, so I knew he couldn’t be related to you. He fucked off before I got a name or anything out of him, and Jackson wouldn’t let me tase him, which I feel is horribly unfair of him. I got these new tasers and haven’t gotten to try them out on anyone yet. Tavish, can I try them out on you?”

“If I can shoot you in the nuts after.”

“That sounds less than fair,” Leland grumbles.

Why didn’t I get in the other vehicle?

I timidly raise a hand. “Is the other car still an option?”

“Nah, option’s gone,” Leland says as he pulls out onto the road while I glance over at Henry’s car which hasn’t even moved yet. It really doesn’t look like the option is gone.

“We’re both starving. Can you stop for some food?” Tavish asks.

The reminder of food makes my stomach clench hard enough that I briefly forget all about jumping out of the car and running over to the other vehicle.

“I have some dog food that a bear like you would just love,” Leland says. “It’s too good for you, but my pups would be willing to share.”

“That’s fine if you’d like to feed him that, but can I have people food?” I ask hopefully.

“Of course you can.”

Cassel scrutinizes Tavish for a long moment. “So, Tavish… you didn’t look into Ellis before abducting him and throwing him in your trunk?”

Tavish whistles a merry little tune like he can just forget the very important question that I would also love him to answer.

“Tavish?” Leland asks. “I mean… every hitman knows that the first thing you do is closely look into your target so you don’t make any mistakes.”

“The client fabricated a bunch of shit and it looked really legit. I made a mistake. Ellis knows I’m sorry. And I’m trying to make up for it by doing all of this free of charge, of course.”

“That’s so saaaaad,” Leland says. “I’m so glad I’ve never made any mistakes in my life.” Jackson scoffs but doesn’t say anything until Leland’s head jerks to the right to look at him. “Excuse me, husband, is there an issue?”

“You tied my best friend up while debating whether you should shoot him or not,” Jackson says.

What… the fuck is happening?!

Tavish turns to me. “Being around them always makes me feel more normal.”

“Says the man who chased me up like fifty flights of stairs with a knife,” Leland retorts.

“It definitely wasn’t fifty. Felt like fifty but wasn’t fifty.”

“You said he chased you ,” I say.

Tavish starts whistling again as Leland pulls into the drive-through at a sandwich shop. Everything looks so delicious that I find myself wanting the entire menu and quickly forget all about Tavish chasing this man and that Cassel thinks people who eat squirrels are worse than serial killers.

“I… I’m realizing now that I don’t have any money for any of this,” I say. “Is there any way I could pay one of you back? I’m really sorry.”

“You’re so cute. Jackson, look how cute and innocent he is,” Leland says as Tavish, who is also walletless, is over there ordering as much as he can.

“You can order anything you want,” Jackson assures me. “And you will not pay us back a dime. I feel really sorry and guilty after we all just stared at you in that trunk.”

“Leland’s rich, order it all,” Tavish says. “The weasel owes me.”

“Jackson, I changed my mind. What if we tied Tavish up and we took the sleepy guy with us? He can just pretend to be asleep all the time. It’ll be hilarious,” Leland suggests as Cassel pushes his head out of the way to see the menu better before ordering.

Once we’ve all ordered, Leland pays for everyone, and Jackson hands the food out as Leland drives. The food is the best thing I’ve ever tasted in my life. It’s so good, I have to be careful not to overindulge. Every ounce of it is like heaven. I’m so preoccupied by it that I don’t even find it strange when Leland rolls the car up into some secret garage thing before we all pile into another vehicle and are off again.

“This is soooo good. Thank you so much for buying this for me. I really, really appreciate it,” I say.

“You’re almost suspiciously nice,” Cassel announces.

Leland nods. “I’m thinking the same thing. My bet is he’s actually some conniving mastermind pulling the strings.”

“Strings to what? Why is being normal so weird to all of you?” I ask.

“It’s not, don’t mind them,” Jackson says, apparently the only normal person here.

I try my hardest to never judge anyone… but once they stare at you bound and gagged in a trunk and talk about how fun it would be to chase you through some land they bought just to do said activity, I feel like I’m free to judge.

The car pulls up to a nice two-story house in the suburbs. It’s… weirdly normal other than the single panel of fence just… sitting there to the side. It looks like someone decided they were going to slap a fence down between their property and the neighbor’s before saying, “Fuck it, this is too much work” and throwing in the towel. But like… why not remove it? It looks ridiculous with just one panel sitting off to the side. It’s not even as though they’ve tried spicing it up with a bush or something, and the grass around it tells me it’s not a new addition.

“I see you’re a man of good taste,” Leland says.

That confuses me. “I am?”

“Eyes instantly drawn to… The Fence.”

I don’t know what that means, but the way he says it makes me wary. “I want to go in the other car,” I say. “I’ve changed my mind.”

Leland hops out and Jackson looks back at me. “Just run for the house. Don’t make eye contact with him, don’t acknowledge him, just run for the house.”

“What happens if I make eye contact?” I ask.

“You don’t want to know,” Cassel says.

“It’s pretty bad,” Tavish agrees, and if even he thinks it’s bad, then it’s bad.

“What if I don’t even want to get out?”

“Just walk fast and if you have to, punch him in the balls,” Tavish says as he gives me a nudge to get out.

I slide out, hugging the vase to me like it’ll ward me from all evil.

Don’t make eye contact, don’t make eye contact.

“Ellis?” Leland calls, as I try my absolute hardest not to look up. “Elllllllissssssss. Come here.” Now he sounds like a creepy snake monster.

“I don’t want to,” I whisper, even though I know it’s quite rude. Especially when he’s helping me. I really shouldn’t be so mean.

“Ellis, I’m not the one who abducted you and took you off to Murder Island. I am the one who wants to help you. I’m going out of my way to help you out of the pure kindness of my heart. I just… all I’ve ever wanted to do is help you.”

“Don’t listen to the weasel,” Tavish says. “Don’t do it.”

How could I not? Now I feel horribly guilty! He’s done so much for me, and I’ve refused to look at his fence? What is wrong with me?

“I’m risking my very life for you, Ellis. I’m just… all I want to do is love my sweet Jackson and my new son. Did I tell you I’m a papa now, Ellis? But I’m risking my life for you, so please, just come here.”

Fuuuuck .

“I’m coming. I’m sorry you’re doing so much for me. Thank you for helping me,” I say as I glance up and his eyes latch on to mine. He can’t keep his grin at bay as I walk over to him and that weird panel of the fence. “I really am sorry. I’m just tired.”

“I would like to introduce you to The Fence,” Leland announces.

“It’s… uh…” I eye the wood. “Unique. I, uh… really like it. Very… pretty?”

“Imagine this… dark night, PI scuttling?—”

“I wasn’t scuttling,” Jackson says.

Leland waves him off. “Dark night, PI scurrying. Hitman watching closely… what’s this? The PI has chosen to climb over the grand and mighty Fence .”

“He was climbing over the fence in his own yard?” I ask. “I’m sorry. I’m really tired and this story is kind of hard to follow.”

“No, Leland dug that panel up and brought it over here, which isn’t weird at all,” Tavish says sarcastically.

“Excuse me, Leland was wounded, so I was actually forced to saw and pry it free… okay, maybe it was Jeremy, but still. I got to nearly send him through the back windshield while he clung to the trunk as I sped off, though, so that was fun.”

I point at Cassel. “Your story seems a lot more interesting.”

Leland pushes Cassel out of the way. “Will you men allow me to tell my story so you two can finally get some sleep?”

Sleep sounds phenomenal. “I’m listening intently. So PI scurrying, hitman… what the fuck, you’re a hitman?” I ask in horror.

Leland looks confused now. “Did you think we were just like… store clerks or something?”

“I don’t know! When you guys said ‘hitman’ before, I thought it was like… an inside joke. I thought… maybe…”

“It’s fine, Leland is a PI now,” Jackson assures me.

Now??? But not before?

“And as I was perusing this fine man, he came across his greatest adversary… THE FENCE . With heart thundering in his chest, he clambered, he scrambled, and he clawed his way to the very top?—”

I eye the “very top,” kind of confused because it’s… not that tall of a fence.

“And as he mounted this fine and hearty wood, he reached the top where his pants snagged… and that was the moment I met this beautiful man’s moon.”

Clearly, my sleep-deprived mind is the issue here. I’m either misunderstanding things or mishearing things. Or maybe I fell asleep in the car. Yeah. That’s it.

“Ah, I see. Sure… and this?” I ask as I point to the hole in it. “What happened there?”

Leland’s head snaps around to Cassel who looks horrified as he tucks his head, jumps in a car, and just fucks off.

“We don’t speak about that.”

“I… see… It’s a very nice fence. I very much like it.”

Jackson waves me toward him. “Alright, Leland, they look pretty worn down and Waylon’s food is getting cold. Let’s go inside,” he says as he heads toward the door.

Tavish sets a hand on my back. “Come on. I’m sure it’s all very overwhelming, and I know Leland is a lot, but he’s not too bad of a weasel when you need someone to depend on. Let’s just say if my life was in danger, I’d grudgingly call him first… but only if I was like… definitely going to die if I didn’t.”

“I heard that,” Leland says as he walks in with Jackson.

I follow behind them, thrilled when I see two familiar faces. I stuff the vase in Tavish’s hands and drop to my knees. “Hey there, Cayenne. Never in my life did I expect I’d get to see you in your home.”

The red mutt crawls onto my lap as her tail goes as fast as it can. All the while Sarge scrutinizes me, like he does every time we meet.

“Did he make you worship The Fence?” a teenager asks.

“I didn’t make him worship anything. I just explained to him how I met Jackson. Most children love hearing the story of how their parents met,” Leland says.

The teenager scoffs. “Uh-huh… sure.”

I never got to meet their son before… and until now, I honestly didn’t even realize they had one.

“Here, Leland got you some food.” Jackson holds the bag out for the teenager. “Waylon, this is Ellis. Ellis, this is Waylon.”

“It’s nice to meet you,” I say.

Waylon looks me up and down. “Wait… did you bring someone normal into the house? I’m kind of scared.”

“Oh shush,” Leland says. “You’d be sad if we were too normal.”

“I’m not sure sad is the word I’d choose.”

Jackson turns to me. “We have a spare bed and an air mattress, so I was thinking we’d put the air mattress on the floor of the spare bedroom. Ellis, you can have the bed since you didn’t abduct the wrong person.”

“I could literally sleep on a floor and be fine with it, I’m so tired,” I assure him. “But is there a way I can contact my mom? So she knows I’m okay?”

“I have a phone you could do that on. You can actually keep it. It’s untraceable, so do whatever you’d like on it,” Leland says as he heads off to grab a phone that’s probably super illegal. I’m grateful for it regardless and hurry over to the spare room they point me to. I’m glad to be alone as I call my mom’s number, but the person who answers is definitely not my mom.

Anxiety fills me until the woman goes “This is Ward,” a name I realize that I recognize from when I was younger. She’d been our main contact when we were being shipped off to a new location. She was there when I was given my new name and my new life.

“Um… this is Ellis. Can I speak to my mom?”

“I have her phone at the moment. She’d tasked me with getting ahold of you. When we contacted the number you’d called from previously, the… gentleman said he’d left you at some gas station. Where are you so we can come pick you up?”

“I’m safe. But I just… I just wanted to make sure they’re safe.”

“Ellis, you’re not safe until you’re here,” she says.

“I’m okay, though.”

“Can you tell me what happened?” she asks as the door opens and Tavish walks in. Instead of leaving, as I’d assumed he would, he sits down in a chair tucked in the corner of the room and watches me.

“Umm… some guy named Arthur Wilson had me abducted and had another guy beat me, wanting to know about my dad. Arthur told me he was going to use my mom and sister as leverage against me to get me to talk, but I don’t know anything.”

“Arthur Wilson?” she says, sounding amused. “Arthur was extremely distraught over your father’s disappearance. His worries were what led us to believe there was something more happening and what led to you and your family being taken into protective services. I’m sure you’re mistaken.”

“I’m not. He said that was his name.”

“Okay, we’ll look into it, but we could also go under the assumption that it might be someone else using his name. Either way, we’ll see what we can find. But why don’t you tell me where you are, and we’ll pick you up and get you back with your mother and sister while we figure that out?”

“When I need help, I’ll reach out,” I say before hanging up.

I’m probably making the wrong choice. But last time, they quickly gave up looking for my father… yet maybe these guys won’t? Maybe these guys will find him, or information about him, and figure out what the hell he got caught up in that was bad enough that it disrupted everyone’s lives.