Trevor

Trevor

Ihave to drive with my hand on the bucket as I turn down the road to my house. I love Sage more than anything, but if my leather seats get ruined because of her buttery as sin popcorn, I’m gonna be fucking pissed.

When I pull up to the gate, I roll down the window, ready to enter the code when I freeze.

The fuck?

The gate is already open. I know it shut behind me. It’s automatic. Pulling forward, I park beside Alberto’s car, throwing the door open before I run over to them.

“Dude, what the fuck? Why the hell is the—”

My words die on my tongue when I look inside the car. Alberto is passed out against the steering wheel, a trickle of blood running down his face while Jake lays in front of the vehicle, gripping his stomach and wincing in pain.

“What happened?” I ask quickly as I rush over to him.

“Four or five guys came out of nowhere,” he grits out. “They didn’t come through the gate. They were either already here or jumped the fence. They got her,” he says as he pulls his hand away from his stomach to reveal a seeping knife wound.

“Got who?” I ask, refusing to believe what I think he just said.

The look on his face though has me running toward the house as fast as I can. The closer I get, the louder I can hear the alarm going off, which means the cops should be here any minute. C’mon, baby. Tell me you’re hiding somewhere.

When I get to the front door, I notice it’s wide open and the house is fucking trashed. The couch is tipped over, the glass table shattered as well as broken pieces of a vase with a pool of blood beside it. Fear sinks into me like nothing I’ve ever felt.

“Sage! SAGE! Where are you, baby? It’s me! Come on out, baby. They’re gone!” I shout wildly, praying to fucking god I hear her sweet voice, but I’m only met with the piercing screech of the alarm.

I dart over to the monitor room, logging in quickly and rewinding it back to when I left. I skim past as I watch Sage take a phone call before the front camera shows several guys jumping the fence before ripping the wiring out of the gate and opening it for a van.

I watch the altercation go down of a guy sneaking up to the driver’s side window and bashing Alberto’s face against the wheel repeatedly. Jake gets out and draws his gun, but two guys surround him, one knocking his gun out of his hand while the other stabs him and leaves him for dead.

Then they turn simultaneously for the house and dread clenches my chest. I move my attention to the interior cameras, watching as Sage takes off up the stairs just as the front door is opened, four men spreading out in search of her. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

She dips into the bedroom, but they’ve already seen her and seconds later, she’s being dragged out, her fingernails literally digging into the floors.

“No, no, no,” I mutter as I intently watch the footage, cataloging each of their faces so I’ll know exactly who to fucking kill when I find them.

Sage is able to kick free of one of their holds as another comes and kicks her in the side. Her back bends backward before she curls in on herself from the painful blow. Son of a fucking bitch. I can’t watch this. Squeezing my eyes shut, I shake my head before forcing myself to open them again. I have to know every single detail possible if I’m going to find her.

When I reopen them, I don’t see them on the top-floor camera anymore. I scan over the others to find them in the living room. Sage is bucking against a man who is holding her from behind before she’s able to break his grasp on her. She uses her newfound freedom to grab the vase sitting on the table and smashes it against the guy’s head, causing blood to pour from his wound and all over the floor.

A little relief fills me knowing that it wasn’t her blood in the middle of the hallway. That relief dies though when I watch a larger man grab Sage by the throat and throws her back on top of the glass table. The glass shatters on impact instantly, and she doesn’t move once she’s on the ground. No matter how hard I try to zoom in, I can’t tell if her eyes are open, but when she is lifted up and thrown over a guy’s shoulder, there is a small blood pool where her head was that scares the living fuck out of me.

I try to continue tracking them, watching as they carry a limp Sage out the door like they were going for a fucking evening night stroll. They walk past a curled-up Jake and a passed-out Alberto before getting in the van and driving away. I grab the license plate, memorizing it instantly as I grab my jacket and head outside.

When I step through the door, I run right into a police officer who draws his gun.

“Whoa, where are you going?”

“To find the woman you should have put more effort into protecting,” I seethe, my anger boiling just near the surface.

“Mr. Michaels, I’m gonna need you to calm down. Let’s go sit, and we can go over everything.”

“If I go sit down, she could be dead before we are done. Video footage of it all is through the second door on your left,” I say as I shoulder check him, rushing out the door and past several other police officers and an ambulance that is just now arriving.

A police officer is helping Alberto come to, and another is pressing something to Jake’s wound. I should feel bad that I didn’t help them. Taking a minute to help them wouldn’t make her any less gone. But for a while now and till the end of time, my sole focus in life will always be Sage, and right now she needs me.

I need to figure out where the fuck they went from here, but I don’t know how. I feel out of my depth here, I’m freaking the fuck out, and I know I’m running out of time. She is running out of time. So, I call the one person I’d never expect help from and hope to God he shows me mercy.

“Seb?” I ask.

“What’s up?”

I open my mouth to speak before the words really sink in.

“They got her.”

The line is dead silent for several seconds before rustling sounds in the background, and I hear the start of an engine.

“I’ll be at your place in five.”

With that, he hangs up, and I’m left staring at the dark end of my driveway, horrific thoughts flashing in my mind about what Sage must be going through right now. I couldn’t have been standing here for longer than three minutes before Sebastian’s Suburban pulls in, which is impressive since he is at least a ten to twelve minute drive away.

When he pulls in, it’s not just the driver’s door that opens. The passenger side and rear doors open as well, revealing Slater and Declan.

“What are you all doing here?”

“We’re here to help,” Declan says as he pulls out his phone.

“Give me as much info as you can. Did you see them take her?”

I wince as I nod. “On my cameras. I left for ten minutes to get her something, and when I came back, the personal security I hired had been beaten to shit, and she was…gone.”

“Did you catch a plate in the video?”

I nod as I repeat it to Declan who begins jotting it down before stepping away. He’s dealt with law enforcement a few times when it came to the whole battle over their oldest, and he’s also worked with a private investigator for the same case. I don’t know what either of those will do right now, but I’m not about to turn away willing help.

I feel a pair of arms wrap around me and look to see Slater squeezing me so hard, I’m not sure if he’s trying to hurt me or comfort me. I try to push him away, but he only holds tighter.

“Fall apart, Trev. It’s okay to be scared right this second, but when I let go, you’re gonna bury it all, and we are gonna go find your girl, okay?”

I squeeze him back, more so because I don’t know what to do with this coursing feeling inside of me. It’s panic and rage and true gut-wrenching fear all entangled into one. I let out shuddering breaths as I try to regain my composure. Slater’s right, me freaking the fuck out isn’t going to help find her quicker. We all need to keep our heads on straight.

When I nod, I feel Slater squeeze me one more time before moving away.

“You good?”

I nod for a moment before shaking my head.

“They’re armed, obviously. I don’t know what I’m gonna do if I even find her. Look at us, we’re a bunch of pro football players. We aren’t the fucking A-team. We can’t roll into a place, guns blazing.”

“Mikey and I are packing,” Seb says as he lifts up his shirt to reveal a gun tucked into his waistband.

Declan gets off the phone as he nods coming up to us.

“Always.”

“What the fuck? Why?” I ask.

Declan gives me a look like I’m ridiculous as he shakes his head.

“You do remember I was born and raised in the south, right?”

“Well fine, what’s your excuse,” I say to Seb.

“I bought it in case I ever needed to kill you for touching Erica,” he says flatly.

I frown at that. “I can’t tell if you’re being sarcastic or not.”

Seb shrugs but doesn’t answer. Yeah, I’m not sure he’s as level headed as we all assume. I think out of all of us, he should definitely not have a gun.

“Just got off the phone with a friend at the police department. They have the plate, and they are going to track it until they stop.”

“So, what until then? We just wait?” I say, equal parts defeated and frustrated.

Declan shrugs but gives me a small nod.

“It’s alright. We will wait for Mikey’s contact to get back to us, get an address, get the bad guys, and save the girl!” Slater cheers, like this is a fucking game.

“Slater,” Seb’s irritated voice growls.

“What? I’m the comedic relief of the group. You should know this by now.”

I push past him, climbing into the passenger seat while Seb gets in the driver’s seat. Slater and Declan get in the back, all of us waiting for Declan’s phone to go off.

I try to stay focused, stay positive. If I let my mind go to the dark place of what could be happening right now, I won’t make it to her. I have to pull my shit together, for her sake and my own.

I’m coming, baby. I’m coming.