Chapter One

The stale smell of coffee wafts through the door as Deacon walks in again, this time with my lawyer trailing behind him, having been filled in on what I was arrested for. Placing his briefcase down on the table that my hands are cuffed to, he takes a seat beside me. Deacon and another officer I’m not familiar with, sit across from us as they go through the spiel about recording the interview.

“Can you please state your full name?” Deacon asks after rambling off his and his colleagues names along with today’s date and time.

“Rory Eric Vincent” I blankly stare at him, wondering how he could possibly believe I did this. He has known me since I was a kid. I know he is just doing his job, but I would be lying if I said the thought of him not believing me didn’t sting a little.

“Can we start with how you know Bristol Montgomery?” I look at my lawyer for confirmation that this is an acceptable question and he nods for me to proceed.

“I don’t know her.” Yet I do, but she told me not to say anything and that is what I plan to do for now. It’s my word against theirs and they have no proof. I made sure of it.

“If you help us, we can clear all this up.” Deacon says.

“Don’t promise my client anything. You don’t know if talking will clear this up,” my lawyer snipes in a don’t bullshit us tone.

“Since he is under arrest for kidnapping, I suggest he gives us something.” I can tell Deacon is getting annoyed with my lawyer, his thumb lightly tapping against the table, his angry tick when he is trying to keep calm.

“I take it you have a statement from Bristol stating that my client kidnapped her... Wait you couldn’t possibly since she is currently known as JD and has no memory of what happened that night. So your case against my client is based on some very rough video footage of a girl and a boy running down a paddock, where it is possible they parted ways.”

There is more back and forth between the officers throwing out theories and my lawyer refuting them. My lawyer promises that he will have me released by the morning since their evidence is circumstantial at best. Apparently JD’s family has some good connections and they plan to hold me for as long as they can legally.

Once they realise I have nothing more to say, Deacon takes me back to the holding cells. When I was first brought in, the booking officer tried scare tactics in hopes of gaining a confession from me. He stated that since I’m seventeen I can be tried as an adult and would get put away for a very long time. The problem is, I didn’t kidnap her. I do know her contrary to what everyone thought and hope she forgives me after all this for not saying anything sooner, but it was for her own safety.

I’m worried about the guys, and I honestly don’t know if they will ever trust me again. They wouldn’t understand; I never lost a parent, I was never abused, starved or beaten but I was starved for the affection I should have gotten from my parents. My rich mum is batshit crazy and pops all different kinds of pills, washing them down with vodka. Her treatment is at an upscale psychiatric hospital three hours from where we live, but her friends think she is at some wellbeing resort on an extended holiday.

I lay back on the metal bed staring at the ceiling of my empty cell. My plan was fool proof or at least I thought it was until we found her broken and battered on the beach. At first I didn’t realise it was her, but as soon as I did, I wanted to tell the guys I knew who she was. They would have stopped me from leaving though, so I figured we could take her to the hospital, they would send her back and we could figure out how to break her out again. Money talks and I have enough of it, it’s how we escaped. When she woke up with no memory I figured if she doesn’t know who she is, all we needed was six months to put our plan back into action. I hired a private investigator who found out; her parents were out of the country for eight weeks, the psychiatric hospital couldn’t call the police to file a missing person without her parents permission due to a privacy clause that was signed and it wasn’t hard for him to switch out the numbers in her files to burner phones. Watching her every day and not telling her I loved her was hard, but watching her fall for my brothers was worse. I wanted to be jealous, to hate them but honestly how could I. If anyone deserved her, it’s them. I deserve someone inconsiderate and snake-like, someone like Cindy.

“Rory.” Lissa’s voice is a welcomed one. I might be able to get out of my head for a few minutes with her here, because every time I close my eyes, I see her beautiful face.

“Lissa, what are you doing back here?” She unlocks the cell door and brings me in a sandwich and a bottle of water.

“Bringing you food and letting you know JD is fine, just keep doing what you’re doing. They have nothing on you, her father is a very seedy man with deep pockets.”

“Has she gone back to them?” She nods, I can tell she knows why I’m concerned.

“Please make sure she is safe, they won’t let us anywhere near her.”

“There are orders being put in place as we speak, you and the guys can’t go near her. So make sure you keep them away, please trust me.”

“Find a way to keep her out of that hospital, breathe down their neck, if she…” I can’t imagine what will happen to her if she ends up back in that place.

“I will, just keep away from them Rory, I mean it and watch your back.”

She leaves me alone and I’m left to think about that night, it’s all I have thought about. How she ended up on the beach is something I can’t figure out.

“Do you think anyone is following us?” Bristol asks, looking through the back window of my mustang. We have to switch cars, so I have Cindy meeting me out on Old Creek Road. She may be a bitch but we’ve been friends since we were born, I have had her back more times than I can count. She knows I’m only leaving for six months, we have everything planned. Bristol is eighteen in December and I turn eighteen in January. If we get married her parents can’t send her back to that place. Once I’m her husband, I get a say in what happens to her whether they like it or not.

“No, we were careful, we have planned this for so long, are you sure you want to do this?”

“Yes, it’s the only way to stop them, you don’t even know half of what they have done. Once we get married I can tell you, then you can’t testify against me. I want out.” I think it’s shit her parents committed her and are having her classed as mentally unstable so they can act as if she has no idea of what she is saying. I read her file, her family is vile.

We pull up onto the old dirt road, halfway down Cindy is parked in my shorty off to the side of the road. I tell Bristol to stay in the car for a minute. I know what Cindy is like and I need to speak with her alone first.

I step out of the car and Cindy does the same as I close the gap between us. She looks genuinely sad, which isn’t an emotion she knows, unless it’s crocodile tears to get her own way.

“Are you sure you want to do this Ror, it’s huge.” Cindy doesn’t care about much unless it involves her. We have known each other forever and I know she cares about me, maybe too much and I have used that to my benefit.

“I’ve told you Cindy, I love her, you just wouldn’t understand. I can’t leave her to rot in there any longer.” I haven’t told her much, just the basics. I don’t expect her to understand, girls like Cindy won’t ever fall in love, marriage is about money and connections in our world.

“I understand better than you know. Be careful and please come back, as much as it pains me to say it the guys won’t cope with you gone.”

“I know, but I hope they can forgive me. Make sure you give them the letter in a week.”

I walk back to my mustang and Bristol helps me get our bags from the boot of my car. I packed light and I bought a couple of outfits to get her through. We can always buy her more when we settle. I made sure to withdraw small amounts of cash over the last month while we were planning this to support us for the time being. We also have fake identities, they won’t get us out of the country but they will get us jobs somewhere.

“Thank you for doing this.” Bristol says to Cindy.

“I didn’t do it for you.” Cindy snipes before getting in the mustang and driving off, dust and gravel flicking up, a cloud of dust trails behind her.

When we get into the shorty, we have one more stop to make before leaving this place behind. I found a shitty motel close to Mumma B’s. I need to see them all one last time, I haven’t gone longer than a day without the guys and a week seeing Mumma B in ten years. We plan to leave when it’s late, even though the staff at the psych ward won’t notice she is missing until morning. I paid off the night staff, the guy was a total sleaze bag and happy to take my money.

“Are you sure you’ll be okay on your own for an hour or two?” I ask as we pull into the dingy place I booked.

“Yes, you’re giving up your whole life for me. I can handle a couple hours while you say goodbye.” I haven’t told her I love her yet, we haven’t defined our relationship either and yet we plan to get married. I don’t want to rush her, the guys in her life are dicks and I want us to come together naturally without everything hanging over her head.

“It’s only six months. I can repeat year twelve but I don’t even need to finish. I hate the money and the lifestyle, it brings nothing but bullshit. I can get an apprenticeship and be happy.”

“The wife of a happy man, sounds like a good life.” She laughs, I love seeing her happy.

Once I get her settled, she almost forces me out the door. I wave and blow her a kiss, and much to my surprise, she mouths I love you. I almost run back and forget about going to dinner but I push on, I know what I need to do even if it kills me to leave them for so long.

Court this morning went as well as could be expected, my lawyer got me out for now. The orders also went through this morning. I have to stay away from Bristol and I’m not the only one, the guys won’t be happy when they find out.

I roll my eyes as my father and his whore make an appearance, nice of him to give a shit and come to my rescue. One of my parents had to be present and well my mother isn’t allowed out of the psych ward until they think she isn’t crazy, but I swear she just does this for my father’s attention.

“Son, that went well.” He pats me on the shoulder. I shrug my arm from his touch.

“If you say so. They think I kidnapped the girl I love and now I can’t even see her, so I would say it didn’t go well.”

“He is right hunny.” Puke the way she says honey, as if she thinks she is special.

“Thanks Chelsea, you’re close to my age so you would understand.” The idiot giggles, not realising I was having a dig at my father. Something catches my eye walking up the stairs: Rocky, Mercer, Levi and Maximus, I expected them to steer clear of me. They all come and stand next to my father.

“Boys.” He says with a nod. They all murmur their hellos, not once taking their eyes off me. “Dinner at the house tonight Rory. Be there and bring your friends if you want, but be there at seven.” With that he leaves as Chelsea wiggles her fingers at the guys.

“We need to talk.” Levi demands, he isn’t asking me, he is telling me, and I know they deserve the truth.

“Let’s take a walk down to the beach.” The courthouse is about five hundred metres from the water. We all walk in silence until we find a deserted table on a grassy area just before the sand starts.

Mercer is the first to make a move, I see him coming and do nothing to stop him as he lands a nice right hook straight in my eye. It could have been harder, I know he held back for the sake of our friendship. “I want to hurt you so bad, right now.” Mercer says breaking the silence.

“I’m confused. Lissa told us you were being charged with kidnapping JD… Bristol, is it true?” Rocky asks as the others look at me waiting for me to talk.

“No, I didn’t kidnap her.”

“Then what, you at least knew who she was the whole time.” Maximus looks hurt.

“Yes.” I see Mercer's fists clench. Rocky gets up and starts pacing. “It’s not as simple as you think.”

I didn’t expect it, but Maximus runs for me, taking me down and we both hit the ground with a thud. He may not be the most athletic of us all but damn the kid is strong. He straddles me, ready to take his pain out on me. I know I could fight him off but he has anger to release and I deserve worse, even though I did it to protect everyone. He lands a few punches; my face will be feeling that tomorrow. Levi drags him from me, even though he looks reluctant to do so. I look up at him, blood dripping from my eyebrow. I can see the turmoil in his eyes, he hates violence, but he also loves JD and I can’t blame him for that, I feel the exact same way. The others may not love her, but we do and I understand what he is feeling right now.

“Fill us in, because I don’t see how keeping secrets from us makes sense, I’m struggling to get my head around that.” Levi, always the voice of reason.

I fill them in on everything that happened, from how I met her to the last time I saw her before she wound up on the beach. None of them interrupt me, they listen with rapt attention.

“I still don’t know why you didn’t tell us.” Of course Levi doesn’t understand, everything is always so black and white for him. I have loved her for months; I didn’t want to involve them and it may sound selfish that I didn’t tell them about her or about leaving but we share everything and while they don’t think they treat me differently, they do. I have no triggers and don’t need that kind of support. I may bottle shit up but what kind of asshole would lay all their inconsequential bullshit out to their friends who have been through so much and don’t need my added stress. And for once I wanted to be the hero, how stupid is that.

“Because, I just wanted to be the one who saved her, okay. For ten years I have struggled to feel part of this group, you are all bonded by your past, I’m the poor rich kid.” Maximus reacts first to my words, his face red which happens a lot when he gets angry.

“Don’t you dare try to blame us for that, we’ve never done anything to make you feel like that, so try again, because we would have understood.” Maximus growls, which is surprising, he never raises his voice.

“Bullshit. Levi would have talked me out of it, Mercer would have gone off the rails, you could have had a setback and Rocky would have messed up his training. So sue me for being a coward and just trying to leave. I love her, can you understand that now that you have met her?” Surely I can get them to see that with how they feel about her.

“How could you have not even wanted to say anything as we all started falling for her?” Levi asks.

“Because her safety is more important to me, I would rather all of us be in love with her than have shared who she was and the police would have returned her to her family straight away. Watching her be happy, I had never seen that light in her eyes, they were always lifeless like she was ready to give up.”

“She is going to kill you for not telling her, even if it did come from a good place.” Maximus is trying to be a smart ass, but he is right.

“None of us can see her.” It’s better to break it to them now, especially Mercer, he doesn’t need to lose it when the police bring him a piece of paper that says he can’t go near her.

“Why the hell not?” Mercer shouts, throwing his arms in the air.

“She doesn’t want us to.” I try to not look at Levi, he can always tell when I’m lying.

“Bullcrap, she wouldn’t not want us to see her.” Rocky adds, his pace around the table has picked up.

“Even if you don’t believe me, this says we can’t and you will all have one by the end of the day.” I hand them the order that states we can’t contact her in any way.

Maximus pulls out his phone and tries to call her number, but it goes straight to voicemail.

“She gave her phone to Beth, that’s what Lissa told me.” They all look at me with varying shades of sadness on their faces.

“What are we going to do? She promised she wouldn’t leave us.” Levi says, as a lone tear rolls down his face.

“We will be smart, we will fight for our girl, and we will find a way to stick to our original plan.”

“The plan where you marry her?” Mercer asks, his tone murderous.

“No, you do,” I say pointing at him, “We plan it all and find a way to take her on her eighteenth birthday.”

“Me?” He asks, as his eyes widen at the prospect of marrying JD.

“Yep, you turn eighteen first, if you marry her then her parents can’t lock her away. Right now she has no memory, so they won’t need to lock her away, and if we can somehow get her a message to keep tight lipped if her memories come back, it may just work.”

“And if it doesn’t?” Maximus asks.

“Then we may be the ones washed up on the beach next time.”

Rocky stops pacing. “I can live with that, I want JD back.”

“Me too.” Maximus adds, I never expected him to want to be part of this and I wouldn’t have blamed him. We all look at him in surprise. “What? If I lose her, I may as well be dead.”

“So we are all in?” I ask. Everyone nods even though we have a very flimsy plan that could lead us to some serious trouble or even prison. It looks like things are about to get interesting.

I know they are still pissed at me, I don’t believe I was that easily forgiven but I will prove to them that the reason I kept it secret is because that family is no good, none can be trusted.