Chapter Four

I don’t know why I agreed to this. Rory is refusing to go, he promised JD he wouldn’t go to an event without telling her, I told him it doesn’t count if she isn’t here. Kicker is if Cindy doesn’t have a date she will go to the police and imply he did kidnap Bristol or JD. She didn’t exactly say this to Rory, but she cornered the rest of us when she couldn’t find him. She left it up to us to decide who would be joining her and I drew the short straw literally. Rocky made us draw straws and I pulled out the lucky or in this case the unlucky one.

I managed to find one of Rory’s father’s suits that fit me perfectly. He is off again after spending a week with his son. He left a message on Rory’s phone saying he will be back in a few weeks, which is typical, he drops in acts like he’s a decent caring father and pisses off again but not before dropping extravagant gifts his son's way. Rory hates it but this one was big, he finally signed the house into Rory’s name. It never belonged to him and Rory’s mum, the land has been passed down to the eldest son in each generation on their eighteen birthday. He also told Rory that he is planning to divorce his mum when she is better and no longer staying at the hospital. He has made sure she has a place to go, not in a house like this but with the settlement she should be comfortable for a very long time.

“Are you ready yet?” Cindy snaps for what has to be the tenth time. Her limo driver pulled up a few minutes ago, I made sure to make her wait. Cindy is beautiful, I’ll give her that. She is tall, her lean figure is a perfect Barbie shape. She actually somewhat resembles a Barbie but then she opens her mouth and the bitch comes out. I have never understood why Rory has remained friends with her.

“As I’ll ever be.” Her driver holds the door open and I slide in. She looks annoyed, a real man would have waited for her to get in first but she is shit out of luck when she uses blackmail to get me here.

“Remember you’re my arm candy for the night. Your only job is to just stand there and look pretty.” She tries to fuss with my bow tie but I gently slap her hands away, I don’t want her to touch me.

A silent auction seems weird to me. These people love to show off their money, the more they can flash in people’s faces the better. These people we will be surrounded by tonight are the ones Cindy and Rory’s parents wish they could rub shoulders with. Cindy has a friend named Baron who extended us an invite. Since she has given up on Rory being interested in her, she has started looking to find herself a man who is better off than her father. Her words, not mine. When I asked her why she wouldn't want to marry for love, she laughed in my face and said why would she when she can marry up and be the perfect arm candy for a husband. She wasn’t impressed when I said that is only good for about ten years and two kids before her husband trades her in for a new model. The upside, she hasn’t spoken to me for the last twenty minutes and it has been bliss. A two-and-a-half-hour trip for a chance meeting with rich kids.

When the limo pulls up to the front of a building that looks ancient, the driver gets out and opens our door. I play the part and help her from the car and we link arms walking down the red carpet together. There are even photographers flashing their cameras in our direction, as if we were famous celebrities. Cindy smiles and leads us inside to a massive room setup with tables around the edges. Each item up for auction tonight is on display. I pick up a card on the first table that explains it’s a trip to some place I have never heard of in some rich dude’s holiday house and the starting bid is at 200k. Are these people serious? I scoff at the price tag, throwing the card back down on the table in dismay and Cindy whacks me in the chest because I apparently embarrassed her.

Cindy walks us around the room, chatting and laughing with the others. I stand at her side dutifully and it doesn’t take me long to realize she really has a knack for this. Her face lights up when she notices a group of four guys walk into the room, they look to be around our age but they scream rich snob. She grabs my arm quickly and before I have the chance to protest she practically drags me to where they are. One of the guys recognises her and his face lights up.

She drops my arm and embraces the dark-haired dude. “I’m glad you made it. Cindy, these are my friends Linus, Oliver and Oscar.” She politely says hello to them.

“Mercer.” I interrupt their small talk, holding out my hand to her friend. He looks down at my hand tilting his head to the side as if it’s a foreign object. For a brief moment, I don’t think he is going to take it.

“Baron.” He says forced to acknowledge me. “Do you go to Edgewater with Cindy?” The way he says Edgewater I hear the distaste roll off his tongue.

“Yeah, I’m there on a scholarship.” I hear Cindy gasp; the four guys look at me like I’m a nobody. “Her real date had a family emergency and she was stuck bringing me. Cindy is always giving back to the poor.” I try to hide my smile but fail miserably. I can almost see the steam coming from her ears as her face starts turning different shades of pink.

“I have a passion for charity work.” Ugh, I don’t think I have ever seen Cindy lift a manicured finger to help anyone except herself.

“You should find a minute before you leave to talk with my mother. She runs a few charities and I’m sure she would love the extra help.”

I tune out of their conversation and so have Baron’s friends who have all started to talk amongst themselves. I move closer to them and leave the two love birds to talk.

“Oliver.” The tallest of the guys says, offering me his hand when his other two friends see a group of girls and leave him standing there by himself.

“Mercer.” He shakes my hand like it’s a business deal.

“It’s always fun being dragged to these things, I don’t even know why we get made to come. It’s like they try to marry us off at these things.”

“So, all the expensive trips are just a guise to set up their kids.” He laughs.

“Hot damn.” He says with a whistle, turning his attention towards the door.

“Wow,” is all I can manage to say, all the air instantly knocked out of my lungs leaving me practically speechless. JD walks in stealing everyone’s attention. She doesn’t look like my JD but it’s definitely her, I would bet my life on it. My teeth grind together and a sound that resembles a strangled growl reverberates in my chest when I see a guy leading her in, his hand placed on her lower back. I can tell she is uncomfortable with him touching her, her hands are balled into fists, her nails digging into her palms. I take a step towards her instinctively ready to take back what is mine.

“Hold up big guy, I wouldn’t do that unless you want to be shot.” Oliver says, holding his arm in front of me. I push him aside but Cindy jumps in the way, putting her hands on my chest to hold me back. I look past her, she is saying something, but I feel the need to murder someone.

A stinging sensation radiates across my face. My attention snaps back to reality, Cindy is standing there with her hands on her hips giving me a pointed look.

“Stop ,would you? Keep your cool for a minute.”

“Unless you find a way for me to talk to her, I will make a scene so bad you will never be invited back.” Her eyes go wide with shock, she now knows I have something on her.

“Fine.” She huffs. “I don’t know what’s so good about her that has you all in a tizzy.”

“You don’t need to understand.” I snap.

“Well follow my lead.” She says taking my hand leading me in their direction. I want to drop it but the need to talk to JD is stronger.

“Bristol.” Cindy chirps in a friendly girly high pitch sort of way that feels like a hundred tiny nails have been shot into your ear drum. “I’ve missed you.”

JD’s eyes hold a deep sadness I didn’t think she would feel about seeing me, and with Cindy nonetheless. “Oh, hi Cindy, long time no see.” Cindy giggles. The guy that is with her stops talking to the man next to him when he notices me.

“Friends of yours?” The dick asks JD. Cindy cuts in straight away saving her from having to answer.

“Bristol and I were good friends at school, well until you came and took her back, that is. The girls and I all miss her terribly.”

“Not as much as I missed her.” He says kissing JD on her temple. Cindy takes my hand, interlacing our fingers together. JD’s eyes follow the movement then snap back up to mine as her face drops. Cindy drops my hand immediately and places it on the dick’s arm instead. They start talking animatedly with each other but it’s blatantly obvious he’s flirting with another girl in front of his girlfriend.

“Babe, I’m going to show Cindy around. Be a good girl and wait here for me.” She nods absentmindedly, still unable to take her eyes off of me. The dick and Cindy walk towards a set of double doors at the end of a long hallway. I watch as they walk away but before disappearing behind the doors Cindy turns back and winks at me. When they’re out of sight, my eyes find their way back to JD. She visibly exhales which sounds like a sigh of relief to my ears.

“You look amazing.” She smiles at me, then glances around the party and makes sure no one is looking our way.

“Thanks, I feel like my ass crack is going to pop out.” I peek around at her behind and damn does it look good in that dress.

“Nope, all safely hidden.”

“Are you sure? I can feel a breeze every time I walk.” I go to have a second look and she slaps me in the arm playfully. There is a minute or two lapse of silence, both of us unsure what to say. I really just want to pull her into my arms and pretend nothing has changed between us.

“You shouldn’t be here.” I can tell by the look in her eyes it pains her to say that.

“We all miss you so much, we have a plan…”

“You need to stay away Mercer. Until I remember everything I’m not going anywhere. These people are dangerous, and you will get yourself hurt. I won’t be responsible for that.” I go to answer her when someone steps up beside me.

“Carter.” Her expression is unreadable as she addresses him.

“You both need to follow me. Now.” I open my mouth to object to his command but he steps forward and grabs JD by the wrist.

“Let her go.” He drops her arm and faces me; I have to blink a few times for my brain to register what I’m looking at.

“Mercer, meet my brother Carter.”

“No time for chit-chat we need to move.” JD and I exchange looks then turn and follow him to an empty room off a random hallway in the building.

“What is your problem?” JD snaps at her brother. “That was rude.” I stand next to JD so her brother understands he better watch himself.

“Do you really think we don’t know who he is? Our father had full reports on them before he even went to the police station to get you back. Our uncle also has eyes on you at all times.”

“He what?” I ask.

“There is more to what happened Bristol, more than you know. I have watched to see if you had any of your memories back because as soon as you do, you’re in danger. They will send you straight back to the psych ward and on those meds you will forget, again.”

“What do you know?” She asks as her bottom lip trembles.

“Now isn’t the time, the less you know the better. You are in no danger right now, if our father notices you with him though there will be.”

“How do we know we can trust you? You knew your sister was locked in a psych ward and did nothing.” His lips twist into a grimace as he stares at me.

“She was better off in there. You have no idea who our family is, it was that or a bullet. You’re a smart guy, do some research or ask your little cop friend. Who do you think kept the parents away as long as I could when I was notified you escaped? I had hoped you ran as far away as you could. We had a plan to vanish when we turned eighteen. A different country, a different identity. I promise to fill you in as your memory comes back.”

“You need to leave Mercer.” JD says as she turns her attention to me. “I’m sorry but I need to deal with who I was before I can be who you need me to be.”

“I can help.” It almost sounds like a plea but she still shakes her head no.

“It isn’t worth the risk, just forget about me.” She steps towards me for a hug, wrapping her arms around my waist and pulls me in tight.

“We all need you, no one is the same.” I whisper softly in her ear.

“Snapchat, get my user name off Mac.” She whispers back. Why would Mac be in contact with her? He hasn’t said anything to us about it.

She pulls back from me and I reluctantly let her go. “I’m sorry Mercer but I’m not that girl anymore. I’m Bristol Montgomery and you all need to forget about me.” Her words say one thing and her eyes another as tears start to well in the corners. She is smart to not fully trust her brother. Something doesn’t seem right.

I storm from the room and go to find Cindy, if I had as much as seen one tear fall I would have carried her out of here with me kicking and screaming. I walk through the hallway, peeking my head into different rooms until I find one that a bunch of kids are sitting in and ask if anyone has seen them. They point me in the direction of an office three doors down from this one. Pushing the door open, I don’t know what I expected to find but this was definitely not it. Cindy is laid out on the desk, her dress pulled up to her waist with the dickhead between her thighs. They didn’t hear me come in, too engrossed in the moment to pay attention to anything else happening around them. With a plan formulated in my mind, I pull my phone from my jacket pocket.

“I’m leaving.” Cindy shrieks at the sound of my voice. I hold out my phone and snap a few pictures, shutting the door before the douche can pull his pants up and chase after me.

“Ballsy move.” My eyes snap to the direction of the voice and see Oliver leaning against the wall. “Need a lift before his highness has you beaten to a pulp?”

“I’m not scared of him but since my lift is indisposed it would be appreciated.” He turns heading in the opposite direction and motions for me to follow him. We slip through the party unnoticed and exit through the back entrance. A beeping sound catches my attention and what I see makes my jaw drop.

“Holy shit, you have a lambo?” A bubble of laughter erupts from his throat as he sees the dumbstruck expression on my face.

“Pretty much everyone here does, or something just as expensive. Carter got one and guess what my father did?” He points to his Lambo with a it’s not that hard to figure out look on his face. “Then a few others within our group just had to have them too.”

“And here I thought my Hummer was something special.” I mumble, scratching at the back of my neck.

We jump in and he peels out of the property and out onto the road.

“So, what’s your deal?” He asks. I look at him confused, unsure what deal he is talking about. “You’re clearly not rich, Cindy doesn’t seem like your type and Sebastian isn’t someone you want as an enemy.” He punctuates his statement by lifting fingers for each point he makes.

“Maybe in your world he isn’t but in mine he is a nobody. I hate Cindy with a passion and the only reason I’m here is because she blackmailed me.”

“And Bristol?” He asks, raising a pointed brow, glancing in my direction then turning back to the road.

“Complicated. We had a thing while she was gone but she made it clear tonight that she is done with me.” I lie in case it gets back to her family.

“She seems different since she has been back.”

“What do you mean, what was she like before?” He laughs, a deep belly rumble that echoes throughout the entire car.

“She was a typical mean girl. She was only friends with people who could benefit her and that even goes for Sebastian. She hates his guts, always has, but go online and search Hashtag Bastian and it tells another story. It’s all about appearances in our world. We all come from old money, people like Cindy are considered new money and then there’s everyone else.” He doesn’t come across as snobbish, nothing like the room full of people we just avoided.

“I will be sure to look them up and do a little research. The J…Bristol I know was sweet and kind and caring…”

“You like her, I can tell. It’s written all over your face. Man that girl is a chameleon, here she is queen bee, yet throw her into the Eastside and she fits in like the gutter trash. When I first heard she went to the psych ward I wasn’t surprised.” I want to punch him in the face for talking poorly of her, but he seems to be loose-lipped and we need information to piece together her life. “A few thought she was faking it for attention and this memory loss stuff is really convincing.”

“You think she is faking her memory loss?”

“Yeah, I mean it’s possible. She was practically forced into her relationship with a douche and he is borderline abusive. Her father is pretty much king of the underworld, not that you could ever find any evidence of that since his brother is the one always in shit with the law but with so many people in his pocket he always gets his brother off. Bristol was caught up in some drama also with this guy Echo and he is one scary mofo even if he doesn’t look like it.”

“And what is so scary about him?” I’m still caught up on the abusive boyfriend, so much that if I don’t keep talking, I’ll force him to turn the car around and go back so I can beat that asshole senseless.

“From what I know, which isn’t much, Echo runs drugs for her uncle and I know that her father would have been furious if he found out she was seeing him.”

With all this new information to take in, I send a group text and tell all the guys to meet at Rory’s in a few hours. His mother is still in the psych hospital, so he should have the house to himself.

Oliver insists on driving me all the way to Rory’s house, I did say I could get a ride but he said it was a good excuse to be away from that horrible auction. He drops me by the gate and after we exchange numbers he speeds away leaving a cloud of dust in his wake. I doubt I would ever be friends with him but it could come in handy to have someone on the inside.

When I walk into the main foyer, I make my way to the stairs and take them two at a time.

“What the hell is this about?” Rory snaps. His drinking has started to get out of control. He looks like he hasn’t even bothered to shower since I left.

“This better be good, Lissa has been on my ass about staying home more.” I understand why she is doing that, she doesn’t trust Levi not to go after JD. Her and Deacon have been managing their shifts so someone is always home with him.

“I saw JD tonight.” That was enough to get their attention, Maximus looks up from his phone, Levi stares at me and Rocky’s mouth hangs open.

“She was at the event.” Rory slurs. That asshole knew she would be, that explains why he wanted to avoid it.

“Did she look okay?” Rocky asks, pacing the room.

“I found out some stuff and I wanted to fill you all in but we need a plan because that world is toxic, and we need to have a conversation with Lissa and Deacon.” I run them through everything Oliver told me, then everything that happened from the moment I walked into that ballroom, to the second I stormed out. Levi looks about ready to burst a blood vessel in his neck when he finds out Mac had been in contact with JD and didn’t tell us. I manage to calm him down with the plan to pay him a visit later tonight. Maximus works his magic on the laptop and has Bristol's social media accounts pulled up in minutes.

We spend the next hour scouring through videos and photos, everything she posted before us. She is a different person than what she was. Everything since she has been back is the girl we know, her eyes are softer and she isn’t trying so hard to uphold an image. It seems her followers are torn, some like the new and improved Bristol and some want the old one back.

Rocky grabs Rory’s keys when we decide to head to Levi’s, he races down stairs telling Rory he isn’t driving tonight.

We make the short trip to Levi’s duplex, luckily Lissa is home because we need some answers. Once we are parked on the side of the road, I glance over my shoulder to find Rory has fallen asleep in the back of my car. Maximus helps me carry him inside and we dump him on the couch because the trip up two flights of stairs with a huge man baby isn’t going to happen.

“What are you boys all doing here?” Lissa asks coming down the stairs dressed in her pyjamas and bunny slippers, it’s hard to take her seriously like this.

“We need some answers Liss before we do something really stupid.” She sighs, but doesn’t seem surprised. She sits on the recliner and tells us all to take a seat. We all sit on the floor thanks to sleeping beauty on the couch.

“Ask away, but be warned there is only so much I can tell you.”

“Do you know who her father is?” I question her.

“Yes and I can’t say much more than that.” She looks at us all but doesn’t budge on any extra information.

“Is she in danger?” Rocky asks. Liss turns to face him, clearly thinking how to answer that question, her delay in answering tells me everything I need to know.

“Right now, no. We are monitoring her very closely and her father knows that.”

“Do you know why JD is so determined to stay with her parents until her memories come back?” Levi asks.

“She thinks it will help Rory’s case, but we need her to get her memories back and being in a familiar environment may speed up the process.”

“Why do you as a police officer need her memories back?”

“She is a witness in an investigation and her memories could lead to a conviction.” she says with a shrug of her shoulders like it’s no big deal.

“Are you serious?” I yell, jumping up from the floor as rage simmers in my bloodstream. “You’re basically making her a sitting duck, if she gets her memories back and they find out her life could be in danger.”

“She won’t tell them if she gets them back, I have already spoken to her about it.” Lissa states fidgeting in her chair.

“So tell me if I’m wrong aunt Liss but she’s seen something she shouldn’t have, her parents locked her away so she was mentally unable to testify, she conveniently loses her memory and Rory helps her escape but someone ends up finding her and she gets beaten for unknown reasons. You know as well as I do that it could’ve been her father, her abusive boyfriend or some drug dealer from the wrong side of the tracks among others but the police think sending her into the wolf’s den to help your cause was the best idea.”

“We really didn’t have a choice, Levi. He is innocent until proven guilty. They had all her paperwork from the hospital, and it was all legit. Their solicitor is a shark, he cleared her to go home with her family.”

“Could she leave if she wanted to? She is seventeen.” Rocky gets up from the floor and starts pacing the room, talking at the same time. “Could they force her to go home if she didn’t want to?”

“With her medical history they would fight that she is mentally unstable and have her committed again.”

We end the conversation with Lissa there, unable to get much more information out of her. She tells us not to worry, Bristol is safe and once her memory comes back or her father’s case is over then she will be free to do what she wants. It seems from statements others have made, her parents are not the type to actually parent. She warns us that when she gets her memories back she might not want to come back. She may want to keep her socialite status even if that's hard for us to believe. Maybe she is right but until that day we won’t stop fighting for her. We won’t be staying away any longer either, there has to be a way to get her out of there.

“I have an idea.” Maximus says when Lissa retreats to her room. We all turn our attention to him. “If we can find out what JD is a witness for, maybe she can use it to blackmail her father into dropping the case against Rory and protecting his own ass.”

“What if blackmail doesn’t work and he just hurts her?” And Levi has a point, what if it was her father who was involved somehow in her turning up naked and beaten on the beach that night.

“Because the police are on his tail, that tells me they have something on him just not enough for a conviction, so to get your kid locked away is convenient. I’m not convinced he was involved in what happened to her, that would have been a first thought for someone if they had it in them to hurt their own child, we of all people would know that. What if we figure out the what and JD pretends to have her memory back, then she can tell him she will conveniently forget them and her memories in exchange for moving away?”

“That plan in theory sounds good but there are a lot of factors and what if we can’t find out any information.” Levi is always the voice of reason. Maximus turns the laptop screen in our direction. Levi, Rocky and I crowd around to read the newspaper article he found.

We do a google search on Ellis Montgomery and nothing besides high powered cases on his brother Jarva Montgomery pop up.

Montgomery family, underworld, organised crime, rivalry, drug trafficking, contract killing, Loan sharking, illegal gambling.

All words mentioned are in relation to her uncle. We are left stumped with no idea on how we will be able to set any plan into motion with the knowledge we now have. Maximus has a gamer friend he thinks could help us get some information, but it’s illegal and will cost us a pretty penny. Rory picks the perfect time to grace us with his presence.

“Illegal and money, two things I have no issue with.” Normally we would all laugh but his recent kidnapping charges are no joke, even though his lawyer said they don’t have a strong case without any evidence that he actually forced her against her own will.

School goes on break again soon and we plan to find a way to spend it with JD. We have a week to find out as much as we can about her life, her friends and her family. That way we can see if there is anyone we can trust to help. Now we need to go find Mac, if he wants to keep secrets and not get hurt, I think he owes us a little favour and we plan to collect.