Redeemed: Bad Blooded Rebel Series #4 (4 page)

Suddenly
the room was quiet and it made me take notice. I looked from Jude to Beau and
Kris. They all looked panicked as they glanced at each other. “Ryder-” Kris
started but I cut him off.

“What
the fuck is going on? What aren’t you telling me?” I yelled, causing my head to
throb painfully and my eyes blur. “Where’s Everleigh?”

Beau
looked down at the ground before he looked at me. “Scott’s fucking got her,
man.”

My
heart dropped at that moment and I growled out a yell so loud that it made the
three of them flinch. “How the hell did he get her?”

“She’d
been back to the table for about fifteen minutes and then said she had to use
the bathroom. We watched her come this way and it looked like she went into the
ladies room,” Jude answered, a devastated look on his face. “After about five
minutes she still hadn’t come back and you were still gone so we came to check
things out and we found you in here.”

Kris
said, “A few witnesses outside told John that they saw Everleigh being forced
into a cab by someone that looked like Scott. He was fucking too fast man. He
had to be following us so he would know how to get to her.”

I
yelled out again and this time, the sound surprised me. It wasn’t a threatening
growl, but a cry of desolation. The tears were pouring from my eyes before I
could stop them and I thought I would collapse again. I tried to stand but I
fell to the ground again and Jude caught me. I felt his strong arm around my
shoulders holding me up as I broke down. My beautiful Everleigh had been taken
by the sadistic fuck that tried to violate her, murdered her friend, and tried
to kill me tonight. This was a huge city and rationally I knew there was no way
in hell anyone would be able to find her in time before he raped her…or worse.

I
closed my eyes and tried to feel her…I had to know she was still alive. He
could have her anywhere and he could be doing anything to her right now. I
imagined her in some dirty motel room, terrified as he hovered over her. I
imagined him tearing at her clothes and her screaming for help. I imagined him
finally getting what he wanted…to violate my sweet Everleigh in such a heinous
way and her being powerless to stop it. The thought made my heart break a
thousand times over.

I
barely registered anything as I felt Jude’s arm leave me and several people
crowding around me, touching my head and applying something to my cut that
stung and burned. I heard someone say I didn’t need stitches and that I might
have a possible concussion from the hit, and then I felt someone trying to
stand me up. “Ryder, come on, you’ve got to focus. Everleigh needs you to be
strong right now,” I heard Beau say. “We need to find her and you have to lead
the way.”

I
shook my head and tried to dissipate the fog in my brain. Beau was right…my
beautiful Everleigh needed me right now. I had to be strong for her and not let
that fucker knock me down. If anything happened to Everleigh I wouldn’t be able
to go on…I had to save her. “Right. Okay,” I said, gathering my thoughts and
feel my urge for revenge burning through me. I wiped the tears from my eyes
with the back of my hand and said, “Where is my phone?”

“I
have it,” Kris said. “She hasn’t called yet, man. My guess is that Scott took
her phone. Just try to stay calm, okay? At this point I don’t think he will
kill her. He’s been desperate to get her back so if anything he will try to…”

“Don’t
fucking say it, man,” I said, stopping him. I knew what he was thinking. Hell,
we all were probably thinking the same thing but if I stopped to think about it
again I might kill someone.

The
cops came into the bathroom at that moment and we all walked out into the hall
so we could talk. They introduced themselves but I knew I wouldn’t remember
their names later. When I finally focused on what they were saying, I heard one
of them say, “Mr. Matthews, we are doing everything we can to find your
girlfriend.” That statement made me see red.

“Are
you fucking kidding me?” I snapped.

“Ryder,
calm down, man,” Jude said, grabbing my arm, but I shoved him off.

“You
are doing everything you can? That’s fucking hilarious. Where the hell were you
assholes when we called you last week telling you that Scott Adams had fled
Indiana after murdering a woman and was here in the city stalking my
girlfriend? Where were you when he showed up at my penthouse a week ago and
sent a picture of Trisha Cramer’s dead body to Everleigh? What have you all
done to try and find this psycho before he tried to kill me and then kidnap my
girlfriend? Oh yeah, that’s right, you’ve done
nothing
!” I screamed, not
caring that my head was pounding so painfully I was on the verge of passing
out.

“Mr.
Matthews, I am sorry that we haven’t been able to track down Mr. Adams, but I
can assure you that we have every available officer on this,” said the cop, who
was trying hard to stay calm.

“Well,
that doesn’t fucking mean a thing to me. Until I see Everleigh again and she’s
safe and unharmed everything you say to me at this point means dick,” I
snapped. I looked out around the club and it had emptied while I was out. My
eyes roamed and landed on Danni, who was inconsolably crying. Sadie had a stone
hard look on her face…the same one she always got when she was flaming mad. She
never cried, she always got pissed and right now I’d never seen her more pissed
in my life. Jessie was crying too but she was holding onto Danni and trying her
best to comfort her. I looked back to Beau, Kris, and Jude, and they all looked
exactly like the girls did…they were devastated that Everleigh had been taken.
We weren’t a family without her and I was better off dead if I didn’t find her.

The
cops said more things to me but I just tuned them out. I didn’t care about
anything but finding my girl. He could have her anywhere in this city. He could
be doing anything to her right now…and I was helpless. Short of calling every
single hotel and motel in the city I was at a loss of what to do. I felt a warm
hand on my shoulder and I heard Jude say, “Come on, man, let’s go to the
station.”

“I’m
not going anywhere but out to find her,” I said.

“Ryder-”
he said but I stopped him.

“No!
I have to find her, Jude! I have to stop him from touching her in any way. I
can’t let him defile her…I…can’t…” I said, and I broke down again. God, where
could she be?

Three
hours later, we were no closer to finding Everleigh than we were when I woke
up. We were all sitting at the police station, waiting for any news to come in
on Scott and Everleigh’s whereabouts. I felt like time had completely stopped
while I watched the clock on the wall slowly tick the time away. I had gone
from devastated to desperate to desolate to just plain numb. I couldn’t believe
I let this happen. If I hadn’t taken Everleigh into the hallway to have ten
minutes of sex with her this wouldn’t have happened. I wouldn’t have been alone
for Scott to attack me, and Everleigh wouldn’t have slipped away long enough
for him to grab her.

I
had completely zoned out and I didn’t register anything around me until I felt
a tiny hand on my shoulder. “Hey, brother,” I heard Sadie say. “I got you some
coffee.”

I
took her hand and squeezed it. “Thanks, Squirt, but no thanks. I don’t want
anything right now.”

“Come
on, the paramedics said you might have a concussion. You need to stay awake and
you look like you are on the verge of passing out. Drink this,” she said,
forcing the cup of coffee into my hand. “It tastes like shit but it will get
the job done.”

I
lifted the cup to my lips and drank a little bit of it to satisfy her. “Thanks,
Squirt.”

“You’re
welcome,” she said, taking a seat next to me. “How are you holding up?”

I
shook my head and rubbed my hand over my face. “Not good, Sadie. I am feeling
about as low as anyone possibly can feel right now.”

“Oh
Ryder,” she said, hugging onto my arm. “She’s going to come home, bro, I can
feel it. In fact, I have a feeling that she will find us in the end. She’s
going to surprise us all.”

“I
hope you’re right, Sadie. She’s been so scared that this would happen and I promised
to protect her and I failed her. Not only her but I also failed her father. I
promised him on his death bed that I would take care of her and I haven’t. I
promised I wouldn’t let him down and now she’s out there all alone with a crazy
fucking psycho and there isn’t anything I can do to protect her.” I could feel
burning my eyes.

“Well,
in the short time I have known her I don’t think she’s a shrinking violet like
she seems to think she is. She’s got balls under all of her insecurity and
she’s going to fight to get back to you. Have faith in her,” she said.

I
prayed to God Sadie was right but after seeing how fragile Everleigh truly was
I didn’t know if she was strong enough to survive this. “I hope so, Squirt,” I
said and I pulled her into a hug. “Thanks.”

“Anytime,
brother. I love you man.”

“Love
you too.”

“I’m
going to go get an update. Be right back, okay?”

I
nodded at her and didn’t say anything as she walked toward a desk with a couple
of cops standing around it. I took a deep breath and barely had a moment to
think before Jessie sat down next to me. “You okay?” she asked me.

“Of
course not, Jess. How did this happen? Fuck, we’d all been so careful.”

“I
know, Ryder,” she cried. “This feels like a nightmare. I can’t believe this is
happening. You and Ev don’t deserve this.” She placed her hand on my back and
tried to comfort me.

I
was going to respond but the sound of Danni’s audible cries caught my
attention. She had been silently crying ever since we’d gotten to the police
station and wouldn’t let anyone near her. We hadn’t really spoken because we
were both crippled under the weight of our own grief. I knew how desperate I
felt, being terrified for the love of my life, but I’d only known her a little
over four months. Danni had loved Everleigh like a sister for more than twenty
years.

Everyone
tried to stow their emotions for our sakes but everyone was so worried about me
that I think people were forgetting Danni in all this. Seeing her breaking down
in that moment, I knew she was the only one that could truly feel my pain. I
stood up for the first time in three hours and walked to where she was sitting
with her knees pulled up around her face.

I
sat next to her and without saying a word, I lifted her chin so she could see
me and I pulled her into my arms. She looked at me for a split second before we
both broke down together. Everyone that knew Everleigh loved her but there
weren’t two people in the world that loved her more than we did.

I
knew there was so much we wanted to say to try and calm ourselves, but neither
of us could find the words as we held onto each other, consumed by our mounting
pain. I held onto Danni as she cried for what seemed like hours. I didn’t
realize anyone was around us until I felt Jessie’s arms hugging me around my
back. I opened my eyes and blinked through my tears to see Sadie, Jude, Beau,
and Kris all huddling down around us, joining Danni and me in a group hug. I
looked up to see John still standing, and he had glistening tears in his eyes
as well. He was always so tough and strong but he loved Everleigh as much as
anyone and was just as desperate to get her home.

His
jaw was hard as he mouthed the words, “We
will
bring her home,” and I
nodded at him, hoping like hell he was right.

We
all sat and held onto each other and prayed to any God that would listen to
make our family whole again. I couldn’t live without Everleigh in my life and I
prayed hard that I wouldn’t have to try.

We’d
been huddled together for a few minutes when I heard someone’s phone ring. We sat
up and glanced at each other for a split second before we all were scrambling
to get to our phones. I heard everyone saying that it wasn’t their phone as I
reached into my pocket. I pulled it out, pleading and hoping that it was mine.
When I focused more clearly and heard the ringtone, “Don’t Cry” by Guns ‘N
Roses, my heart filled with hope and adrenaline surged through my veins. It was
Everleigh’s ringtone. I swiped the screen and held the phone to my ear with a
shaking hand, both hopeful and terrified of what I would hear. “Everleigh?
Evie, baby, is that you?” I asked, my voice hoarse and weak.
Please be okay,
baby…please be okay.

Everleigh

The
entire time we were in the cab, I sobbed silently to myself. I thought of Ryder
lying on the floor of the club and I felt overwhelming regret because I never
got to tell him everything I wanted to. I’ll never get to kiss his lips again.
I’ll never feel his strong arms around me again. I’d never hear him laugh or
hear him tell me loves me again. I felt grief like I’d never felt before closing
in on me and I totally shut down. I’d lost Daddy, Trish and now Ryder. Knowing
that he was dead and I’d never get to tell how much I really loved him was too
painful for me to feel. In that moment I went completely numb.