Riveted: Drawn Series Book 1 (18 page)

“Axel!” I screeched and pulled him to me in a tight hug.
He groaned. I pulled him back so that I could look at him. He was thin, pale
and he had dark circles under his eyes. He looked like shit. His dark red
hoodie was rumpled and his jeans had holes in them.

“Where have you been? I have been worried sick about
you!!!” I yelled, whacking him in the shoulder. He winced and shut the door
behind him. I stood there with my hands on my hips ready to kick his ass if he
did not offer me some sort of feasible explanation.

He walked over to the bed, sat down, and ran a hand
through his hair. I tapped my foot on the floor and he looked at me, raised a
pierced eyebrow and grimaced.

“Nice to see you too sis,” he replied, his voice sounding
weary and gravelly. I sat down next to him and put my arm around him.

“How did you find me? I have been looking for you like
crazy, hired a detective and then you just show up??!!”  I was practically
yelling and he smirked.

“Yeah I know. Wolf told me.” My jaw dropped.

“What??!!” I stood up and stared him down.

“He started digging and a friend of mine with connections
told me. I was happy when I found out it was Wolfe though. He and I go way
back. I talked to him, laid out the situation and then I made sure he contacted
you.” he replied.

“Yeah, but that was still a dick move. I have been
crazed. Beyond crazed. Heartbroken. And Wolfe! He just sat there like an
asshole and pretended he had
no idea
where you were??!!!” I replied.
Axel nodded.

“Bleu, I have been watching you for weeks. I know what’s
been going on. Dad getting out of jail, you banging Jack,” he said, smirking at
the last bit.

“Great you know everything! Do you want a fucking cookie
or something??!But did you know how you broke my damn heart when you refused to
let me in??? Or when you blocked me? People who were not even blood related
have been more family to me than YOU have??!! Me, I know nothing, not a single
thing. I don’t know why you are paying INSANE amounts of money to some mystery
person. What does Candi have to do with any of this? We are family. We sharing
a friggin womb together and I am an outsider! And I feel like I don’t know you
anymore! I love you, I will always love you, but I hate you sometimes too!” I
yelled. I stomped my foot after my little tirade.

“Ok, ok,” he said, holding up his hands in surrender. I
shook my head; my face feeling like it was on fire. I was insanely pissed. He
was NOT getting out of this one.

“No, it’s NOT okay! Family does not keep secrets; family
does not shut each other out. You are all I had. Aunt Almeida is a crazy
pregnant person and Dad is barely holding on. You? You are an asshole! I hate
you so much I want to punch you in your ass right now!”

“Bleu calm down. I will explain everything!”

“I am waiting,” I replied through clenched teeth. He
smirked and ran his hand through his hair. If he smirked one more time I was
going to kill him.

“The money is child support Bleu. A year ago, my daughter
Harley was born. I have been paying child support to her grandmother. Harley’s
mom, Anna, overdosed on heroin three months ago. Her whole family is serious
bad news and Anna’s mother thinks I am some sort of cash cow. She is trying to
take me for all I am worth. Candi is not my girlfriend. She never was. She
works with the DEA. Anna’s brother is in with some pretty major players and he
is the one who has been threatening me. I have been working with the feds.”

“Wait. I have a niece?” I softened a bit. That explained
who the girl in the picture was. It had to be my niece’s mother.

“All that, and that’s all you got out of it? I finally
tell you everything that is going on and you only hear one little bit?”

“Sorry if I am in shock here Axel. You kept something
like that from me for a WHOLE YEAR!!!”

“I guess I can’t blame you for being pissed. But shit
started getting crazy after I took Harley and ran. I have full custody; Anna
signed that over a month before she died. But her whack job mother is saying
that
she
has custody. About three
months ago, right when Anna died, shit got ugly,” he said, looking down at his
boots.

“Ugly how?”

“Anna’s brother Cyrus, he is involved in some pretty
heinous shit. You name it; he has a finger in it. Candi thinks that he was the
one who messed up your truck, the shop, all of it. He also broke into Candi’s
house and did a lot of damage. When I hid Harley and stopped paying, he
threatened me, the family at the shop, Aunt Almeida and then you. I could not
let that happen.  He kept calling, showing up where I was, etc. I did not
want to see any of you get hurt,” he replied.

“So that’s why you left?” I asked.

“One of many reasons. Candi figured if I pushed you away,
made it look like we had a falling out, Cyrus would focus on looking for us and
take his eyes off of you all,” he replied.

“Where is Harley?”

“California,” he replied. It took me a moment to process
that one.

“What?”

“Uncle Tangler has her out there with his sister Clem.
She is a social worker and has a few kids of her own. We all agreed that it would
be safer for Harley to go with her until this whole thing calmed down. I gave
Clem temporary physical custody while she has Harley. As soon as this all blows
over, I am bringing her back home,” he said.

“I knew something like this would happen to you someday
you giant jackass!” I yelled. I smacked his arm and he grinned.

“I did not come here to get yelled at, sis.  I have
been doing well for so long. I cleaned up, stopped sticking my dick in random
girls. I took care of Anna as soon as she told me that was pregnant. I even
asked her to marry me, but she wanted to wait. She wanted to get away from her
crazy ass family. I was super involved and made sure Anna and Harley were well
taken care of. But that was not enough apparently. Anna’s mom is pretty much
controlled by her son Cyrus.”

“So where have you been?” I asked.

“I have been staying in Rhode lsland with friends of Aunt
Almeida. Her friend is a retired Marine and a high priced lawyer. He has been trying
to see what he can do but it’s hard because Cyrus does not exactly operate “on
the radar”. I am so screwed. He is a scary dude Bleu. He is involved in sex
trafficking, drugs, prostitution. He is a nasty dude. Anna was afraid of him.
He wants a ton of money to just leave us alone, “he replied, running his hands
through his hair again, avoiding my gaze.

“Axel stop fiddling with your hair and look at me. How
much does he want?” I asked.

“He wants ten thousand dollars.”

“Holy shit Axel!” I sank back down onto the bed and
leaned against him. He let out a long sigh.

“Yeah I know. I am an idiot for running away. I should
have just taken a loan out or something,” he said softly.

 “Who is to say that if you forked over the ten g’s
that he wouldn’t try and get more out of you down the road?” I asked. He
nodded.

“True,” he admitted. I put my arm around him.

“We all make mistakes Axel. You just happen to make more
of them than anyone else,” I said with a laugh. He chuckled softly.

 “Really? You went there? Lately you have been
making some mistakes too sister,” he replied. I ignored that.

“Listen, do you have the money?”I blurted. He raised an
eyebrow at my subject change, but his face took on a defeated look before he
answered me.

“I don’t.”

“How much are you short Axel? I mean the shop is doing
good right?”

“Sis, just because the shop is busy does not mean I am
rolling in the dough. Matt and Jack get a piece of that pie. There are all
kinds of bills to pay. And then paying money for Harley’s care. I have half of
what he wants. I am
not
going to play with him because I don’t want to
have Harley get hurt,” he said softly, looking embarrassed.

“Okay, so you need five thousand dollars?”

“Uh yeah,” he replied matter of fact.

“Listen, you need to get some sleep, you look like shit.
I will see what I can do,” I replied. He reached over and hugged me and then
flopped back down on the bed.  I grabbed my cell phone and purse, slid
into my flip flops and softly closed the door behind me as I left the hotel
room. There were some calls that I needed to make, a bank to hit up and a
certain private investigator that needed to be reamed out for being a deceptive
asshole.

After going to Wolf’s offices and
finding that he was closed, I circled back to the hotel. I stopped off at a
deli near the hotel and grabbed some food for Axel. It looked like he had not
eaten in days. My stomach was a wreck and I knew I would not be able to eat a
damn thing. I was walking to my car and grabbing my cell to call Jack, when I
was shoved against my car. The breath was knocked out of me and shock settled
into my brain, making it hard to quickly process what the heck was going on. I
slid down to the ground, slowly and tried to catch my breath. Suddenly, I felt
hot breath at the back of my neck as a hand wrapped into my long hair and
yanked my head back, hard. I saw stars as I could feel my hair ripping from my
scalp. I yelped and attempted to look up. As soon as my vision focused, I
looked up into the face of a handsome, but very angry looking man. He had curly
brown hair, and he had the coldest, angriest brown eyes I had ever seen. A long
white scar extended from the left corner of his forehead, crossed over his eye
and settled on his cheek. He was snarling down at me. Looking down a bit, I saw
that he was very built and that he had on jeans and black t shirt.

“So bitch, where’s that brother of yours?” he spat out,
his face now inches from mine. I instantly felt nauseous.

“I uh...” I managed to get out before he swung down and
his fist connected with my jaw. Again, I saw stars and I whimpered a bit. That
only prompted him to hit me two more times. I tasted my own blood and my face
felt like it had exploded. My mind knew that I was not going to be able to
answer him if he kept hitting me.

“Where is he??!!” he yelled. I tried to bring myself up
off of the ground and I managed to lean against my car. He growled angrily and
kicked me in the side. I looked at him out of the corner of my eye and I felt
myself getting angry. If you ask someone a question, let them answer!

“If…you...want…me to answer…you have to…stop hitting me,”
I muttered and spat blood on the ground to my right. He crouched down, inches
from my face and I could smell the peppermint from his gum.  I willed
myself not to throw up because I had my suspicions that he would knock me
further into next week.

“Okay bitch. We’ll have it your way. Where is your piece
of shit brother? Where is my money??!!” he yelled into my face. He grabbed my
hair and slammed my head into the car. I whimpered and closed my eyes for a
minute. He was not getting the concept of allowing me to answer his questions.
This was either going to be a very short conversation, or a long, painful one.

“He is... going to pay you. I...know this…..he is going
back home. I will...have him…give you the money as soon as I…get back into
town,” I whispered, in extreme pain.  His face got closer to mine. Hit, I
did not answer him about where Axel is. I hope he could just, you know,
overlook that one minor detail.

“You have 24 hours,” he snapped. Great.

“Will you leave us alone? Will you leave the baby alone?”
I whispered, looking up into his eyes. His eyes were so cold and dead. He
reached into his pocket and withdrew a knife. My heart stopped and my blood
chilled. He ran the knife along the length of my neck. My breath hitched and I
cursed myself for saying anything. But I did not care. Axel was my brother, his
daughter my niece. I closed my eyes, waiting for the pain. He dragged the knife
down my chest, my stomach, lingering there.

“If your brother pays me the ten thousand, you will never
hear from me again. If he doesn’t, I will come back for your pretty little face
and we will have some real fun! If you think this is pain, wait until you see
what I and my friends do to you,” he said with an evil laugh, and then he
plunged the knife into my thigh. Screaming, my back arching against the white
hot pain in my thigh, I gasp out and then fall over onto my right side. I made
myself take shallow breaths and willed myself not to pass out. Opening my eyes,
I watched as he stalked away.  I want to kill that bastard. Looking on the
ground, I saw my cell phone was a few feet away. Gritting my teeth, I inched
over and grabbed the phone. Feeling blood trickle down the side of my face, I
attempted to focus on the screen. I searched for my Dad’s number, hit send and
waited.

“Hello?” he answered.

“Dad?” I whispered.

“Bleu? Are you alright? You sound weird. Bleu?” he yelled
into the phone

“I am hurt Dad. I am...outside of my hotel. Please, help me.”
I said, before everything went black.

   
Beeping. I could hear beeping. I struggled to open my eyes and sunlight hit me
full on. I winced and tried to focus. Everything came into focus gradually. I
was in a hospital. Next to my bed, my Dad was sleeping in a small plastic
hospital chair, curled up like a bear on a tree limb. Jack was standing by the
window, looking out. My leg was throbbing and my face felt like I had gone a
few rounds with Tyson. I could not open my left eye. Fantastic.  I cleared
my throat, coughing at how dry and rough it felt. Jack turned. He walked over
to my side and grabbed my hand, staring into my face. Smiling was not an
option, this much I knew to be true.

“Baby? Are you alright?”
he asked, kissing my forehead. I winced a bit and then looked up at him. Stupid
question. I arched an eyebrow and he grinned a bit.

“What in the hell happened??!!” yelled my Dad, his hands
balled into fists. He launched himself out of the chair. Until then, I did not
realize that a man of his size could move that fast. Did I mention that my dad
is super tall and scary as hell when he was mad? Jack put a hand on his
shoulder to calm him down. Dad looked at him and took a deep breath. His hands
were still balled into fists though.

“She was helping me,” said Axel, coming into the room
with a pretty good shiner himself. Dad’s head snapped to Axel, he stalked over
to him and grabbed Axel by the front of his shirt, pushing him up against the
wall.

“Boy, what has gotten into your head? Are you that
stupid, that you would endanger everyone over SUCH stupidity???”He growled.

“I was protecting my daughter, old man. And I took off to
protect my family and friends Dad. Your grumpy ass included. So dial it back a
bit would you?” he said between clenched teeth. They stared into one another’s
faces for a few minutes and then Dad let him go. Axel squared his shoulders and
straightened his rumpled shirt. He stared at my dad angrily, equally as tall as
my Dad and just as stubborn.  Dad broke the crazy eye contact and it then
sunk it what Axel had told him.

“Daughter?” Dad sat on the edge of my bed, looking at
Axel guiltily.

“Yeah, she’s one. Her name is Harley. Her mother’s family
is INSANE. They want money and I was trying to get it together. I explained all
of this to Bleu but she was sidetracked before she could tell your crazy ass,”
he replied. Dad nodded.

“Where’s her mother son?” asked Dad, his voice still
having an edge to it. Axel ran his hand through his hair.

“She died a few months after Harley was born. Heroin
overdose,” said Axel softly.

“But it’s her brother. He did this to me,” I squeaked
out. They all turned their attention to me and Axel came over to me, examining
me with pain in his eyes. His eyes welled with tears, and he never cried.

“Bleu, I am so sorry. So sorry. I had no idea. If I had
known, I would have never ever come to you,” he said. Shaking my head a bit, I
patted his hand.

“Give him the money Axel. Get your daughter. Put his evil
ass in jail,” I whispered.

“Bleu, I told you that I don’t have it,” he said weakly.
Dad patted him on the shoulder.

“I will give it to you,” Jack said suddenly. Axel looked
up at him.

“Dude, don’t be a douche bag and argue with me. Not now.
Call the bastard, set something up and just give him the money, please. I don’t
want something to happen to anyone else,” Jack told him, taking in the look on
his face. Axel nodded.

“I will pay you back, I promise,” he replied. Jack
smiled.

“Dude, you are family. No worries,” he replied. Axel
smiled and shoved his hands in his pocket.

“Axel, where is the baby?” asked Dad. Axel looked up.

“Dad, she is in California with Clem, Uncle Tangler’s
sister. She is safe,” he replied. Dad nodded. Then he returned his gaze to me.

“We need to get this one taken care of now. Jack is going
to give you the money and hopefully this can all be put behind us. Then we are
going to sit down and have a family talk,” Dad replied. Dad patted my hand and
smiled.

“Great…” said Axel. Jack glared at him and shook his
head. Dad just stared my brother down. The door opened and all heads snapped to
attention. The nurse came in, shooed them all out and gave me a shot in my IV.
I was out before the door closed.

Jack brought me home a few days later. The hospital gave
me crutches because Cyrus had stabbed me in the thigh and I had broken that leg
when he slammed me to the ground. I was camped out on the couch, arguing with
Jack. He was hovering and driving me nuts. All I wanted to do was swallow some
pain pills and watch some crappy daytime TV.

“Jack, go to work. I am alright. I have crutches, my
laptop and the TV. If I need you, all I have to do is text you!” I protested.
He was sitting next to me with this determined look on his face.  I grew
up around stubborn men, he had nothing on them.

“I don’t have all that many appointments. I could cancel
them. Except I have one late tonight that I have to go to,” he said, more to
himself I think, than me.

“No cancelling appointments, you are going to work mister!
Chloe is going to bring me lunch, and I think my Dad is going to be stopping by
later to hang out with me,” I said. He nodded and stood up, smoothing his hands
on his carpenter jeans. He leaned over and kissed me.

“Love you babe, see you later!” he whispered. He left and
I was stunned to say the least. I mean, there were many times that I wanted to
tell him that I loved him. Past experience had burned me though.  Shaking
my head, I grabbed my laptop and started to see if I could get some work done.
Avoidance? Yep.  It had been awhile since I had cracked into my computer
and did some work.

I must have fallen asleep, because I woke up to Chloe
talking and my Dad responding. Peering over my shoulder, I saw that there was
also another gentleman sitting at the table with them. He was wearing a police
officer’s uniform. 

“Uh what are you guys doing?” I asked, wincing as I
turned the wrong way and pain shot up my leg. They stopped talking and the
police officer came over to me. He sat down on the opposite couch and smiled.
He was tall and lanky with cocoa colored skin and short curly brown hair. He
had amber colored eyes with long lashes. He looked familiar but I could not
place him.

“Bleu, my name is Officer Banks, you might know my
brother Lamar,” he said with a husky voice. I nodded. I remembered now.

“I wanted to make sure you are alright. I am working in
collaboration with Willowvale PD to take care of this Cyrus that attacked you
and threatened your family. I was also on the scene a few weeks ago when your
brother’s shop was broken into and vandalized. When I was notified about what
happened up in Willowavale, I attempted to come up to the hospital to talk to
you, but you had already been discharged.”

“And how are planning on taking care of Cyrus?” I was a
little cynical to say the least and my pain meds made me grumpy. He must have
sensed that because he looked at me with a reassuring smile.

“We have been working closely with the agencies involved
in this case. Without going into too much detail, we are going to be watching
your brother when he meets up with Cyrus to give him the money. The rest is a
piece of cake,” he replied. I snorted. Dad frowned and Chloe chuckled, shaking
her head.

“You make it sound so easy. Like it’s all going to go
down smoothly and without a hitch,” I remarked. Dad shot me a look which I
ignored. His cell phone dinged and he walked into the kitchen to check the
screen. I turned my attention back to the Officer and not on what my Dad was
hiding.

“You are absolutely right. A
million
things could
go wrong. We’re hoping that they don’t. You are safe though, and the sooner
that we get this dirt bag off of the street, the better it is for all
involved,” he said.

“Forgive me if I am a little jaded Officer, but this guy
almost killed me and threatened to come back and do more damage. I have
nightmares about what he is going to do to me or my family if this all goes
haywire. I cannot see how I should be super excited about a situation where
there is not a guaranteed outcome,” I replied. Dad shot me another look.

“Again,
nothing
is one hundred percent and I know
that does not exactly instill warm and fuzzy feelings of safety and security
.Best case scenario, he takes the money, we bust him, he goes to jail for a
long time. Worst case scenario, things get ugly and someone gets hurt. 
But to be on the safe side, we are posting an officer outside your brother’s
place of business and this apartment building. Your brother is going to crash
here until the meeting with Cyrus. You will be safe,” he replied. Nodding, I
leaned back against the couch and closed my eyes. Officer Banks patted my hand
and stood up to leave. He was right, I did not feel better. Not by a longshot.

“Thanks Officer. I did not mean to be rude,” I said as an
afterthought. He smiled, shook my Dad and Chloe’s hand and left. Dad was still
pissed at me; I could see it written all over his face.

“You know Dad, I was thinking, seeing as how Axel is
staying here tonight, I think we should have that family meeting.”

“Oh that’s going to be fun, you hopped up on painkillers
trying not to kill your brother and father,” commented Chloe. I shot her a
dirty look. She smiled sweetly and stuck her tongue out at me.

“I don’t think tonight is a good idea. Besides I have an
appointment tonight,” he replied, avoiding eye contact with me.

“It has to happen sooner rather than later Dad,” I
replied. He nodded, grabbing his keys. He looked down at his phone again and
then put it in his back pocket. He kissed the top of my head and then left soon
after.

Axel, Matt and I were sitting on the couch. Matt and Axel
were playing Call of Duty Ghosts on Matt’s Xbox 360. There were empty bags of
popcorn on the coffee table and beer cans everywhere. I sat and sipped on my root
beer. Somehow, painkillers and alcohol are not a good combination.

“Fucker!” yelled Axel, twisting around on the couch and
glaring at the TV. Matt grinned and shook his head.

“Well get the sand out of your gash and play the right
way asshole,” replied Matt. I giggled. Axel chucked an empty beer can at him.

“Don’t be hating douchebag. It’s not my fault that you
have been playing this game since the whole Call of Duty shit came out and you
still play like a bitch,” muttered Matt. Axel ignored him and did not break
concentration from the screen. Matt grinned even wider.

“Dude! You keep ganking my ass,” screeched Axel. Matt
chuckled.

“And again, stop playing like a bitch,” replied Matt. Matt’s
cell chirped and he hit pause. He stood up and took the call in the kitchen.

“Thank fucking god!” said Axel, putting his controller on
the coffee table and looking at his cell phone.

Chloe was out with her friend Jess and Jack was at work.
It was around eleven thirty. Axel was furiously texting on his phone. I was
trying not to be nosy.

“I see you trying not to look at my phone,” he said with
a laugh. The shiner on his eye was fading to a purple yellow. My huge cast
had been decorated by everyone and the bruises on my face were beginning to
fade slightly.

“You two have put me in Xbox jail, made me listen to the
both of you whine and you won’t talk to me,” I whined.

“Bleu shut up about the Xbox jail. You play miserably,”
he said with a laugh.

“I wonder how Matt would feel about that.” I asked. He
glared at me which of course made me laugh.

“So tomorrow huh?” I said after a bit. He nodded. I
patted his hand.

“Bleu, do you ever feel like you are going nowhere? Like
everything is one big nightmarish cycle? Things go good, then right back to
shit, good again, shit after that. Again and again. Everyone around you seems
to be normal, your life just freakin sucks. I meet a girl that I think is
awesome; she gets pregnant, we have a gorgeous daughter, and then the girl I
love dies. I have a thriving business, I am a good person and now I am broke,
and my daughter is in California,” he said.

“Are you feeling sorry for yourself?” asked Matt, coming
back in. He shot Matt a dirty look.

“Uh who asked you douche bag?” grumbled Axel.

“You are sitting here acting like you are some choir boy
dude. You are not. I mean, I will not sit here and say that you did not love
your baby’s mom. Nope not me. But shit dude. Remember the name rule?” he asked.
Axel raised an eyebrow.

“What is the name rule?” I asked. Axel nodded grimly.

“Sure fire way to never have to worry if you forget a
girl’s name.” he stated.

“Care to explain?” I asked. Matt nodded.

“You call them baby, sweetie, doll, love or sexy. That
way, they think you are being all endearing and shit when really, you are
trying not to let them know that you forgot their name,” he replied.

“Are you kidding me?!!” I yelled. Matt winced and then
nodded.