"There you are," my father, Baron, hisses. "You are one hard person to track down."
My eyes narrow. "Let go of me," I shout as he drags me into the alley behind the brewery. "Let go of me, Dad."
His truck is behind the brewery. My heart falls, realizing the circus semis may have headed to Burly, but my father and Ricky stayed behind, determined to find me.
Ricky jumps out of the truck when he sees me. "You have no idea how pissed I am at you. You’re supposed to be mine," he growls. "Mine. Your dad promised you to me and you knew that good and well."
"I'm neither of yours," I say, knowing the last thing I want is to return to a life with these two men. Men who kept me caged. After falling for Bartlett, I know what it means to be free – to be accepted and seen for who I am – and I can’t go back to this. To them.
"Well, that's what you think," Ricky laughs.
“Let go of me!” I shout at my father.
Ricky reaches for the gun at his hip. Then points it to my back. "We don’t have a show without you, which means you’re coming with us.”
13
Bartlett
Lemon calls as we leave the police station.
"Hey," she says. "So, Abby went to an interview at Home Brew. Plum and I are back at my house. I just wanted to give you the 411; that's where she's at."
"You left her there?" I say. "Lemon!"
"She's fine. She's with Griffin."
"I know, but how long ago was that? What if the interview's over?"
"You think she could be in that much trouble?" Lemon asks. "I'm sorry, I didn't realize it was that serious."
I need to get to Home Brew. I need to get there now, already rushing down the street, Reuben next to me.
"The thing is, Lemon, Graham's patrol guys saw some big trucks and semis come in about an hour ago with the Big Top Circus logo on the side headed to the Burly Fairgrounds, but one of the trucks split.” Fuck. I need to find my girl.
"Shit," Ruben says. "Griffin's outside. She's not with Abby."
We stop Griffin outside of the brewery, asking where Abby went.
"She just left here a few minutes ago. Sorry, was she supposed to go somewhere else?" Griffin shakes her head, frowning, confused.
"Do you know which way she went?"
"Honestly, I have no idea," Griffin says. "I was too preoccupied with getting these menu boards out for tonight's specials."
Ruben helps her set the signage up on the sidewalk, but I'm already pushing past them. "Sorry," I say. "I just got to find her."
There’s a shout, a scream.
"That's her," I say, "goddammit."
Griffin's eyes are knitted with worry and Reuben follows me as we round the corner toward the alley. I hear Rueben on the phone with Rye, who is coming around Warm Way just as we are coming from the other direction.
"I was at the bakery," he says. He's holding a croissant. He drops it in a trash can as he joins us, our eyes locked. "Abby?" he says.
I nod. "She's in trouble," I say it as a truck drives off down the alley. "I know she's in there," I say.
I run down the alley after it, but I can't see her. Can't see anyone.
"Goddammit," I shout.
But my truck is right next door in the alley behind Hammer Home.
I jump in, my brothers with me: Rueben in the truck bed, Rye at my side. I tail the truck, my foot on the gas, driving fast as I can.
A moment later, the truck that I know Abby's in jolts to a halt, and I'm about to rear-end it. Then it turns down Restful Road.
"Shit, Bart," Rye says. "I should have never questioned her or how you care her about her or anything. You knew what you were doing."
"You want to do this now?" I ask. "When we're in the middle of a car chase?"
"We're gonna get her, okay?" Rye’s words are firm. Resolute. "No matter what, we're gonna get her."
He's right, of course. We are. Because we're not gonna let anybody, and I mean anybody, hurt the woman I love.
He's calling our other brother, Mac. "Hey," Rye says. "Where are you?"
"Grabbing some pizza at Home Slice."
"You have your car?"
"Yeah, why?"
"Get in it now. I need you to turn onto Restful Road and I need you to block the red pickup truck that's going to be headed your way in about two minutes. Understood?"
"All right," Mac says, ending the call.
I look over at Rye. "Thanks."
Ruben shoves open the window in the back of my truck. "What's the hold up? Where's your girl? We need to rear-end this truck in front of us. You understand?"
"I'm on it," I say just as I see Mac's truck coming toward us on the other side of the road.
"Now, you just gotta sandwich that truck," Rye insists, calling Graham as I maneuver the truck on the road.
"Just?" I shake my head, swearing under my breath.
"Yes," Rye snorts, "just. Punch the gas."
I do as he says, and the truck ahead of us does the same, but it can't get very far because Mac, being the youngest brother, T’s his car in front of the truck and I do the same with mine.
We've blocked Restful Road entirely, but we've also barricaded the truck.
All four of us Rough boys jump out of our vehicles and surround it.
"Get out of the car," I shout. "Now!"
A man who's big, and I mean really fucking big, gets out. "Don't talk to me like that. I'm Ricky, the strongest man in the world."
Mac's eyes widen. "You got to be kidding me."
"They're in the circus," Rye grunts, "what do you expect?"
I'm not laughing, though, because none of this is funny. This is Abby we're talking about.
"Where is she?" I say as another man, I'm guessing Abby's father, drags her out from the truck. She's crying, shaking, scared. This girl, this woman I love, is terrified. And I see why, Ricky’s got a gun pointed at her.
"He’s gonna shoot if you don't back down, you understand me? I'm her father. I know what's best. And what's best is her coming with me. Now!"
"What's this about?" I shout. "You just want some power and control over your child? Well, you lost it. She's a grown woman and she can decide what she wants."
"What she wants? This girl never knew a thing about what she wanted. She just bent over backwards and did what I said her whole damn life.”
“Well, she’s not bending anymore. She’s standing up straight now,” I say, my voice loud, clear, strong. I may have been doing what I was told my whole life too, but right now, I'm doing what matters. And that's protecting the woman I love.
I'm lined up with all four of my brothers and we all know what we’ve got to do.
We’ve got to disarm this man and we’ve got to get Abby back.
She belongs to us now. She's as rough as we are.
Her eyes find mine and I swear to God, her soul and mine, they're one. I'm gonna do what I have to, even if it means taking a damn bullet for her. Because this woman, she's my woman. And even if the strongest man in the world is between us, he’s not gonna keep us apart.