“Well, Jaxon and I found Brayden walking out in North Postings. If we work with him, we may be able to find where he was before he got to where we found him. Maybe if we just drive back there, a sound, a pothole he might have felt, anything that could steer us in the right direction,” Nikita explained.
“Ooh, ooh, yeah! Like that sense memory thing,” Sicily said.
Everyone went silent and stared at him, so I said, “Explain.”
“Sometimes when people get robbed or raped or assaulted from behind, cops will use sense memory to try and help someone remember details they don’t think they have. There was a point at which you weren’t blindfolded, right?” Sicily asked Brayden.
“I’d meet the two guys, usually outside of school, and then they’d put the blindfolds on me and take me to whatever car and hand me over. I’d have the blindfold on then until they took it off of me in Connor’s office or wherever he was,” Brayden explained.
“When you were walking out where Jaxon and Nikita found you, were you blindfolded until you got there?” Sicily asked.
“Uh…” Brayden screwed his face as he tried to think backwards. “Yes.”
“Did you walk or did they drive you there?”
“Walked,” Brayden said, “Well, they dragged me there. They didn’t even take the blindfold off, just stood me there and unbound my hands. Eventually, I pulled the blindfold off myself and then a few minutes later, Nikita and Jaxon found me.”
Sicily put a hand on Brayden’s shoulder, and it seemed to bolster Brayden’s confidence. “That’s awesome. So all you guys have to do is take Brayden to about where he started, blindfold him again, and see if you can remember which directions you turned in and stuff. Like Nikita said. Try and feel a pothole, remember if you heard anything. You’d be surprised what your brain took note of.”
“Okay,” Brayden replied immediately. “I’ll give it a try.” He looked over at Kyle. “Will you come?”
“Yeah,” Kyle said with a smile. “I’ll be by your side every step of the way.”
“Well, it can’t be a whole lot of people this time either,” I said. “I’d like to go, and Nikita and Jaxon should go, since they found Brayden.”
“Can I go?” Avery asked. “No offense, Sicily, but the ping checking stuff was super boring. I just don’t wanna do that two days in a row.”
Sicily waved a hand. “Nah. I get it.”
“My truck seats six, so with me and Brayden, Jaxon and Nikita, Cherri and Avery, that maxes us out,” Kyle said. “Does that work for you?” Kyle asked Brayden.
Brayden nodded. “Yeah, that’s fine with me.”
“Okay,” Kyle said. “Let’s finish up breakfast then, and head out.”
Conversation was light and enjoyable over breakfast, then we separated into our two new groups for the day and then Team Drive Brayden piled into Kyle’s truck, and we left for Postings Proper High. Avery and I were in the third row of seats way in the back, and not long into the ride, Avery reached over and grabbed my hand and held it. I looked down at her hand in mine and smiled.
What was I doing? Avery was my best friend. Her telling me to go for it with Deon, or protecting me during Nathan’s outbursts flashed across my mind. She jumped between me and a gun. I was the one making things weird. She just wanted to be friends again.
That was what I wanted too.
“I missed you,” I said. “So much.”
Avery turned and looked at me and must have been able to hear the desperation in my voice, because her smile was less sympathetic than others, and more genuinely happy. “I missed you.”
I leaned in closer to her, hoping that no one else would hear me, but knowing they might and not caring. “We never got to talk about it, but before he left, Deon and I…” I fluttered my eyebrows up and down. “Twice actually.”
“Oh my god, seriously?” She repositioned herself in her seat so that she was facing me. “How was it?”
I rolled my eyes clear into the back of my skull remembering the feeling of Deon all around me. “Like nothing I’ve ever experienced before. We just fit together, you know?” I frowned then. “I miss him.”
“Aw, honey.” Avery pet the side of my head. “I know you do. I don’t know what I’m going to do while I’m dorming at Yale.”
My eyes went saucer wide. “You got accepted?”
Avery flashed me a cocky grin. “Of course. Who do you think you’re talking to?”
I pulled her into a hug. “I’m so proud of you, Avery. They aren’t gonna know what fucking hit ‘em!”
Avery giggled as we released. “That’s the hope. Thanks, Cherri. When I got my letter, all I wanted to do was call you.”
“Yeah, and thanks to your dick friend you couldn’t,” I grumbled. “Fuck.”
Avery started chuckling again. “It’s gonna take some getting used to hearing you swear all the time.”
“Shit. Sorry,” I said, then I yelped. “No, shit. I mean shoot! Damn it. No. Ugh!”
“Just stop,” Avery said. “I like potty-mouth Cherri.”
I smiled. “Good.”
We made it to school and parked just outside the walls. Brayden walked to where he usually met with Connor’s goons. “Okay, I usually met them here. They would blindfold me, and I assume they were putting me in the back.”
“Okay. Avery and I will be Connor’s thugs. Kyle, since you’re driving, you, Nikita, and Jaxon will be the hand-offs. Put him in the back, Jaxon and Nikita, you ride in the far back, and Avery and I will get in the passenger’s side front and second row seats,” I explained.
“Okay.” Kyle put a hand on Brayden’s shoulder. “You good?”
“Yeah, I got this. Thanks.”
With that, Kyle, Nikita, and Jaxon walked back over to his car and started it up. Avery pulled the scarf she’d grabbed out of her pocket and then walked up to Brayden and started to wrap it around his eyes. I noticed Brayden’s entire body tense up, so I reached out and stopped Avery.
“Are you okay?” I asked.
Brayden took a deep breath and then nodded. “Yeah. I’m okay. You can keep going.”
“Okay. We’re right here. If you need me to, just say the word and the blindfold comes off,” I said.
“Thanks, Cherri,” Brayden replied. Avery resumed putting the scarf around Brayden's eyes and then stepped back. "Oh shoot," Brayden said, lifting his wrists. “My hands were usually zip tied. The only time they weren't was that one time Nikita and Jaxon found me.”
“Uh, okay. We'll use my hair tie,” Avery pulled the rubber band out of her hair and her perfect brown curls fell down in front of her cocoa skin. “It's not as tight as a zip tie.”
Brayden scoffed. “That's just fine.”
I held Brayden’s wrists together and Avery laced her hair tie around them. Once again, I noticed his body tense up, but that time I just gave his hand a little rub to assure him that we were there, and then pulled back.
“Okay. Where did they normally grab you?” I asked.