Page 96 of Need Him Like Oxygen

“Where?” I barked, flagging down a cab, and jumping inside, shooting off the address as the kid gave it to me. “Give me more details,” I demanded, feeling dread spread through my veins.

“She got me a sub. And we were talking about some guy who had been hassling me.”

“Did she show you a picture on her phone?” I asked, cursing the red light the cab pulled up to.

“Yeah.”

Chet.

This was about Chet.

It was one more turn before I was hopping out of the cab, running toward the only person standing on the street, looking panicked and lost, a phone pressed to his ear.

“Lip?” I asked, tucking mine away.

“She was taken from right there,” he said, pointing toward the curb I was standing near. “She was just talking to me, and then a van pulled up. I tried to warn her, but it was all too fast. The door flew open, they grabbed her, and she was gone.”

“Did they hurt her?” I asked, adrenaline surging through my system, making me jittery.

“I think they drugged her,” he said. “Someone was doing something to her neck.”

“Fuck,” I growled. “The van. Tell me about the van.”

“It was just black. A black van. Nothing on it. With the sliding door. Like a work truck. No windows. I told the cops all of this,” he said.

“The cops? Are they looking for her?”

I’d never been happy for the cops to be involved in family business. Except for now. With Cinna’s life on the line.

“They thought I was fucking crazy,” Lip said, jaw going tight, eyes looking a little watery with frustration.

It struck me then how young he was. Just a kid, really. Probably not much older than Joel. And living on the street. Then being a witness to a crime and having no one believe him because he was a street kid.

“I know you’re not crazy. Tell me more. What did they look like?”

“I don’t… it was too fast. I saw two men in the back. Maybe three men total?” he said, squinting as he tried to bring the memory back into focus.

Three.

That was how many had attacked her last time.

Who’d done such savage damage to her.

Who now had even more motivation to hurt her since she’d hurt them, fucked with their pride, and likely brought the wrath of their boss onto them.

“Okay. It’s alright,” I said, feigning calm I definitely didn’t fucking feel right then. “What were you talking about before they showed up?”

“She was asking me about the guy on her phone. She heard he’d been harassing me. I told her that he was telling me that his new boss was gonna get rid of the likes of me when they took over. But they wanted to take care of some… cunt,” he said, whispering the word, “around here first. That was it. That was when they pulled up and grabbed her.”

“How long ago?” I asked.

“Hours. This afternoon.”

Fuck.

“Okay. Alright,” I said, reaching for my phone, and doing something Cinna was going to hate me for. But she could only hate me if she was alive to do so. And this was the only way I could think of to make sure she stayed that way.

I had to break my promise.

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