Page 99 of Trip Through Your Wires

“I can do whatever I want. You signed the contract.”

Fear, anger, despair…all of it crashes into me, shaking my body violently. The idea of sharing any part of me with anyone besides Jake makes me sick. “I hate you.”

“The feeling is mutual,” he grins.

I want to scratch his eyes out. Worse, I want to dig my nails into his neck and rip out his jugular. But something tells me he may like it so I do something else instead. I hit him where it hurts.

“Do you want to know what your son looked like when he died?” I ask coldly. “What he sounded like as he choked on his own blood? He sounded like a pathetic, little bitch. A piece of shit, just like his father.”

Richardson reaches out and grabs my shoulders, lifting me off the ground, staring into my eyes like I am nothing more than a rag doll. “No you listen to me, you little bitch. Your days with Mr. Chambers are over. If I find out you have seen him, I will end his career before it even begins.”

“No,” I gasp, pain shooting down my arms from his vice-like grip.

“Oh yes,” he sneers, “I will make sure of it. A bat to the kneecaps should do the trick. And your friend, Ms. Butler, she will wish Royce had taken her that night on the beach because the fate you will have sealed her too, will be far worse than anything he planned.”

My body grows cold at the very thought of anyone hurting two people who mean the world to me. “If you touch either of them I will kill you.”

He dips his head back and laughs, bringing it back up, slowly. “Listen to me because I am only going to say this once. End it now, or I will.”

He lets go of my shoulders and I stumble backward, gripping the chair of my vanity for balance as he turns on his heels, and storms toward the door.

“Louise!” He yanks the door open. “Make sure she is ready for the party on Thursday.”

“I can’t dance,” I say again numbly as he stands with his back to me.

“I don’t care if you just stand there and take off your clothes for a couple of minutes,” he says coldly, not bothering to turn around. “You will get your fucking ass on that stage.”

“No!” I ball my hands into fists, holding them at my side. “I said I’m not fucking dancing!”

He turns to look at me now, eyes cold and calculating. “You will be on that stage, or the men I have watching Mr. Chambers start swinging their bats. Do you hear me?”

My throat tightens and fear floods me. “You can’t do that.”

“Oh, I can, and I will. Make no mistake, you fuck this up for me, I will fuck up your life, too.”

And with that, he’s gone.

Mamma rushes in, eyes sweeping over my face as she grips both of my hands and holds them in hers. She says something, but I don’t hear her. All I see is her lips moving. What I’m feeling is not fear or even desperation. It’s rage. The kind that blocks out all senses and emotion but one—revenge.

I’m not giving up Jake. Not for anything. He is not just important to me, but vital. I need him the way I need air. He is my future, no matter what. Richardson, his agreement, and this disgusting club are not.

I have four days to get out of this agreement. Four days to find what I need to secure my freedom and protect my friends. If I don’t…if I get up on that stage, or am forced to do worse, it will be game over. I will not only lose Jake, but myself, and I can’t let that happen. I would rather kill another Richardson, before I ever let that happen.

Chapter 22

Jake

Things feel so much clearer since my trip home. Leave it to a little heart to heart with my dad to put things in perspective. I could have gone without the barrage of questions that came from my mom once he and I headed back into the house—thanks, Nat for spilling the beans—but honestly, I loved telling her all about Jenica and couldn’t wait for my family to meet her.

Before that happens though, I need to see her. It’s only been a few weeks and I miss her. I can’t wait to go all night and wake up with her next to me. After today, there’s just two more until I see her again and the wait is killing me because not only is it the thrill of being together, but we are also telling Cruz and Ellery about us.

There was never any real need to keep us a secret. I only suggested it because I know how insistent she was that we do so before and because I wanted to relish in the afterglow a bit of finally being with her. But things are different now. We are different. We’re used to the idea of us, and it’s time for our friends to be, too.

I’ve mapped the weekend to make sure I get to spend as much time with her as possible in between games. The guys and I fly down Friday morning, and I’ll see her at our first game later that day. Then we’ll have all night, followed by Saturday afternoon and night thanks to an early game that day, and Sunday morning, before we have a midday game, and then head back to Highland.

Three days doesn’t feel long enough—especially since there is time in there that I will have to share Jenica with Ellery—but it’s more than my last visit and this time we won’t be hiding behind closed doors. The four of us can spend time together like normal, only I won’t have to hide the way I feel. It’s the best of both worlds, for now. In a few months, things will be different.

After a full day of classes and practice, I make my way home, while Cruz heads over to campus to wait for Ellery. She has a late class on Wednesday’s so the two usually grab dinner after. They call it date night, and I can’t wait to do that with Jenica, as well as all the normal things couples do.

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