Page 38 of Bolted

He’s glued to a phone, and I realize it’s my phone. “What are you doing?”

“Just reading what a fucking douche your boss is. Oh, and also telling your needy friends to chill the fuck out.”

No one knows anything is wrong, he’s been convincing everyone I’m fine. I start to panic then, and my attempt at being cool falters. “Nate, listen, I need to get out of here. I need to get back to the city.” I’d recognized his cabin as soon as the blindfold lifted. We used to come here in high school to drink and party with our friends. It’s been close to abandoned for years, his family not wanting to put in the work to fix it up.

“Let’s not talk about that right now Riley,” Nate says as he grabs his backpack. “Let’s just have a good time.”

He pulls out a syringe. “Nate,” I start. “What is that?”

“I think you’ll like it baby,” he says and grabs hold of my arm. He’s since tied them together in front of me, likely realizing it was easier for him to control me that way. “Just a few minutes now.”

The needle goes into my arm and my panic overwhelms me, my hearts racing and I’m trying to think through my options. It seems like Nate is definitely on something. Maybe he’s close to passing out and if he does, could I manage to get free of these ropes?

He sits back down and smiles at me. “You know what I think Riley? I think maybe your friends just need a reason to forget about you.”

The room starts to swirl moments later and I black out.

Chapter 45

Sebastian

I’m sitting in our afternoon meeting discussing a few different cases, and a few other business ventures Jamison has been wanting to pursue when Jonathan chimes in.

“Sebastian, Xavier, you guys never did say how the rest of your night went at Lock & Key?”

I glance over at Xavier, and he just stares at me. I actually haven’t spoken with him since the opening night at the club. Partially because I’m still annoyed at the incident that happened in that room but also because I don’t really know what to make of my reaction and the fact that Riley still hasn’t responded to my messages.

“I met someone while venturing through the rooms. She’s wild, but I think I might be able to tame her. We will see.” Xavier responds to Jonathan while still staring at me.

He’s pushing me on purpose. I already know it. That smug motherfucker. He knows exactly who came over to my couch while I’m still wondering who was on his.

I roll my eyes and ignore him, turning to respond to Jonathan. “I did a little recon throughout the rest of the rooms. There wasn’t much to see inside those main rooms, however, I did notice one particular door with security. At first glance, it looked like that was where a lot of their nightly cash payout was being taken but I noticed there was quite a bit of bagged cash coming back out.”

The guys are listening intently as I continue. “I obviously couldn’t get close enough to tell so we might have to investigate further but I would be inclined to think maybe there might be some sort of fraudulent bill exchange going on?”

“It would actually be quite genius if you think about it.” Xavier interrupts. “Lock in large bills from the elite on big money nights and exchange their change for smaller fraudulent bills. Most of the clientele that were at Lock & Key for opening night are filthy rich and wouldn’t think twice about a $20 bill being fake.”

“It does seem quite infantile though, for someone like Ethan Lockhart, don’t you think?” Jamison asks, and continues, “Small fraudulent bills, that’s like chump change for him. I feel like there’s something more going on here. I feel like we need to put our PI on Sasha and Nate too.”

“Why the fuck would we need to put a PI on Sasha and Nate?” I grit out.

Just the thought of that motherfucker’s name pisses me off. He’s probably at home taking care of Riley while she’s sick and ignoring my texts. He doesn’t deserve her. No one is going to take care of her the way I can. The sooner she realizes it the better off she will be.

“They were both there on opening night.” Jamison states matter-of-factly

Kaz storms in, interrupting our meeting and both Jamison and Jonathan stand at the same time. She ignores both of them and throws her phone on the table in front of me. On the screen is a whole text feed of back-and-forth messages between her and Riley. I look up at her questioningly.

“I’ve been trying to talk to you all day, Sebastian. Something is seriously wrong. I’ve been trying to get ahold of Riley, and all I’ve been getting from her are one-word answers. The last message she sent to me has some stupid emoji at the end of her response.”

“So what, at least you are getting a response from her,” I mutter out loud.

“She doesn’t use stupid emojis, Sebastian, and usually her responses are way more than this. She didn’t answer the door the other day, something is wrong,” she says, pacing back-and-forth, causing both Jamison and Jonathan to follow her every move. “She also said she’s going to resign.”

“What?” I bellow, practically jumping out of my chair.

“Wait, you mean you didn’t go home with Riley after the event?” Xavier asks me. “She left to chase after you not five minutes after you walked out of the room.”

“We saw her arguing with Nate over by the bar from up in the VIP section.” Jamison states.

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