Page 1 of Blaze

1

COURTNEY

After logging out of my banking app, I set my phone on the coffee table with a sigh. Sabrina had really done a number on me when she disappeared out of nowhere a month ago, only a day before our rent was due. My roommate had been acting a little off in the days leading up to when I last saw her. I hadn’t thought much about it because she’d never been the most dependable person.

Sabrina and I had been living together for almost two years, and in that time, she’d gone through six jobs and seven boyfriends. She’d been late with her half of the rent more often than not, but usually only by a few days. She’d always somehow pulled through in the end. Until now.

I didn’t make a ton of money as a bank teller, but I was good about setting some aside every paycheck. So I’d easily been able to cover her half last month. Doing it again would take my savings account lower than I liked, but I just transferred the funds because it wasn’t as though I had a choice and had no way to contact Sabrina.

With that done, I stood and headed into the kitchen to make a mug of hot chocolate. The weather was warm for April, butI didn’t care. Topped with a swirl of whipped cream that I had pre-frozen with a sprinkle of broken candy canes that I had left over from Christmas, it was my guilty pleasure. And with how bummed I was about the state of my bank account balance, I deserved something to cheer me up.

Unfortunately, the universe didn’t agree.

Someone pounded on my door just as I took my first sip of chocolatey deliciousness. Setting my mug on the kitchen counter, I was not happy.

I wasn’t expecting any visitors this morning, so whatever rude person thought it was okay to make so much noise this early in the day would get a piece of my mind. Only the words dried in my throat when I swung open the door and found three burly guys standing there.

Pressing my hand against my chest, I mumbled, “I think you’ve got the wrong apartment.”

“No, we don’t.” The tall, lanky man who pushed between two of them was the only one I recognized.

I hadn’t seen Sabrina’s boyfriend since about a week before she disappeared. I’d hoped that meant she and Jason broke up, which I’d been secretly rooting for because he was even worse than all of her other bad boyfriends. That was saying a lot since she had awful taste in men.

I glared up at him. “If you’re looking for Sabrina, she’s not here.”

“I know,” he growled, bumping past me to walk into the apartment.

The other guys followed him inside, and I had no desire to be behind closed doors with any of them. I was in my pajamas without socks or shoes on, my phone was in the kitchen, and my purse was hanging on the wall about five feet away from me, but I seriously considered making a run for it. My thoughts must’ve shown on my face because the man closest to me wrapped hishand around my upper arm and yanked me away from the door so he could close it.

I tried to pull my arm free from his grip, but he only tightened his hold on me until I stopped fighting. Wincing in pain, I muttered, “What do you want, Jason?”

“What Sabrina stole from me.”

My eyes widened as I gaped at him. My roommate was a lot of things, but I never would have thought she was the kind of person who’d rob someone, even a guy she was going to dump. “She took something from you? What?”

The biggest of the guys shot an angry look at Jason before answering my question. “Shit that belonged to our boss, not this idiot who shoulda known better than to mouth off to some chick.”

The man holding my arm nodded. “Yeah, the bitch wouldn’t have known there was anything to steal if you’d kept your trap shut.”

“It wasn’t my fault,” Jason whined, his shoulders slumping. “I never thought Sabrina would do me dirty like that. I thought she loved me, man.”

The third guy, who hadn’t spoken yet, shook his head. “How in the hell are you still talking about that damn girl? I woulda thought the beatdown we gave you because of the shit she pulled would’ve knocked some sense into you.”

My gaze darted toward Jason, and I finally noticed the split in his brow and the bruise forming on his jaw. I’d been so distracted by the men with him when they pushed their way inside my apartment that I’d missed it before. Knowing that he’d been beaten up over whatever Sabrina stole from him ratcheted up my fear several notches—which was saying a lot since I was already freaked all the way out.

About a million questions were running through my brain, but I didn’t ask any of them. The last thing I wanted was to drawthe men’s attention to me while they were focused on Jason. Unfortunately, being quiet didn’t prevent that from happening because he proved to be as big of a jerk as I thought he was.

Pointing at me, he cried, “I’m not the one who can help you find Sabrina, she is!”

The guy holding my arm finally let go, but only to line up with the other two directly across from me. The bigger one was in the middle, and he growled, “Where is she?”

“Sabrina?” I squeaked, shaking my head. “I don’t know.”

He jerked his thumb toward Jason. “That’s not what he told us. Said you’re the person who’s closest to her, and the way we asked, he was highly motivated to tell the truth. So you’re the only lead we got since we wasted the past four weeks tracking his pathetic ass down, only to find he doesn’t have what the boss sent us looking for.”

“And the guy we work for? We can’t go back to him empty-handed,” the grabby guy explained.

The third one nodded. “Which meanswe’rehighly motivated to get your friend’s location outta you. The hard way or the easy way. The choice is up to you.”

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