Page 54 of Love Fire

“What the fuck did you just say?” I glare at Nate. How dare he tell me to calm down right now? With everything going on, I think I’m reacting normally.

“Just think, for a moment,” he says. “Where would they take him?”

“I don’t know,” I blurt out between sobs. My father has buildings all over, Brent could be anywhere.

“Well, then why would they take Brent? Why take him and not kill him here?”

“They probably want information.”

“Exactly, so, where would they take him?”

“Ugh, one of those disgusting bunkers.” Holy shit, it dawns on me. Nate is on to something. He smiles once he notices that I connected the dots.

Brent was definitely taken to one of my father’s integration bunkers. He has them hidden all over the mountains. A bunch of gross holes in the ground where his men do God knows what to their enemies.

“We need to hurry,” I say. “Where is the closest one to here?”

“I think a couple miles that way,” Nate responds. “Remember when we came up the mountains with father as kids? It was right around here.”

It all comes back to me in a flash. Once when we were kids, father took me, Nate, and Leanne up here for a ‘family vacation.’ We were going to camp, go fishing, and be a normal family for a weekend. Turned out to just be a cover for him to get out of the city and torture some poor soul personally. I’ve still never gone fishing.

“Let’s go!” I stand up from the ground and start walking in the direction Nate pointed.

“Just like that?”

“Just like that. Brent is in danger. There is no time to waste.”

“How about we waste enough time to think of a plan? Right? It won’t help Brent if we get shot as soon as we show up.”

“We can plan while we walk,” I call back to him. Nate rolls his eyes but runs to catch up to me.

We form a plan as we make the trek. Our one advantage is that we can cut through the woods, while the car has to take the road. This means, we can get there quick and father’s men won’t have long to torture Brent.

Our plan is simple but is time tested. We overwhelm the guards with dark magic. We can take them all by surprise, then grab Brent and get out. Again, it’s simple but sometimes that’s best. There is no need to over complicate this.

We get deeper into the mountain and everything starts to look familiar. Yeah, we are getting close. Shouldn’t be long before we get there.

Nate stops in his tracks. “Can I ask you something?”

I stop too. “Sure, what is it?”

“Do you promise to tell the truth?”

“Nate, just ask.”

“Do you love him?”

I scoff and turn away from him. What a ridiculous question. You don’t have to be in love to want to save someone. Sure, we’ve gotten close over the past couple days but that doesn’t mean…

My eyes lock on the horizon, the sun is beginning to rise and is painting the sky with beautiful colors. Brent and I have gotten very close. Every part of my body aches to get him back, to be near him again. I’ve never felt this way before.

Has this feeling snuck up on me? First, when I met him at the rehab, I just thought he was hot. Then he kidnapped me and I hated him. From there, an insatiable lust grew and I’ve come to care greatly for him. But did that ‘care’ grow into something stronger?

Tears well up in my eyes and I can hardly even see the sunrise anymore. I bite my lip. It’s one thing to think this, but to say it out loud is another thing entirely. But I have to, I can’t hide it anymore. I look back at Nate and nod.

“Yeah, I think I do.”

He sighs and walks past me towards the bunker. “Then we need to get him back, don’t we?”

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