Page 6 of The Perfect Kiss

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Holding my hand over my mouth, I hurried to the kitchen and bent over the sink. The contents in my stomach worked up my throat and landed in the sink until I had nothing left. I stared down at the contents in the sink for a moment, gathering my composure. After taking a handful of water and swishing it in my mouth, I used the back of my hand to wipe away any remaining water. When I turned to face Crosby and Gwen, they were no longer hunched down on the floor in a comforting hug. Instead, they were standing with their eyes were on me. Gwen’s eyes were filled with concern, opposite of Crosby’s arrogant glare.

“Take Reyna to the basement before she fills Gwen’s head with any more nonsense,” Crosby said, reminding me how much he was like his brother. One way or another, I had to find a way out of here.


Fighting Hugo proved to be a big mistake. Biting him on the arm as he dragged me to the stairs leading to the basement wasn’t a smart move on my part. It only amplified his already shitty attitude, which drove him to retaliate with a slap across the face. Specks of light flashed in front of my eyes, and my head began to spin. I lost my balance, and before I could stop myself from falling, I tumbled head first down the stairs.

Every muscle in my body hurt as I tried to get up from the floor. When I finally got to my feet, my sight rose to Hugo, who was still standing at the top of the stairs with his arms crossed at his chest. The arrogant bastard didn’t even have the decency to find out if I was okay. All he did was stare at me with a merciless grin across his face.

I was about to tell him where he could go when he began making his way down the stairs. “You’re lucky you didn’t break your neck when you fell down the stairs.”

“If you wouldn’t have hit me, I wouldn’t have fallen.”

Hugo began laughing like this was some kind of joke. “You shouldn’t have bitten me.”

We could have gone back and forth, but I knew it was a lost cause. It didn’t change the fact that Crosby took me against my will.“Asshole,”I said under my breath as he took hold of my arm and led me away from the stairs.

The musty smell overtook my senses, which reminded me of the basement at Mrs. Brown’s home. The other foster kids and I spent a lot of time in that basement playing games. She had put together a great place for us to have fun, especially when the weather wouldn’t allow us to play outside. The difference was, this wasn’t Mrs. Brown’s basement, and the circumstances for being here were less than fun.

Hugo pulled a key from a hook hanging on the wall just outside a door. Keeping a tight grip on my arm, he used his free hand to unlock the door. As he pushed it open, I tried to get a glimpse of what was on the other side of the door, but the room was too dark. I should have known that he had been in this room before. He had no problem finding the string to the light that hung from the ceiling in the middle of the room.

When my eyes adjusted to the bright light, nothing inside the room gave me a warm fuzzy feeling. It was sparsely furnished with only a twin-sized bed with a thin soiled mattress. At the foot of the bed, the bedding was folded neatly and appeared to be clean. There were no windows in the room, but painted on the opposite wall to the bed was a mural of a window with trees and a tire swing in the background.

As I looked around the room, Hugo moved toward the door. “Wait.” He stopped at my request and turned to face me. “What if I have to go to the bathroom?”

Shaking his head back and forth, he pointed to a button on the wall that looked more like a doorbell. “If you need anything, just push this bottom, and someone will help you. That is, if anyone is around to hear it.”

~4~

Davian

When the call to Crosby went dead, Patton and I ran through the security footage from the camera outside the warehouse. I then decided that it was time to get in touch with Delilah. I wasn’t sure what good it would do, but I had to try. Dialing her number, I stepped out of the computer room and walked over to the SUVs, parked in a perfect line, wanting a bit of privacy. I wasn’t sure how this would go with her once I told her what a scumbag her husband was, or if she would take my call. We had saved Reyna from Salko over two months ago, and not once during that time had I allowed her to speak with Delilah. The only excuse was my reluctance to trust her, but only because of the man she married.

Putting my cell to my ear, I heard Delilah’s voice. “Davian, I hope there is a reason you are calling, especially at this hour. You have made it abundantly clear you intend to keep Reyna from her mother and father, so unless you have come to your senses and will allow us to see her, this conversation is over.”

“You have every right to be angry with me, but there is a reason. I can’t go over it with you on the phone. Can we meet?” I could have told her what I knew about Crosby over the phone, but I needed to see her reaction. If she knew about Crosby’s business dealings, I would be able to tell.

“What is this about that you can’t tell me over the phone? I’m not sure Crosby will be available to meet. He is away on business for a couple of days, and his schedule is so unpredictable these days.”

“What I have to say concerns Crosby. Can you meet me at your home tomorrow morning?” I asked, looking at my watch for the time, feeling like an ass at the late hour.

“Yes. I should be around in the morning,” Delilah replied.

“One more thing, Delilah. Please don’t tell Crosby about our meeting. I believe after we speak, you will understand why he can’t know.”

“I’ve never kept anything from Crosby, Davian, but I will wait to hear what you have to say.” Her voice sounded strained, as though it was criminal to keep things from him.

After settling on a time to meet, I ended the call and headed back to the computer room. Patton had his eyes set on mine, and a grin from ear to ear was splashed across his face. Either he had found a clue on the camera footage, or something else had him smiling. “You aren’t going to believe this, but we got a break.”

“Tell me what you got.” I quickly walked over to Patton and pulled up a chair before taking a seat beside him.

“The outside camera not only got a clear shot of the license plate on the black sedan that Crosby McCall took Reyna in, but also the man who was driving. The car belongs to Salko. It’s the same car at the pier that was driven by the man who manhandled Gwen.”

“Get to the point, Patton.”

“I was able to use the facial recognition software and got the name of the driver. His name is Hugo Elliott. The best part, I got an address. Mr. Elliott was in the system with a mile-long list of criminal offenses, and since he is out on parole for his latest charge, he has to check in with his parole officer, which includes any updates on his current residence.” Patton was still grinning, and even though it was good work on his part, it wasn’t a guarantee.

“So, we have his name and address, but we can’t be sure he will return to his residence,” I pointed out, bursting Patton’s bubble.