Page 7 of Bottoms
I saw an open space just beyond the last of the flames. Before I could go any further, another shot rang out, quieted by a suppressor. I looked back to see Colten standing with his gun drawn, having fired a bullet directly into the skull of one of the burning men. He fired off two more quick rounds, one for each remaining man. Putting them out of their misery. But the look on Colten’s face was cold vengeance. Sirens already blared in the distance. No doubt someone had called the police.
“We need to go. Nik, what can you do?” I asked, turning back to Nik. Taking in the mess we had created, he squatted in the alleyway with his hands in his hair.
“We need to go. This was a mess before we got here. Let that owner take the rest,” Nik said, getting up quickly as he ushered us towards the open area beyond the three dead bodies.
“What about Nessa?” I hissed, rounding back on him as soon as the space opened. We still weren’t clear, but at least we were out of direct sight.
“Hold up,” Nik said, waving as he passed me. His gaze fixed on the ground a few feet from where I stood. He bent down, and his fingers were coated with blood when he stood. “I don’t think it’s theirs,” Nik said. His tone echoed, full of the same dark cold that filled my veins.
“She shot someone. She had her gun on her. She shot them, and then she took off. And so did they,” I said, pushing it out into the universe. If Nik couldn’t find hope, one of us needed to.
“Where would she go?” Nik asked, genuinely dumbfounded. But for me, the answer was simple.
“Bottoms,” Colten and I said in tandem. At least he understood. I didn’t want to tell Nik that Fynn had an infinity towards Molotov Cocktails. If he had her, we wouldn’t be able to find her.
“Then let’s get the fuck out of here and go get our girl,” Nik said, flashing a smile. That was all he needed for hope to fill him and carry him.
I wish it was that easy for me.
“Goodevening,assholes,”Niksaid, bursting into Bottoms as he had every day for the past week.
We hadn’t found her waiting at Bottoms for us. We checked the GPS location for her bracelet. Thank fuck she had listened and never took it off. The logs showed her last location with the GPS coordinates as the Christmas party. The data stopped after that. A few days later, her signal went live for a fraction of a second.
Someone was toying with us. One name circled in our minds, but it was the one name none of us dared to utter. We all knew we were looking for Fynn. But there was no way of knowing what state we would find Nessa, not after being in Fynn’s hands for a week. Colten attempted to reach out to him, but there had been no reply.
“Any news today?” I asked Nik as he tossed a wrapped cheeseburger into my lap.
He glared at me from the side. “You think I would wait and get myself settled in if I knew something?”
“No,” I snipped back. “But I was hoping maybe you had some fucking progress on the identities of the men that attacked Colten. See who else is in play,” I snapped. Tensions were running high, and while I knew I shouldn't yell at him, his tone wasn’t helping either.
Nik held his ground, glaring at me instead of backing down. I could feel the thin shred of decency that allowed me to get through each day wearing down. Every night I tried to sleep, but found myself lying awake for hours. It was like a ball of lead had settled into my stomach, refusing to give me peace until she was found.
“Hey,” Colten said, loud enough to make both Nik and me turn. “Tomorrow’s Christmas Eve. We should decorate the tree so Nessa doesn’t have to worry about it when she returns.”
My eyes slid to the bare, severely dehydrated pine tree Nik had taken from the police department for her a week ago. I don’t think we have bothered to go near it since she has been gone. Nessa wouldn’t have been as happy with the tree had she known where he got it, but she certainly wouldn’t have been satisfied with our lack of care for it.
“Nik, where are the lights?” Colten asked, heading over to grab the discarded bags of ornaments Nessa had bought on the last day we saw her. She left them in the lounge, and since her absence, we had not touched anything we considered hers.
“I didn’t get any,” he said, looking between Colten and me, confused. “She’s not lost on the subway. That door isn’t going to magically open,” Nik trailed off as his gaze wandered to the door.
We all waited for it to open as if we were calling out to her to come back.
“If she walks through that door and sees no lights for her tree, she’s going to give you an earful,” I said to Nik. Finding a genuine smile, I imagined her standing in the middle of the room with her hands on her hips. Scolding him for forgetting the lights.
I pulled my phone from my pocket, messaging Mike that I needed lights for a Christmas tree. He responded with a laughing emoji before dots appeared, telling me he had more to say. Of course he did. Mike always had something to say and had since I was a boy. Back when he was just a security guard under Ryland Heights, my father’s business.
Mike:I never thought I would see the day.
Tanner:What?
Mike:I never thought I would see you fall in love.
Tanner:I need fucking Christmas lights, not an engagement ring. We don’t even know where she is.
Mike:Exactly.
I rolled my eyes and slid my phone back into my pants pocket. My hand raked through my hair and looked over to the still-wrapped cheeseburger, but it didn’t seem appealing. I couldn’t remember the last time I ate. Unwrapping the quick greasy meal, I took an uninterested bite.
