Page 42 of Stepson

I do owe him. Jeff has saved my ass more times than I can count on one hand. Without question, I pull my briefs on and look for my jeans.

“Where are you right now?”

“Fuck! I’m… I’m… fuck, I don’t know,” he pauses, breathing heavily into the phone. “I’m on Piper Street.”

I sigh, knowing exactly where he is. That street is my old stomping grounds, and the neighborhood is trouble with a capital T. One look at Bentley, and I know what I have to do.

“I’m on my way. Do you see a green apartment building that looks like it needs to be torn down?”

“Yeah,” he answers right away.

“Go through the third door on the right. It’s the basement doors. I’ll be there as soon as I can, brother.”

“Hurry up, man.” He hangs up without another word before I shove my phone into my jeans that are falling off of my hips.

“What’s wrong?” Bentley asks, sounding full of worry.

I sigh, turning to look at her. I hate how I’m about to leave her, but there’s no way in hell I’m going to let her come with me. I don’t want her anywhere near the shit I’m about to get into. If I go to jail tonight, I want Bentley as far away from that shit as possible.

“It’s my buddy Jeff. He was the guy I went to meet at Redd’s before you showed up. He’s in trouble.”

“Let me get dressed.”

“No,” I order, grabbing her hand. “I can’t let you come with Bentley. Jeff is… He’s from my past, and I don’t want you anywhere near that. I shouldn’t be too long and then I’ll be back. I just need to go pick him up and bring him to some place safe. You’re staying here.”

She sucks in her bottom lip as her eyes search mine with worry.

“I have a bad feeling about this, Gabe,” she whispers.

I lean forward, pressing my forehead to hers. “I know what I’m doing, babe, I’ll be fine.”

Stepping back, I finish getting dressed and grab the Mercedes keys from the desk. I seriously fucking hate leaving her here alone, but she’s way safer here than she is with me in thatneighborhood. It probably isn’t even a good idea formeto be back in that neighborhood, but I owe Jeff.

“Grab some room service, and I’ll be back before you even know it.” I kneel on the edge of the bed, leaning over to lightly kiss her soft lips.

Fuck, I don’t want to go.

I force myself to stand up and leave the room, cursing the universe for my choice in friends.

Chapter twenty-two

Bentley

It’s almost midnight. Where the hell is he?!

As I pace back and forth, I dial Gabe’s number for the twentieth time but instead of ringing a few times, it goes straight to voicemail. What the fuck?! I have this awful feeling something’s really wrong. If it isn’t, he’d have called or texted.

He’s been gone for nearly four hours now. My gut is telling me something’s off, and I’ve learned not to ignore the feelings deep in my stomach. Panicked, I call the nearest police station looking for Gabe. I pray he isn’t there, but where else would he be?

“Lancaster Police Department, how may I direct your call?”

“Hi, I’m looking for a possible inmate. Gabe Price?”

I hear some clicking through the phone but can't decipher if it’s a keyboard or my frantically beating heart. Please don’t let him be there.

“Gabriel Price?” She asks and my heart plummets into my stomach.

“Yes,” I whisper, “that’s him.”

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