Page 59 of Forever Midnight

* * *

I pack a few things and some clothes so I can return to Midnight. I have to hustle since I called a ride share and asked them to wait on the main road. I don’t like strangers coming up to the house.

I see the car already waiting for me, so I hop in the back seat. It only takes a second to realize I’ve made a huge mistake. Vinni twists in his seat, glaring at me. In a panic, I try to open the door to get out but the guy in the passenger seat aims a gun at me. My throat feels like it’s closing.

“Who are you working for?” Vinni yells at me. “What gang?”

“What? I’m not in a gang.”

“Stop fucking lying, man,” Vinni yells, tearing off. He’s driving erratically and at this point I have to hope for a cop to pull him over.

“I know you know something,” Vinni says, whispering ominously. “You guys got Malek, didn’t you?” He turns and looks at me, swerving out of his lane for a second before returning his eyes to the road. “I’m gonna fuck you up so bad, man. You’re gonna beg me to kill you.” He smacks his own forehead. “You took my brother!”

“I didn’t. It wasn’t me. I just want the stuff about my sister.”

“Shut up, man,” Vinni grunts. “I’m gonna ask you again. Who are you working for? You tell me the boss, and maybe I’ll let you go.”

“You said we could fuck him first though, boss,” the other man says. “We still can, right?”

My stomach turns at the thought of that man touching me.

“Find his phone, Joey,” Vinni says.

For once, I’m glad I took my dad’s advice to use a throwaway phone for things like deliveries and car services. My actual phone is safely packed away in my bag.

Joey, I guess, turns in his seat and I offer my phone right away, hoping it satisfies them. I have a feeling my real phone is the only thing that might save me. Fuck! I wish I had my location services turned on.

“But we can fuck him, right, Vinni?” Joey whines.

“Yeah, yeah, you can fuck him. I don’t care.” Vinni smacks Joey across the chest. “Keep an eye on him.”

Vinni heads out of town and my nerves kick up. I don’t know if acting scared or playing brave is the right move, but I choose the latter. “This doesn’t end until I get the shit back you have on my sister.”

Vinni laughs. “Big words for a dead man walking.”

Some time later, he pulls over into a field and Joey grabs a pillowcase and puts it over my head, blinding me to the rest of the location. My hands and feet are taped together too. I’m so fucked. All I can think about is the sadness my death would cause my family, and worse than that, Midnight’s gorgeous face playing in my head. I can’t leave him. Not yet.

“Here’s what’s gonna happen, you little shit,” Vinni says as we speed down the road. “You’re gonna die ’cause you get on my nerves. Then I’m gonna take your sister’s slutty tape and sell it to the highest paying tabloid.”

I thrash in my seat, my stomach knotted with disgust.

“It’s gonna be all over the news. Everyone’s gonna know.”

“Fuck you, Vinni.”

He laughs, making a sharp turn that causes me to slide to the other side of the car.

“And ain’t no one gonna find you where we’re going.”

Joey laughs. “No way.”

I have nothing left to say as the car slows down, the tires sounding like they’re rolling over gravel. My dad’s kidnapping tips kick in, reminding me to pay attention to details in case there’s any way I can get out of here. I’m yanked from the car minutes later, and dragged across gravel and dirt. A door that sounds like it’s made of metal slides open, and the smell of musty air and stagnant water hits me even through the pillowcase.

I’m shoved against what feels like a cement column, and the heavy thud of something falls beside me.

“That’s your phone,” Vinni says. “You’re gonna lay here and slowly die, listening to the phone ring, all your friends and your family and whoever the fuck your boss is looking for you, but you can’t answer. They can’t save you.” He kicks me hard in the stomach. “You should’ve stayed out of it, little man. Now I gotta make a point.”

Suddenly the pillowcase is lifted. Vinni grabs my chin, forcing my mouth open and shoving pills in. I spit them out, but the cool barrel of a gun on my cheek causes me to freeze.

---