Howie ducked down behind the wheel as he spoke into his cell. “Yes, we need an ambulance.” He explained.
Nick groaned and pulled the phone out of Howie’s hand, he lifted it to his own ear and quickly requested an ambulance to his address. Then he shut it off. “Now drive!” He ordered as he turned in his seat and glared at AJ. “You might as well just admit it, J…we’ve got you.”
AJ leaned forward in the seat. “Nick, it’s not me.”
Nick scowled at him. “Uh huh…then what were you doing at my house when you were supposed to be meeting me at the restaurant?” His voice rose louder with each word.
AJ groaned and rubbed his face, checking for more blood. “I was gonna come and meet you. Show you the diary of Rod’s that I found. But Rod caught me reading it and went postal. He broke my phone and forced me to come with him. Sent someone over to mess up your car so you couldn’t get back. He said since you thought it was me anyway, he was gonna make it look like it really was.”
Nick’s scowl never left his face. “Oh really, then how did Rod just happen to get into my house the other day…and how did he just happen to be driving your car.” He stressed his words.
“He knew the code. He saw me typing it in the day we came over. And he must have lifted my keys, taken the car, then had it back before I even noticed.” AJ shrugged then glanced over at Howie. “You believe me D, right?”
Howie’s eyes met his in the rearview mirror. “I know you wouldn’t rape anyone, J.”
“You two are un-fucking believable!” Nick roared. “J, where’s he takin her? Where’d you two have it set up? What, did you decide to gang bang her this time?”
“Nick, stop….” Howie warned, his voice low. He slowed for a stop sign, but seeing no one coming, didn’t bother to stop.
“It wasn’t me!” AJ gritted his teeth.
“Fine, it wasn’t you.” Nick sighed, tired of arguing and just wanting to find Celeste. “Just tell me where the fuck she is.”
AJ slouched against the backseat. “He was gonna take her back to my house…set it up so it looked like me.”
“But we know it was him who took her.” Howie interjected.
“Yeah,” AJ nodded. “But you weren’t supposed to be here. If everything had gone according to his plan…ya’ll would have found Celeste at my house and it would have looked like I had been the one.” He closed his eyes. “But I’m not!”
Nick didn’t reply, just glared at Howie. “D, you’d better be driving as fast as this car can go.”
The three rode in silence as they zipped along the expressway. AJ sat in the back, his arms folded, his eyes closed, his head resting against the back of the seat. Howie drove, his eyes scanning the road; his hands gripping the steering wheel so tightly that his knuckles were white. Nick sat staring out the window, his mind going a mile a minute. He didn’t know rather to believe AJ or not. Half of him wanted to. He wanted to believe his brother wasn’t capable of such an act…but all the evidence said he was. What to do, what to do?
Finally, after what seemed like ages to Nick, Howie pulled up in front of AJ’s house. He cut the engine and turned to Nick, grabbing his arm before the younger man could escape out the door. “I think we should call the police.”
Nick met Howie’s gaze. “Alright, you do that. I’m gonna go inside.” He pulled Howie’s hand off his arm and pushed open the door, climbing out. Then he pulled open the backdoor and waited for AJ to exit. “You’re coming with, Bone.”
AJ let out a groan as he slid from the car. His face was slowly bruising up and his lip was split open, dry blood spattered on his face.
Nick roughly grabbed his arm and half-pulled him into the house behind himself. “Where are they?” He pushed AJ ahead of him and released his arm, placing his own hands on his hips. His eyes surveyed the foyer.
AJ shook his head. “I have no idea, Nick. They might not even be here. If Rod knows we saw him…he might have taken her somewhere else…” AJ reached up and rubbed the back of his neck.
Nick let out a growl as he roughly pushed AJ into the wall. “Find her, McLean!” He spat out at the smaller man, his face inches from AJ’s.
AJ turned his head away. “Nick, honestly…I have no idea where she is.”
“Fine!” Nick let out a heavy sigh as he released his brother.
Just then the front door banged open and Howie rushed in, a little winded. “Guys…” he held one hand to his chest. “He’s here. I went around back and saw his truck out there.” He leaned against the wall, placing his hands on his knees, catching his breath.
“He parked his truck in my backyard?” AJ’s eyes widened. “What a fucker, I’m gonna kill him!”
“Not if I get to him first.” Nick’s eyes had risen to the staircase. Had he just heard a noise from up there? “D, did you call the cops?”
Howie nodded, standing up. “Yup, they’re on their way.”
“Good…” he rounded the banister, his eyes trained on the stairs.
“Nick, where ya goin?” Howie glanced up the stairs then to Nick. “Maybe you should wait until…”
But Nick held a finger up to his lips, shushing Howie. “I’m just gonna go check out the first floor. Maybe he’s here somewhere.” Nick spoke, his voice a little louder than usual. Then he quietly began to creep up the stairs. “You guys stay down here.” He whispered to the two remaining Boys.
With his heart racing, Nick crept up the stairs. He was hoping that if Rod had overheard him, he wouldn’t be expecting him. He strained his ears for movement…but heard nothing. Maybe he had imagined it. Then suddenly he heard the faint rustling of movement. Nope, someone was up there. And that someone would have to be Celeste and Rod. With the anticipation growing in his body and sweat breaking out on his forehead, he stepped up onto the landing and glanced around. Now, where to look first?
He decided on AJ’s room. If Rod was trying to “frame” AJ, as he so said…then that would be the first place to check. He slowly started down the hallway, not really thinking of how dangerous Rod could be at that moment, if he might have a weapon or whatnot.
AJ’s bedroom door was slightly ajar, the light from the window sneaking through the crack. Nick slowly came upon it and held his hand against the door, listening for any sound or movement. Nothing. He carefully pushed the door open…nothing. It was empty.
With a sigh he turned to head to another room and stopped in his tracks. Rod stood behind him, Celeste held tightly in his arms, a long steel blade pressed to her throat. From the looks of it, it appeared that he had been trying to sneak past Nick and get either to another room, or downstairs. But he’d stopped when Nick had turned and spotted them.
“Don’t move, Carter!” Rod hissed out, pressing the blade against Celeste's skin. She flinched but didn’t cry out. Her hands were up and gripping Rod’s arms, trying to keep herself on her feet, her eyes were closed tightly and a petrified expression was on her face.
‘Great, just another thing to hinder Celeste’s recovery.’ Nick thought in a passing moment. He slowly took his hand off the knob. “Where ya goin?” He questioned. He had to control himself. One wrong movement and Nick was sure Rod wouldn’t hesitate to hurt Celeste.
An evil smile slid over Rod’s face. “I’m gonna go fuck your woman again.” He sneered out.
Nick took a breath to keep himself calm. “You know…that’s not a very nice thing to do.”
“So.” Rod shrugged. “I like it…and I know,” he ducked his head and peered at Celeste, before bringing his eyes back to Nick’s. “She does too.”
“Is that why she’s drawn into herself and won’t speak?” Nick questioned with his eyebrows raised. “Cuz if that’s how she shows her pleasure, then I’ve been way off this whole time.”
Rod let out a growl. “Don’t piss me off, Carter. I’m the one with the advantage here.” He shook Celeste in his arms as if to prove his point, causing her to let out a whimper.
Nick nodded. “You’re right…I’m sorry.”
Rod laughed. “Hell yeah I’m right.” He removed the blade momentarily from Celeste’s neck and pointed it at Nick. “Now, you just stay here. Celeste and I are gonna go and have a little more fun. You even think about trying to stop me and you’ll be sorry.”
Nick swallowed and nodded. “Alright.” No, he couldn’t just stand there. He couldn’t let Rod rape Celeste again. This time he had to do something.
Rod was slowly inching towards the stairs. ‘He must not know AJ and Howie are down there.’ Nick reasoned. Maybe he’d go down and they’d catch him. If they were standing there that is. Knowing Howie, he’d probably gone off to search the first floor…and AJ…well, who knows. Maybe he was bringing the truck around front for Rod’s quick escape. Or maybe he wasn’t involved at all. Nick didn’t know. He just wanted this over with, and everything back to normal.
“You know, Carter…” Rod drawled out as he neared closer to the stairs. “Your girl is one good fuck.” He let out a laugh.
Nick rolled his eyes.
“I wanna thank you for bringin her to the party…” he winked, a smile covering his face. “I had a lot of fun that night…and I know she did too.”
Nick bit his tongue to keep from replying. Right now smart-ass comments would just get them into trouble. And he didn’t need that.
“It’s too bad you had to keep interrupting us though.”
That caught Nick’s attention.
Rod was shaking his head. “Man, those few times would have been great.” Suddenly he laughed. “You wonder how I got the codes to your house?” Then without even giving Nick a chance to reply, he continued. “I just watched AJ type them in.” A howl of laughter spilled out his mouth. “And it got you thinkin it was AJ, didn’t it?”
A sick feeling suddenly appeared in Nick’s stomach. He should have known AJ wouldn’t do that. God, he was an idiot.
“I was gonna try and frame my boy…but you showed up here, so I can’t really.” Rod continued his speech. “So instead, I’m just gonna take her and go. And by the time ya’ll find her…” he laughed again. “I’ll be long gone.” He had reached the stairs now. “So here’s what you’re gonna do. You’re gonna stay there and not move. Remember, I have this knife that I won’t hesitate to use if you come after us…is that clear?” He sent Nick a harsh look.
Nick could only nod. God, this couldn’t be happening. He couldn’t be abducting Celeste out from under his nose. Not right in front of him. But he was, and unless he wanted Celeste hurt…Nick couldn’t do a damn thing about it.
“Good.” Rod seemed satisfied with Nick’s response. He took an arm and wrapped it around Celeste’s waist. “We’re going downstairs now.” Then he turned to make his way down the stairs.
Nick never even saw what happened next coming. It surprised him just as much as it surprised Rod. And it all happened so quickly. One minute Rod is standing with his arms around Celeste, a smirk upon his face, a knife to Celeste’s throat. The next, his eyes are wide, a look of horror upon his face, as his head is thrown back and he’s ripped away from Celeste, his body flying backwards and smacking hard into the wall. He slid down the wall and slumped to the floor, blood spewing out his mouth and nose.
“Take that!” AJ smirked at the unconscious Rod, holding a metal baseball bat in his hands. He turned to Nick, who was staring shocked at him.
Nick stared for a moment at AJ, then realized that Celeste had fallen to the floor when AJ had smacked Rod across the face with the bat. He rushed forward and pulled her into his arms, sitting her up. He quickly checked her over.
She just fell into his arms and sobbed, her own arms circling tight around his neck.
Nick glanced over at Rod, the blood dripping onto the carpet. Then he turned away in disgust. He met AJ’s eyes. “Thanks.” He muttered.
AJ nodded and crouched down next to Nick. “It was nothing.” He patted his back. “Couldn’t let Rod do it again, could I?”
Nick could only nod in agreement as sirens filled the air and Howie rushed upstairs with the police.
The next few minutes were ones of utter confusion as the place swarmed with cops and EMT’s. They carried Rod off, commenting on his broken nose and jaw. Both AJ and Nick swore that Rod had had AJ cornered and AJ was just using self-defense. They bought it. The EMT’s also checked Celeste out. Just concluding that she was in shock but a trip to he hospital was not necessary.
AJ and Nick moved out of the way as the cops continued the investigation. Howie had gotten a phone call and had gone off to find a quiet place, and Celeste was still with the EMT’s.
Nick sighed as he stepped outside onto the back patio. The police had taken the truck for evidence, only leaving AJ’s crushed flower garden. The two Boys sank down onto AJ’s patio swing. They were silent for a few moments, then Nick turned to AJ.
“Bone…I’m sorry.” He apologized. “I know that may not make up for what an ass I’ve been, but I truly am sorry.” He shook his head. “I should have known you’d never do that. Hell, I’ve known you for ten years, I oughta know you by now…”
AJ held up a hand, cutting Nick off. “Don’t worry bout it bro.” He reached over and thumped the younger man’s shoulder. “Sometimes one’s judgment can get clouded in a situation.” He let his hand come to a rest on Nick’s shoulder. “I know you were just worried about Celeste.”
Nick smiled. “Thanks, though I still feel terrible.”
“Good.” AJ chuckled. “But for real man, it’s aiight…I’m cool with it.”
Nick leaned back in the seat, though he still felt like shit for accusing AJ, a huge weight had been lifted off his chest. “Now, I just hope Celeste is able to recover.”
“She will.” AJ placed his hands behind his head and leaned back also. “I mean, how can she not? With a guy like you loving her…she’ll be better in no time.”
This got a laugh from Nick. “Bone, she’s just a friend.”
“Friend my ass.” AJ snorted out. “You love her, admit it.”
Nick could feel his face heating up. “Yeah well…maybe I do.” He kicked at the ground.
“See!” AJ met his friend’s eyes and grew somber. “Then Nick, it’s up to you to help her heal. Show her what love is really all about. Take care of her. Help her feel that she’ll always be safe.” He nodded at the blond. “You’re a good man, Nick. Everything will work out.”
Nick let out a sigh. “I hope so, J. I really do.”