Uncontrollable (28 page)

 “I had a meeting come up. I won’t be home until
later,” Slade says.

I unlock my car and get in. “Okay. Holly called me
earlier, and she is back to work now. I’ll run up to Larry’s for a little
while,” I say starting up my car before backing out of my spot.

“Sounds good,” he says. “I’ll see you at home
later.”

 “I love you.”      

“Love you too, Angel.”

I make a quick call to Holly letting her know I’m
coming before I hit the highway.

 I pull up to Larry’s fifteen minutes later and
park in the back. I grab my purse and my phone as I get out of my car and start
to walk to the back door when I see a black truck pull up out of the corner of
my eye.

I jump back when it comes to a quick stop in front
of me. “What the hell?” I yell. “Watch where you’re going,” I snap starting to
walk around it.

 The passenger door opens, and I have an instance
of panic when I see Jax jump out of it. He slams the door, and it drives off in
front of me, squealing the tires.

“Jax,” I say taking a step back from him. “What are
you doing here?”

“I came to get you,” he replies with an evil look
in his dark eyes.

Come and get me?
I look around quickly. The
back door is still ten feet away, and he’s standing between me and said door. I
don’t know if I can outrun him. “How did you know I was here?” I decide to ask
as I reach around to my phone in my back pocket.

If I can just keep him talking, maybe I can get my
phone to redial Slade’s number. Doubtful. But a girl can hope.

He gives an evil laugh as he reaches up and runs a
hand down over his ashen face. “Why do you look so terrified?” he asks tilting
his head. “Don’t you still love me?”

He can’t be serious. I shake my head.

 He takes a step toward me and sighs heavily.
“Well, that is unfortunate for you, baby.”

I wrap my hand around the top of my phone.

“Because I still love you, and now that I’m back,
I’m not letting you go.”

 “Stop, Jax,” I warn, and he smiles.

 “Do you know how much Slade has lied to you?”

 Not this again. “He doesn’t lie to me,” I snap.

He smiles. “Did he tell you I spoke to him while
you were New York? Did he tell you that I warned him I was coming to get you?”
He gives a dark laugh. “It’s rather comical. See, this entire time I thought
you were dating Tate.” He shakes his head as he continues to laugh at how wrong
he was.

How would Jax know that I was in New York? Did
Slade…? “No.” I shake my head. “You’re lying.”

“He’s the only one who has been lying to you,
Angel
.”
I cringe when he calls me that.

“And then there’s that secret he’s keeping from you
regarding Tate.”

 “What’s wrong with Tate?” I ask worried.

 He chuckles. “You have always been a stupid
bitch.” He takes another few steps toward me.

I take in a deep breath and pray that I make it to
the back door, but he lunges for me, knocking us both to the ground. My phone
is knocked out of my hand, and I scramble to grab it.

 “Get off me!” I scream.

I feel a fist hit my back, and I scream out from
the pain.

He climbs off me, grabs my leg, and jerks. My shirt
tears and my skin rips against the pavement, but I’m able to take my other foot
and kick him in the stomach.

He recovers quickly, bends down, and yanks me to
stand by a handful of my hair before I can get up off the ground. “Stop,” I
manage to yell before he places his hand over my mouth. I kick, push away, and
throw my arms around. I try everything my body is capable of doing to get away,
but he’s too strong. His hand is too tightly wrapped around in my hair and my
scalp burns from the motion.

He drags me over to my car and throws me into the
driver side. After he shoves me into the passenger seat, he reaches over, grabs
my purse, and throws it out the window where it lands beside my phone.

 “Leave me alone.” I reach out and slap him,
letting my ring cut him once again. I go to reach for the passenger door to get
out and run but he returns the slap much more forcefully. I cry out from the
sting as he grabs my left wrist and growls. “Give me this,” he demands
breathing heavy.

“No.” I scream and fist my hand into a ball. He
can’t take my ring. He’ll have to kill me.

 He grabs my hair once again and yanks my head back
before he shoves me forward. Then I see nothing but blackness.

I feel bad that I had to
cancel our date night because of work. I check my watch and see I still have
thirty minutes before my meeting, so I pull out my phone to tell her I’ll make
it up to her.

 It rings a few times and then goes to voicemail. I
pull up the bar’s number and call it.

 “Larry’s.” I hear Holly answer.

“Hey Holly. May I talk to Angel?”

“She’s not here.”

She did say she was going to go and see Holly. “Did
you speak to her earlier? She told me she was going up there to see you since I
had a meeting come up.”

 “Yeah. She called me an hour ago but she never
showed up. I figured she went home.”

I know how much she wanted to see Holly. There’s no
way she wouldn’t have gone up there. “Let me try calling her again.”

“Okay. I’ll run out and see if she’s sitting in her
car on the phone. You know how loud it can get in here, and she said she was
going to call Vivian later about wedding stuff.”

We hang up, and I press send on Angel’s number
again.

 “Hello?” I hear Holly’s voice again after a few
rings. And I can’t help but notice the shake in her voice.

 “Holly?” I pull the phone away from my ear. Did I
call the bar again? “Why are you answering her phone?”

“Slade. You need to call Parker. Tell him to get up
to Larry’s right now.” Her voice shakes, and I can hear the panic in her voice.

 “What’s going on Holly?” I ask grabbing my keys
and heading out of my office.

“Sam’s phone is in the parking lot, along with her
purse and her…” She trails off as she begins to cry.

“Her what?” I demand.

She’s silent for a few seconds. “Her engagement
ring.”

I come to a stop and stand in front of the
elevators. “What the fuck do you mean, Holly?” I snap.

 “I think…I think someone took her.”

Someone took her? No, she must be mistaken. But
what else would explain what Holly is describing? “You guys have a surveillance
system, correct?” I remember Angel mentioning something about it a while back.

 “Yes.” Her voice cracks, and it takes everything I
have to try to think straight.

“Listen. Look up at the camera. Does it look like
it might have taped what happened?” She should be able to tell by where her
stuff is on the ground.

“Yes,” she says now crying.

“Okay. Don’t call the police. I want to watch it
before you call them.” They will take it, and I won’t be able to see what’s on
it.

 “But Slade. She’s not here and all of her stuff…”

“Holly,” I bark.
I only have one chance at this.
“Promise me you won’t call them just yet,” I demand.

She lets out a small cry and then sniffs a few
times. “Okay,” she whispers.

 “I’m on my way,” I shout hanging up on her. I turn
left and slam the door open to the staircase with my shoulder. I don’t have
time to wait on the elevator. I dial Parker’s number as I run down floor after
floor. My legs can’t move fast enough, and I almost trip several times.

 “What’s up?” Parker asks sleepily.

 “Get to Larry’s. Right now,” I shout out of
breath. Ten more floors to go.

“Not tonight, Man,” he yawns ignoring my urgency.
“I just got off of a double shift.”

“It’s Angel,” I hiss. “She’s missing. Holly found
her purse, her phone, and her engagement ring in the parking lot, and her car
wasn’t there.”

I hear commotion and then the sound of a door
hitting a wall. “Tate!” I hear him yell.
He must be home.
“Where are
you?” he asks me.

“I’m leaving work.” Fifth floor.

 “Did you already call the police?” he asks
sounding muffled as if he’s trying to put a shirt on over his head.

“No. I wanna watch the video tape before it goes
into police custody.” Third floor.

“Slade,” he says in warning. “Tate!” he yells once
again before I can respond. “Hang on,” he growls to me. I hear him pounding on
a door. “Fuck it,” he mumbles to himself. Then I hear him a woman scream in the
background. “Get your ass out of bed and get dressed. We gotta go,” Parker
demands.

I hear Tate’s voice, but I can’t understand what he
says over my heavy breathing.

 “It’s Sam. She’s missing. Now get your ass out of
bed,” he shouts.

 “I’ll meet you there.” I hang up on him, finally
hitting the bottom level and running to my car.

I sit in the back office at
Larry’s as a silent recording plays in front of me. Tate stands beside me and
Parker leans down on one knee in front of me. No one speaks as we all watch the
scene play out in front of us on the monitor.

We see Angel pull up in her car. The sun is
starting to set but it’s not dark yet. She has a smile on her face as she
starts to walk to the back door. She jumps back when a black truck almost hits
her. The way the camera is facing; all you can see is the hood of what looks
like to be an older black Chevy. There’s no sound, so all you can do is see her
reaction as she seems to be yelling something. She goes to walk around but it
speeds off. She stands grounded to her spot, eyes wide and body stiff. I watch
as my worst fear steps into the view of the camera; Jax.

“Son of a bitch,” Tate hisses.

 She shakes her head a few times, and I watch
helpless for a few good minutes before I see her try to run around him. I jump
to my feet when he lunges for her, and they both go falling to the ground, him
landing on top of her.

 I stand there numbly as she tries to fight him
off. He punches her in the back, drags her by her ankle, and then lifts her by
her hair before he shoves her into her car.

 Her parking spot is in clear view of the camera,
so we continue to watch as her small car shakes from their struggle. He manages
to rip her purse from her shoulder and throw it out the window next to her
phone. She slaps him and then he slaps her back. She struggles with him a
little bit more and then he grabs her by the back of her head and shoves her
face first into the dash.

 Her body slumps back into the seat; out cold. He
picks her left hand up once again, removes her ring, and then tosses it out the
window as well. He takes off leaving a trail of black from her tires heating up
the pavement.

Then there’s nothing.
She’s gone
. Jax has
her.

I stand there and blink a few times trying to
understand what I just saw. This didn’t happen. It couldn’t have.

Tate gets my attention as I hear glass break
against a wall.

“We will find her,” Parker says standing and facing
Tate and myself. He looks at me, and I see the doubt in his eyes. The anger in
his tight jaw. His chest bowed and fists clenched.

 His eyes move to Tate as I hear another piece of
glass break. “Stop breaking shit,” he demands. “The cops will also be in here
watching this. I have to call this in,” he says to me.

 I nod my head. But it doesn’t matter, fuck the
police. I’ll find the bastard first.“They won’t find shit on there.” I finally
find my voice. There was no tag number on the truck. Hell, I’m not even one
hundred percent sure what the model was. All I saw was half of a black rusted
hood.

 “I have to call this in, Slade.” He pulls out his
phone.

 “He’s right.” I hear Tate’s deep and hard voice.
“There’s nothing on that video telling us where she is now. That was over two
hours ago.” My eyes focus up on the monitor and the screen shatters as
something shiny knocks into it.

 Parker turns his attention back over to Tate, and
I hear a soft cry come from behind me. I turn to see Holly standing in the
corner as she cries her heart out. Her body shakes, her hand covering her mouth
and tears running down her face. I forgot she was in here watching it as well.
I walk over to her and place my arms around her.