He kidnapped me from my kidnappers and brought me all the way here to ask me that? It was slightly disappointing. “What the hell is a Pelican Bay? And is your name really Frankie?”
His eyebrows rose. “It’s not a what, but a where.”
“Your name is a where?” He had to have a real name. No one named their son Frankie, even if you expected he’d have a long-term life of crime. It was probably something embarrassing, like Francis.
“Pelican Bay is a place. It’s in Maine,” he said, running the same finger over his eyebrow.
Westley was in Maine? Why in the world did he go there? I may not have known his day-to-day activities, but I knew enough to realize he had no reason to be in Maine. But I didn’t want to let Frankie think I’d help him.
Rather than answer, I shrugged. “Maybe he wanted to see a moose.”
Or mooses. What was the plural of moose? Meet. No, I thought moose was always just a moose.
“Something tells me he wasn’t there to see the wildlife,” Frankie answered with a less than enthusiastic drawl.
I didn’t know what he expected out of me because if he wanted my help, he was delusional. My cousin meant the world to me, and even if Frankie threatened to harm me, I wouldn’t turn on Westley. I owed him my life. Giving Westley my loyalty was the least repayment. Besides, he’d definitely kick my ass when he found out what had happened. He would not be happy about me getting kidnapped. I’d rather not make the situation worse by giving out information.
A yawn broke free. I started the day off with classes and finished my night with the shift at the bar. Normally, I’d be deep in my covers sleeping. Not in a fancy hotel room being interrogated by someone who definitely considered themselves scary.
I’d gone from one jam to the next and tried to play it off like I was bored with his conversation, but from the way Frankie tilted his head a slight amount and stared at me, I didn’t think I’d succeeded.
“Cara Mia, do you know who I am?”
His questions were about as shady as his interrogation skills. He didn’t even threaten to cut off my finger. If you kidnap someone, the least you could do was make it thrilling for them so they had a story to tell later.
“Obviously not or I wouldn’t have gotten in your car,” I deadpanned.
“So your cousin hasn’t mentioned me?” Frankie asked. He sounded hurt. Like we weren’t sitting around the dining room table discussing his dastardly deeds. Criminals were so weird.
I shrugged again. “Sorry. You haven’t made our weekly update.”
Frankie shook his head. “That’s a shame. I’ll have to do a better job of making sure he remembers me.”
“A good way to start would probably be to let me go.” Did I think it might really work? No, but it was worth a shot. You couldn’t blame a girl for trying.
Frankie leaned forward, and I caught a whiff of his cologne. It was something minty and fresh. He probably smelled as good as he did in the early morning, walking around with his lingering five-hundred-dollar cologne, where I had pit stains from my long shift.
It wasn’t right of him to smell good. Kidnappers were supposed to be old men with missing teeth. Like the first guys trying to take me.
“You look tired, Cara Mia. Would you like to resume our conversation in the morning?”
Wow, this guy was absolutely delusional. Did his other kidnap victims stay with him longer? “No, I would rather not. Can you take me home?” Yes, it was stupid to even think he’d consider doing something like returning me to my home, but a girl had to try. “And stop calling me whatever you’re calling me. It sounds… dirty.”
Frankie laughed with his mouth open as though he wanted to explain his nickname for me, which probably meant something like “ugly whore,” but my phone rang.
I knew it was my phone because earlier that morning I set Westley’s ring tone to Billie Eilish’s song “Bad Guy.” It seemed fitting for my favorite cousin. So that was my phone, but it gave me many more questions to ask. I distinctly remembered dropping my cell phone in the alleyway during the first kidnapping attempt when they caught me off guard and I stumbled off the first step.
Frankie smiled at me and didn’t take his eyes away from my gaze as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a bright pink iPhone with a bejeweled case. Yeah, I definitely had a lot of questions for Frankie if he had a pink phone. Except one of the top jewels in the corner was missing, which meant the cell phone belonged to me. That or fate had a really messed up sense of humor.
I smiled at the realization that now I had the upper hand. “You are in so much trouble. He can track my cell phone.” I’d deal with how Westley found out I needed help later. All that mattered was that he definitely knew where I was and would probably bust doors open in thirty seconds.
Except Frankie seemed too calm at my comment. If anything, his grin grew more wicked. “That’s the plan.”
My mouth dropped open at the same time he swiped his finger across my phone and put it to his ear.
Rude.
Kidnapper or not, there were basic common considerations in the world. And the biggest one was you didn’t answer someone else’s phone.
