“We were reading. It’s book club night,” I say without thinking, then realize what he said. “You did what?” I yell. “Who the hell films his own kidnapping? And how? Your hands are tied!” I practically scream the questions at him now.
Biker Boy stands, the rope falls to the floor, and he shakes his head at me. “You really need to learn how to tie knots, little criminal. It was too easy to get out of this rope.”
“And instead of... I don’t know... leaving, for example, you thought, ‘This would make great content for my social media accounts,’ like every normal human would do,” I point out. But instead of Biker Boy, a stranger speaks, and I turn to look at the source of the deep voice I just heard.
“It sounds kind of funny if you put it that way, but it’s very on-brand for him.” The stranger steps closer and offers his hand for me to shake. “I’m Leo, nice to meet you. And you are?” he asks. My eyes drift past him to Noah, who’s standing behind him.
He throws his hands up in the air. “Don’t look at me. This dude kicked your door down, introduced himself, and told me he’s here to pick up his friend.” He tilts his head to the side so he can see behind me and talks again, this time to Biker Boy instead of me. “I’m guessing you’re his friend.”
“Bingo,” Biker Boy laughs. “You’ve guessed correctly.”
Leo, who has been left hanging with his hand still in the air, looks at me, then at his friend. He lowers his hand and this time talks to his friend, ignoring everyone else. “You posted a video with the caption ‘Help, I’m being held captive,’ then shared yourlocation with me and turned your phone off.” What the hell? And did he say this is on-brand for Biker Boy? Who the fuck did I choose to kidnap?
“I got bored; little miss kidnapper over here decided to host a book club instead of attending to her poor captive.” Biker Boy plays the victim all dramatically, and if I didn’t know better, or if I hadn’t been in this room for the last thirty minutes, I might have believed him. Top performance right there. This dude deserves an Oscar. Someone should give him an acting role.
“I would like to take the opportunity to point out that you could have kidnapped literally anyone else,” Noah says, and Leo nods.
“He’s kind of right; you’re not good at making decisions, are you?” Leo jokes.
“She really isn’t,” Biker Boy chimes in.
Jesus Christ.“Can you all leave my house, please? This was clearly a mistake.” I feel defeated, and the only thing I want now is to go back to my book. Social media clearly lied to me.This is not fun.
“Of course, and don’t worry; he won’t be pressing charges,” Leo says as he pulls Biker Boy by his sleeve. “Come on, lover boy, we’re not wanted here anymore.”
“But I didn’t get to play with the pretty girl yet,” Biker Boy pouts as he is dragged away by force.
“You shouldn’t have posted a video for a rescue if you wanted to play, pal. Come on now; I’ll buy you tacos,” I hear Leo tell him as they go down the stairs. Noah and I walk right behind them, stunned.Is this really how this ends?
“How do we know he won’t actually call the cops on her?” Noah asks the question we’re both thinking.
“He was into it more than you think, handsome.” Leo smiles at Noah, then turns to me and winks. “Seriously, girl, you could have picked anyone else.”
“Tell me about it,” I mumble, following them to the front door.
They leave without looking back, and I close my door the best I can, securing it for now with the bolt.This is a problem for tomorrow.
When I turn around, Noah is standing there with his arms folded across his chest. “Any other great ideas I should know about? What’s our weekend looking like? Will you rob a bank? Perform a satanic ritual?”
“So funny,” I say, annoyed, as I walk to my living room. Noah follows me. He’s talking, but I’m far from present enough to listen. I grab my wine glass and drink the contents at once.This was a disaster.
Chapter 2
Kai
“Did you really need rescuing?” Leo chuckles as he drives the car. His eyes are focused on the road, but the smile on his face tells me everything I need to know. He isn’t mad that he had to come get me.
“Not really,” I admit with a smile and take my phone out. I Google the address of the house we just left, and what do you know? The listing is under Rachel’s name. I take the name and address and send a message to my buddy Ryan. He’ll have her number in no time.
“Man, I’m telling you, one of these days, you’re really going to get in trouble,” Leo says, shaking his head.He’s not wrong.
“She was harmless,” I reassure him. I know my best friend. He’s actually worried.
I focus my eyes on the road, but my mind goes back to the girl. She was quite beautiful. She had curly black hair and beautiful blue eyes, a contrast to her pale skin. Her delicate facial features were slightly imperfect. Her top lip was slightly thinner than the bottom, and her nose was a little too small for her face. It was a little button nose that made her look younger, but from the house she lived in, the sound of her voice, and her friend’s age, I would say she was in her mid-twenties.
I pull my phone from my pocket again and type her name into every social platform I can think of. I find a few options, but it’s not hard to spot her profile. Once I’ve found her Instagram,the rest is easy to find. She has a link in her bio with every link I need.Good girl. Making my life easy,I think to myself as I follow her with my alt account because I don’t think she’s ready for the real me to follow her. After all, it could be considered a little creepy if the guy she kidnapped starts following her the moment he gets rescued. However, I don’t plan to let this be the end of our little meeting. She’s beautiful; I would be a fool if I did. And I like my women a little crazy.Can you blame me?
“Let’s have some fun, little criminal,” I say, loud enough for Leo to hear me, and the car comes to a stop.
