Little Hoodlum (Hood River Hoodlums Book 2) Page 23

“You stupid sonofabitch!” he snarls. “Of all the bitches you had to stick your dick into, it had to be her!”

  I dodge another punch, but the third one hits me in the gut.

  “You’re fucking my shit up with Renaldo,” Juno snarls. “How the fuck is he supposed to trust his partner when his partner’s little brother is sleeping with his brother’s girlfriend?”

  He punches me again, but I tackle him. I land a few hits of my own before the thugs yank me off, shoving a gun against my temple. They pat me down and steal my phone. Juno laughs when he stomps it to pieces.

  “Put him in the back. Let’s go. Renaldo’s waiting.”

  I don’t fight my attackers because where Renaldo is, so is Roux. I’ll do whatever it takes to get to her.

  A thug hops in the front of the SUV and my brother sits shotgun. I sit wedged between two assholes with a gun digging painfully into my neck. Each bump, I cringe wondering if he’ll accidentally pull the trigger.

  The trip doesn’t take but fifteen minutes and I let out a breath of relief when I recognize where they’re taking me. Renaldo’s house. This is good. They park the SUV and I’m dragged from the vehicle into the house. Inside, there are several people standing around the sofa.

  My eyes dart to Renaldo.

  In his arms is my fucking girl.

  Crying and terrified.

  His pussy brother Kayden paces nearby but doesn’t intervene on her behalf.

  “Let her go,” I bark out, fighting against my captors.

  Renaldo’s evil glare locks on mine. “This bitch is gonna get you killed.”

  “Your beef is with me, asshole, not her. Let her fucking go,” I growl.

  Renaldo yanks her back against his chest, forcing her legs apart and pinning them with his own. Tears roll down her cheeks and her chest shudders with each breath she takes. He has a gun pressed to her temple.

  “You did all this shit for a piece of teenage pussy,” Renaldo snarls in disgust. “You’re so fucking stupid.” With his free hand, he yanks her dress up. Her panties have been removed. I want to crush his skull in for exposing her like this. Slowly, he slides the barrel of the gun down to her pussy, rubbing it between the lips there. She sobs uncontrollably. “Must be really fucking magical to have both you and my brother so fucking twisted up over it. Maybe I ought to fuck it to see what the fuss is all about. Let your brother fuck it too. If it’s so damn magical, everyone in this room should have a turn.”

  She tries to force her legs closed, but his words stop her.

  “Keep ’em open, baby, or I’ll blow your boyfriend’s fucking head off.”

  My sweet girl spreads her legs again, her whole body shaking wildly. He turns the gun, easing the barrel inside of her. I’m sickened to the point I grow dizzy. I can’t fucking watch him do this to her.

  “Look what a good girl she is,” Renaldo praises. “Taking this gun like it’s a dick.”

  I tear my gaze from the act, desperately seeking out the only person in this room who might give a shit about her. Kayden. His face is horror-stricken as he watches his brother abuse his girlfriend. He glances at me, fear shining in his eyes.

  “Don’t look at him,” Renaldo snaps at his brother. “He’s the one who was fucking your girl, remember? Get the fuck over here.”

  Kayden hardens his features and walks over to them. I fight against the thugs holding me, earning a punch to the gut that nearly makes me puke.

  “This’ll be your only shot,” Renaldo rumbles. “Fuck your girl since you brought all this shit down on us for her.”

  Kayden shakes his head. “I am fucking done with her.”

  Renaldo pulls the gun out of Roux and points it at his brother. “Open.”

  “Renaldo—” His words get shoved back into his mouth along with the barrel of the gun.

  “Taste your girl? Taste fucking magical to you?”

  Kayden remains deathly still.

  “Get your fucking knife out of your pocket and cut her dress off,” Renaldo commands. “Since you don’t want to fuck your whore, you can strip her for me.”

  “Stop fucking touching her!” I yell.

  This earns me another punch to the gut.

  I’m swallowing down bile and blinking back the dizziness in time to see Kayden sawing through her dress. He curses, making me freeze. The entire room tenses at seeing the wire taped between her breasts.

  “You did this, Kayden. You.” Renaldo rips it off her chest. “Now fuck her. That was always your end game. You chose pussy over blood. Now fucking fuck her, you fucking fuck!”

  I can’t watch this.

  Everything is happening too slowly.

  They’ll rape her and then kill her.

  Like a maddened bull, I rage and buck, desperate to reach her. I knock back a few guys, but then they all pounce on me, kicking the shit out of me and stomping on me.

  I hear Renaldo call Kayden a pussy and then Roux screams. I’m able to see past the fuckers beating me. Renaldo is standing with Roux kicking in his arms. He throws her down onto the coffee table hard. I watch helplessly as he holds her down while some thugs set to tying her face down on the table. She’s facing me, which means I’m going to have to watch her as they all rape her.

  I try to lock my eyes with hers, but these bastards are now punching me in the fucking face. Her name gets murmured over and over until I black out.

  I wake to the scent of gasoline.

  Strong. Foreboding. Sickening.

  “J-Jordy! Jordy, w-wake up!”

  Groaning, I try to move, but it hurts too fucking bad. I’m able to squeeze one eye open. Roux is still on the table, but no one is touching her.

  “Roux,” I rasp out, reaching blindly for her.

  “You have t-to get up and g-get us out of here,” she chatters out. “Now, J-Jordy.”

  Renaldo squats down behind Roux, watching me over her prone body. “Would you look at that? They think they’re getting out of here alive. How fucking cute.” He smacks her bare ass and then shoves his fingers into her. Her screams are a match to my soul.

  “Roux!”

  Renaldo throws his head back, laughing. One of his thugs comes up behind Renaldo, a knife in his grip and a dark look on his face.

  “For Jace,” the guy bellows before slamming the knife into the side of Renaldo’s neck.

  Renaldo whips around, pulling a gun out in record speed. He blows the head off of the guy who stabbed him. With a grunt, he rises to his feet, touching the knife in his neck. No way. I knew Roux’s dad had connections on the outside but was not expecting that.

  “Fuck,” he roars. “Fuck!”

  My brother rushes to his aid. Fucking asshole. While they try to help Renaldo, I inch my way over to Roux. I touch her face with a shaky hand.

  “I’m going to get you out of here,” I vow. “Do you understand?”

  She nods hard, tears sailing down her cheeks.

  “We have to bail,” Juno barks out, assisting Renaldo. “Now, Kayden.”

  Kayden’s eyes are locked on me and Roux, hatred burning in them.

  “Do it,” Renaldo rasps out. “Blood over bitches.”

  Kayden pulls out a book of matches. With absolutely no remorse, he lights the match and tosses it onto the carpet.

  Fuck.

  Orange light flies across the carpet, hot and blinding, quickly encircling us. Kayden storms over to me and kicks me, sending me flying back. He throws punch after punch until someone drags him away.

  Everything fades from painful orange to blissful black.

  Roux

  I’m going to burn to death.

  I’ll have to watch Jordy die first.

  This is hell. I’m already here.

  My throat is hoarse from screaming at him. Over and over. I need for him to wake up. When he grunts, I sob in relief.

  “Jordy, baby, wake up. You have to wake up.”

  He squints open his good eye, quickly growing aware of our dire situation. The fire is quickly spreading a
nd the heat from it is burning my naked skin. Jordy crawls my way and starts fumbling with the rope around one of my arms. I scream when a flame licks at my foot. With a grunt, he drags the whole table away from the flames and starts rapidly untying the rope. He frees one hand and rushes to my legs, leaving me to work on the other hand. I get it loosened just enough to wriggle through it. The moment my legs are free, he yanks me into his arms.

  “Did they…” He trails off, his voice cracking.

  “N-No,” I assure him, choking on a sob. “You w-weren’t out b-but a minute or so. Renaldo was t-taunting me, asking me who I w-wanted to rape me first, b-but it never got p-past that b-because that guy stabbed him. W-Where’s my dress?”

  He jerks his T-shirt off and tosses it over my head. I’ve barely pushed my arms through the holes when he scoops me in his arms.

  “The ground is hot and you’re barefoot,” he grunts. “How the fuck do we get out of here?”

  Flames have consumed much of the living room. They made sure to block the windows and doors. He backs us into the kitchen. Quickly, he slings open some drawers until he finds some dish towels. He soaks them down and hands them to me.

  “Keep your mouth covered,” he barks out.

  I hold one to my mouth and then hold the other one over his nose and mouth. He opens the door to the basement and starts running down the steps. It’s cool down here, but it won’t be for long. He carries me to the far end of the basement and sets me to my feet.

  “Stay here, baby.”

  I tremble as I watch him grab a table. He drags it over to the corner, leaning it up against the cinderblock wall. Black smoke starts to billow down the stairs and the ceiling droops in some places. He soaks down a sheet from the dryer in the utility sink and brings it over to me.

  “I’m going to wrap us up in this. There’s no exit in this goddamn basement and no windows. We just have to stay alive long enough for them to get to us.”

  I cling to him as he wraps us up in the icy blanket. Together, we crawl under the table, huddling close. Jordy holds me tight against him, kissing my head over and over again.

  “How do you know they’re coming?” I croak out.

  “We both know they’re coming. It’s just a matter of time.”

  I tremble in his arms. Something crashes loudly into the basement followed by a burst of heat.

  “Jordy!”

  “Shh, Little Hoodlum. The ceiling is caving in. Just calm down. Keep that wet cloth over your face. Breathe shallow.”

  I sob, burying my face against his neck. “I’m scared. I don’t want to die, Jordy. I want to stay alive and live with you. I want to get married and have a family. We’re going to die down here.”

  He brings his battered face close to mine. “You think Roan is going to let us die?”

  Behind the crackling and crashing, I hear it. Sirens. A lifeline. Roan is coming. I start sobbing harder, allowing hope to sink in.

  Another loud crash sends more heat rushing our way. Orange glows from behind our table tent. It’s close.

  “I l-love you,” I chatter out. “If we die, at least it was in each other’s arms.”

  Jordy is trembling, but his voice is steady as he nuzzles me with his nose. “Is poetry always so damn depressing?”

  A hysterical laugh bubbles out of me. “Kinda. Yeah.”

  “Maybe you should take up a new hobby. Like knitting.”

  Tears rush down my face. Only Jordy would be able to make me smile when my life is minutes from painfully ending.

  “I love you too, Roux,” he says in a fierce tone, “but we’re not going to die.”

  The heat continues to grow closer and closer. It stings. The smoke hurts my eyes. As much as he wants to believe we’ll survive, I know better. They don’t know we’re down here. They won’t make it in time. Jordy must realize it too, because he curses.

  “Fuck, Roux. Fuck.”

  He lies down, covering my body with his as though he can protect me from the flames. A groan of pain rasps from him at the precise moment I hear sizzling of our sheet. My sobbing is uncontrollable at this point.

  We’re going to die.

  It’s going to hurt so bad and then we’re going to die.

  I won’t ever see my brother again.

  Jordy and I won’t have our life together.

  And then I hear it.

  Yelling. A loud rushing. More yelling.

  Roan.

  Roan. Roan. Roan.

  “Over here!” someone calls out.

  The orange glow has lessened around us and I don’t feel like we’re going to burn alive in the next three seconds.

  Until the table is flung away from us.

  I scream at the top of my lungs when Jordy is pulled off my body. Frantically, I reach for him, but someone is wrapping me in a blanket of sorts. It takes a second for my mind to catch up. Firefighters. They’re here with us.

  I squint through the window of the facemask and sob when I realize I know those amber eyes. My brother. My brother came for me. I cling to him, sobbing as he rushes behind the other two firefighters who are helping Jordy along. There are more firefighters pushing a ladder down into the basement.

  The next few minutes are a confusing blur as I’m manhandled between firemen. It’s not until the cool, fresh air assaults me that I cry out in relief. Red and blue lights are flashing everywhere. It’s as though the entire damn city of Hood River came down to see to it we got out safely.

  “Stay calm,” the firefighter carrying me says. “We’ve got you now.”

  I recognize him as Frank, one of Mike and Roan’s friends. As he strides across the lawn, I take in the scene in awe.

  Feds are everywhere.

  Feds. Local PD. Fire department.

  It was all coming to this. Agent Thomas Cravens, or Peeping Tom as I call him, explained it all in detail. How crucial my part was in bringing the bad guys down since I had the best “in” of anyone. Getting back with Kayden so I could keep tabs on Renaldo. The wires. The secret meetings. All of it.

  I can thank Garrett for that. The moment Hollis called him when Renaldo dropped by that day demanding Jordy to work for him, Garrett not only showed up, but he started getting the right people involved. Hollis’s dad knows people and knows how to make stuff happen.

  The Feds were more than happy not only to be alerted to one of the biggest criminals in Oregon, but to bring down every root of his organization. Because of Renaldo’s special way of punishing people by means of fire, the fire department was also involved. For every fire Jordy was to start, it was already waiting to be contained by all those who were a part of the sting. Renaldo and his crew were fed false, glorified information regarding the damages of the fires Jordy set. Because of Jordy’s assistance in this huge operation that’s taken months and months to roll out, they’ve promised to reduce his parole.

  Frank sets me down on a stretcher just outside a waiting ambulance. My eyes frantically seek out Jordy. He, too, is being placed on a stretcher.

  “Jordy,” I croak out, reaching my hand toward him.

  He gives me a small wave.

  “Let’s get you looked at,” a woman says to me. “Your name’s Roux, sweetie?”

  “Is he going to be okay?”

  “You both are,” she assures me. “Those hot firemen saved you two just in the nick of time.”

  I groan. “One is like a dad and one is my brother. Yuck.”

  She laughs and the sound of it makes my heart gallop in my chest. We made it. We made it out. This is all over.

  Captain Fitzgerald shows up, grinning at me as the paramedic fusses over me.

  “You did it, kid. We got them.”

  “All of them?”

  He sighs. “Renaldo Ramirez came blazing out of that house with a knife sticking out of his neck and a gun in his hand. He was shot on sight.”

  “Kayden?” I rasp out.

  His gaze softens. “He’s been arrested along with Jordy’s brother Juno and fourteen oth
er guys. And that’s just here. We had our department stretched thin, making multiple arrests all over the city.”

  Relief washes over me.

  “I’m tired,” I murmur.

  “Rest, little one. Everything’s going to be okay.”

  I wake to yelling.

  My heart hammers in my chest, forcing me to blink my eyes open. It’s blinding in the room I’m in. Based on the machines I’m hooked to, I’m pretty sure I’m in the hospital.

  “You can’t hobble around in your condition,” a woman cries out just outside my door.

  The door gets flung open and a mummified Jordy, though sort of blurry without my glasses, storms in. He’s bandaged in gauze on his arm and is wearing a hospital gown.

  “Jordy!” I cry out.

  The nurse follows him in, sighing in exasperation.

  “It’s fine,” Garrett booms from behind her. “I’ve already spoken to the Chief of Staff about my family needing to see one another. Feel free to give him a call. I’m a surgeon, so I will make sure they don’t get hurt.”

  The nurse, relieved at his authoritative presence, nods before walking away. Jordy hobbles over to me and leans over my bed for a kiss. I kiss him frantically, thankful he’s still alive, when someone clears their throat. I’m embarrassed that Garrett had to see that.

  Until I realize it wasn’t Garrett who cleared their throat.

  “I’m not going to kill you because you both almost died, but when you’re all healed up, I’m going to fucking kill you both,” Roan says, carrying in a cup of coffee.

  Despite his harshly spoken words, he’s relaxed. Tired but relaxed. Jordy pulls away, but doesn’t let go of my hand. Hollis walks in and pushes a chair over to Jordy.

  “I expected bloodshed,” Jordy says to Roan.

  “Delayed. Bloodshed is coming,” Roan grumbles back.

  Hollis laughs. “I decided to let the cat out of the bag when you were on your way to the hospital. Roan here took the news way better than had your lives not been in peril.”

  “How did you know anyway?” Roan demands.

  “Dude. You’re fucking blind if you can’t see how in love those two are.”

  Roan sweeps his concerned stare over the both of us. Whatever he must see reflected back at him makes him smile. “You two look like shit.”