“Come here.” I took her hands and turned them palm up.
But she pulled them away. “I’m okay,” she insisted. “We have to get out of here. They wanted you to find me. They could be anywhere.”
My arms ached with the need to hold her, but I held back. We couldn’t waste time. Will needed us, and she was fine.
I turned around but held her wrist, keeping her close behind me as I walked through the door, looking left and right to make sure it was clear.
“Damon’s with Trevor,” she whispered.
“I figured.”
“He’s the one that took me from my apartment.”
I shook my head, trying to keep the anger at bay. Rika’s hands were shredded, because she was saving herself. Not waiting for me.
I’d always wanted that for her, hadn’t I? To fight for herself?
But all I felt was rage now. They’d taken her from me, and they could’ve taken her forever.
I may never have found her.
“Come on,” I urged, pulling her through the salon again, toward the sliding glass doors and the stern.
But as soon as we stepped on deck, I spotted Kai on the ground, and I straightened, bracing myself. He was breathing heavily with blood coming out of his nose and mouth. Damon stood over him, glaring at me, and I shot my eyes to the speedboat behind him.
It was empty. Where the fuck was Will?
I inched out into the still air, pushing Rika behind me. Shit.
Kai and Rika were hurt, Will was missing, and I had no idea how the hell was going to get us out of this.
Then I saw Trevor. He stood next to the side of the yacht, with amusement in his eyes as he stared at me.
He crooked a finger, urging us over.
Rika tried to inch around me, but I tightened my grip on her arm, keeping her there. Leveling my gaze on my brother, I stepped over to the side and peered over.
“Will.” I lost my breath.
He was in the water, his head barely staying above the surface. I spotted a line of rope coming out of the water near him and followed it as it trailed up the side of the boat, over the edge, and onto the deck. The end was tethered to two cinderblocks at Trevor’s feet, and there were also two more sets of blocks with ropes secured to them.
Jesus.
“He’s got my hands tied behind my back, man!” Will shouted.
Which meant he couldn’t untie the other end of the rope, most likely secured around one of his feet or both.
Will bounced in the water, trying to stay afloat with his legs, but he was struggling.
I lurched for Trevor.
But he pulled his hand out, holding up a pistol, and I stopped, glaring at him.
“What the fuck?” I yelled.
“Did you know that the average depth of the Atlantic Ocean is 10,955 feet?” he asked calmly, ignoring my anger. “It’s dark. Cold. And when something goes down there, it’s not coming back up.”
And then he glanced at Will in the water before turning his eyes back on me. “You would never find him.”
I shot my gaze to Kai. He rested on his hands and knees, trying to stable himself, and I could see blood streaming down the side of his face.
“Are you okay? I rushed out.
“I’m fine,” he bit out, but I could tell he was shaky.
“I should’ve done her before you got here,” Trevor went on, gesturing to Rika behind me. “But really, what fun is it if you can’t watch, right?”
“What the fuck are you doing, Trevor?” I asked as I slowly reached behind me and tapping my back, signaling to Rika.
She slid her hand up the inside of my shirt and pulled the gun out, slipping it into my hand behind my thigh.
“I don’t know,” Trevor answered, fake confusion on his face. “But I’m certainly enjoying myself.”
What the hell was the matter with him? He hated me. I knew that. But Will? Kai? Rika? He couldn’t get away with this. Had he lost his fucking mind?
“Go ahead,” he challenged, pointing the gun at me. “Rush me. You’d take a bullet, but you’d still take me down.”
I shook my head and turned my eyes on Damon. “Don’t do this,” I implored. “Will and Kai have never hurt you. Rika’s never hurt you.”
“But hurting them will hurt you,” Damon retorted, planting his foot on Kai’s back and shoving his back to the ground.
Kai grunted, squeezing his eyes shut. From the way he grabbed his side I could guess he had a few broken ribs.
“You’ve never suffered,” Damon snarled. “You’ve never had to lose, and this will change your life forever. You should never have chosen her over us.”
“You’re a fucking coward!” Kai shouted at him.
Damon just scowled at him and then looked up at me again, an ocean separating us. I didn’t even recognize him anymore.
“Tell me you’ll let her go,” he demanded. “Tell me everything can go back to the way it was in high school.”
I steeled my spine, squeezing Rika’s arm behind me.
“She has no place with us, and you give her too much power over you,” he continued. “Tell me she’s nothing. Tell me you’d choose us over her. Or better yet…” He paused, a glint in his eyes. “Tell me you’d trade Rika for Will and Kai.”
My throat tightened, and my heart hammered in my chest.
“Choose,” Trevor pressed. “Rika can take Will’s place, and the four of you can be like none of this ever happened.”
I heard her breathing behind me, shallow and fast, and I knew she was scared.
I could feel her everywhere. On my skin, in my chest, in my hands…
The sweetness of her lips as she panted against my mouth in the steam room….
I love you, Michael.
“Will and Kai will be fine,” Damon assured. “But you have to sacrifice her.”
Sacrifice her. I can’t…
I swallowed the lump in my throat.
She was everywhere. Always everywhere. Years and years, and there was no shaking her. Every time I closed my eyes she was there.
It feels like you.
Sixteen and looking at me like I was God.
You’re in everything.
The moment I knew that heart of hers was mine, and I couldn’t wait to be inside of her.
Yes, it turns me on.
Seeing her go over that edge and trust me to jump with her as I felt her from the inside for the first time and she come apart in my arms. God…
I dropped my eyes to Kai, seeing my friend, and I could hear Will calling us from the water, begging, and what the fuck was I supposed to do?
But Trevor didn’t wait for an answer.
He reached down and hauled up the blocks, sitting them on the edge of the yacht.
“No!” I shouted, letting go of Rika and holding out my hand. “Stop! Just…just wait!”
He tilted the blocks back and forth, toying with me.
“Stop!” I growled. “Just…” I ground my teeth together, my head swimming. “Fuck you!”
If I shot one of them, he would still have time to dump the blocks, and Damon could make short of Kai before I even had a chance. I might be able to get Rika out of here, but I wouldn’t be able to save them.
“Why are you doing this?” I bared my teeth, seething. “Why?”
“For this!” Trevor finally growled, showing his anger. “For this, right here. To see you exactly like this. You’re so fucking desperate, it’s priceless.”
He took his hands off the blocks, leaving them to sit on the ledge, teetering and threatening to fall with the slightest vibration.
“I could say it was all the attention laid on you for your basketball career,” he explained, “the way you always finished things I could never even start, or the way Rika always loved you, not once ever looking at me the way she did you.”
He hung the gun at his side and glared past me to Rika, who had stepped up next to me.
“But really?” He gazed at her. “I think it’s because the great Michael Crist is so fucking helpless right now, and I want to see the look in her eyes when she knows it’s about to end and that you can’t help her.”