All is Lost (All Series, Book 2) (30 page)

“
Peanut, leave him alone. He's RD’s
guest.” One of the guys, whose name I don't remember, slurs to the
giant towering over me.

“
Did he just call you Peanut?” I
ask innocently, while disguising my snicker behind a weak cough.
Seriously, I'm confused on how a man nearly twice my size and every
bit eight inches taller than me earned such a minuscule
nickname.

Seething from detecting the humor in my
question, he turns to the guy who defended me and growls, “I'm
going to give college boy here exactly three seconds to haul his
smart-ass out of my seat before I toss him overboard.”

“
I'll tell you what
Peanut
,”
I say, crossing my legs at the ankle and tucking my hands under my
arms. “If you want this seat you are definitely going to have to do
just that, because I’m not getting up without someone
helping.”

After my last two fights I came out as the
victor easily. So the way I see it, third time is a charm, right?
Besides winning this one could be epic for my reputation. Although
I don't really have a fighting reputation, I cannot pass up the
opportunity of having a good story to share with the guys back
home.

A fat hand reaches down, grabbing the collar
of my shirt and easily lifts me from the seat. Within seconds I'm
regretting my last thoughts, as I hang suspended in the air staring
at the ugliest face I have ever seen, growing redder by the second.
The raucous group becomes quiet watching the scene, and strangely
the music fades away. Everyone holds their breath in anticipation
of what I may do in defense, but I don’t get the chance to devise a
plan before he drops me down roughly on my back followed by a melon
size fist driving hard into my left cheek.

Several rapid blows to my head and stars begin
dancing around in my field of vision. Distorted sounds invade my
brain as a peculiar numbness creeps down my spine and straight to
my gut. The colossal brute steps back, a satisfied grin snaking
across his face. He graciously allows me enough space to pull my
weak body up to stand. Swaying once, I stumble and feel the pull of
gravity drawing me back down. I drop to my knees in front of the
big guy.

A clicking sound echoes through our somewhat
hushed surroundings followed by a muffled angry voice.

“
Hey mother fucker, lay another
finger on him and I'll waste your big ass.”

Grunting in disbelief the giant fearlessly
swats at me with a backhand landing across my right cheek leaving
behind a twin to the bruise I'm sure is already blooming on my
left. While smirking at my savior, he spits at the ground in front
of me, turns and stalks away undaunted. Strong hands grab me around
the shoulder and assist me with standing again. Staggering
uncontrollably, I fight the pull of unconsciousness that rapidly
threatens to force me down again.

“
Morgan,” A voice echoing from a
far off place repeats my name several times, and I hear irritation
growing with each one. I can't speak while everything spins so I
wave a hand in acknowledgment. “Morgan, fucking answer me, now
dammit.”

Lifting my drooping head slightly, I smile
completely grateful while staring into the pissed off face of my
rescuer. I grunt softly, realizing that whatever was about to
happen would not have been pretty and I'm thankful for being
saved.

“
Let's get you home.” Sam states,
draping my arm over her shoulder she walks us toward the waiting
car. “The plane is waiting to take us back to Willow tonight.” She
doesn't know it yet, but I'm not going back to the Walker mansion.
I'll just save that argument for later. Pausing as we reach the
car, she turns her head looking over her shoulder back at the
party.

“
Where's RD?” She snaps, anger
boiling up in her once again. Shrugging slowly, I reach for the
open car door and drop onto the seat. “Wait here.” She yells
running off toward the party again.

Sliding down my seat, I place a hand on my
face and lean against the doorway. Feeling the effects of the giant
fist assault all over, I pray for unconsciousness to find me now
and it obliges.

A light jostling motion rouses me awake and I
find myself lying horizontal on a fluffy cloud of down comforter
and pillows. Peeking through the slits of my swollen, aching eyes I
search my surroundings. I let out a sigh of relief at being back in
the comfort and familiarity of my family's private jet.

“
Hey, you're awake.” Sam says,
standing next to the edge of the bed. Dropping down beside me she
stretches out kicking her sandals off, and rolls on her side facing
me.

“
Do you know what we've been
through?” Sam says, narrowing her eyes at me. “Do you have any idea
what your disappearance did to me? Why do you have to be so fucking
selfish Morgan?”

“
Nice one sis,” Still feeling
overwhelmingly lethargic, I stare in disbelief at her. “But all of
those questions you just asked are also very fucking
selfish.”

Turning away from her, I draw the soft pillow
under my neck and squeeze my eyes shut feeling a sharp pain
immediately. Is she serious about me being so selfish all the time?
Except for my recent fleeing, when it comes to my family
responsibilities I have always been the one doing the sacrificing
while she and Marcus shrug it off to play in whatever it is they do
together. I'm not buying into her game of let’s blame Morgan’s
selfishness bullshit. The guilt I feel right now on my own accord
is more than enough. I don't need it from her too.

“
Morgan,” Her voice cracks with
emotion, making me feel worse, “Some really bad shit has happened
since you ran off, and I was scared that I would never see you
again.” Twisting back around I see tears streaming from her eyes
and running down her neck rapidly. Drawing her against my chest, I
rub her shoulder hoping to soothe her, but it actually increases
her soft tears to body racking sobs.

“
Hey,” I whisper over the top of
her head. “What's wrong Sam? What's happened at home?” I ask
nervously. I've never seen my sister cry, and I don't fucking like
it at all.

“
It's bad, Morgan.” Pulling away
and whipping the sides of her face with the backs of her hands, she
says, “Really bad.”

She has my full attention now and I know
whatever she is about it tell me will probably hurt like hell.
Sitting up she pulls a pillow onto her lap and mindlessly stares at
nothing in particular across the room.

“
There are things that I can't
fully explain to you now,” She glances at me. “But I promise, when
I can I will tell you every last detail. For now you need to know
about what happened the night of the graduation party.” Craning her
neck around to me, she offers a forced half smile before
continuing.

Sam explains the horrifying events of that
night and assures me that Tristan is in the best medical hands that
money can buy.

“
You know that I'm not a patient
person,” I start. “And waiting for further explanation on why this
shit went down at our home is going to be like going through my own
personal hell, but I thank god that Tristan is still alive. Sam,
I'm sorry I worried you. I can't imagine how you felt after all
that shit and then my disappearance.”

“
I love you baby brother, and I'm
sorry too.” Sighing loudly she vigorously shakes her head causing
hair to fall into her face. With a trembling hand she forces a
wayward lock behind her ear. Pinning me with a pained look she
reaches down for my hand squeezing it softly. “I shouldn't have
said what I did about you being selfish. It’s not fair. You're
always the one who does what's expected. Well, except for this one
time when you ran off to Vegas,” she smiles but it's another forced
half smile. “Morgan, I know what happened to Tristan is bad and
like you said, fortunately he is going to survive, but there's
more. I hate dumping all of this on you now, but you need to know
before we get home and someone blurts it out.” I nod waiting for
her to finish. “Anna, Breesan and another friend of theirs was
kidnapped after visiting Tristan at the hospital.”

“
I don't believe you.” A twisting
feeling in the pit of my stomach begins, forcing a raging inferno
of anger. “How could something like that happen? Who did this? And
Sam, before you answer either one of those questions you better
tell me now that they've found Breesan and Anna!” I bellow sitting
up on the bed.

My body aches and my head rattles with
soreness from the raised tone in my voice. I am on the verge of
losing it. Feeling something similar to demonic possession taking
over my body, I give over control of myself to the vile revenge
forming in my mind. Just knowing that someone has taken two women I
actually care about scares the living hell out of me. What the fuck
would someone want with Breesan and Anna, or the other woman?
Wondering who the other woman is, I feel a strange and urgent need
to know the answer.

“
Sam,” I narrow my eyes on her and
ask. “Who was the friend with Anna and Breesan?” She pauses long
enough to add to my distress, but before I can snap again she
answers, “Her name is Waverly Collins. I don't think they are
close, but she was with them in the hospital parking garage when
some guys snatched them. There's been no word on a ransom and no
one saw anything. At this point they're at a stalemate on the
investigation.” She finishes so softly, I can barely hear her over
the ringing in my ears.

Devastated with the thought of someone harming
Waverly, I feel like a damn elephant is crushing my chest and every
last drop of blood is leaving my face. I sense a wave a nausea
building in the pit of my stomach. Disbelieving that this could be
true, I press my hand over the place on my chest where my heart
lies feeling the loss so deeply I can actually feel a ripping
effect. Forgetting that I'm not alone and seriously not giving a
damn about my aching head, a harsh scream burst out of my
chest.

“
NO!”

She can't be gone
. Not when I'm coming
back home for her. Not when I finally realized that it is her that
I need to make this life worth a damn. Waverly is everything and I
refuse to let what happened that night at Club Toxic be the end of
us.

“
Get me the fuck off this plane!” I
demand, jumping from the bed no longer feeling the pain of my
assault.

I will get you back,
Waverly.

Chapter
Twenty-One

Breesan

This week has been challenging to say the
least. I finally got some time to work out and Marcus insisted on
teaching me how to shoot a gun. We spent an entire day on the range
while he gave me precise directions on how to identify hostile
stationary targets before shooting, as well as how to handle
distractions while attempting to shoot a moving target. It was a
total thrill ride and I can’t wait to do it again.

Working at the club these last few nights
without any sign of the bastards that abducted Anna and Waverly has
me thinking pessimistically, and I hate it. It doesn't help that
after Marcus visited Tristan at the hospital yesterday he told me
that Anna's parents are acting completely, although understandably,
irrational.

Apparently they are blaming everyone,
including the Walkers, for their daughter’s disappearance, when in
fact they should be blaming the ones that actually took her, not
innocent people. According to Marcus they've linked Tristan's
shooting to her kidnapping and refuse to believe that the Walker
family is blameless. Knowing they are directing their pain and
anger at the wrong people crushes me. All of it is my fault, but I
can't admit to it right now since everyone on Willow believes that
I was taken too.

With Morgan taking off after our kiss, I feel
a little responsible, but Marcus won’t let me accept that burden. I
wonder if his disappearance has anything to do with the scene
Waverly described during their argument. Could it be possible that
Morgan really does love her, but he just can’t deal? Whatever’s
going on I hope he finds his way back home soon.

Rhys' plan isn’t working and the longer it
takes to locate the bad guys the further away my best friend gets.
I'm literally falling apart. Instinctively I want to hide away and
bury myself under my wall away from the pain this loss is
inflicting, but so much has changed and I refuse to give into the
suffocating disparage that ruled my life for nineteen years. I'm
holding onto my strength and doing every damn thing I can to not
let Marcus know that I am silently suffering. It would be unfair
for me to dump it all on him; he is affected by what has happened
to Tristan, Anna and Waverly just as much as I am.

“
Good morning sweetness.” A whisper
and vibration against my ear lets me know that Marcus is awake
too.

Opening my eyes to the bright sunlight, I see
him grinning as he pulls his face away from the crook of my neck.
Gazing deep into his beautiful green eyes, I wonder how I could
have gone so long without his love. It's vital to my existence now,
just as Tristan and Anna's is and that is why I need them
back.

“
Morning Babe.” Stretching out, my
muscles complain with a twinge of ache and I twist slowly around
facing him. “I'm so beat and my body is grumpy from working so late
last night,” I groan, utterly ticked that he can look so marvelous
every damn morning. “You were with me all night, so how is it
possible that you could have a smile this early in the
morning?”