A bunch of shuffling broke out behind the door, and I moved my hand
closer to my gun.
“Are you alone?”
My eyes briefly closed. They didn’t even have cameras watching the
place? “I have some friends with me. Again, this is only a chat.”
“Okay, well... Back off a bit, man. Take twenty st eps back, and we’ll
come out.”
... Twenty st eps? Did they think we were about to duel?
I sighed again and backed up to the edge of the garage. Sadie would
never know the shot to my pride I’d taken just by being here. “All right. I’m
back by the entrance.”
The door creaked open until a dark-haired teenager in a red basketball
jersey and baggy shorts st epped out. Six more of similar dress and age
followed him out, and they fanned out around him.
Not a single one appeared to have a weapon on them, and Malcolm
snorted softly behind me.
“Whatchu want?” the leader asked, jutting his chin out. The kid was a
mess of gangly limbs, with twigs for arms.
I held in another sigh, but Malcolm and Shane no doubt found this
amusing.
“I’ll make this quick. You took a dog from the Happy Tails shelter last
night. This is your first and final warning to give the dog back and never go
within ten blocks of that shelter again. Understand?”
They all stared back blankly .
But their leader squinted as he gave me a once-over . “Yo, are you really
Davian Reed? Old Seb’ s son?”
“Is it true Old Seb is missing an eye?” another boy with shockingly red
hair asked. “Fessy said it was gouged out during a fight.”
“I never said that,” their leader snapped back.
“I heard he pulled it out himself,” the boy beside him added.
“Why the hell would he do that?”
“The dog,” I r epeated with a flat stare. “Where is it?”
Fessy looked around the garage before shrugging. “What dog? We don’t
have a dog. You see a dog, Slim?”
“I don’t see no dog. You see a dog, Andre?”
“No dog here. Maybe Mr . Reed needs his eyes checked.”
I pinched the bridge of my nose and prayed for patience. This was a
favor for Sadie, and she probably wouldn’ t want me capping a kid while I
was here.
Think of Sadie.
Don’ t shoot the kid.
Remember Sadie.
It took effort to force the words out instead of reaching for my gun.
“Listen, kid. Trust me when I say it’ll be better for all of us if you just give
the dog back. Now .”
Fessy scoffed and looked around at his crew. “What does this old man
think he’ s gonna do? Count to three and ground us?”
Scr ew it.
My hand went to the gun tucked into the back of my waistband, but the
frantic be eping of a car horn made us all freeze.
Words failed me when a familiar yellow Bug came careening around the
block before speeding into the parking lot.
Red clouded my vision, and my hand fell away from the gun. What the
hell was Sadie doing here? How’d she gotten out of the compound? Vince
was supposed to be watching her .
The car swerved to a sudden stop, and Sadie popped out of the driver’s
side with both hands gripping a large broom. I watched—dum bfounded—as
she charged toward the garage with her weapon held high and pink hair
tousled by the breeze.
“I’m not leaving here without my dog!” she yelled at Fessy and his
crew, brandishing the broom. “Where is he?”
A determined scowl pinched her face—more endearing than
intimidating—and I swear my goddamn soul floated out of my body .
S a d i e
Sadie’ s Guide to Hostage-T aking %eing T aken Hostage, T ip #: When your
e [-hostage inevitably es capes, track them down to let them know you’r e still
in char ge.
It was them—the little troublemakers who’d taken Bear .
My bloo d boiled . I didn’ t see my faithful pooch anywhere in the dirty
garage, but that didn’ t mean they weren’ t holding him prisoner .
Half a dozen members of the gang stood across from Davian and his
two men in the garage, and I stormed up to all of them—ready to carry out
this rescue mission.
The you nger crowd took in my broom and glare before they... doubled
over in laughter?
5 ude .
Davian just stared at me before slowly shaking his head.
“Sadie, come here,” he ground out through a clenched jaw , crooking a
finger at me.
But I was still mad, so that wasn’ t happening. Instead, I stayed right
where I was and sent him a sharp look to let him know just how badly he’d
messed up. “Y ou left me behind.”
“Baby , I’m not joking. Get your ass —”
Done with both his lies and his stupid bossy face, I turned my focus on
the troublemakers and held my broom higher . “Where’ s my dog?”