Honey Lips | ✓

Chapter Twenty Four

The drive was silent. Flakes of snow fell peacefully on Alex's windshield as he carefully navigated the empty streets on his way to his best friend's house. After two days with no word from Luke, Alex finally decided to check up on him. At first he suspected his best friend was busy with Ivy but when she didn't pick up her phone either, he got worried.

The passcode at the gate of Luke's house was accepted and he drove up to the dark villa. Snowfall had increased throughout the course of his short drive, he hurried inside, eager to get out of the numbing cold.

The glass of the front door was shattered, the window's broken pieces crunched beneath Alex's shoes. He raised his eyebrows, “Luke?”

No reply. The door opened without the need of Alex's spare key, his eyes went wide. The entire floor was trashed. Portraits and paintings were flung on the ground, some bent and damaged in unforgivable ways. The coffee table was smashed in two, two of the couches were upside down and in the corner of the room.

And on the floor with nothing to protect himself from the cold except a t-shirt was Luke.

“Man, what's wrong with you?” Alex grabbed a blanket from one of the chairs and threw it over Luke's shoulders. “What in the weasel hell happened to you?”

“I messed up.” Luke refused to make eye contact, instead he handed Alex his phone, the text messages from Julieta on display. “Ivy and I had a fight, I said something I shouldn't have and Julieta planned it all.”

He threw a tiny device on the floor next to him. “Cameras, I found them all over the house, microphones too. She must have installed them when I was in Blueberry or something and I don't know how she hacked my phone but she did. At the perfect moment, she sent those messages when Ivy was nearby and…” He trailed off, unable to find the right words and ran his fingers through his hair.

Alex stared at the small camera with a frown. “Are they disabled?”

“Yeah,” Luke muttered, gesturing around them. “I smashed everything up, including the cameras.”

“Alright,” Alex got to his feet, he stared down at Luke, still on the floor. “We need to get to Ivy.”

Luke immediately protested, “No, she wouldn't even want to see me. I said something—”

“Yes, you were angry. People say things they don't mean when they're angry. Now, we gotta go. If Julieta will go this far just to keep an eye on you, who's to say she won't try to do something to Ivy?”

Luke's eyes widened, he dropped the blanket from his shoulders as he jumped to his feet and ran to the second level. “We have to take your car,” His voice drifted down the stairs, he returned a moment later warmly bundled up in a thick jacket. “Ivy kinda took mine.”

Alex coughed a raspy laugh. “I knew I liked her.”

The two moved towards the front door when Luke's phone, still in Alex's palm, rang. Alex glanced at the screen with a frown. “It's Claire.”

Luke took the phone from Alex's outstretched hand and put it on speaker.“Hello—”

“Luke! Thank goodness you picked up.” Claire paused to catch a breath, her voice brittle. “It's Ivy, she's been kidnapped.”

“What?” Both males' eyes widened, Alex fished his keys out of his jacket and motioned towards the blue sports car. They jumped into the car and Alex's racing skills came in handy as he expertly pulled out of the driveway with speed and precision. “What happened?” 

“I don't know, I don't know!” There was rustling on the other end of the line, a deep african voice spoke. “Hello, this is Brenda. Listen quickly, I gave Ivy a necklace some weeks ago.  It has a amethyst stone, in this stone is a tracker and we currently have Ivy's location.”

“How?” They were already on the highway, Alex raced through the empty lanes despite the mounting snow. Luke could clearly recall the golden chain attached to a purple stone that always hung around Ivy's neck.

“I work for the police, it is a secret but now you know. That's irrelevant though, I told Ivy dark forces are after her and the necklace would protect her, I wasn't lying. We already contacted the police, they're on their way but it's on a farm, it will take at least thirty minutes for them to get there.”

“You've been tracking my girlfriend?” Luke exclaimed, he knew Ivy well enough to know that she'd burn that necklace once she knew it had a tracker.

“It might save her life.” Alex cut in, to Brenda he said, “Do you know who took her?”

The line rustled once more and Claire's voice returned. “I think I know. I can't believe I didn't realise it sooner but I think it was him, it was—”

“Who was it Claire?” Alex asked, he took a sharp turn off the highway. The lack of lights on the road forced him to slow down, he grit his teeth in frustration.

“There was this guy, tall, dark hair, baseball cap. He came looking for Ivy the other day, I think it was Dixon. I didn't know it until now, Ivy showed me an old picture of him once, I think it's him.”

Luke never believed in ghosts and wasn't planning on starting. “I thought he's dead.”

“I thought so too!”

“We need that location,” Luke clenched his jaw, his mind made up. The engine of the sports car purred smoothly as Alex accelerated once they entered the town of Blueberry.

“Luke, the police are on their way.”

“No. If he's really alive, he's dangerous. He nearly killed her! He's going to try again and I can't let that happen, I need to save her. Give me the address.”

Silence ensued, Claire's hesitance clear. Luke exhaled through his nose, he ignored his shaking hands. “Ivy is family, to all of us. She's counting on us.”

Alex's phone pinged, a message with the exact location. Luke shut his eyes tightly, he whispered. “Thank you.”

“Be careful,” Claire tried and failed from crying. “If you guys go in now you'll be on your own. God knows what will be waiting for you there.”

Luke's panic was taken over by something deeper, something red. A beautiful vile thing called wrath. “I’ll find out.”