Kyle couldn't focus on anything past the buzzing in his ears and the constant threat of darkness overtaking him.
How had it come to this? And how could he be so stupid, letting it come this far?
Now what? Now what now what now what?
What was he supposed to do when he'd left himself back there with Kay? His ghost holding her, comforting her, helping her get over what he'd done.
There's no other option.
He already almost got her killed once. There was no way he was letting that almost turn into reality. So he'd do what had to be done. Find Jessie and then tried to figure out this messed up life he'd been brought into.
Were Sam and Jerry safe? His parents... But Max mentioned that his parents were the cause for all this. He needed to get his brothers the fuck away from them.
Jessie... Why Jessie? Why not Jimmy?
"Kyle."
Tom and Jimmy appeared by his side and he realized he had no idea where he was. He needed to tune back in to his surroundings. He couldn't afford to be so out of it. But he was still out there with Kay, watching her beautiful eyes filling with tears because of him.
No! There wasn't any other choice. Not at the moment at least.
"Where's Kay?" Jimmy asked.
It felt like someone had plunged a knife into Kyle's chest. "She should go home. Or to Angie's. Or somewhere she'd be safe."
"I'm not sure her house is safe," Jimmy pointed out. "She barely escaped from there."
"What did you do?" Tom asked, his voice wary.
Kyle turned his attention to him and realized he'd eneded up inside the hotel again. The three of them were in the hallway. Tom's question made no sense.
"Didn't you?" he asked with a frown.
Tom clenched his fists and looked away. "Angie said I was a moron, that we couldn't know and that you made a fairly good point about our family history not being the reason for this. Maybe it's the simple solution."
"I don't think we should be discussing this in the hallway," Jimmy mumbled, pulling out the keycard and opening the door right in front of them.
Kyle followed them, trying to jog himself back into someone at least half-useful. Tom's words were confusing and they hurt.
"You can't leave Kay out there on her own," Jimmy said the moment the three of them were in. "No matter who got Jessie, they could still be out there."
"They'll leave her alone as long as none of us are around," Kyle mumbled. He'd counted on it the moment he'd walked away.
Why would anyone want to grab her anyway? On some level, the lie of his and Jessie's engagement had kept Kay safe. Until Jessie spilled the beans and the lie didn't work anymore. Thank God they hadn't appeared in public as a couple.
"You really think this is about us?" Tom asked, his eyebrows raised over the line of his sunglasses. "You said you didn't."
"It wouldn't make sense any other way." And it killed him. "Why else would they go after her?"
"It still doesn't make sense," Jimmy pointed out. "Because you said it yourself. Why wouldn't they go after me then?"
"What if they were morons?" Kyle whispered. He hated this theory, but it was the only one which made sense. "What if they didn't know who you are?"
"Um... what?" Jimmy asked and Kyle could tell he was doing his best not to fly off the handle.
"What if they wanted to get me? And expected Jessie to be with me. But they found you instead, had no idea who you were, so they left you behind and took her to get to me."
"They said they were doing it for the money," Jimmy pointed out again.
"Money is a very general motivation. They are obviously getting paid for what they're doing, regardless of the reason."
"So we're back to thinking it's the cooky criminal?" Tom asked skeptically.
The question stirred something inside Kyle and he narrowed his eyes at his brother. "What happened to you and Angie?"
"I don't know," Tom said with a shrug.
"What do you mean you don't know?" Jimmy asked.
"Look, shouldn't we be focusing on finding Jessie?"
Tom made a very good point but Kyle had no idea where to even start. Maybe they should wait for someone to call and ask for money, but the simple idea of not doing anything was eating away at his sanity.
"Maybe we should call the police?"
Jimmy clicked his tongue. "I'm pretty sure Macy already did that after she found me in parking lot and I told her what happened. Give me access to the security cameras."
That sounded like a better plan, so in a matter of minutes, the three of them had made their way into the security room of the venue and poured over the available footage.
"Wow, you really gave those guys a run for their money," Tom observed as they finally found the images they were looking for.
"Not what's important right now," Jimmy mumbled, changing the images so they could follow the goons and see where they'd taken Jessie. "Here we go."
"Wow, a black van, how original," Tom deadpanned.
Kyle didn't care. It was good enough that they had license plates and somewhere to start.
"I'll send these to the police and we can get started on the search for them." He pulled his phone out to call 911.
"If they had any sense, they would already have them," Jimmy said, standing as well. "I'll go get us a car."
"I'll wait outside," Tom said.
And Kyle could do his worried fiance thing and fix this before everything went to shit for everyone involved.
🌗
"What the hell do you think you're doing?"
Kay jumped so hard, she poked herself in the eye with the hand she'd been using to wipe away her tears. Like a cloud of vengeance, Angie showed up, fuming. It was a very different reaction to a breakup and Kay had to admit that she envied her friend for being able to dab into rage instead of sadness.
"Crying," she answered. "What does it look like?"
Angie deflated at her words and let out a sigh. "You do know he did it because he loves you, right?"
"Yes, but that makes it harder to hate him for it so it puts me right into square one."
Angie crossed her arms over her chest. "So that's it? You're just accepting it? Or are you scared and think he's right?"
This definitely reminded Kay of something, but she couldn't put her finger on it. "Didn't Tom break up with you?"
"Oh, he tried. For about a nanosecond until he realized there are way too many random people who know we're a thing so what good would that do?"
"Yeah, true. In our case, everyone thinks Kyle's with Jessie, so this might work."
"True, it might." Angie tilted her head as if expecting a but.
Kay wished she had one, that there was something she could do except for accepting Kyle's decision and taking it for what it was. A twisted declaration of love. Because he'd always wanted to keep her safe, even when he didn't necessarily think she couldn't handle herself. Like in Santa Venusia-- Kay's brain screeched to a halt.
"Brain catching up with you?" Angie asked.
This was the memory fighting through the misery, trying to get to the forefront and remind her that Kyle loved her precisely because she wouldn't take no for an answer. He'd needed her then, even if he'd been unaware, just like he needed her now. She wasn't supposed to roll over and take it. She was supposed to outsmart him and be there for him.
"Damn it! But he made sense!"
"Of course he made sense, he's not an idiot. Tom made sense, too. The only difference is Tom doesn't think he can handle any of this shit better than me."
"To be fair, Kyle can. He's exceptionally well trained."
"So is Jimmy, according to Tom. So was Jessie. Shit happens. We're in this as a team and we're going to go and get Jessie out of wherever she is together. Okay?"
Kay stood from the random bench in front of one of the trailer and wiped her eyes. "Okay."
"Then come on. We don't want to miss our opening."
"Um, what?"
"Tom has a plan," Angie said with an eyeroll that didn't hide the fact that she was actually proud and not exasperated by his antics. "Of course he had a plan. And I'm supposed to meet him in front of the hotel."
Kay followed Angie back, cursing herself for being so naive and gullible. But the moment Kyle had said it was over, it felt like someone had pulled the world from underneath her feet. It was hard to then reason her way out of the fallout and realize that he was only trying to do what he thought was best. Which didn't mean that he wasn't wrong.
They were ride or die and it was about Kyle got that through his thick skull.
The moment they reached the entrance to the hotel, Tom was already there, shifting his weight from one foot to the other in a sort of nervous dance.
"Glad you're both here." He nodded to the car in front of the door. "Get in."
"Did you talk to Kyle?" Kay asked as he opened the backseat door for them.
"No. Didn't have time to theorize and he's too freaked out right now to see sense."
"Then how...?"
"Unfortunately, I don't have time to explain it to you either right now since we're on a very tight schedule." He gave her a tiny nudge inside then joined the two of them in the backseat.
They did a weird form of shuffling until Tom placed himself in the middle so he could cover the space between the front seats. Angie lowered herself at the foot of the bench and Kay followed her example. In a matter of seconds, the front doors opened and the Jimmy and Kyle slid in side, with Kyle taking the driver's seat.
"Any news?" Tom asked at once and Kyle started the engine.
"Nope," he answered, his voice strained. "But driving around looking for that van sounds a lot more productive than just lounging around at the hotel."
"I'd start with the seedier part of town," Jimmy suggested.
"Of course, where else?" Tom said, his tone laced with sarcasm.
Kay's heart started beating erratically and she couldn't believe she was doing this. Kyle could probably hear her heartbeat, smell her fear. But he just drove on, all three of them quiet. Kay's legs began itching, but she couldn't move without nudging Kyle's seat so she just sucked it up.
"Do you really think it was a good idea to leave the girls behind?" Tom suddenly asked.
"They're safer without us at the moment," Kyle said automatically.
"Okay, at the moment, but what about later? What about after we find Jessie?"
There was a small pause and Kay's ribs started to hurt from how hard her heart was thumping against them.
"I can't think that far right now? Let's just get Jessie out of wherever she is and then figure out exactly how big this mess we're in is. And then we can think about safety."
"I don't know, Kyle," Jimmy mumbled. "I still kinda think there's something more to it."
"Me too, but would you take the chance if you were me?"
"We all know your heart's in the right place," Tom said.
"Unfortunately, my brain isn't," Kyle muttered. "I wish there was more we could do."
"Tell me about it," Jimmy mumbled. "Just the thought of what they might be doing to her..."
Against her will, Kay shuddered. Angie didn't seem to be doing much better, but Tom reached out his hand and took hers to comfort her.
"I bet she breaks them before they touch her," Tom said, though his voice wasn't as certain as usual.
"I sure hope she does. They deserve it. What kind of assholes kidnap a seventeen-year-old girl for money?" Kyle's voice faded as he seemed to be struggling with something. The vibrating sound meant it was probably his phone.
Then he braked so suddenly, Tom almost flew between the seats. Good think the jerk of the car was enough to camouflage the way she and Angie both hit the seats holding them in place.
"Kyle, what the hell?" Jimmy asked. "At least fucking pull over. We're in the middle of the street. Someone could've rear-ended us!"
Kyle didn't pull over, he just showed something to Jimmy, most likely his phone. Jimmy frowned at it, the information clearly not self-explanatory.
"What's going on?" Tom asked.
"Someone sent me a location," Kyle said, his voice blank. "It's in LA. It's Jessie."
"How do you know it's Jessie?" Jimmy asked, voice wary.
"She's from LA. It wasn't our fault. It's her fucking parents. They took her."
With a screeching of tires, Kyle took off again and turned in the middle of the road so abruptly, vomit crawled up Kay's throat. But it was no match for the hope budding inside her. If it really was Jessie's parents, it meant that it wasn't Kyle's fault, that all the nastiness was still at bay and they could find a way to make it work together.
All they had to do was talk and make a decision that would keep everyone happy. They didn't have to break up.
"Are you sure?" Tom asked, though there was unmistakable hope in his voice.
"Oh, I'm fucking sure. Those assholes probably saw that she debunked our engagement and they're raging mad. But there's one way to confirm it."
There were a few moments of silence before Jimmy reached out his hand. "Give me your phone. Maybe I can book some tickets before we get there."
And in that moment, as Tom glanced down at her and Angie, Kay knew that the game was up.
"Better make it five tickets," he said, his voice too calm for someone who was harboring fugitives.
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Do you think Kyle's right? Are Jessie's parents really to blame? Or was that message a decoy? And how will they ever escape this mess?
Stick around and find out as we approach the conclusion of this alternative universe!