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I Am In...
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Ricky huffed out a breath, feeling his eyes flutter close for about the tenth time in the last minute. The wall seemed to become more slippery by the second as his feet skidded slowly our from under him as well.
His eyes popped wide open, his heart thudding against his chest. The pop star jumped back up from his place, standing back up straight against the wall. He needed to get it together. Falling asleep during a meeting this huge, would not end well for him. Or Jasmine for that matter. He knew that he had been standing all too long along the wall, and that he hadn't slept in almost forty eight hours, but he needed this. He needed to be the one to figure this out. For Jasmine's sake. Otherwise, who knew what Shane would do next.
"Don't worry my flower." Shane whispered, looking down to see Jasmine's face had softened with his words. She seemed so relaxed in the moment, but Shane knew that deep down she was worrying. Who wouldn't be with what they had seen on the monitors. "It will all be okay soon."
He sucked in a deep breath, rubbing his eyes and widening then as he looked back down to the note, the same phrase running over his head every time he looked at it.
I'm fine.
Sure she is. She's stuck with the most dangerous teenager in the world. She's been held captive for weeks on end, almost months, and now, they hadn't heard a thing from her. It almost seemed as though she wasn't trying to escape any longer.
Almost perfect even.
Maybe it's better with my captor.
Ricky shook his head, she was no where near better. She should be safe in his arms, not stuck in some warehouse somewhere, wondering when Shane would next attack.
I always thought it was better with Ricky.
Not now.
He could remember the first time he had read over this. Simply seeing his name in her hand writing was enough to kill him inside. He couldn't sum up in words how much he missed her.
Now, I feel free.
Every day is like a new adventure.
Where I can live life to the fullest.
She's a captive. She probably hasn't seen the outside of whatever warehouse Shane had her held at now. How is that considered an adventure? How is that living her life to the fullest?
You can stop looking.
Or keep going.
Really, it's your choice.
Keep in mind, that I am in good hands.
Ricky could feel his heart now pounding against his chest with anger. She would never want him to stop looking. Jasmine would want him to look to the ends of the earth, just to make sure that she was okay. She would want him to bring her home. She would never assume she was in good hands. Not when she was with Shane.
~Jasmine
He let his eyes close, her signature imprinted into his eyesight.
Jasmine tried. She was still trying. Trying to keep her breathing steady as she was even further trying to stay calm. They were close. Almost too close to figuring it out. They apparently hadn't gone this far, not to finish the game. Not to finally end it. No matter what she had told them in the past. They wouldn't believe it until they saw it for themselves.
"What's going to happen when they figure it out?" Jasmine whispered back, watching as Shane clicked through the channels. The two sat squished together on the recliner, the lights dimmed as they watched television. It was better this way, keeping a low profile this late at night.
"We're going to do exactly what they ask." Shane replied back simply. Jasmine's heart practically stopped, his words striking through her body like an electric shock.
"But what if they take me back with them?" Jasmine asked, almost feeling tears coming to her eyes at even the thought of that happening. "What if..." Shane shook his head, leaning his head down just a bit to press a kiss to her forehead. She needed to stay calm.
"They won't." Shane reassured, knowing he was right. "Not if you, and I, play our cards correctly."
"You okay?" Garrett whispered to his best friend, nudging him in the side lightly to get his attention. He would be honest when saying he had seen just how hard this had been on Ricky the last few hours. Not only had Ricky and Kim found one of their friends dead, not even twenty four hours ago, now, they had to figure out the message. A message that for some reason, was stumping the entire team. The two hadn't even had a chance to sleep the entire time they'd been here.
"I don't know, man." Ricky breathed, letting his hands fall to his sides and his head lean back against the wall. He was spent. But he couldn't describe in words just how badly he needed this. He was in love with her for god sake. It was a new kind of torture he had never experienced before. He could only imagine what Jasmine was going through.
"You want to go figure this out in the computer room with Kim and Dels?" Garrett whispered, leaning in to make sure the others wouldn't here. He knew how the four probably needed to separate from the government agents. "Maybe the four of us can find her from there. The atmosphere's a little..." Garrett left off as he looked around, almost looking as though he was trying to find the right word. Ricky nodded, a small smile being brought to his face at his friend.
"I get it. It's stuffy in here." Ricky teased, elbowing Garrett lightly before he was off towards the door. It was amazing that he and Garrett had ended up friends. Without him, Ricky may have actually gone insane.
"That's the word." Garrett muttered happily, reaching out and clasping his hand onto Delia's. "Come on."
"Where we going?" Delia asked, her face brightening at the mere thought of getting out of here. She was bored in every sense. "Are we going to get frozen yogurt?" Garrett's face twisted in confusion as he quietly led Delia out of the room.
"Why would we get frozen yogurt? No one said anything about frozen yogurt." Garrett teased, looking across the hall to see Ricky had brought Kim into the room. At least one less thing for him to do.
"I don't know, I was just thinking about frozen yogurt." Delia brushed off with a small smile. Garrett shook his head and pulled her inside, shutting the door quietly behind them. He wasn't really sure if anyone has seen them leave. But he was perfectly okay with that. The less disruption during this, the better.
"How long have we been at this?" Ricky muttered as he fell back into a chair, the very chair he usually took over when the team was sectioned off in this room. Kim shook her head, she hadn't even checked the clock when she and Ricky had gotten back to the base. All she knew was she had the note playing through her head like a song. The time seemed almost to be an illusion.
"A long time." Kim sighed, sitting up on the main desk Ty and Rudy usually took over. She watched as Garrett and Delia made their way towards the back. There was a large white board up against the wall. The two each took a marker, writing out the note swiftly. The bigger letters may still help them think.
Given they had been staring at a small, copied, and smudged piece of paper.
"Why would she write it so cryptic?" Ricky asked, tossing his note towards the monitor as he ran his fingers through his hair. He glanced over to see Kim giving him a look, one that made his cheeks grow red with embarrassment. "Okay, I know why she wrote it like that. I guess I'm asking why in the world we can't figure it out." Ricky clarified, Garrett and Delia turning around to face them.
"We haven't really looked at it a lot before this." Delia reminded as she crossed her arms over her chest.
"Someone look up like, hidden note strategies or something." Kim called out as she pulled her feet up onto the desk to sit criss cross on the desk. Delia nodded as she pulled out her phone, her fingers gliding across the screen as she tried to find the answers.
They were desperate at this point.
"Isn't there any way we can, check up? Figure out what they're doing?" Jasmine asked, feeling her stomach flopping along with her nerves. She hated not knowing. She hated not knowing where this night would take them next. Most of all, she hated the small thought of Ricky coming in contact with her and Shane. It didn't seem right after all that had happened. Se just wanted him to give up and go away. Back to Arabia or something.
"No, my flower." Shane breathed, feeling bad that he couldn't take some of the stress off of his love. She was a mess inside, what with all that had happened over the course of the last few months. Hopefully things would calm down a bit when this was all over. "My hands are tied. We'll just have to find out tomorrow."
Jasmine nodded, snuggling in closer to Shane's chest. She was tired. She had been worrying about the team all day, only for her to still be worrying about them up until the second she fell asleep. If she ever did fall asleep. Her dreams, or better yet nightmares, would be ridden with images of Shane and Ricky. Two people she hoped would never have to meet again.
"I don't even know if I'm googling this right." Delia huffed, locking her phone and pushing it into her back pocket. Garrett leaned back against the wall, feeling the exhaustion hit him at how long they had been at this.
"Garrett!" The three shrieked in synch, only then did Garrett realize he was leaning against the white board. He jumped off the board, attempting to look at his back to see if the marker had gotten into his shirt.
"Well it's not like we haven't seen it before." Garrett hissed. The three rolled their eyes, turning back to their original notes as Garrett picked up another color marker. The red had been smudged, leaving him to fill in the rest of the words with blue.
Ricky huffed out a long sigh, pulling the note back towards him before looking back up to watch Garrett. This was hopeless. He was tired, he was practically brain dead even. So was Kim, which wasn't helping at all. It was as if the whole world was against them.
He had made the stupidest mistake the night before. He shouldn't have kissed Kim. She was his friend, his best friend. He should have simply been there for her, just the way that she had been there for him through this whole mess. It wasn't like she was going around, locking lips with him every time she saw him cry. He was an idiot.
Ricky's vision blurred as stared off at the board behind Garrett. His best friend had happened to wipe the majority of the words off the note, leaving only the first two letters of every line, up on the board. Ricky could feel himself blinking faster, trying to regain his clear vision. The letters on the board looked jumbled, but almost like the pieces to a puzzle.
His vision cleared, leaving him staring at the messed up note on the whiteboard. He quickly pulled his own note towards himself, picking up a bright yellow highlighter along with it. He popped off the cap, pulling the tip of the highlighter clumsily across the edge of the note. His eyes popped wide open as he held the secret message in front of his eyes. How had they not seen this before.
"Jasmine." Ricky breathed quietly. It all made sense. How had he skipped over this from the first second that he had seen the note. It was written out so clearly, it made him feel stupid for not seeing it before.
"What?" Kim asked, her eyebrows furrowing as she looked to Ricky. He had mumbled something off on the other side of the room.
Ricky shook his head. This was insane. How had Shane decided to take her there of all places? It almost seemed like it would be easier for him to get caught in a large city such as that. But at the same time, it made twisted sense. It made sense for Shane.
"Ricky." Kim tried again, calling on her fake twin brother a little louder this second time. She watched as he held his eyes wide, running his fingers against the portion he had highlighted.
Ricky pursed his lips together, the thought of how long Jasmine had actually been there hitting him like a brick. All they had to do, was figure out the note. She had made it so easy for them, yet they had brushed it off as though she was really fine. As though she had gotten better living with Shane. Like she really was free and living life to the fullest.
Ricky knew. He had known Jasmine wouldn't leave them hanging with a fake note. He knew she would come through and tell them where she was. Just like she had so long ago while they were at the warehouse.
"Ricky!" Kim finally yelled, watching as the pop star jumped back. His chair spun around her way, a startled look taking over his face as he looked to her.
"What?" He asked, hopping up from his chair and walking over to her.
"Sleep well my flower." Shane whispered against her now sleeping form. Half of him wanted to carry Jasmine into the bedroom. Make sure she was as comfortable as she possibly could be. But he couldn't help but notice how fast she had fallen asleep. Maybe she was perfectly comfortable out here.
He had to admit, the best sleep he had ever gotten had come to him last night. He had originally thought last night would be the night. The night that they truly gotten together. But he was fine with waiting. She wasn't truly his yet. He wanted to make sure that the night would make an impression. That it would leave her simply speechless, that it would rid any further memory of her time with the child star.
He knew, deep down, she would always have a special place in her heart for the one and only, Ricky Weaver. But if tomorrow went as planned, she wouldn't be thinking of him any longer.
Shane had a plan. A plan so great, that it was practically flawless. And although he couldn't exactly disclose this plan to Jasmine just yet, he knew she would catch on quickly. She wouldn't mind leaving this place, would she? She wouldn't mind leaving her last life fully behind, right? She would love where he was taking her, would love what he was planning for the rest of their lives. She would love it. He just knew it.
She would truly be his forever if all went as planned.
If everything finally went right.
Ricky made his way over to the desk, looking over his shoulder to see Garrett and Delia pick up the note. The two's eyes went wide, their breathing stopping as they read it over and over again.
"You got it." Garrett breathed just before Kim swiftly slapped Ricky in the shoulder.
"Why didn't you say anything!" She yelled, forcing herself off the desk and racing over to the note. She swiped the note from her two best friends, letting her eyes scan over the slightly altered version of the note.
She couldn't believe it.
"She's in..." Kim left off, her arms falling to her sides along with the note in shock. Ricky nodded, looking between the three he had gotten so close with over the last few months. They could finally end this. They could finally bring Jasmine home and lock Shane up for good.
"Jasmine's in New York." Ricky breathed. "The note says I am in New York."
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~Shay