Burning Truths (Consume Me #2)

18. Ryker

Chapter Eighteen

RYKER

Trees blur past the windows on the way back to the apartment.

That call is made from inside the family.

Kingstons words echo in my head. Someone put Kenna in the hands of a fucking obsessed old man with intent to have her removed from my hold. Coming up on my turn I slam onto the breaks and jerk the wheel to the right.

“Goddamn, Ryker.” Haven snaps from the passenger seat.

Ignoring her I step on the gas once the vehicle straightens back out sending us down the two lane road far past the speed limit. Haven's phone rings pulling both of our attention from the road. Neither of us are expecting a call but somehow the oxygen in the air is sucked into a vacuum. Her eyes flit from mine to the lit up screen before her finger slides the green button to the right answering the call. Turning back to the road I hit the breaks less than a yard away from our next turn stopping in the middle of the street without a fuck given.

“What are you doing?” She asks, looking over her shoulder out the back glass.

Tipping my head towards her phone, I wait for her to speak.

“West.” She says.

My brows raise in question, but she ignores me to listen to the other end. I can’t say I’m surprised that West already has the girl's number, but what does surprise me is the fact that she gave it to him. Haven’s been a fucking kitty with claws when it comes to my middle brother, but that’s shit for another day. Rolling my hand I press her for information but she’s stuck in place waiting for West to finish talking. Her head is bobbing, by the time the voice on the other end trails off her head is whipping towards me. My foot presses the gas to the floor spinning the tires clouding the car in smoke until we take off. I can see it in her eyes. They found her.

Haven drops the phone in her lap, chewing on the inside of her lip, she shifts to the side to watch outside the window. Three minutes. Five minutes. Almost there. Another turn, blowing through the final red light, the SUV drifts into the parking garage where a small group of people are standing outside a small blue Skyline and two bikes. Three out of the five are dressed in all black so it’s easy to make out the Wolves from West and Ally except there’s an extra person in the center of the group.

“Out.” I order once the SUV is put in park.

Haven hesitates for a moment before rolling her eyes and sliding out the car. Shutting the door she bounces over to Oakley with a what the fuck look on her face. All eyes shift to me but I hit the lock on the door and pick up my phone.

Ring.

Ring.

“Sup?” The voice on the other end says.

Rubbing my lips together I let the silence hang between us for a second.

“Where have you been?” I press.

I let the accusation in my tone linger in the air giving him a second to respond.

He scoffs on the other end, “Have I not earned your trust, Brother .” He hisses the last word.

Gripping the wheel I try to grab ahold of the last semblance of control I still have but calm is far from the emotion coursing through me.

“That may be, Brother, but I had a few things to handle.” He sighs.

I realize that I’m pushing his limits but I can’t reign it in at this point. I’ve been searching for somewhere to place this anger and right now he’s the perfect target. The one person that is supposed to be here and when I look around he’s the one missing.

“What’s more important than finding Kenna?” I snarl.

Agitation sinks in my bones, “G.” I snap when he doesn’t respond.

“Ryker, I’m putting out a fucking fire that you shouldn’t be concerned with right now. I’m sorry but you’re just going to have to trust me on this one.” He says, his tone tired.

“West said you were in the ring.” I say.

West steps towards the front of the SUV, a questioning gaze crossing his face but I wave him off letting him know it’s handled without a word.

“Yeah, that’s a story for another time boss.” G says.

“Don’t fucking call me that. Get your ass to the apartment now.” I demand.

A pause. Rustling in the background, a groan, and then silence.

“Do I have time to wash off the cheerleader?” He laughs.

The tense feeling in the air dissipates with his smart-ass remark. Oakley and Havoc look towards me from the middle of a conversation giving me a view of another man. One that I’ve seen before a few months back at The Basement.

“No. We found a location and I need you to ride with us. Whatever the fuck you’ve been doing can wait.”

Hanging up I open the door to arguing coming from Oakley and West. The slam of my door has all eyes snapping to me. Walking to the front of the black SUV I look to West for the information I’ve been waiting for.

“Ally was able to focus on Hank's patterns and found that he only takes one way in and out of town.” He stops.

This is a beach town with plenty of side roads and interstates but while that’s weird it doesn’t really mean shit to me right now.

“His car has only been seen in two places outside of the prison in town.” Pulling out an iPad he zooms in on a map.

The screen is bright but my eyes quickly adjust to the light. West points to two red dots on the screen.

“This is a gas station.” He points at a dot to the top left, “and this right here is a red light right outside of town.” He points at the other dot.

“Is this all we have?” I ask.

How the hell are we going to find her with such a large area to search. Ally steps forward grabbing the iPad from West. Spinning towards her, he goes to reach out for her arm, but I’m yanking him back. Ally runs her tongue over the back of her teeth turning the iPad towards her tapping on the screen a few times before facing it back towards me. This time on the screen there is a photo of a large worn down building with overgrown grass around the sides. Large vines and bushes are growing up the side of the brick covering the graffiti across the sides.

“This building was purchased a month after Kenna came back to Hawthorne. I was able to access the deed and it has her name on it. Now, why would Kenna buy a dilapidated building outside of Del Mar?” Ally questions with a raised eyebrow.

“How would he have put it in her name?” Oakley asks from behind Ally.

Ally doesn’t turn, refusing to give Oakley a pass, “I never said it was Hank. There was someone else on the deed, but the name was blacked out. It had to be someone from her family or someone who had access to her family's information. I don’t know how, but I do know that this warehouse is the only thing in between both locations and it happens to have Kennas name on it.” She says.

Havoc and the other male tug Oakley backwards to whisper in her ear. Her eyes find mine before a smile lights up her face. Clapping her hands she squeals and jumps over towards me. Literally fucking jumping.

“Let’s go hunting!” She laughs.

Oakley’s blue hair bounces with each skip she does heading towards the blue Skyline. Climbing in the passenger seat two of her men climb on their bikes, the other two missing from the picture. Haven looks towards West with a hard stare before turning away to slide into the passenger seat of Oakleys car. I can’t move, my feet are stuck in place on the concrete.

“Ryker.” West calls.

He sticks his head around the door to the SUV about to get in but stopping to wait on me.

“Let’s go, Rye. Our girl is waiting on us.” He says softly.

Ally passes me on the way to the backseat, but she stops beside me putting her hand on my shoulder giving it a squeeze.

“She’ll forgive us eventually.” She says, walking towards the back of the SUV.

I don’t care if she forgives me, she has no choice in the matter. Kenna Kingston belongs to me. She’s my broken little killer and in the end I always planned to burn us to the ground. Someone may have beat me to it, but I’ll put her back together if only to watch the pretty little killer take me down with her. I crave the destruction she causes. Rolling my neck I open the driver door and get in. A blue blur flashes past us heading for the exit with two bikes following close behind. Looking to West we make eye contact for a breath. Shifting the SUV into drive I peel off leaving tire marks and smoke in my wake.

It takes thirty eight minutes to get to the warehouse that was in the photo. The building looks worse in person but I’m not taking note of this run down piece of shit. The sun is starting to set, turning the sky a deep orange and midnight blue. Reaching between my seats I grab the pistol stuffed there, closing my fingers around the cold steel. West and Ally have already unbuckled and opened their doors when I make a move to exit the SUV. No one speaks. We stay as quiet as possible making sure whoever is inside doesn’t hear us coming.

“You’re staying right here.” Havoc points to Haven.

Her mouth opens to speak but Ally steps up beside her putting a hand on her arm.

“I’ll stay out here with you. The less people walking through the building the less likely they are to be found.” She says.

“Oh we want to be found.” Oakley giggles, twisting the tip of a blade into the edge of her finger.

This woman looks like she’s about to start whistling a tune. Psycho .

“Keep this one under control.” I wave to Havoc and the other one, “name?” I ask.

“Silas.” He responds.

Oakley pushes on her toes and kisses him on the chin giving Havoc a wink.

“Stop the weird shit and focus. West, you split up with Havoc and Silas. Oakley you’re with me.”

Both men start to speak, but Oakley steps forward, “This is going to be fun.” She rubs her hands together with the knife in the center.

“Is she always like this?” Ally whispers but Oakley hears it anyway.

“Yep.” She smiles with her teeth, but it looks more like a snarl.

Ally steps back and takes Haven with her, “Well be in the SUV.” She says, looking at me.

Tossing her the keys I nod giving her the one and only chance she’ll get to prove we can trust her. West and the guys are talking off the side when another car’s headlights slowly pull up before shutting off. We duck down trying to get a good view of the vehicle, but they park behind an old dumpster. The sound of a door opening, shoes meeting rocks, the door shutting. Footsteps come closer. Standing, I look over the hood of my car to see a face I wasn’t expecting walking next to G.

“What the fuck were you thinking?” I snap.

Storming towards them G holds his hands up in surrender, “Man, do you really think I could keep him away?” He says. “We don’t have time for this shit. Let’s go.”

Walking past them all, I’m done waiting to have my hands on her soft skin. We make our way through the brush and weeds to a door on the backside of the building. West and the others slowly head towards the front, but G sticks with me and Oakley. Reaching for the door I twist the handle slowly making sure to not make a sound.

“It’s unlocked. Cocky fucker.” Oakley says.

The door opens to a room shrouded in darkness with only a small light coming from a door at the end of the hallway. Pulling out my phone for a flashlight I use it to navigate the open space.

“Fuck.” G grunts.

Looking over at him, my eyes follow his line of sight. Lifting my phone to shine in his direction I finally see what he does. A single chair in a large square room with only one way out down a long hallway. The doors are wide open but it’s the chair in the center of the room that has my stomach churning. A thud has me and G spinning the other direction. My light hits Oakleys face with a slight blush creeping up her cheeks.

“Ooops.” She whispers.

Her foot bumps into a chair against the wall where a table is pressed against the window giving the appearance that someone sat here to look out the window. The curtains are pulled back letting in the last bit of remaining light outside.

“He’s been breaking her.” Oakley says her voice is grim.

Walking towards the open door that leads to the hallway where the light is coming from I ignore her comment.

“Ryker, you don’t know what we’ll find. You need to prepare yourself for her-”

Twisting around I step into her face, “Don’t finish that fucking sentence or you’ll lose your tongue.”

Sticking her tongue out in mock she wiggles it at me, “I’d love to see you try.”

Pulling in a deep breath, I continue towards the doorway at the end of the long hall. My phone light hits the door shining against the dark green paint. A few steps into the hall and a foul smell hits me making me double over. Using the front of my shirt to cover my face I look back at the others before continuing forward again.

"It’s behind this door.” G says.

He points to a closed door a few feet ahead where the smell is coming from. Passing the door I hold my breath and keep moving.

“Check it out. Do what you need, but I’m finding Kenna.” I toss over my shoulder.

G breaks away from us pulling out a knife from his belt loop to mess with the lock on the door. Coming up to the door with the light behind it I hear a slow steady thump against a wall. The sound is eerie and on beat.

Thump.

Thump.

Thump.

Oakley pauses beside me, both of us now just outside the door. Her blue eyes shine in the darkness, the only feature I can see through the shadows. Inhaling a lung full of air I motion for her to continue. Reaching for the door she turns the knob inch by inch.

“It’s unlocked.” She says barely above a whisper.

One second.

Two seconds.

Three.

The door opens. The light blinds me momentarily, preventing me from seeing in front of me. An inhale.

Thump.

Thump.

My hand rests on the pistol’s trigger, unable to clear my vision. Once the white spots dissipates all the air in my lungs is pushed from my chest at the sight before me.