Brother's Fireman Friend (A Man Who Knows What He Wants Book 106) Read online

  He leans back in his seat and cocks his head at me as if he knows a verbal blow is coming. I hate even setting up this conversation this way, but I’ve got to keep him calm so he doesn’t just storm out before I can tell him my plan for Geoff.

  “I’m in love with Daphne.”

  He just stares at me. First his eyes narrow and then they slowly soften before he bursts out laughing. “Nice one. You almost had me.”

  He stands to go. “See ya tomorrow.”

  “No, I’m serious. And there’s something way more important.”

  His hand on the knob already he turns back and takes in my face and body language, before his body turns back to face me. He’s completely still as the truth seems to wash over him like a wave he was completely not prepared for. He’s engulfed in the madness, his mind spinning around like he’s inside a washing machine set on the highest spin cycle.

  “You're fucking with me?”

  “I’m not. And your sister is in trouble.”

  “My sister? No, you’re in trouble, asshole, for going behind my back and betraying my trust.” He pauses. “I can’t fucking believe this. If you weren’t the captain, I’d…” He grits his teeth. “Ah!” He grabs the doorknob and jerks open the door.

  “Daniel, wait! I need your help. Daphne needs your help.”

  “Fuck both of you! Go back to running around behind my back and don’t ask me for anything, buddy.”

  The door slams shut and he storms off toward the front doors. Other firefighters obviously heard us and now, as the captain, I’ve got a situation on my hands.

  But that’s not important. What is is my woman, and I’m going to get her right now.

  She’s not spending another minute in that Airbnb. She’s staying under my watchful eye until I’ve got this guy locked up and behind bars, although I really know that once I get my hands on him he’s not going behind bars…he’s going underground.

  Especially now that I know just what he’s capable of, and what he’s already done.

  CHAPTER 23

  Daphne

  The warm water from the shower does little to refresh me.

  I step out, dry off, and get dressed.

  Maybe a cup of tea will do the trick.

  Moving to the kitchen, suddenly I feel hands grab me from behind and force me to the ground.

  I kick backward and throw elbows, but it’s no use. My wrists are zip-tied so quickly I never had a chance.

  “Zip it, bitch!” he says, as I go to scream just as I’m rolled over and a thick, sticky piece of duct tape is slapped across my mouth.

  From my back I look up and above me I see Geoff hovering over the top of me.

  Oh my god he’s going to rape me.

  He just sits there, on his knees, looking down at me until he finally starts smiling.

  “You’re a little firecracker, you know that. When you fight back it makes me so damn hard. You wanna see?”

  I move my head from side to side, feeling the floor grind into the back of my skull as he unzips his fly and reaches into his pants.

  Oh my god, no.

  His hand quickly jerks out and he flips me off. “Got ya!” His laugh sounds like an evil villain from a movie. I thought those were always so overplayed and cliché but it’s exactly how he sounds.

  “See, beautiful…I’d never put my dick in you now. You went and ruined yourself with that firefighter fellow.”

  Fellow? I haven’t heard Geoff’s voice in a few weeks, but it seems different. It’s almost as if there’s an…English accent to it?

  “What we had could have been so beautiful, so perfect. Yeah, I was watching you that first day you showed up for my class freshman year. The way you came in so innocent…so virginal. I could see it a mile away. Some naive little American girl who’s never been out of her small town. It was so perfect. I couldn’t wait to taste what no one had ever tasted before. And your manners. Your shyness. The way you got so into your books you didn’t even hear what was happening in the world around you. You looked like a David Hamilton photograph. You know him? The old French photographer with all his little perfect virgins that he photographed. That was you, but you were mine and I was going to have you forever…but…”

  He makes a tisking sound as he shakes a finger at me.

  “You had to run off without saying goodbye. And even worse you didn’t register for any of my classes next year. What were you thinking? You have to graduate. But I guess you’ve graduated already…to sucking some meathead fireman’s dick.”

  “No!” I mumble, knowing this psycho is going to go after Jonah now for sure.

  “No? Oh yes. Yes, yes, yes! The two of you looked like the kind of couple who could be on a postcard down there in Puerto Rico. I may even license some of the pictures I took of you. I could probably make a few bucks on some of those stock photo sites. I mean you owe it to me after all. Making me waste my precious time and money chasing you, you fucking bitch!”

  He’s completely mental, and the switch inside him has flipped.

  “And then you go and put a camera in front of your door so I can’t even get close. Well, that turned out to be a good move because it allowed me to find someone else to keep a close eye on you while I was just off in the distance. My face isn’t on anything, see. That’s why I looooove these little American small towns. People are so damn trusting. There are no surveillance cameras like there are back home. Did you know in London, on average, you’re on seven cameras at a time every second of every day. On average! But here in these little corners of Americana all you have to do is buy a blue men’s work suit and then have one of those good ‘ol blue-collar shops send you a plumbing patch in the mail for your fake plumbing business and you can pick the back door right open. You didn’t even know you had a backdoor did you?”

  His head tips back as he laughs and I realize that there must have been one of those horizontal wooden, padlocked doors that open both ways and lead into the basement. It wasn’t in the Airbnb pictures and no way was I going down in the basement. It’s the only thing he could be referring to. How could I have been so stupid to miss it?

  And now my stupidity is about to make me too stupid to live.

  Suddenly there’s a knock on the door.

  “You in there?”

  I scream and moan and Geoff’s face turns pale as he instantly becomes nervous, his head darting to the door…before he bursts out laughing and looks right back at me.

  “So cute! You thought someone was coming to save you. See, that’s the point of this whole game. We’re going to see just how good your man is. How good at his job and how much he loves you.”

  His head turns to the door. “I’ll be right out, Billy.”

  “See your boyfriend beat Billy to within an inch of his life four years ago…but the problem was he didn’t finish the job. See he left Billy an inch, and he gratefully took a mile. And who does Billy hate more than anyone in the world? Let’s guess, shall we? Jonah! Ding, ding, ding! We have a winner! Tell her what she’s won. Well, Bob,” he says in a voice that resembles the Price is Right from years ago, “she’s going to be set in this chair right here while I step outside and toss a lit cigarette into the fifty gallons of gasoline that Billy has just dumped all around the base of this wooden house with the cedar shingles and polyester furniture and drapes. I guess the one good thing is that you Yanks only have 128 fluid ounces in your gallons, where as across the pond we use 160. Still, it’s more than enough to burn this baby down pretty quick. It’s gonna get hot, hot, hot really fast. Let’s see how hot for you your boyfriend really is.”

  He looks at his watch.

  “His shift should be ending right about now, so that means,” he says, switching back to an announcer type voice, “the audience wants to know if your boy toy will be willing to work overtime to come and rescue his piece of ass. Stay tuned in to find out!” He laughs and switches back to his creepy voice as my hands writhe underneath me. There’s no way these plastic zip-ties are com
ing undone. The only thing that’s ripping is my skin as I desperately try and free myself.

  “See I liked that surveillance camera idea you came up with so I decided to install one of my own.”

  He grabs my jaw with his disgusting hand, his grip strong as anger covers his face as he jerks my head to the side where I see a camera mounted at a tripod…pointing right at us.

  He jerks my head back so I’m facing him again, but he doesn’t remove his hand. “You know I’m a chemistry teacher you dumb bitch. You think I don’t know how to light fires and get away with it? Wait until the fucking propane tanks underneath the sink, which are right against the wall of the house by the way, ignite. That will be your final lab for my chemistry class. And I’ll tell you right now. You fucking failed. F!”

  He shakes my face violently and then flips me over, grabbing the plastic cuffs and jerking me to my feet where he drags me over to a chair sitting in the middle of the room facing a camera, just like a B-grade horror flick.

  But this is real, and despite my attempts to kick him in the shins, bite through the duct tape, and elbow him, he easily gets me to the chair, which I only now see has restraints attached.

  I buy myself another few minutes while he has to struggle to get me tied down, but eventually he gives up the fight deciding it’s better to just punch me right in the face instead.

  My vision blurs as my head wobbles.

  “Look into the camera like a good little whore ready to hear the applause as you entertain your audience,” he laughs like a hyena. “I need the footage clear since it has to transfer all the way to my phone, uploading in real time. Technology...gotta love it!” He laughs that disgusting scavenger-type of animalistic laugh again. “But this footage is for me and me alone. See, this camera’s going up in smoke with this fucking shack you’ve been calling home. So once you’re burnt to a crisp I can stroke my cock to the footage of you struggling, coughing and wheezing your last breaths...for the rest of my life. Hell, I might even put a plastic bag over my own head and try a little asphyxiation out on myself while I relive watching you die. It didn’t have to end this way for you, you know..if you just would have given us a chance. But now it’s over, and I get to relive your ending over and over and over again...and see, I did get to bust a nut to you after all, you nutty bitch. And the homeowner sure is gonna bitch when his shitty Airbnb disintegrates, and you along with it. Hell, they won’t even be able to separate your ashes from the titanium tripod or the aluminum camera body. Hope you brought some sunscreen because once those tanks blow it’s gonna get bright, and hot as hell.”

  I struggle with all my might to raise my chin up at him as I try my best to suck some phlegm into my mouth so I can hock a loogie right in his fucking eye. I prepare my lips to spit, only to be quickly and painfully reminded that I must be in shock as I completely forgot that I still have duct tape covering my mouth. I cringe as I swallow down the vile mucus.

  Regardless…if he thinks I’m going out without a fight, before I know my Jonah avenges my death and makes sure he rots in hell one day soon, he’s got another thing coming.

  But my skull feels like it’s full of lead and the pressure between my ears is immense.

  “That’s better. Much easier,” I hear in muffled tones as my ears ring.

  “Are you there?” he says yelling right in my ear, my eye barely open as it’s quickly swelling shut. I can see him just against my face and feel the spit from his mouth as he yells into my ear. “Well, what you don’t hear is your boyfriend coming to save you. No fire engine. No hero. I hope the dick was worth it…cunt.”

  He backhands me and everything goes black.

  CHAPTER 24

  Jonah

  “Come on, come on, come on!”

  As I approach Daphne’s place I see smoke billowing from the roof and I floor it.

  As I round the final turn two wheels of my Jeep come off the ground momentarily before returning to the pavement and pulling to a quick stop right in front of her place.

  “Daphne! I’m coming.”

  I run to the front door, flames covering it as I hear sirens in the distance.

  Leaving my feet I drive my entire shoulder into the door, the lock snapping as it flies off the hinges and I land on top of it as it hits the ground.

  There’s smoke everywhere, but through the haze I can see her, unconscious and tied to a chair in the middle of the room.

  I jump to my feet, staying low, and trying my best to stay calm so I don’t breathe in too quickly…but it’s impossible.

  This is my woman and any form of training is out the window.

  Human nature kicks in and all I can think about is using every ounce of energy and strength I have, every ounce of my being, to get her out of here and get her to safety.

  I grab the entire chair, lifting it as I carry it, and her through the front door and out into the street.

  “Get me a knife!” I say pointing to one man standing nearby gawking like an idiot.

  “Call an ambulance!” I say pointing to another, my training kicking back in.

  Pointing at people makes them feel responsible and kicks them out of their state of shock. Just yelling instructions means everyone thinks someone else will do it, and in turn everyone idly sits by.

  That’s not happening.

  I take my woman’s pulse, putting two fingers on her wrist feeling the weak beating underneath. It’s low.

  I feel a tap on my shoulder and turn, taking the knife from the first man and freeing her from the binds, and shoving the knife through my belt loop.

  “Don’t you dare leave me,” I say, carrying her to my Jeep. Screw the ambulance. I’m going to take her to the hospital myself, right fucking now.

  Just as I jump in the seat the ambulance arrives.

  I flag them down, recognizing them and carefully scoop her up, carrying her to them. I’m trained in a lot of things including a lot of paramedics training, but in this instance the professionals in the ambulance know more than I do.

  It kills me to know that I have to hand her over to someone else, but I’ve worked with these exact people my entire four years in this community. They’re good people and I’ve seen them save many lives.

  Now I need them to save the most important one they ever have.

  I watch, trying to stay calm, as they quickly go to work.

  I remind myself that she’s still alive. I need to calm down. Her pulse is low but she’s breathing. The amount of smoke to her brain is going to be a key factor.

  They hook her up to some machines and my entire face squeezes tight. The sight of my healthy angel in this life and death situation reminds me just how fragile life can be.

  Maurice, the head of the team, turns to me and gives me a thumb’s up. “She’s gonna be okay, boss.”

  I’m not his boss, of course, but I appreciate that he acknowledges me and can sense that I’m more than extremely invested in the outcome. I never want someone to die on my watch, especially not…

  Just the thought of it has anger racing through my veins.

  I know who fucking did this. I keep telling myself he’s going to pay, yet he’s still out there.

  My hands go to the top of my head as another of the ambulance team gives me a thumbs up. They wouldn’t lie to me so I know that she will indeed be okay.

  I step away momentarily, needing to move my feet. I’ve got so much pent up anger, so much sorrow for her and the way she looks right now, and so much rage.

  Suddenly I see someone I don’t recognize from the community who was standing in the group of people when I pointed out the two people to get the knife and call the ambulance. He’s got a hat on, pulled down just a little too low, and he’s slowly walking away.

  I see a moped not thirty yards from him and I take a few quick steps in his direction.

  He hears the sound of my boots on the pavement and picks up his pace, looking over his shoulder just slightly, as if he’s calculating the distance.

  But
what I never calculated was that I was going to see him, here, now.

  It’s Geoff. I recognize him from the mug shot and take off in a dead sprint.

  He quickly follows suit, running right for his getaway vehicle, but doesn’t stand a chance.

  Just as he arrives at the curb, not five more yards from it I tackle him from behind in the grass.

  I’m on him immediately, rolling him over, with my hands on his neck…squeezing.

  I look off in the distance momentarily. Everyone is focused on the ambulance and the fire.