𝘾𝙝𝙧𝙞𝙨
﹥━━━━━━━━━━﹤

Jabari and I sit in the kitchen late at night, going through Jasmine's file that we found earlier.

"I don't know what this means?" I huff, pushing the photographs away.

Jabari shakes his head. He's tired, unable to sleep until he makes sense of this.

"So he stalked Jas, got some dirt on her, and now he's making her work for him?" He guesses. His is as good as mine.

"That makes the most sense to me. I mean, I kind of knew there was no way he actually wanted her, Jasmine is a — nevermind." I clear my throat.

Jabari pinches the bridge of his nose. "This is some fucked up shit."

"Don't think of it as a bad thing, maybe she wants to be there. You heard Madi, some girls do sign up; Morgan did."

Jabari relaxes his tense shoulders. "You right..."

"Maybe after y'all divorced she wanted more money, a different lifestyle, could be anything?"

"It don't seem like Jas, though."

"I hate to agree with you there."

"I pushed her away," Jabari beats himself up.

I reach over and pat his shoulder. "Don't blame yourself."

"I do, though. If I was a better husband, I would've kept her away from all this."

"Hey, you don't know why it happened, I'm not gonna let you take the fall for this shit."

"You a good, friend, man."

"Don't get gay on me." I make him laugh.

BARK! BARK! RUFF!

Duke and Stevie tell me they need to go outside.

Normally I'd let them roam around the yard freely but the last time I did that, they ran away and I ended up kidnapped, looking for them.

"Ima go to bed, bro. We'll figure this shit out in the morning," JB says, standing.

I stand after him and stretch.

"Aye, where Morgan?" He brings it to my attention that she's been gone all day and I haven't heard from her.

I look at the time.

11:48pm

"I don't know," I reveal, curious. "I'll call her now."

"Tell her I said bring her ass home, she ain't grown." He jokes, walking towards the staircase.

Tired of Duke's whining, I lead him and Stevie out of the sliding glass door.

They ran around the yard and are mindful where they poop and pee as we trained them.

Enjoying the October night air, I take a seat on a patio chair and pull my phone out of my pocket.

Morgan's birthday unlocks my phone to a picture of her kissing me as my homescreen. I'll never change this passcode, and I'll never get over her as my background. She's so beautiful.

Finding myself smiling at the thought of my fiancé, I hurry myself to dial her number. Since I know it by heart, it's easier and faster to dial than to go to my contacts and scroll to her contact.

The phone rings three times, that's unlike Morgan, especially for it to be so late.

No answer and the voicemail box is full.

I try again.

No answer.

After three more attempts, I'm worried.

I go to text her and it doesn't deliver.

What the hell?

FaceTime. I try that but am unable to.

"Bro, am I blocked?" I ask myself out loud.

"J!" I shout, running in the house.

I find him on the second floor of the house, down the hall.

"Yo?" He returns.

"Can you call Morgan for me?" I frantically ask him.

"What, she ain't answering?" He asks and I shake my head no.

Jabari quickly calls my fiancé.

"It's still ringing." He says after a minute.

"Try again." I insist.

"Let me FaceTime her." He suggests, showing me the screen.

It rings but eventually gets declined.

"What the?" He asks, growing just as anxious.

"Text her." I demand, watching his screen intently.

Jabari sends a text message and it delivers.

"Here," he says, handing me his iPhone.

I send text after text, they all go through.

"She's typing!" Jabari notices.

Then, the text bubbles disappear.

We wait a minute and nothing comes through. So, I text again. This time, it doesn't say it was delivered.

"Bruh." Jabari grumbles.

"Did you check her lo?" He asks me about her location.

For some dumb reason, I hadn't.

When I do, though, one doesn't appear.

"Ain't no way," Jabari says, showing me that Morgan just stopped sharing her location with him as well.

"Fuck!" I roar.

"Where was she, like, an hour ago, you know?" He questions me.

"No idea," I answer with shame. I hadn't checked because I was busy dealing with this Jasmine and Tate shit.

"Did she say where she was going?"

I shake my head, hands on hips as I try to rack my brain.

"Ben!" Jabari remembers before I do.

"Fuck, you're right," I gasp. "Let me call him."

The phone just rings and rings. Then rings some more. . .

Of course he wasn't gonna fucking answer. Asshole.

"They might still be together." Jabari is hopeful.

"But where?" Is the question.

"Let's go find out." He says with no hesitation.

"We been looking for two hours, bro, what you wanna do?" Asks Jabari at a red light.

I look to my left and right in the passenger seat, completely stumped.

"If I see Tate, I'm gonna hurt him." I mumble.

Jabari agrees with a snarl, cracking his knuckles.

"What about the golf course?" I suddenly get an idea.

Jabari takes off the instant the light turns green.

"You really think she there?" He asks me.

"No, but one of them might be. Raymond has late night poker games at the country club."

"I can't even imagine what goes on there." Jabari scoffs. I agree.

That's when my phone rings.

"Hello?" I answer immediately, seeing its Ben's number.

He croaks, hardly audible.

"Speak the fuck up." I hurriedly demand.

"I—" is all I can hear.

"Put it on speaker, maybe it's ya volume." Jabari whispers.

I do as he says but it's no use.

Ben mumbles again, I can't make out what's he saying.

"Where are you?" I bark.

A minute of silence falls but my phone suddenly lights up with a text notification from Ben. It's his location.

"The golf course." I utter. Of course.

"We're eighteen minutes away." Jabari tells me.

"Ben, stay there." I boss, ending the call.

"The fuck we about to get into?" Jabari asks, shaking his head with unease.

"We're already in it." I attest, sitting back in the seat.

✕

Andy pulls up before we hop out of Jabari's SUV.

Both mine and JB's doors slam and we meet Andy at the gates of the golf course.

"What do I need to know?" He asks us eagerly.

"First of all, calm the fuck down, this ain't a field trip." Jabari scolds him.

I take it easy on Andy because he's just a kid who wants to help. Plus he thinks we're close, and I don't want to let him or his brother— Nick Adams— down.

I put my hand up to J so he can settle.

"Look," I exhale, "Morgan might be in trouble. Ben called me, he sounded pretty bad, said to meet him here."

"Where is he?!" Andy rages.

I push him back before he makes any rash moves but I appreciate the energy.

"We also found Jasmine's file in Tate's office, he's been watching her - probably all of us. All I know for sure is Tate and Raymond were in business with Malcolm, and some serious shit is about to go down." I brief Andy.

Jabari lowly says, "And?"

I clench my jaw.

"And Hayes isn't my son, he's Tate's." I profess for the first time out loud. I'm accepting it.

"I'm sorry, bro, really." Andy goes to hug me but I push him away with my forearm.

"We don't have time for that," I decide.

Andy nods.

"Do you think Tate's here?" He asks me in a whisper.

I look all around.

"He could be," I answer, unfazed.

"What do we do?" Asks Andy, cracking his neck like he's getting ready.

I look at both men. "Let's just find Ben first."

"Alright." Andy says, checking his gun for bullets.

"WOAHHH!" Jabari and I shout, our hands up.

"What?" Andy is oblivious.

I raise my eyebrows at the twenty-two-year-old.

"Oh," he laughs, "this? I got it from Nick, he taught me how to shoot. Don't worry, I know what I'm doing."

"Make sure you do." Jabari warns him.

"Come on," I laugh, leading the way.

✕

It's past midnight.

We've hopped the fence and scoured the green for any sight of Ben. Oh, but when I find him. . .

"Andy, why do you wanna help us so bad anyway?" Jabari interrogates the kid.

"I told you guys, Nick thinks of Chris as a brother and said he owes him his life. Nick's all the way in New York, he can't help Chris from here - it's my pleasure." says Andy.

He's not bad. I like Andy, almost reminds me of myself - if I was more naive and innocent, dumb.

"H-Help-" we loosely hear a slither of someone's voice.

"Did you hear that?" Andy wonders.

I nod, standing in the front.

"Help... me...." The voice falters.

I figure it must be Ben and go ahead.

We're all the way at the back end of the course, near the thick woods.

"It's Ben." I confirm upon seeing his mullet.

He's laid out on a golf cart and badly beaten.

"Shit." I curse, rushing to help him.

Andy looks around, standing back with the gun to keep watch.

Ben's navy blue college lacrosse long-sleeve shirt is tattered. There's blood on his face, his white low top Nikes and matching socks.

His eye is black, lip swollen, and nose crooked, possibly broken.

"Chris?" He uses little strength to ask if it's really me.

"Who did this to you?" I demand an answer as I help him sit up.

"I'm so sorry, man." He chokes.

I ignore his misplaced apology and pat him down for his phone.

Instead, I'm shocked— pissed— to find Morgan's. I know it's hers, that's her lockscreen of us, her carrier, her phone case.

I input the passcode:

0908

My birthday.

The phone unlocks.

Jabari looks at me with wide eyes, trying to read me.

I drive my fist across Ben's face.

"Fuck, dude!" Jabari winces, letting Ben's body fall back across the seat.

He starts to pace. "Are you trying to kill him?!"

"He has Morgan's phone!" I yell.

Fire blinds my eyes and clouds the rational part of my brain. All I want to do is hurt Ben and ask questions later.

"The fuck did you do to her? Where is she?!" I grab him by the collar of his shirt.

Ben can hardly talk but I'm determined to make him.

There's only one light above our heads, otherwise it's complete darkness. I could kill him right here and now and leave his ass in thick of the woods.

"Don't hurt him," Jabari suddenly shows some fucking empathy.

"He has her phone," I pant, trying to get him to see.

"He got one eye, he can barely talk. Come on." Jabari spares Ben.

"I won't hurt him again." I declare, stepping away from his body.

Ben spits, blood splattering on the grass around my feet.

"She's— Tate," he mutters.

The mention of Tate's name makes me ball my fists and cringe.

"Tate? Where?" Jabari takes charge.

"He did this to you?" I ask Ben for clarity.

He brings himself to nod his head.

"Where is he now?" I lighten my tone so he can trust me enough to tell me the truth.

"I don't know." Ben coughs, holding his ribs.

"Bullshit. Why'd he do this to you?" I ask, holding Ben up.

He keeps falling to the side weakly, unable to support himself.

"We ain't gonna get no answers like this." Jabari gives in.

"Hey, I think I hear something." Andy lets us know.

"How we gonna get out of here?" Jabari wonders, panicking.

I move Ben over and get behind the wheel.

"Hop on." I rush JB and Andy.

With no further hesitation, they both jump onto the back of the cart and I step on the gas.

We scale the grounds and make it back to the gate.

The three of us help Ben to the other side, hopping the smaller fence.
We're throwing Ben around like a rag doll at this point but you couldn't pay me to give a fuck. I'm only keeping him alive (awake) for answers. His ass is getting dumped the second I find my fiancé, and learn what Tate has to do with all of this.

The ER asks no questions about what's happened to Ben. Well, they do, but they believe us when we say he was drunk and we were doing some Steve-O shit for a TikTok - Andy's lie.

It's nearing three in the morning. Ben has no broken bones, his nose is just swollen, but he does have a shiner, renders ribs, and a badly busted lip. Can't say he doesn't deserve it.
Whether he's behind Morgan's disappearance or not, he tried to make a move on her before so I still owe him; maybe I'll black the other eye at least.

Back at Andy's, he, Jabari, and I try to think of what the fuck to do next.

"—He's waking up." Andy notices.

We all spring up from the kitchen table and surround Ben on the couch.

"Ow." He hisses, trying to sit up.

"Where's Morgan?" I don't waste any time.

"How should I know?" He plays dumb.

"Where's Morgan?!" Jabari asks, turning on the lights that make Ben wince at the sudden brightness.

"I don't know!" He shouts.

I look at Andy and Jabari.

Andy looks unsure, Jabari the opposite.

"He lying." Says Jabari.

So, I ask Ben again.

"Where is she?" My calm demeanor frightens Ben even more.

"I mean it, I don't know."

"Well what do you know?" I get impatient.

Ben nervously darts his eyes around the room.

"I'm right here." I remind him, snapping my fingers.
"Tell me why you have my fiancés phone."

Ben swallows. "Fiancé? She said you two weren't together."

"You believed her?"

"Well-"

I grab Andy's baseball bat that's situated against the wall, and slap it against my palm.

"I'm not going to ask again." I proclaim lowly.

Andy turns the safety off on his gun, scaring Ben into spilling.

"Tate took her! He made me do it, I didn't want to!"

"Didn't want to what?" I grumble.

Ben cries. "He said if I didn't finish the job, he would— he would— I knocked her out but I didn't touch her after that, I swear! And I didn't call Tate, he just showed up a-and took her. He beat me up because I wouldn't— I couldn't—"

My heart slows until eventually I start to wonder if I'm even still breathing.

I stumble back and Jabari and Andy catch me.

I'm hardly functioning.

Water rolls onto my cheek and chin— am I crying?

I can't breathe.

It feels as if someone is sitting on my chest, suffocating me.

I'm paralyzed with disbelief and some other emotion I've never experienced this strongly before.

My eyes flicker. All I can see is Ben directly in front of me.

"Chris..." Jabari calls out my name.

I stand tall, looking down at Ben who starts to cower, sinking lower into the cushion.

I've long since accepted my fate, knowing that whatever the fuck else happens to me is karma, but what did Morgan ever do to deserve any of this?

Time and time again, I've asked that these people bother me instead of Morgan. Perhaps that's why they do it, I fear nothing except Morgan being harmed. It's the very thing that keeps me up at night. The one thing that can hurt me is feeling helpless when she's in trouble.

"I'm not going to hurt him," I declare, not removing my burning glare from Ben.

"Not in your house," I drawl.

I can't take another second of this. If I continue to look at Ben, I'll turn into a worse evil than Jeffrey Dahmer. The pain I want to inflict on Ben— and Tate— is unheard of, something not even imaginable.

Feeling like my lungs are collapsing, I try to keep my balance as I walk with blurred vision towards the front door.

The crisp outdoor air feels like shards of glass against my skin, leaving me stumbling onto the grass in the front lawn.

Dropping to my knees, I grasp for air but it's like none enters my body.

I grip the grass, leaning over, feeling as if I'm burning up.

My body is shaking, each muscle constricting as does my airway.

I feel, think, and see nothing but pain and darkness. I don't want it to consume me but it feels as if it's taking over. I can't fight it, and I don't want to anymore.

"Chris." I hear a voice but it's muffled by the sound of my internal screaming.

"Chris..." it's Jabari's voice.

His hand touches me and I fight him off.

"Let me help you." He says, forcing himself on me.

"Don't touch me." I warn him.

He does anyway.

I push him but he pushes towards me, wrapping his arms around my upper body.

Unable to fight for once because it's still hard to breathe, I hang my head and he holds me.

"Let it out, bro. Let it out. You good." His voice to me in this moment is like an oasis for a desert dweller.

Tears fill my eyes until they run down my face in streams, burning my flesh.

"He touched Morgan." I cry.

My hoarse voice strains. "He fucking hurt her... I'm going to kill him."

"I know," Jabari says, keeping me constrained. "We'll get him."

"I'm so fucking mad," I repeat all that I can say.

"I'm going to kill them." I decide, nodding my head as I walk away and wipe my eyes with the material of my shirt.

I'm pissed, I'm hyperventilating.

"THEY CAN'T KEEP DOING THIS!" I yell, making Jabari jump back, not expecting the spike in volume.

"They won't. First we need answers, then we can do whatever you want, you know I'm ten toes behind you."

I don't say it out loud, but I know.

"I need to make sure Morgan is okay." I say once I bring myself down.

"Me and you both."

"Jasmine, too." My words make Jabari's eyes light up.

JB gets choked up but tries to conceal his emotions.

He daps me up then we do our handshake.

I laugh, pushing him away from me.

"Don't you ever hold me like that again." I tell him jokingly.

"What, man, you was crying like a lil' bitch." He laughs at me. I'll let him have it, I was.

The front door flies open and out walks Andy.

"Chris, come look at this!" He says in a hurry.

Jabari and I race inside.

"Show him." Andy makes a demand that Ben obliges.

I snatch the Android from Ben's hands to read the message on the screen:

I look to Ben.

"Tell me what the fuck I'm looking at. Quickly." I urge him.

"That's the burner phone, they send the invitations there to members for gatherings. It looks like Morgan is the girl of the night," he explains not that it makes it any better. In fact, that made it a lot worse, I would've been better off not knowing.

"Seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars? Shewww." Jabari exhales, pacing.

"Girl of the night? What are they gonna do to her?" Asks Andy.

"They're not going to do a goddamn thing to her." I emphasize with my finger pointing.

"Ben?" Andy asks for clarification.

Ben gulps hard. "Depends on the bidder. You might want to make sure that's you."

"I don't have that kind of money." I say.

"Yeah you do, Chris."

"Not for these assholes."

"Chris! It's for Morgan." Jabari exclaims.

"Obviously, and I'd do anything for her, but there's got to be another way."

"I don't even know why you're thinking of bidding, you won't be able to get in."

"Yeah I will, you're gonna get us in." I tell Ben.

His eyes bugle. "No. They won't let me in, they never have, and especially not now. If Tate even sees me, he'll kill me. I didn't follow their orders, so I'm out."

"Womp Womp." Jabari sarcastically sounds.

"Chris, what's the plan?" He asks me.

I'm struck with a thought but haven't fully convinced myself it's worth giving a shot.

"What members," I inquire. "Who's allowed in?"

"Elites. Gold subscribers on Clapper," Ben lists. "anyone with money, really; you just have to know somebody who knows somebody."

Jabari reads my face. "You know somebody?" He asks me.

I don't say anything but he knows that I'm brainstorming.

"It's rare to get invited so whoever you know, they better be good, because they're expecting you, Chris." Ben tells me.

I look at the flyer again on the burner.

Laughing, I say, "That's what the masks are for, right?"