Page 23 of Loving Trent (Love in the Bootheel #5)

Fourteen

TRENT

The sound of metal grinding against metal causes the hushed whispers to quiet down, and I assume pulls people’s attention away from Shawn, but not mine.

Maria—my best friend—is sitting in front of the man I’m stalking, unaware that I’m behind her.

The moment that Boe Aldridge comes into my line of focus, I step back into the crowd.

Watching Shawn cling to another man, even if he is a straight friend, causes my murderous rage to erupt like a volcano.

But there isn’t anything I can do right this second.

With clenched fist, my eyes never leave Shawn as Boe handles the situation.

A situation that I desperately want to handle.

I should be the one who comforts Shawn. It should be my truck, Shawn is sitting in right now.

But unleashing the beast right now wouldn’t bode well for me.

Once Boe’s truck is speeding out of the parking lot, taking Shawn away from me, I focus all of my attention on finding out what the fuck happened to him, and only one person holds the answers.

With her attention on the road and Boe’s fading truck lights, Maria never sees me approaching her. “Maria.” There is a wobble and roughness to my voice as I battle to keep a hold of my self-control. I hear it plain as day, all I hope is that she doesn’t pick up on it.

She whirls around, giving me the first look at her face. Her round cheeks are red and blotchy. Her dark brown eyes are bloodshot and full of tears. Her bottom lip is nibbled raw. “T… Trent, what….”

I’ve never been good at seeing her upset, and it’s only happened twice.

Opening my arms, Maria doesn’t waste a second before she melts into my embrace.

Her head lands in the middle of my chest because she is short.

As tears soak my shirt, her nails dig into my lower back, I try to soothe her by rubbing small circles on her back. “What happened?”

“I… I don’t know… We were talking then… There they were…” Maria sobs, her whole body shaking, while her voice breaks like it did the day her dog got hit by a car. Whatever happened scared, terrified, and hurt her almost as much as it must have done to Shawn.

“Take a deep breath,” I say. “Just like you taught me. Come on. In.” I breathe in deeply and then say, “Out.”

Maria mimics the movement of my chest, and only when the sobs stop and her breathing evens out do I pull her back to cup her round face. “Good girl. Now, try again. What happened?”

“I was teasing Shawn, my friend, about some guy that he likes, and he kept telling me to quiet down. You know how I get when I find out one of my friends has a crush…” Maria let her sentence trail off until I nodded because yes, I do.

She is like a bloodhound that has picked up the scent of the prey they are hunting.

“I thought he was just embarrassed, but then out of nowhere, five guys showed up. I tried to stop them, Trent. I promise I did.”

“I’m sure you did everything you could. How badly was your friend hurt?” Wiping a couple of tears away as they fall, my hands are steady even if I’m nothing but a swirling tornado of rage, murder, and revenge inside me.

“He’s physically okay, but emotionally… I’m not so sure.”

Keeping my voice even in the hopes that she doesn’t get suspicious, I ask, “Where did that guy take your friend?”

Maria waves her hand behind her as if trying to swat a fly out of the air.

“That’s Boe. He’s Shawn’s best friend.” Thankfully, I already knew that, and much more or Boe's hands would be broken tonight for touching what wasn’t his.

“They are going to find the guys who did this. I’m supposed to take Shawn’s car to his sister’s house and wait there. ”

“Okay, then that’s what you are going to do.

” Sliding my arm around her shoulder, I turn us toward Shawn’s car, open the door, and help her get inside.

“Go to his sister’s house and stay there.

I’ll call you in a little bit.” Maria nods and starts the car.

I shut the door and start motioning for her to roll down the window.

“Don’t tell anyone that you saw me or know me. ”

“Why?”

Stepping back, I say, “I’ll tell you soon, but please trust me.”

“Okay. Love you, Trent.”

“Me too, sweetie.” I watch her until she pulls out, and then I rush toward the truck while pulling up the tracking app I installed five months ago on my phone.

Oh yeah, did I forget to mention that I installed a tracking app on Shawn’s phone?

Racing across town toward that little blue dot isn’t long enough to calm anything happening inside me.

My hands continue to twitch, the muscles in my leg jump, and my blood is pumping fast because I’m primed to kill someone tonight.

Pulling over at the opening of a dead-end road, I park two car lengths away from Boe’s truck and watch everything unfold in front of me.

Shawn is sitting in the passenger seat of Boe’s run-down truck in front of a single-family home with peeling paint and junk piled high in the front yard.

From my position, I see the front door to the home has been kicked in.

Seconds after I park, a body comes crashing through the single pane window at the front of the house.

My whole body aches, and the beast inside demands we get out and join in on the fun.

With my hand wrapped around the door handle, I stop as two police cars come barreling around the curve, barely missing my truck and heading straight for the run-down house.

Shawn jumps out of the truck as Boe, Adam, Levi, Zak, and Parker all come out in handcuffs.

The officer says something to him that makes him back up, and my door cracks open.

Adam says something, and Shawn nods, then turns around, gets back into the truck, and makes a U-turn driving past me.

I don’t follow him even though I want to.

Instead, I pull out my phone and message Maria.

Me

I think Shawn is headed toward you. Let me know how he is when he gets there.

Turning my attention back out the window, I see that one police officer helps the man who took a swan dive out the window up as an ambulance comes down the road.

The four guys that were in the house come limping outside, some holding their arms, and at least three have blood pouring from something on their faces.

After they are loaded up and the ambulance pulls away, I start my truck, pull out behind the ambulance, and text Leon.

Me

Can you hold on to Harley for a little bit? Something came up, and I’ve got to handle it.

Leon

Yeah. Sadie loves having someone besides us to play with. You need help?

Me

Not yet. I’ll let you know.

After forty minutes, the ambulance pulls into a hospital parking lot.

All the guys look fine to me. I mean, yeah, from my vantage point, a few feet away, I can see broken noses, busted lips, and eyes swelling shut, but they are still walking and breathing.

That needs to change and change fast. Cracking the window, I stretch my legs out, lean the seat back a little, and settle in for however long I need to.

Two hours later, the front doors slid open, and the five guys walked out.

Unlike the hospital in Cape, there are no woods surrounding this one, so I have to wait.

Night is fast approaching, but I have a plan in place.

Since no one drove here, I assume someone is coming to get these assholes.

None of them pay me any attention as they all light up a cigarette. Leaning back against the hood of the truck with my arms crossed, I watch a van pull into the parking lot. Once the men who have no idea what they started get inside, I slip back into the tuck.

The Hills might have thought they handled this, but I’m about to show them just how lacking they are when it comes to protecting my man. Time to let the beast out of his cage once again.

My plan is simple and one I’m going to enjoy.

Not only will I get to bloody each and every one of them for hurting Shawn, I also get to put a little fear into them as well.

The thing about the bootheel of Missouri is that it’s full of long stretches of highway with nothing surrounding it except farmland.

The houses are few and far between the small towns.

Once outside the town limits, my foot presses on the gas pedal until there isn’t but maybe an inch between my front bumper and their back one.

After doing this a dozen times, my hand drops to the light control, and I start blinding the driver with my bright lights.

Soon, the driver gets pissed and starts to slam on his brakes, only to let up as quickly.

As I knew this would happen, I let my foot rest on the brake pedal until the very last second.

Finally, I punch the gas, speeding out around them.

Grinning like the cat who ate the bird, I return the favor and start brake checking them.

A dark laugh falls from my lips as hands fly out of the windows, middle fingers held high.

Oh, they’re anger and I’m loving every second of it.

They try to pass me, but I push the truck faster, knowing the van can't beat me.

“Play time is up,” I whisper to no one as I slam on the brakes and take an unexpected turn onto a dirt lane county road. “Come find me.” My cheeks hurt from the grin that spreads when I watch the van miss the road but pull a U-Turn. “That’s right, fall into my trap.”