Second Guesses, Second Chances

Chapter 19

Jade

After about an hour of driving through the rush hour traffic, Sam and I make a pit stop at a 7-11 to see if our friends have any new information.

Trina: Beck's parents aren't home.

Andre: He hasn't picked up any of my calls. Do you think he's onto us?

Cat: Jade! Robbie's app stopped working

I frown slightly, incredibly pissed off at the news.

Me, to Cat: Tell Robbie that he'd better get that app working again or else I'm going to chop his fingers off one by one next time I see him

Cat: Kk

I let out a frustrated scream before telling my friend the change in situation.

"Shit. So now what're gonna do?" Sam asks. I try to take a deep breath, trying to figure out what we should do next. Without Robbie, we're now going into this manhunt blind, which is something we don't have time for. An idea comes to the forefront of my thoughts, and I feel myself physically cringe at the mere thought of going through with it.

But what choice do I have?

Time is of the essence, and I'm quickly running out of it. I tell Sam to stay quiet for a minute as I hop off the bike, take out my phone, and start dialing.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't the lovely, sensual miss Jade West?" My face scrunches up into a grimace as I hear the slimy voice of Sinjin Van Cleef on the other end. "What can I do for such a wonderful, pulchritudinous lady such as yourself-?"

" NO!" I scream into my phone, cutting the creepy nerd off, making him whimper.

"Sorry Jade," His voice returns to semi-normal. "What can I do for you?"

"I heard you and Robbie were developing a phone-tracking app. Is that correct?" I ask.

"Yeah," He replies. "It's still in its early stages, but it works pretty well so far. I mean, right now for example, if I look at my app, I can see that you're somewhere just South of Pasadena, and you've been travelling from Venice Beach!" I freeze for a moment, my eyes wide in shock and rage as I realize that fucking Sinjin has been spying on me this whole time. I mean, he's always been a creep, and it's no secret that he stalks the girls he likes, but this is a new low. A small part of me wonders just how long he's been tracking me, but I force myself to deal with that thought later. Right now, I need to get my Tori back. I take a deep breath and sigh.

"Listen here, pervert, if it weren't for the fact that I need your help right now, I'd come over to your house right now and rip your eyes out from their sockets with my two bare hands!" I scream. "So if you stop being such a fucking weirdo for a second and do me a favour, I'll let you keep your eyesight, deal?" The sound of the pathetic nerd whimpering is almost music to my ears, but right now, I need him to hold himself together. Robbie's version of the app may have crashed, but it's incredibly clear to me that Sinjin's version still works.

"SINJIN!" I bark, grabbing his attention. "HELP ME OUT!"

"Yes, Jade," He says nervously. "What do you need me to do?"

"Take my number out of your app and put in this number instead..." I say, giving the nerd Beck's number and phone model.

"A-ha!" Sinjin exclaims after a few seconds. "I'm getting a signal from Pasadena... a Jetbrew not too far from where you are, actually!" I perk up a little bit.

"What street?" I ask frantically, a rush of adrenaline coursing through my veins knowing that my girlfriend will soon be back in the safety of my arms. Sinjin tells me the location and I thank him, allowing him to live another day. I tell him to be on standby in case I need him again before hanging up, putting my helmet on, and hopping back onto Sam's motorcycle.