Talking To The Moon {Book #3 Justin & Blake Series}

Pain, Just Pain

Blake’s POV

The van slowed down and continued its slow journey down the rocky path, causing a sleeping Naomi and me to bounce around in the trunk. The only window I could see out of showed an empty field and a dirt path leading up to a small, rotted house with only half a roof. Brian got out of the car and kicked down a sign that read ‘Foreclosed’ before getting back into the car and continuing the drive up the road.

I pushed Naomi’s bloody hair out of the cut on her forehead and gently shook her body to wake her. She needed her sleep, especially because of all the blood she has lost on our drive here, but I knew if she didn’t wake up before Emma or Brian opened the door to let us out something bad could happen.

“Naomi, we’re here. You need to wake up. Now!” I whispered violently as the van came to an abrupt halt and two doors slammed shut.

Naomi opened her eyes slowly and I helped her sit up while she clutched her head.

“Do you know where we are?” she asked, wincing while feeling along the knife cut on her forehead.

“The last sign I saw was in Montana. And don’t touch the cut.” I demanded while watching Brian and Emma talk outside. Brian nodded his head angrily and turned to head towards the back of the van to get us.

The doors busted open and the sunlight momentarily blinded me as I held my hand over my eyes.

“Let’s go.” Brian yelled, grabbing my arm and pulling me out of the back of the van. Naomi slowly followed after me and Brian quickly grabbed on to her arm too while he pulled us towards the house. He immediately walked to a black door and opened it. After pushing both of us to the ground, he turned and locked the door behind him.

“You alright?” I asked, scooting closer to Naomi’s trembling body.

“No, I think he hurt my arm even worse.” She muttered, holding onto her left arm. A few days earlier, when I had bit Brian’s hand while he was trying to suffocate me, he retaliated by taking a crow bar to Naomi’s arm, probably breaking it, while I watched yelling for him to stop. That was his game. When one of us tried to stop him, he took out his anger out on the other.

I glanced around the empty room, finding nothing that could be useful. My eyes fell to my dress and I got an idea. Finding one of the holes, I pulled, ripping the fabric until I had a long piece of cloth. Sure it took of a few inches from my already short dress, but Naomi needed something for her arm.

I quickly tied into a loop and wrapped her arm in it like a sling. That would keep it from moving around too much, at least for now.

The door to the room opened again and Brian entered, carrying two old, wooden chairs, while Emma followed carrying rope. Brian set the chairs down and walked over to hoist my body up to carry me to a chair.

“You’ve done this before. Remember Hawaii?” Brian asked in my face, getting his hot, smelly breath all over me. I tried to look away but that earned a slap across my face before he tied me into the chair tightly. He did the same to Naomi before taking a step back to admire his work.

“Good job Brian. Don’t they look comfortable?” Emma sneered from beside Brian.

“We should send a picture!” Brian suggested while my eyes immediately snapped open to beg them to stop.

“No, please don’t do-” I started, only to be cut off by another slap to my face.

“Shut up!” Emma yelled in my face. Tears welled in my eyes, not only from the pain but from the site of Emma pulling out a disposable cell phone from her pocket.

Justin’s POV

Moshe pushed past the cameras while I followed wordlessly behind him, not answering any questions being yelled at me.

“ANY NEWS ON BLAKE?”

“DO YOU KNOW WHO TOOK HER?”

“IS THIS JUST A PUBLICITY SCANDLE?”

“HOW ARE YOU TAKING IT, JUSTIN?”

Moshe finally got the doors open to the investigator’s office building we were heading into.  I continued into the long hallway, leading to a conference room that I had spent much of my time in for the last 3 months. When I opened the door, there were people around the table, looking at various computer screens or folders full of paper. There were police men, private investigators, and even a few retired FBI and CIA agents.

“Justin, we think we might have a finding.” Officer Bradley Feller announced when he realized I was in the room. He was the lead private investigator on the case and led the whole team.

“Where?” I asked, walking towards him and another woman who was holding a surveillance picture.

“In Florida, about 20 miles east of Miami.” The woman explained, handing me a slightly blurry picture of a man and woman walking through a gas station. My heart sank as I studied the picture.

“No, this isn’t them. Brian doesn’t have a tattoo on his neck like that. And Emma is at least 2 inches taller.” I said, pointing at the picture.

“You sure?” Bradley asked.

“Positive. Let’s keep looking. Any news on the credit card reports?” I asked a man across the room, who was an expert in financial investigation.

“The last purchase from either of them was with a fake credit card in Tennessee. One of them bought a $.99 cigarette lighter. We couldn’t track where they went next because the credit card number was fake.” He explained, handing me a chart showing me the purchase. I nodded and handed the chart back to him while he returned to his desk area.

My phone buzzed in my pocket and I immediately pulled it out, thinking it was someone calling to share their condolences. That’s all that people call me for anymore. After Blake went missing it has been the news story of the century and everyone is in a frenzy of ‘I’m so sorry’.

The number that came up on the screen was unknown, and I quickly showed it to Bradley. He knew the drill and quickly sat down at a phone station and put on his headphones so he could listen to the call too. I hit the accept button and hesitantly held the phone to my ear.

“Hello?” I asked, feeling my heart race.

“Hello Justin. Miss me?” a voice answered. I mouthed ‘Emma’ to Bradley and he nodded, listening intently for what was going to happen next.

“Not really.” I mumbled, not knowing what else to say.

“Well, I’m sure some people here have missed you. I’d let you talk to them, but they have both been told that if they speak, they will be punished.” Emma explained causing my heart to clench.

“I heard you were in Tennessee.” I replied, ignoring the pain in my chest for Blake.

“Not anymore.” Emma replied.

“Justin, we’re in-” a voice yelled in the background. It was cut off before I could hear anything else and it sounded like someone was trying to scream but a hand was covering their mouths.

“Hello Justin. That was Naomi.” Brian said after the phone was passed to him.

“Brian, stop-” I started.

“What are you going to do Justin, hm?” Brian asked evilly. I remained silent and swallowed the lump in my throat. “Since you knew we were in Tennessee, you must also know that we bought a lighter. And since Naomi doesn’t know how to follow the rules, I’ll just have to use that lighter on Blake.”

“No, please no.” I heard Blake beg from the other side of the phone. Brain laughed and I heard the sound of a lighter being opened and lit before more cries from Blake and begs from Naomi for him to stop.

“Bye Justin.” Brian yelled over the commotion. He didn’t hang up before I heard the ear splitting screams from Blake as Brian used his lighter, no doubt burning Blake’s skin somewhere.