Hanging Curve by Dani Amore Read Free Book Online

back into the passenger seat, pulled the Beemer ahead and thumbed the button for Storage Unit 27. It opened, and he pulled the Beemer in, then closed the door.
    He got out of the car, turned on the storage unit’s lights, and pulled the girl from the car.
    He dragged her onto a mattress that sat on a plastic tarp.
    He bound her arms, spread her legs, and stuffed a gag into her mouth.
    When she regained consciousness and opened her eyes, he smiled at her.
    “I’m assuming you’ve heard of my family,” he said. “The Hamptons?”

 
     
    12.
     
    Nicole
     
    “Hey, we’re cutting into tonight’s profits!” Jay Lucerne bellowed as he popped the cork from their second bottle of champagne. Nicole laughed at the sheer delight on her partner’s flushed face. She thought he might be a little drunk, but he always had a car and driver at the ready.
    He leaned across the table and topped off Nicole’s glass, then refilled his own. The wait staff had gone home for the night, as had the kitchen staff. It was now just Lucerne and Nicole.
    “I still can’t believe it,” Nicole said.
    “Believe it,” he said. “Thicque is here to stay. I didn’t hear one complaint, there wasn’t one mishap, and my sources tell me that at least two of the critics who dined here tonight were wowed. We can expect raves in tomorrow’s paper.”
    Nicole smiled. Jay Lucerne had more connections than a gossip columnist. She sipped from her champagne glass, not really wanting any more, but the slight buzz was helping her come down from the high of the evening.
    It had been a deliriously fantastic experience. The customers had poured in. Her friends showed up. The critics received their food on time and flawlessly prepared. It had been a boisterous, loud, warm, loving evening of food and wine and drinks and laughter. It had been the kind of opening night she had always dreamed about. Already, Nicole was looking forward to the next night and the next and the next.
    She looked at the empty seat next to her and thought of Mack. The idea popped into her head that the evening would truly be perfect if he were sitting next to her right now.
    Nicole looked up and caught Lucerne studying her.
    “What’s wrong?” he said. “Are you drunk?”
    “No, I’m not drunk,” she said. The corner of her mouth turned up in the faintest of smiles. She pushed the image of Mack from her mind.
    “I’m happy.”

 
     
    13 .
     
    The Messiah
     
    The small group walked into the desert, without words, without sound. The moon lit up the sand, and the stars turned the contingent’s shadows into thick, dark beings that mirrored their masters.
    There were six men in all. They formed a loose circle with the sixth man in the middle. He was tall with long hair. He wore linen peasant pants and a loose cotton shirt.
    The others had neat crewcuts and wore black shorts with black tank tops. Their skin glinted in the moonlight.
    They crested a small rise in the desert sand and the man in the middle stopped. The other stopped like dogs on one leash.
    The leader surmised the surroundings, looked to the heavens, exhaled a deep breath. His body relaxed.
    “Disciples disrobe,” he said.
    The others immediately pulled off their shirts, and dropped their shorts. Soon, all of them stood naked, save for the man in the middle.
    The leader let his eyes roam his followers until he settled on one of the men.
    “Bartholomew,” the leader said. The third man in the circle, tall and athletically built, left his spot and stood in front of the leader.
    The others in the circle turned around, and faced outward, away from the leader.
    The man known to the others as The Messiah, nodded to the man now standing in front of him. The follower dropped to his knees. The leader freed himself, then reached down, palmed Bartholomew’s head, and slowed the man’s ministrations, until he was moving at an unhurried, leisurely pace.
    “Jedidiah and Matthew, prepare Joseph,” the leader said.