Broken Free (The Broken Series) Read online

  “No, I can’t. Because I’m heating your breakfast.” All that with his eyes still on her butt.

  She cocked her hip and smacked her rump. “You can ride this later, cowboy.” He groaned and put his hand over his cock and Sofia’s eyes widened at seeing him hard again. “You, are a sex fiend.”

  “You’re a temptress.”

  He stood and his gorgeous physique felt like a direct retaliation. She flicked her finger up and down his body. “Says the drop dead gorgeous hypocrite.”

  Chapter Two

  “That’s it?” Sofia whispered. “My God, it looks like a frickn horror house, something out of the Texas chain saw massacre.”

  “It is a horror house,” Daniel muttered, shutting the car off.

  “I wonder how your dad took his death. You ever wondered?” Sofia whispered.

  “Baby. It’s just me and you, nobody can hear us.” He leaned and kissed her cheek, not wanting to think of his father. Not while there. “God, what am I doing bringing you here to this sacrilegious place, even the air and ground is likely wicked.” He looked around.

  “Well I’m not staying in this car. Do you have a weapon, a bat or something?”

  God, he really should. “We’re not even going in. We’ll just peek around through the windows and if we see anything suspicious, I’ll come back while you stay in the car, do you understand?”

  “You can’t go in there alone.”

  “Yes I can, and I am.” But, fuck, he sure didn’t want to. He needed to try and find something left behind that would maybe point him in some direction. For Seth. Yes.

  “Okay, deal.” She opened her door and slipped on her sunglasses like she were going for a stroll. “Maybe we should’ve done this at night.”

  “Hell no. Fucking place gives me the creeps as it is. We’re just here looking for…stuff, there’s no law that says we can’t be here. I’m family anyway, shouldn’t be a problem, if we’re caught and questioned, we’re just...”

  “Looking for family heirlooms!” Like she was guessing trivia.

  Family heirlooms. Now there was a sick thought. “Yeah. Something like that.”

  Twenty feet from the ugly house and both of them were startled by the sudden outbreak of barking. “Shit!” He held Sofia who’d literally latched onto him. “It’s okay, it’s Seth’s retched best friend, here to alert anybody here that somebody is outside.”

  “Awwww, really?” Sofia slapped her legs lightly, ignoring all what he said. “Come ‘ere, come ‘ere to momma.”

  “Sofia, look at him, he’s filthy,” Daniel whispered. “Probably has the mange or God knows what else. Don’t touch it.”

  She stood abruptly. “Oh dang. Good boy, get. Go on, shoo.”

  “Get the fuck out of here!” Daniel hissed at the mutt, stomping his foot. The dog tucked his tail and bolted off and under the house.

  “Daniel, that was mean!”

  “Can we try and be a little quiet, I mean if somebody is here, I’d like to maybe catch her before she tries to run.”

  Sofia scrunched her face in sorry, you’re right then slid her fingers along her tight lips, turned something invisible and tossed her hand behind her.

  He shook his head, confused.

  “I zipped my lips and locked it and threw away the key,” she whispered like he should know. “Haven’t you ever heard of that?”

  He approached the nearest window. “I was apparently absent the day they taught that gem in school.” He waved her over. “I’m going to lift you up and you tell me what you see.”

  She hurried over and he hoisted her up and put her butt on his chest. “I see, furniture,” she whispered. “Sofa, chair, coffee table. A book shelf. A TV.”

  The living room, he guessed.

  “Seems untouched, like somebody just ran out and never came back.”

  Or they never left. Surely he wouldn’t be so lucky.

  “Let’s check the next window.”

  “Maybe the door is unlocked,” she whispered.

  The key.

  Daniel hurried to the spot where Seth had retrieved the hidden key. Would he have put it back? When? And why?

  “What are you looking for?”

  Daniel turned over the stones next to the steps. “A spare key, Seth had gotten it from here somewhere.”

  “Maybe the door is unlocked.”

  Daniel straightened and looked at the sickly white door on the porch. Didn’t hurt to try.

  At the door, he listened for a minute. When he found all quiet, he tried the knob. It opened. Well fuck him.

  He turned to take Sofia back to the car and she grabbed hold of his arm and shook her head. “Let me go, please,” she mouthed, “I’ll stay right by you.” A plea etched her entire face.

  His only real concern was maybe a bum hiding out there. But leaving her in the car didn’t feel safe either. He signaled for her to be quiet and she nodded.

  They made their way through the house carefully. By the time they were done, Daniel was nauseated. The place smelled of the worst kinds of sins and his body and mind seemed to be able to pinpoint all of them. He needed air.

  “What’s this door?” Sofia pointed at the basement door, her face a reflection of his own feelings. She was ready to get the fuck out too and only persisted out of sheer desperation to find a lead.

  “That’s the basement, where we got the money,” he nearly mouthed without sound.

  Her mouth went into an O with her nod. “Should we…?” She pointed at the door and drew a check mark in the air.

  Yes, he really should. He’d hide there if he really felt the need to. And his guess, if she was there, she’d feel the need to. Problem was, who else could be hiding down there?

  His chest feeling tight, he fought for the control he’d mastered over the years. No fear. He’d long ago overcome that. Drawing on that will, he crossed the floor and took hold of the knob and turned. The light from the main house reached halfway down the old wooden steps like a warning before entering hell. Creepiest fucking sight ever.

  He turned and took Sofia’s hand and led her to the kitchen. “I need some kind of light to go down those stairs.” He pointed to the drawers. “Check those, I’ll check these.” He rummaged through a few, finding them near bare.

  Fucking stank bad in there. Old trash? Worse.

  “Daniel!”

  He jerked to find Sofia holding up a piece of paper. “What is it?” He walked over.

  “Looks like a grocery list on the back.” She turned it over and read the name. “Maybe the girl shopped there, somebody might know her. It’s something.”

  “Yes, you’re right. Wait a minute, look at the date.”

  She skimmed it. “Hard to read, I think it’s probably old. Yep. April of last year. She may have been here longer though.”

  “According to Seth, she was.”

  Sofia put it in her back pocket and continued looking. “We could go there, they may know something, be able to tell us the last time they saw her, what she bought, anything.”

  “Yes, yes. Good idea.” He went back to rummaging through every crack and cranny of the filthy graveyard. Any bones might shed light on what went down there. Finding a literal light would be fucking awesome too.

  “Matches!” Sofia rattled a box of kitchen matches with a wide eyed grin.

  “Wow.” Daniel opened the oven door of the stove. “Oh fuck!” He slammed the door back at encountering maggot infested old food.

  “God, that’s what stinks in here.”

  “Let’s get the fuck out of here, we’ll come back tomorrow.”

  “No, no, we need to look in that basement, something tells me we’ll find the evidence we need,” she insisted.

  “Or find a corpse, God, I don’t want to go down there.” Daniel paced a few steps. “Let’s not stand in here.” He pulled her back to the hall. “Fuck it, give me the matches. Ought to burn the place down before I leave.”

  He opened the horror movie looking door that led
to the basement. Uncountable scratches scarred the dingy dirty paint along the edge. Daniel imagined countless children screaming and clawing to keep from being taken down there. Fuck he hated this place.

  He struck a match. “Stay close to me, I don’t want you more than four inches away.”

  “I’m here, I’m here.”

  Daniel snorted to himself. “The only thing I’m scared of Sofia, is you getting hurt somehow in this fucked up shit.”

  “Okay, I get it, right next to you.”

  They began the decent into that dank hell, wooden steps creaking loudly as they went. He’d never forget the smell of that place. Years of horrific abuse filled the air like a suffocating blanket.

  “This is preeetty creepy babe,” Sofia sang, holding his shirt tight.

  “I know.” More than she’d ever know. He stopped and struck three matches for more light.

  The cellar was full of cobwebs and antique equipment, like once upon a long time ago, the place had been used properly. Daniel blew out the matches and lit more.

  “God, don’t use them all while we’re down here.”

  “Trust me, I’m not.” He held his hand toward the ceiling, looking for a light. He saw one dangling and worked his way to it. He tugged the string but of course it didn’t work. “Shit.” He blew the matches out and lit a few more, lowering the light to the floor. He searched for more loose boards, looking through each crack for anything.

  “What was that!”

  Daniel saw it the same second she did. He blew the matches out and struck several more and got on his knees, pulling at the planks. One yanked free with a clatter and they both jumped. “Shit, sorry.”

  He stared at the black metal box, feelings of nausea rolling through him.

  “Just get it and we’ll take it with us, let’s get out of here,” Sofia whispered. “I’m soooo creeped out right now. But watch for spiders, this place is infested.”

  He lit more fresh matches and made sure there were no large critters waiting to bite before getting the box out.

  “Let’s go, let’s go.” She yanked on his shirt, her voice muffled like she spoke with her head turned. No doubt looking over her shoulder.

  He stood finally with the cool metal shoe sized box. “Hold the matches, I can’t strike them with one hand, you’ll have to. Lead the way, I’m right behind you.”

  “Lead?”

  “I don’t want you holding this box and I won’t be able to see if the light is behind me.”

  She struck a match and plastered herself to his back, holding her arm out front. “How about like this?”

  Clearly she did not want to go first. “That works, baby. Hold on to me.”

  They finally made it out of the house and both of them gasped as though invisible fingers were strangling them the entire time in there. The mangy mutt from earlier came up to Sofia, wagging his scrawny backside and practically dragging himself on the ground in an attempt to come in peace.

  Geeze what a sad excuse for a dog. To think at one time it had been Seth’s only friend.

  Guilt slammed Daniel. How could he leave the damn thing knowing it meant so much to his brother?

  “We should bring him home baby, clean him up. For when Seth gets out?”

  “You read my mind.”

  She sucked in her breath, ecstatic. “Yayyy, you’re the sweetest man ever.”

  “Please,” he muttered. “Call the thing and see if it follows.”

  The dog did indeed follow and low and behold hopped right in the car when Daniel leaned the front seat forward.

  “Awww, he’s ready to go home!” Sofia cooed.

  “Get ready to gag, he smells horrific.” Daniel put the black box behind his seat and got in the car, rolling all the windows down the second he started it, relieved to be away from that house.

  “Oh God, baby, you’re right.” Sofia covered her mouth and nose. “Hurry and drive, ewww.”

  Daniel got them home as fast as he could without violating safety precautions. He was eager to find out what the hell was in that box, eager to run down that girl, find out the truth about what happened and get his brother home.

  Chapter Three

  The first thing Daniel did when they got back was bathe the disgusting dog with the only thing he had. Human shampoo. Three times. Sofia dried him off and he could finally breathe now that the thing didn’t stink so bad. “We’ll get dog shit later, right now, I want to look in that box.”

  “Dog shit?”

  “Collars, flea crap, food.”

  “I knew what you meant, yes I did,” she cooed, too close to the dog’s snout while scratching behind his ears. She stood and put her hands on her hips. “I guess we’ll keep him in the house?”

  Daniel’s lip rose while he regarded the mongrel. If he didn’t look like a giant wet rat with slicked back gray hair it’d be a lot easier to like. The ugly thing looked at Daniel and wagged his entire backside and sidled up to him. “Why does he do that, he looks like he’s having a seizure in his ass.”

  “He looooooves you, you probably remind him of Seth.”

  Daniel snorted. “We look nothing alike.” He suddenly wondered if they even had the same mother. Likely not. Not that it mattered. Seth was his brother in spite of his biological fuck happy father.

  Daniel insisted on the garage for the dog until they had it properly vetted since Sofia was with child. Wasn’t taking any chances with a dog he didn’t care how precious it was to anybody.

  “Let’s open it together,” Sofia said as they both went to his office with the black demonic box.

  “Yeah.” He wasn’t sure that was a good idea, but the box was small, what could it possibly hold that could hurt her? He was more worried about what it would do to him at this point.

  He locked the door behind her and set the box on his desk. It was one of those simple flip latches, no locks. He opened the lid and immediately his stomach knotted.

  “Old timey video film?”

  “Fuck,” he whispered, staring at it. “Eight millimeter film. This is bad.”

  “You think it’s…”

  He slammed the lid shut and paced before the desk. “It’s a bunch of sick fucking shit on video.”

  “Oh my God. But…wouldn’t that be the perfect evidence to prove she was a victim?”

  He paused. “Shit, you’re right!”

  “How do we find out what’s on it?”

  “I’ll have to get a player. Let’s go.” He latched the lid and put the disgusting box in his locking desk drawer. “You need to eat lunch. I’ll take you to our favorite restaurant and we’ll search by phone where to find the player for it. My guess, a pawn shop.” He ushered her out of the office, resisting the urge to hurry her. The evil in that battered tin was sinister. He could feel it wanting to leech into their lives, suck all that was good right out of it, taint it, dirty it, curse him and his wife and child. “While we’re at it, we’re scheduling your first appointment.” He kissed her forehead.

  “Yes, Doc.”

  ****

  “You know…I had the weirdest dream.” Sofia sipped her orange juice, glancing around the restaurant to avoid the immediate snap of Daniel’s direct gaze.

  “Like what?”

  There was no bad premonition in his tone like she’d expected. The dream had weirded her out, like, bad. She’d been all panicky ever since she woke from it and couldn’t get rid of the doomy feelings. Telling him would help. At least that was the plan and hope. She took a deep breath and dove in, shooting for casual nonchalance. “I just dreamed that I went to the hospital to have the baby and it was really…panicky and…weird and…scary.” She huffed and angled her gaze up, still unable to look at Daniel. “I mean it was all fast and there were people I didn’t know around me, and then all of a sudden, they pulled a baby out of me, there was no pushing, no pain, it was just…” she rolled a cherry tomato with her fork, “just really…really weird.”

  She sucked the last of her juice loudly from h
er straw and looked at him. His face was a little perplexed looking. Not worried, like she thought it should be.

  “That…isn’t that a good thing? No pain? No pushing?”

  “Well…but it’s weird.”

  “Okay.”

  She stabbed her tomato and stuffed it in her mouth with a huff. “I was terrified. In the dream.” There, she couldn’t get plainer.

  He still wasn’t alarmed.

  “I have a bad feeling,” she clarified around the half chewed tomato. “Been having it for a while.”

  Finally he looked a little worried. Sheesh. “Why are you…”

  She waited for the rest of the sentence. Why was she afraid? Why was she telling him? Why did she think the dream meant something bad? “I’m not trying to freak you out, but, I need to tell somebody and…”

  He quickly reached for her hand across the table. “Yes tell me,” he whispered, “of course, it helps to get these things out. Did you know it’s not at all uncommon for you to experience anxiety, especially in your first pregnancy?” He stroked her hand all soft, giving her goose bumps. “The chemicals in your body right now are at phenomenal levels, I should have told you. Your body is adjusting to create an entire human. Some days you may feel panicky, some days depressed, some extremely happy. You may even have long periods of low level yucky feelings.”

  A huge wave of relief flooded through her at hearing that. She gasped a light laugh. “Really?”

  “God yes,” he soothed, his blue eyes intensely sincere. “You have got to keep me informed right away when you have any kind of weird feelings. Promise me.”

  She nodded, tears flooding her eyes. She gasped another laugh and pointed to her face. “Crying out of the blue,” she informed.

  He smiled and scooted his chair till he was next to her and kissed her cheek.

  She dabbed at her eyes. “Whoa, endless supply here,” she whispered. “Oh, shit.” She buried her face in his shoulder and out came several sobs. “I’m so sorry, people are looking,” she squealed against him quietly.

  “Don’t be sorry, you cry if you need to, I don’t’ care who looks.”