Ransom (Courting Chaos Book 2) Read online

  Ransom

  Courting Chaos Book 2

  Copyright © 2018 by Heather Young-Nichols

  Cover Art by Colbert Creative Design LLC

  All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

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  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Epilogue

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  Chapter One

  Bellamy

  I’d never been to Columbus before, so when my best friend, Indie Cinderstone, had said we should go exploring, I got excited to do so, yet was scared at the same time. Then she added that Dean, her dad’s favorite bodyguard, would come with us and I felt a little better about being out in the open. She’d told me that her dad insisted security shadow her when she left the venue to go exploring, as did her super-hot drummer boyfriend, Cross Rhodes. Though she’d still sometimes slip out without them. At least for today, I could relax as much as I ever relaxed these days—which wasn’t much—and enjoy an outing with my best friend.

  “Quick,” Indie said from behind me. “Turn around.”

  I knew her tricks, though, so I put a big smile on my face, tilted my head, and turned toward her. As soon as I did, she snapped a pictured with her ever-present camera. It’d be an excellent shot because I’d been prepared instead of the awkward, candid she’d tried to get.

  “You’re no fun,” she said, shaking her head.

  “You’re predictable,” I said back.

  “Fine. Get out of the way so I can get that building.”

  I giggled but stepped aside and pulled my curls into a temporary ponytail off my neck for some relief. Ohio got as hot and humid in the summer as Michigan.

  Indie and I hadn’t gone inside the venue last night after my brother had dropped me off. Instead, we’d spent some time with Cross, so I could get to know him. We’d be staying on the same bus after all. But eventually, he’d had to go, which had left my best friend and me to our own devices. We talked and laughed and ordered pizza. I hadn’t slept well in long time, so when she’d offered to stay in and not go to the show, I’d almost kissed her full on the mouth. I wanted to see Courting Chaos and Kissing Cinder live more than once while I was on tour, but we needed a night for us.

  At some point in the night, the bus had begun moving. I’d fallen asleep kind of early, but when I’d woken up later than usual and looked out of the window above the sink in the kitchenette, we’d been in a different parking lot.

  “Have you seen Maggie?” Indie asked after clicking about four thousand more shots on her camera.

  “Briefly when she first got back,” I told her. “I wish she’d been able to come to Detroit yesterday. Even for a little while.”

  “Me too.” We began walking down the street, I hoped, toward coffee. “She needed to go see her grandma,” Indie reminded me.

  “I know,” I said back with a pout. “But it’d be nice to get the three of us together in the same room.”

  “You do know that school is just around the corner, right?”

  “It’s months away.” I rolled my eyes at her. “But also, I’d like to get the dirty details on this Eagan guy.”

  “Oh, me too. That girl won’t give up anything in texts.”

  Our other best friend, Maggie Dwyer, had been trapped in Ireland awhile and of course had had the best luck in finding a freaking hot pub owner named Eagan O’Brien to help her out. And boy, did he help her out. She stayed at his place, they fell for each other. I probably would’ve thrown up hearing that sweet story out of anyone else, but it was absolutely something that should happen to Maggie.

  Indie stopped and took a couple more pictures, but I couldn’t see what she aimed at. She always snapped random pics in random places. I glanced over my shoulder behind us to make sure that Dean still followed along. Close, but not too close. He wouldn’t go anywhere without Indie and Indie wouldn’t go anywhere without me as long as we were together.

  As we walked some more, Indie would raise her camera up to snap a picture and set it gently back down against her chest. She did it so naturally that if I blinked, I’d miss it. When we turned into a park, I knew she’d guided me to a less crowded area on purpose. My guard snapped up unintentionally and I hated that it did with her. My very best friend. I should have been able to be open with her and I could’ve been. She’d be there for me, yet I didn’t want to be that pathetic friend.

  Indie sat on a bench and said, “So, what’s going on?”

  “What do you mean?” I asked back, trying to play dumb as I sat down beside her. I knew it. She knew it. I’d have guessed Dean knew it, even though he stood a respectable distance from us.

  “Bellamy.” Indie sighed as she ran a hand down her blonde ponytail. “I’ve asked you to come on tour with me for three summers and you’ve never been able to get enough time off work. Which I totally understand. This summer, magically… it happened.”

  I swallowed hard. I might not have wanted to tell her everything. I wasn’t ready for that. But I’d promised myself to tell her as much as possible without lying. “I quit.”

  “What?” She sat up pin-straight.

  “It was a shitty job.”

  “It’s always been a shitty job.”

  “True,” I said with a laugh.

  I’d worked at the same place every summer since we’d started college. I lived on campus because I’d gotten tired of my mom’s endless stream of asshole boyfriends and yearned for independence, not because I’d traveled far to go to school. Actually, my mom only lived about thirty minutes from campus and I hated moving back in with her for the summer. But I’d take three months of dealing with her boyfriends over the whole year. Plus, it turned out the apple didn’t fall from the tree in the shitty boyfriend department. I hated that part even more.

  “OK,” I said with a sigh. “I figured we only have one more year of college left and this might be my last chance to be impulsive. So here I am.” Even as I stared out at the lush green grass, her eyes remained on me. I imagined the narrowing and inspection she’d give trying to decide if I was being honest.

  I was. Mostly.

  “I get the feeling that’s not the whole story,” she finally said.

  “Ugh.” I stood, folded my arms over my c
hest, and raised my eyebrows. “Can we just enjoy the fucking day?”

  Her eyes widened as she shook her head.

  “All right, all right.” Indie pushed up to her feet dramatically. “We’ll go enjoy the fucking day. But we’re going to the show tonight.”

  “Of course. And meet the rest of the guys.” I might have said that last part with a little too much excitement.

  She shook her head again, but a hint of a smile started on her lips. “And meet the rest of the guys.”

  “What’re they like?” I asked as I slipped my arm through hers and we headed back toward the street.

  “Better now that Eric’s gone, but they’ve been struggling to find a replacement.”

  “Yeah, what’s going on with that guy?”

  Indie had told me what had happened with Courting Chaos’ former bass player and the underage girls. Not to mention the torment Eric Drinkswine put her through when he’d thought she was too close to discovering his secret life. Which she had been, but she hadn’t known that part. She’d accidentally taken some pictures of him and one of those girls and had had no idea.

  She shrugged. “I’m trying not to pay attention to anything to do with him. But he’s been arrested. There might be a trial unless he take a plea deal. I sure as hell hope there isn’t a trial. They could call me as a witness and I don’t want to ever see him again.”

  I put my arm around her. “They’ll work out a deal. Think about it. Would he rather face a court and a jury and a sentence of god-knows-how-long or plead to something less and be out sooner?”

  “True. But I don’t want to talk about him. You’re in for a treat tonight. Booker Coyote is playing with Courting Chaos. I think he’s going to be the best fit and tonight’s his first show.”

  “They’ve gone through some stinkers?” I asked. This whole life fascinated me, yet I was terrified to be a part of it and to be out in such an open, public area. I hated that I kept scanning back and forth across the crowds. Hated that I squeezed Indie's arm a little too tightly like a scared little kid.

  “No. Not really stinkers, but not good fits.”

  “Well, I can’t wait to hear the good fit then. They better play ‘Take Your Time.’ If you could let your boyfriend know that there will be hell to pay if they don’t play it, that’d be great. It’s my favorite.”

  “Don’t I know it?” She rolled her eyes at me and I couldn’t help but laugh. “I think you had campus radio play it a million times when it released.”

  “And you hated it.”

  Indie nodded and gave me a shy smile. “I like it more now.”

  I bumped my hip against hers. “I wonder why.”

  “Let’s head back and meet the guys. They’re probably done with soundcheck. Or almost anyway.”

  Chapter Two

  Ransom

  While the newest bass player, Booker Coyote, kicked ass, I’d have to kick some of my own if this song didn’t end soon. One of the best ways we’d found to try out new guys to replace that asshole Drinkswine was to play a new song. It was easy to copy someone else’s sound if you had to. Putting your own sound into a new song… that was where we needed to click the most going forward. Lots of bands collapsed after one of the members left, but we’d worked too fucking hard to let that happen to us.

  My fingers slid up and down the neck of my favorite guitar and I sang the words as if I’d known them my whole life when in reality, I’d learned them that morning. But Cross Rhodes had written this song and if he thought he’d get to pass by the sappy lyrics with the undertone of a pop love song without one of us calling him out on it, he was crazy.

  As his best friend since forever, it was my job to harass him as much as possible when he’d lost his mind. The final beats of his drums came to an end, as did the rest of our music.

  “Are you fucking kidding me?” I said deeply into the microphone, the rough metal webbing scratching my lips.

  Cross chuckled from behind me. I turned around to find him taking a drink from his bottle of water, yet he still somehow smirked at me. Dixon had a huge grin on his face while the new guy rested his arms on his bass and watched. But he looked a little unsure as he glanced from me to cross. He still had a lot to learn about us if he was going to be staying around.

  “What’s your problem?” Cross asked.

  “Are you kidding me?” I asked again, looking to Dixon for backup. He held his hand up, which meant I had to say it myself. “Have you heard the lyrics you forced me to sing?” I asked. Dixon snorted. “It’s a fucking middle school love song full of lovey-dovey bullshit. You’re burning for her?” I asked Cross. “If you’ve got shit burning, you need a fucking cream, man.”

  Dixon laughed loudly. “Damn, that’s cold,” he said.

  “Is that it, Cross? Indie gave you something you need a cream for?”

  He lifted a middle finger my way. “What the fuck am I supposed to write about?” Cross asked back.

  “Football?” I suggested.

  Cross’ head dropped back as he laughed loudly to the ceiling. The sound echoed around the arena.

  “In all seriousness,” I continued before he formed his response. “Girls dig a good love song, but that’s over the top.”

  He shrugged. “I kind of like it.”

  “Fuuuuuck.” I groaned. “Dixon, Booker, help me out.”

  Dixon finally spoke. “Sorry, bro. I think it’ll do well for us.”

  “I swear, when I see Indie, I’m going to—”

  “What?” Indie’s voice came out of nowhere. “You’ll what?” She crossed the stage toward her asshole boyfriend. “Come on, Ransom. Tell me what you’re going to do, so I can tell you why it won’t work.” She came to a stop beside Cross and put her hand on his shoulder. He hooked his arm around her waist and had a stupid fucking smile on his stupid love-struck face.

  “I’m so glad I’m around to hear this,” a completely different female voice said. A short redhead I hadn’t noticed come in with Indie stood near the drums.

  Cross had told me that Indie’s friend was joining her on tour for a little while and I assumed this was her. She glanced from me to Indie then back again. She had her hair pulled up into a messy bun and wore a tank top and shorts, much like Indie usually wore. She was also just as short as Indie. Small in general. Like you could pick her up and put her in your pocket.

  “Oh, right,” Indie said before the lingering silence became awkward. “This is one of my very best friends, Bellamy Harper. Bellamy, this is Dixon Dodge, Ransom Drake, and Booker Coyote.”

  She gave a little wave, looked at Booker, and said, “You have the best name I’ve ever heard.”

  He shook his head. “It’s not so great when you’re a lanky twelve-year-old.” Bellamy laughed and the sound was like music to my ears. Yet I immediately hated that he was the one making her laugh that way.

  “Anyway, Dixon,” Indie said, bringing my attention away from her friend. “What’re you going to do to me and also why? I haven’t even been here all day and you got your BFF back for the night last night. How could you possibly be sour at me?”

  “He fucking snores,” I said, pointing at Cross, who chuckled quietly.

  “No, he doesn’t,” she countered.

  Fuck. That was right. She’d know he didn’t. Today sucked ass all around.

  “Did he paint your toe nails blush instead of pink rose?” Bellamy asked with a smile.

  “It’s the new song he wrote,” Dixon told them and now I’d have to murder him later.

  “Hmm… ” Indie pushed her lips out into a pout. “I liked it when he played it for me.”

  “You would,” I muttered, unsure if any of them had heard me.

  “It’s too… how’d you describe it?” Dixon asked. “Full of lovey-dovey shit?”

  “Then there was talk of needing a cream,” Cross added.

  “You need a cream?” Bellamy narrowed her pure, almost honey-colored eyes on me.

  I grabbed the mic and spoke into it
. “I don’t need a fucking cream.” The entire stage erupted in laughter.

  “Good to hear,” Lawson said as he passed from one side of the stage to the other, then disappeared into the darkness, which made them all laugh harder.

  I might have pretended to be annoyed with the whole lot of them, but Courting Chaos was my family. I expected this kind of harassment from family, but I sure as fuck didn’t love them insinuating I had some kind of sexually transmitted fungus in front of Bellamy. I never did anything without a condom and had never had so much as a cold sore.

  “Are we done?” I finally asked once they’d quieted down.

  “Oh, yeah, are we done?” Indie asked. “I was having so much fun with Ransom I forgot why we came here in the first place.”

  “What’s up?” Cross asked her.

  “If you’re done, we need to see about some tickets for tonight. Bellamy and I have been exploring all morning, but we want to actually see the show tonight. From the crowd.”

  “We’re done.”

  “Sweet. I’m not sure when my dad will be back and don’t want them want them to sell or give away all the tickets. You can all help us find Lawson since he didn’t stick around,” she said while glancing to each one of us. “We won’t talk about your creamy needs,” she added to me alone.

  “Creamy needs… ” Dixon snorted. “Sounds like a porn movie.”

  “One I don’t think I want to watch,” Booker added.

  “I’m never living this down, am I?” I asked.

  “Probably not,” Dixon answered for all of them.

  Given that this whole bit would hang around for a while, my instinct told me to skip helping this bunch of assholes look for our manager. But when Bellamy glanced over at me and asked, “You coming?”, there was no chance in hell I wanted to go back to my bus alone.

  Chapter Three

  Bellamy

  On the one hand, I didn’t really want to hang out with the guys from Courting Chaos because I’d come on this tour with my best friend to get away from guys. On the other, I didn’t want to go alone, which we likely would have to to find this Lawson guy. That made us vulnerable. So the guys had their purpose.