Page 43 of Out of Reach

“Jude? Talk to me.”

Breath speeding up, Jude sat on the bed, eyes pinned to the door to the next room, where he could still hear sounds of eating. He had to be very, very quiet.

“Hawk,” he whispered. “Help. I need help.”

“Are you in LA?” Hawk barked out, so loud that Jude was afraid Sam would hear it in the next room.

“Shhh, be very quiet,” he whispered.

“Jude, please tell me where you are,” Hawk said softly. “Are you in LA? I got your text.”

“No. I’m…I’m in Miami. He’s taken me to Miami.”

“Who? Ricci?”

“No. Sam. And…and I think he’s drugged me. It’s hard to move, and I keep falling asleep.”

Hawk made a strangled noise. “Where in Miami are you? I’ll call the police.”

“I—” Jude froze when he heard sounds next door, then quickly placed the phone on the receiver and lay back down on the bed, closing his eyes just in time. As he listened to someone walk into the room, Jude’s mind scrambled to remember if he’d left anything out of place.

The menu.

He’d barely thought the words before he felt a presence beside the bed followed by the noise of someone picking up the menu that Jude had dropped on the floor.

The bed dipped, and suddenly someone smacked his face hard.

“I know you’re awake. Stop faking.”

As a hand slid beneath his neck, Jude opened his eyes and stared at Sam’s angry face.

“What did you give me? I-I can’t move.”

Without answering, Sam shoved another glass of water in Jude’s face and forced him to drink it.

Coughing and sputtering, Jude collapsed back onto the pillow when Sam let go of his head.

“Sam, what’s happening?”

“Go to sleep, Jude.” He stood up, and Jude tried to grab hold of the tail of his shirt, but he couldn’t make his fingers grip the material.

And then he fell into another heavy sleep.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

Hawk

Hawk didn’t see Jude’s text message about going to LA until their plane landed in New York. He called him, only for the call to repeatedly go to voicemail.

“He’s probably busy and turned off his phone,” Mal said. “Or maybe he hasn’t been able to charge it. Don’t freak out. I’m sure he’s with Ricci and the other models.”

Hawk tried to arrange a flight to LA while Mal talked to Slade on the phone.

“Fuck, we could fucking drive to LA faster,” Hawk groused as they headed for the gate they wouldn’t fly out of for hours.

They ate from an airport kiosk and played on their phones as they waited. Occasionally, Hawk would try to call Jude without success.

Their flight to LA had been called and they were getting ready to board when Hawk’s phone rang.