One More Day: A Bully Romance: (Ridgeside High Book 4) Read online

  One More Day

  Ridgeside High, Volume 4

  K.J. Thomas

  Published by K.J. Thomas, 2019.

  This is a work of fiction. Similarities to real people, places, or events are entirely coincidental.

  ONE MORE DAY

  First edition. November 5, 2019.

  Copyright © 2019 K.J. Thomas.

  Written by K.J. Thomas.

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  Dedication

  One

  Two

  Three

  Four

  Five

  Six

  Seven

  Eight

  Nine

  Ten

  Eleven

  Twelve

  Thirteen

  Fourteen

  Fifteen

  Sixteen

  Seventeen

  Eighteen

  Nineteen

  Twenty

  Twenty-One

  Twenty-Two

  Twenty-Three

  Twenty-Four

  Twenty-Five

  Also, by K.J. Thomas

  Acknowledgements

  About the Author

  To my readers,

  Thank you for reading this series. I hope you've enjoyed as much as I have writing it.

  One

  MORGAN

  I drag my overly exhausted body from the comfort of the warm cocoon that I share with Hudson.

  He's no longer in bed as I glance at his empty spot, the light from the moon peeks through the curtain, letting me know he's not here.

  I hear shouting and commotion as my head snaps towards our bedroom door. At least I know the reason why I was woken up.

  I groan inwardly as I shuffle toward the ensuite bathroom. My body is on autopilot right now. I know I won't be able to go back to sleep until I figure out what that noise is.

  I hope whoever is arguing or fighting downstairs has coffee on. I shake my head as I wash my hands finishing in the bathroom, I sound like such an ass. We could have real problems and I’m worried about coffee.

  That's the way it's been for the last three weeks. Since we've all been stuck in this cabin together everybody bickers and argues. Every damn person here is on edge even the guards, but they are able to hide it better.

  It's not only the fact of being stuck somewhere that we don't want to be. It's we're stuck here waiting to see if someone's going to take us out.

  Carly and Aaron avoid the windows like the plague. I don't blame them, that's how our other friend Jason lost his life just several weeks ago.

  My eyes water as I think of the friend I lost, and my best friend is here, and she lost the love of her life.

  The voices are escalating, there's a deep tone that sounds like Aaron's in a fight with someone.

  “Not going to happen,” I can make out his deep baritone voice. It sounds distant so they must be downstairs in the main place we all gather, which is the kitchen.

  This house hasn't been renovated for security as much as the Rossi house has. There's no bullet proof windows here, no huge security system.

  It feels like a prison. I try to keep my thoughts happy and elevated. My dad and Hudson have been working their ass off to make it a safe place for us. It might not be perfect but we're alive and we're free and we're still in the United States.

  After I make sure I'm presentable, not just wearing my underwear and a tank top, I slowly drag my tired ass downstairs towards the kitchen.

  I nod at a few guys I see on the way, some of them nod back and some don't. When they're on duty they take their stance and position very seriously, they kind of remind me of British soldiers.

  I can only imagine what today's argument is about. Several days ago, it was about food. We had enough to keep us all surviving, plenty, it was who ate the last of the fucking chocolate. Sadly enough, I have to admit even I was in on that argument. Me, Harper and Carly never did find out who the assailant was, but I guess it doesn't really matter. When you’re bored, you hang on to every little thing that you have in impossible situations.

  I ease my way into the kitchen bypassing and squeezing through a couple of guards. They’re standing shoulder-to-shoulder in the entryway with their back towards me, they must be watching what's going on.

  As I get into the room, it looks like my father and Hudson are squaring off with a very pissed Aaron and defeated Carly.

  My gaze catches on something in the corner to the left. Harper is there with her arms wrapped around her stomach. I don't know if she's doing it for a soothing motion or if she's scared.

  I look over her face and expression, the tears haven't stopped, they've been falling constantly since Jason died.

  My father and Harper's father had it arranged for a doctor to come and visit her. I know she's on medicine, I'm just not exactly sure what it is. It seems to be helping a little bit, but I just wish that girl would stop crying. Every time I see my best friend I just want to hold her.

  Before I even think about what I'm doing, I'm already walking in her direction putting my arm around her shoulder. Harper snuggles into my side like she's done for the past few weeks, then I focus my attention back on Hudson and Aaron.

  Aaron's a very quiet man, deadly but quiet. I can see him pacing back and forth in front of the island as my father and Hudson stand on the other side. Hudson keeps running his hands through his hair and my father looks pissed, a red tint is starting to slowly fill his cheeks.

  The sweet aroma of coffee muddles all my thoughts as my eyes catch sight of the coffee maker that's on, right behind Hudson. I give my friend one more little squeeze as I sidestep everyone nonchalantly as possible, making my way over to that caffeine goodness.

  I moan as I take a drink. Once I realized I did that, my mouth snaps shut, and I glance around the room. Carly is giving me a smirk, then she winks before she focuses her attention back on Aaron and my dad.

  I glance again at Carly and then I look around the rest of the room at everybody else. Both her and Aaron are fully dressed and ready to go, they've got backpacks on. Their duffel bags they originally brought with them are filled and at their feet. The rest of us are still in our pajamas looking half-assed.

  Now I understand what's up. It took my tired brain a little while to comprehend everything, but they're leaving. No, I think as I shake my head, that's a death sentence. I grab my coffee tighter and go up and stand next to Hudson and my father.

  Aaron stops pacing and turns and looks at my dad as he says, “we're not going to stay here just waiting to be killed. We appreciate everything you've done for us. Just being here's a death sentence.”

  Aaron leans over the island and puts his hands flat on it. “We're not going to be a waiting target. I can keep both of us safe and hidden until this whole thing has gone away.”

  “I know,” Hudson sighs as he wraps an arm around me. My dad takes a deep breath and then releases it slowly.

  “Damnit,” my father snaps as he turns and walks out. I set my coffee cup down and walk over to Carly and ask. “Is this what you want to do?” She nods at me, then grabs my hand giving it a light squeeze.

  At the same time, she nods, I can hear Harper fight back a sob that's probably been waiting to escape for a while. Both of us walk over to her and envelope her in a hug.

  I can't let anything happen to my friends. If you think about it, we’re all sitting ducks here just waiting to find out what Levi or one of his henchmen will do. Fuck, it's probably not even them we need to be the most worried about. It’s the people that want to play the game and kill us.
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  My father's footsteps are heard as he casually walks back into the kitchen. Carly and I both push back away from a despairing Harper.

  My dad has a huge manila envelope in his hand, it's thick. He sets it on the island and pushes it towards Aaron.

  “I'm not going to stop you,” he says to the man as he looks down at the envelope, “but maybe this will help.”

  I look down, noticing the envelope hasn't been sealed or closed yet. I could see just a smidge of what looks to be stacks of money. My heart fills up with warmth that my father is going to help them.

  All of us aren't stupid, we know that these two are going no matter what we say, there's no way we can keep them here against their will and why would we want to.

  “We don't need to talk or go over this anymore. I know you know exactly what to do out in the field.” Aaron nods at my dad's comment.

  He comes up next to him and grabs his hand, “yes sir, I do, this is really the only option that we have left.”

  Harper cries out as she moves forward, “where will you guys go?”

  My dad holds up his hand and shakes his head at the same time. “Don't answer that, don't let any of us know where you are. It'll keep you safer.”

  “Take me with you,” Harper says as she pleads to both Carly and Aaron.

  Nobody says anything, we’re kind of shocked that she would want to go. We can't fault her for it though, everybody has cabin fever just sitting here and waiting for the unknown. At least this way Aaron and Carly are doing something about it.

  Everyone shakes their head no, I even find myself doing the same thing. Carly moves closer and takes Harper's hands in hers.

  “I know you want to go with us, baby, and I wish to hell that you could. We are the ones with the target on our heads. If they do catch up with us, there's a good chance they'll take you out at the same time.”

  They talk for a couple more minutes going back and forth and convincing Harper what a bad idea it is. I sporadically listen to the conversation as I glance around the room again.

  At first I didn't realize how many people were here, there's got to be at least ten or fifteen guards in this kitchen. The kitchen is bigger than most houses, but not nearly the size of the one at the Rossi estate.

  Lee is leaning against a counter in the corner, by a door that goes outside not the one that I came in originally. All of the guards are just watching with interest and curiosity. This affects their lives, too.

  It doesn't take long for them to convince Harper that it's not a good idea. Carly escorts Harper back up to the room she’s been using. Getting her to go back to bed would be the best thing for her right now. We don’t want her freaking out anymore.

  If she can fall back asleep, she's got more of a chance of healing and Aaron and Carly can take off not worrying about her.

  Carly comes back down after being up there for a few minutes. Harper must have dozed right off. I walk over to her and wrap my arms around her. “Please be careful.”

  She squeezes me back, “I will girl. This will all be over soon, and we'll all get out of this mess, then we can go back to being miserable high school students again.”

  I laugh as we all follow Aaron and my father towards the garage.

  After everything is said and done, we watch one mail carrier vehicle drive away with two people that are close to me. The Borelli’s keep different vehicles here for different reasons. It’s old and run down, hopefully it won’t raise any flags as they make their getaway.

  Hudson grabs my hand and we make our way back up to our room. No words are said, I'm hurting, and I can just feel how much he is. In less than a month, Hudson lost two of his best friends. One he'll never see again.

  Two

  HUDSON

  I watch as Morgan curls up on her side while I sneak out of the room. This has been the third night in a row that I've done this, and she hasn't noticed, which I'm grateful for. I don't know exactly what her reaction would be.

  It's been a week since Aaron and Carly have left and nothing has changed, we haven't been informed of anything. We just know that thankfully they're still alive and still on the run.

  Levi loves the game too much, with all the different rules and how to play it. As soon as something were to happen to them he would immediately post it. He would revel in it, that somebody was actually able to take those two out.

  I chuckle as I silently make my way down the hall. I can picture Levi's face still not being able to do anything, still not being able to find them. At first I was a little shocked when Aaron and Carly said they wanted to go away on their own, but not that much. If anybody could do this, it would definitely be Aaron. For a huge fucking tank, he's actually a smart guy, he’d be able to protect them. He doesn't have a weak woman by his side, either. Carly's a fighter and she would help in every way possible.

  Me and Lee, plus several of the guards have been meeting in the middle of the night all week just trying to come up with something to do.

  If anybody's heard anything we’ll pass it along. We're not doing this in hiding because we're going against Tony's wishes, we just don't want to worry the man more than he has to be. I can only imagine the load that's on his shoulders.

  And as the head of the Borelli family, I need to be able to start pulling my own weight even if it means coming up with new ideas and new ways to get us out of this shit hole. There is one way, but we haven't been able to come to terms with how to do that yet, to put a bullet right in the forehead of that fucker, Levi.

  Even if we're not going to be able to come up with something, the ideas that we've had are kind of shallow. But, trying to work this out is good for us, it’s better than doing nothing. It makes us feel like we're trying, and you never know, maybe we just might come up with the answer.

  I make my way down to the rec room, it's on the lowest level and the farthest away from Tony's office, well I guess it would be my father's family office.

  I feel like a high schooler trying to sneak out not wanting my mother to catch me. I know this is on everybody's mind all day long twenty-four-seven, but it doesn't need to be flaunted in their face.

  The reason we meet at night is if hopefully we actually do come up with the plan, then we can present it to everybody. Everybody's down enough already in spirits. They don't need us to be giving them false hope, at least this way maybe we can give him something positive soon.

  I enter the rec room five minutes later than I should have. I was exhausted last night, and it took forever to pull my ass out of bed. I look up and stop in my tracks. The normal people are here, but we also have a visitor, Tony.

  He smiles as he gets up from the lounger and walks towards me and pats me on the back. “Did you honestly think I didn't know what you guys were doing all week?” I smile at him, yeah there's nothing getting around this man.

  Tony goes back over and sits back down on the lounger as I just stand leaning my weight against the door.

  Lee and another guard, Dustin, are already deep in conversation. We usually have a ton of ideas but unfortunately nothing has panned out.

  Tony watches us as we throw around ideas for the next twenty minutes. His expression seems to change when we present ones that might work and some that are just downright stupid. He's respectable to all of us and doesn't say a word.

  It's quiet, probably less than a minute when Tony finally speaks up. “Do you mind?” He asks as he looks around the room. His eyes are gleaming, he has an idea.

  I smile and nod, as do some of the other guys. A couple of them even hold out their hand indicating that the floor is his.

  I've always respected Tony, he's a great man. He shows extreme loyalty and respect for his guards and people that work for him.

  Tony looks around, every guy making sure to make eye contact. “If I remember correctly, on one of the rules there was a clause, ‘game is not over until the victims are killed.’”

  Oh shit, I think to myself. “Would Levi keep his word?”

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sp; Tony's eyes widen as he smiles, “oh yes, that was ingrained in that boy since childhood. He’s never went back on his word, even the time that he's betrayed us.”

  Lee and I both look at each other as we hurry towards the exit and head towards the office. I can hear the other men following us with the clicking of their shoes on the wooden floor.

  The Borelli's like to keep updated electronics here, updated everything is available since this is what we considered a safe house or hideaway.

  Lee makes it into the office before I do and sits behind the desk pulling up the laptop. The room is crowded with men as everybody squeezes in, eager to hear if we actually have a chance to get out of here.

  “Everything's in here,” he says, his eyes dance to mine and then look around and land on Tony. Tony laughs as he pops himself in one of the leather recliners.

  “Well, I'll be damned,” I say to myself as a very distraught looking Morgan and Harper enter the room.

  It was hard enough for her to let Carly and Aaron go. Ian decided that he needed to go with them, even though we tried to convince him to also stay. Carly and Ian have been very close for many years.

  “Levi has always been a man of his word. Another hit won’t come until it’s confirmed that both Carly and Aaron are taken out.”

  Lee interrupts Tony, “he also has it pointed out on here, that it's only one hit at a time. The new hit won't be posted until the last one is finished, or the time has run out. This one has no time limit.”

  Morgan looks between me and Tony, confusion written all over her face. I go up and I wrap my arms around her, squeezing Harper’s shoulder at the same time. “We might have just found a way, well actually it was your father, to get us out of this mess. At least for the time being.”

  Between me, Tony, Lee and Morgan we spend the next half an hour going over a website we've scanned thousands of times, looking for any more loopholes that Levi might’ve missed.

  We're going all by word of mouth right now, putting our faith in what we know in the mafia and family lifestyles.