Friction (Shadow Crew Series Book 2)

  FRICTION

  SHADOW CREW SERIES

  CALA RILEY

  CONTENTS

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Epilogue

  About the Author

  Acknowledgments

  Also by Author

  Where to Find Us

  Copyright @ 2022 by Cala Riley All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior written consent of the publisher, except brief quotes used for reviews and certain other non-commercial uses, as per copyright laws. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author's imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  Friction Cover Photo by: Books and Moods

  Editing by: My Brothers Editor

  Aimee, for loving these two heavily

  flawed characters.

  “For Marco.” The words echo around me.

  Even though our brother betrayed us, we all understood why. Who wouldn’t do whatever they could for someone they loved?

  It still stings, though. The fact that he felt he couldn’t come to us. That he didn’t ask us for help. Now he is gone. He’ll be buried in a couple of days, which is why I pushed to do this sooner rather than later.

  We needed to honor him the best way we could. By saving the person he betrayed us for.

  The plan was simple.

  Once Roman had all the information, it didn’t take long to find where they were keeping Susie. The war has already been started, so nothing’s holding us back.

  We will be getting her back today.

  Blaze and Roman take the front while I sneak in through the back. We have other members around to assist, but only if necessary. After watching this abandoned warehouse for a couple of hours and monitoring all the surrounding cameras, I’d guess there aren’t many guys here.

  It may be a trap, but I’ve done the statistical odds of a favorable outcome for us. Eighty-six percent isn’t perfect, but it’s more than ideal.

  All I can hope is that she is still alive and that this isn’t for nothing.

  Pulling out my gun, I make my way to the door and stop, following the plan.

  I hate using guns, but this situation calls for it. I’d much rather use my fists to take down my opponent and leave them alive, but I know the men here don’t feel the same way. They will pull the trigger on us without hesitation. That means we have to fight fire with fire.

  I wait until a full three minutes have passed before I try the door. It opens on the first try.

  Poking my head in quickly, I let out a breath of relief when I see no one inside. I should be concerned, but we have this place surrounded. If anyone shows up now, they would be walking into an ambush.

  I can hear some scuffle coming from somewhere in the building, but I press on.

  Keeping close to the wall, I inch down the hallway, listening for any hints of where she might be.

  When I come to the first door, I press my ear against it. All is quiet inside.

  I can feel my heart beating out of my chest as I place my hand on the door handle.

  It doesn’t matter how many missions I go on, I still get the anxious feeling that lives inside me. I work hard to fight against it, but I don’t think it will ever go away.

  I’ll never feel that calm inside that others feel.

  I bust through the door, hoping for the element of surprise.

  My heart drops when I don’t find her. I don’t know why, but I have this feeling that if I don’t find her quickly, I may never find her.

  Clearing the room quickly, I make my way back into the hall, leaving the door open behind me.

  I continue onto the next room, repeating the action.

  It’s not until I’m at the last room in the hall that I hear something.

  A rumble of a man’s voice, then a squeak.

  The hairs on my arms stand up as I hear the squeak a second time, but this time I recognize it for what it is.

  It’s a woman.

  In my gut, I know it’s her.

  Creeping up to the door, I press my ear to it. I can hear movement, but it’s not near the door.

  Good.

  Slowly, I open the door to a large room that must have been storage at one point. There are boxes lining one wall, but that’s not what has my attention.

  Stepping into the room, I see the man towering over her. My heart clenches when I see the blood on her face as he holds her by the chin.

  “You’re a stupid little cunt. Now that your brother is gone, we have no reason to keep you any longer. I think we will use you long after your body goes cold.”

  The sinister tone of his voice, paired with the frightened noise coming from the woman, causes a calmness to wash over me. My mind clears, allowing my body to react without pause. The calmness I only just said I would never find.

  I pause only for a moment, holstering my gun.

  Then I move.

  As the man rears back to smack the angel on the floor, I jump forward, my arm wrapping around his neck. I snap his neck, his body falling limp. Then I drop his body, my eyes locking on the woman.

  Even with blood running down her face, I can tell she is gorgeous. Long brown hair falling down her back as she stays on her knees, her face staring at the floor.

  “Susie?” I question.

  It looks like her, but it could be a trick. I wouldn’t put it past the Devil’s Den to plant a decoy in anticipation of us trying to rescue her.

  Either way, I’ll be taking this woman with me today.

  “Please,” she cries. “I’m sorry. Please don’t hurt me.”

  I kneel in front of her. I hesitate before carefully placing my finger under her chin to lift her face to my own. She refuses to meet my eyes, keeping them down.

  “Look at me,” I say gently.

  When she doesn’t respond, I put more weight behind my words.

  “Look at me,” I growl.

  Her eyes snap to mine.

  “Good girl.” I caress her cheek. “Are you Susan Perez?”

  She nods slowly.

  “I need your words, angel.”

  Her eyes look confused for a moment before she speaks. “Yes.”

  “Good. You’re safe now. I need you to come with me.”

  She doesn’t move as I stand. Reaching down, I offer her my hand. Susie’s small hand slips into mine and I help her to her feet. Almost immediately, her legs give out. I catch her easily.

  “I’m sorry,” she murmurs.

  The sullen look on her face tugs at my heart. I don’t know what it is about her, but I don’t want to let her go. The surge of protectiveness comes from out of nowhere, making me want to ensure this woman never feels even an ounce of pain again.

  “It’s okay. I’ve got you.”

  Swinging her up in my arms, I make my way back to the door.

  I keep walking, past my brothers, past our guys now, closing in on the place. Roman takes a step toward us but stops when I shake my head.
br />   I don’t stop until I have her strapped into the passenger seat of my car.

  Once I get into the driver’s seat, I look over at her.

  She looks so small curled up in the seat.

  Reaching out to brush my hand against her head, I whisper to her.

  “I’ll protect you, angel.”

  “You’re such a pretty thing. When the boss is done with your brother, we are going to spend a lot of time together. Isn’t that right, darlin’?”

  My body shudders as he moves closer to me. He reaches out, running his finger along my cheek, making me flinch.

  That only makes him chuckle.

  “He’s gone now. Let’s start the party early. What do you think? You want some of this?”

  He cups his junk through his pants. I struggle against my restraints as he undoes his pants.

  Then I scream.

  I’m jolted awake by my own screams.

  Frantically I look around, heart pounding, covered in sweat. It takes me a minute to orient myself.

  Those are my light blue curtains. My white walls. This is my bed in my apartment.

  When I repeat what I see in my head, my heart starts to calm.

  It’s a recurring nightmare with several variations, but they all end the same. With me screaming.

  It’s not what actually happened. The man from my nightmare wanted to do all those things to me, but I was saved.

  He saved me.

  I had never met the man before that day, but he risked his life to get me out. Then he stayed by my side through the funeral.

  My heart pangs at the memory.

  When I first wake up, I’m usually so focused on calming down I forget my new reality.

  My brother Marco is dead. It’s all my fault.

  For the first two weeks, I stayed with my mom, attempting to console her. From what I gathered, she didn’t know I was missing. She thought I went on a spur of the moment trip with my friends.

  An accident.

  That’s what they told her.

  He was in a horrific accident that claimed his life. It was so horrific that they wouldn’t even open the casket.

  I know the truth, though. My captors told me they were only keeping me alive and relatively unharmed to use me to control Marco. He’s dead because he was no longer useful to them. He only agreed to help them because they had me.

  Shaking my thoughts away, I walk to my window, peeking out. It’s so early that it’s still dark out. Still, that feeling of safety washes over me as I look outside. I don’t know why I feel that way and it doesn’t happen all the time, but sometimes when I look out into the world from my room, I feel like I have an angel watching over me. Someone there to protect me.

  It’s silly. I’ve never actually seen anyone out there. Part of me wants to believe it’s Marco watching me from the other side.

  Fuck, I miss him.

  Moving away from the window, I head into my bathroom to start my day. As hard as it has been, I need to move on from my past. It was a terrible thing that happened, but I can’t keep living there. It’s been a month since that fateful day. The day I found out my brother was dead and my savior rescued me.

  It’s been three weeks since I’ve seen him. Since he told me I needed to keep my time with the Devil’s Den a secret. As far as Mom knows, I went on that trip and decided to stay longer.

  I lost my job because I was a no-show, but it doesn’t matter. Marco left both Mom and me money. A lot of money. Enough that I can take my time finding a new one. So I can figure out what I want to do with my life. I can’t just go back to my old one and pretend everything is okay. I can’t be the carefree girl they remember. The one who attended church every Sunday with her mother to atone for her sins.

  I’m not sure I believe in God anymore. Why would I when I went through what I did? When I lost my brother because of his love for me?

  My thoughts continue to spiral as I work through my morning routine. It’s the only thing that helps me stay on track. If I skip it, I wallow in bed for the day.

  At first, I wanted that. I wanted to die. I wanted to take his place.

  Then I remembered it was pointless. I can’t change the past and bring him back. All I can do is live my life for him.

  It’s the only thought that gets me out of bed every morning.

  Locking my door behind me, I make my way to the bus stop. I don’t have a car. I never needed one. Still, being on public transport makes me a little anxious. Since the money he left me is in some sort of trust that only allows for a monthly allowance to pay my bills, I can’t afford a car yet, but I have saved the extra money left over.

  I let my mind wander as I make my way to my mother’s house.

  I don’t come by every day, but I try to come by at least three times a week. I don’t think she will ever get over the loss of Marco. I can’t blame her. I know I won’t.

  “Mama?” I call out as soon as I walk through the door.

  “I’m here,” she calls back.

  I walk through the house, my heart pinching as my eyes land on the family photos lining the walls.

  The house that once felt like home now feels like a crypt. A memorial for the family we once had but will never have again.

  I force a smile as I walk into the kitchen. Mom is sitting at the table watching her shows on the television.

  Walking over, I drop a kiss on the top of her head.

  “I missed you. How are you?”

  I let my eyes take her in as I ask the question. She has lost weight this past month. I think she has lost a lot of sleep too, if the dark circles under her eyes are any indication.

  “Oh, don’t worry about me, dear. How are you? Did you find a new job?”

  “Not yet. I don’t want to settle for just any job. I want to find something that gives me purpose.” I sigh, sitting across from her.

  She nods. “That’s understandable. You have time. No need to rush.”

  “My thoughts exactly. Have you been getting out? Have you been to church?”

  She sighs. “I went to the grocery store yesterday, but no, I haven’t gone to church.”

  “You used to go faithfully. I think you need to get back into that routine. Hang out with the ladies from church again. You can’t keep holing up in here.”

  As I say the words, I feel the hypocrisy. I haven’t been going out much either.

  “Baby girl, I know you want to help, but I need to process this by myself. I’m angry at God. You can’t fix that. It’s something me and the big man need to work through together.”

  It’s on the tip of my tongue to argue, but I can’t find the energy. How can I repair her relationship with the deity when I can’t even bring myself to believe in him anymore?

  “We will get through this. What about you? Have you been going out with your friends?”

  The hopeful look in her eye keeps me from telling her the truth.

  “Steph called yesterday inviting me out Friday night.”

  “Good. You need to get back to living your life.”

  “You do too, Mama. He would want us both to.”

  She nods. “You’re right. It’s hard for me though. A parent should never have to bury their child.”

  I reach out, gripping her hand. “He’s still with us, Mama. Can’t you feel him? I know I can.”

  She smiles. “He always will be. He always watched out for you. Roman came by yesterday to check in. Have you seen him?”

  Roman was my brother’s best friend. He had a whole little crew of friends, but Roman was the only one who came to the house. The only one we met prior to the funeral.

  Still, I haven’t heard a peep from him.

  “No, but that’s okay. I don’t need him trying to step in as my pseudo brother in Marco’s place.”

  She nods. “He left his number in case we need anything. You should take it down.”

  I shake my head. “That’s okay, Mama. I’ll be okay.”

  “Well, I have it if you need i
t.”

  There’s a lull in conversation then. Mom continues to stare at the television while my eyes take in the kitchen.

  It’s not up to her normal standards. I can see the watermarks on the window from the rain we got several days ago. There are a couple of dishes sitting in the sink waiting to be washed. There is even a thin layer of dust on the knick-knacks set out.

  Before Marco’s death, my mother would never let a dish sit in the sink for even a second. Marco and I used to swear she had magical powers because she always seemed to know when we would set one there. We would immediately get scolded until we washed it. She always dusted daily to make sure the house was presentable for surprise guests. Hell, she used to have surprise guests often. The windows. I don’t remember the last time the windows had even a streak in them. We used to joke that she was responsible for the murder of many birds for how clear she kept the windows. Lord forbid we smudge it even a tiny bit.

  My mother is struggling.

  You’re struggling. That nagging voice in my head pipes up.

  “What are your plans for today, Mom?”

  She doesn’t look over at me. “I have some things around here to do.”

  I hear her words, but her body language says something different. She’s having a bad day. The droop of her shoulders, along with the fresh face clear of makeup, making her puffy eyes stand out.

  “How about I stay here, and we have a day together?”

  She offers me a sad smile. “I don’t need you to babysit me, honey.”

  Reaching out, I grab her hand. “Maybe I need you to babysit me.”

  She pats my hand twice before pulling back.

  “I think I need to be alone today. I wouldn’t be good company. How about you go call that friend of yours? Maybe go shopping?” she says, dismissing me.

  I frown over at her. “I really think I should stay, and we can spend some time together. I worry about you.”