Hold Fast

“Kellin?” I breathed into the phone. “Are you okay?” Jaime stopped on the side of the road and put the car into park. Everyone was staring at me, waiting for a response.
“Vic… I can’t talk for long.” He was whispering. I was beginning to get a really bad vibe. “I just wanted to say that I’m sorry…”
“Sorry for what? You didn’t do anything Kellin.” I was crying again, but I didn’t care. Mike put his hand on my shoulder as I waited for Kellin to speak again.
“I left you alone, and-“
“Kellin you didn’t have a choice, but it’s okay. I’m coming to get you.” I covered my mouth to keep myself from sobbing.
“Vic I love you.” There was a loud slam in the background. “Shit! I have to go.”
“Kellin wait!” I yelled. “Kellin?” All I got in response was the dial tone. “No Kellin!” I dropped my phone and covered my face with my hands. I let out a frustrated cry, letting out the pain and the anger that was flowing through me.
“Vic…” Jaime reached over and rubbed my arm. “Come on man. We’re only a few hours away. We’ll get to him I promise.” I lifted my head and rubbed my eyes. I looked at my friends, their looks of confidence gave me reassurance. I steeled my epression and took a deep breath.
“Alright. Let’s finish this shit.” I was done being hurt. All I could feel now was anger and hatred. I hated Kellin’s dad and every fiber of his being. He had crossed a line with me once before and this was just another notch to add to the list of reasons this dick needed to be taught a lesson. I wasn’t going to hold back anymore.

We finally made it to Salem early the next morning. I hadn’t slept since Kellin’s call and I was still pretty wired. We met up with Justin at some apartment complex and headed up to his friends for the remainder of the night. The other guys went to sleep for a little while, Mike double checking on me before I finally convinced him to get some sleep and to not worry so much.
After they had left, I walked out onto the little patio that was attached to the apartment. This place was truly breathtaking, but I couldn’t help but feel guilty for enjoying the scenery. I mean, why should I enjoy myself when Kellin could be in danger. A noise behind me startled me from that thought.
“Hey, sorry. Didn’t mean to scare you.” Justin walked out onto the patio and stood next to me, shivering slightly in the cold air.
“It’s cool.” I smiled before turning back to look at the woods.
“Gabe and the others should be here in about an hour. They’re still back home scoping out the house.” He informed me.
“This feels like a covert mission.” I mused. He chuckled lightly and I couldn’t help but smile.
“Yeah, well with Kellin’s dad it might as well be.” I turned to look at him and he sighed. “His dad is probably one of the smartest people I’ve met when it comes to certain things and manipulating people is top priority on that list.” I nodded slightly before sighing.
“I just want this to be over with.” He put his hand on my shoulder and gave it a light pat.
“I know. We do too.” With that he turned and walked back into his apartment, leaving me alone with my thoughts.
It wasn’t long before Justin’s friends arrived. I went and woke up Mike and the others and dragged them into the living room. Justin introduced us to Gabe, Jack, and Jesse. They looked about as bad as we did. Tired eyes, downtrodden expressions, and messy bed heads were everywhere. I’m not sure why, but I found comfort in knowing that we weren’t alone and that Kellin had good friends here still.
“Alright so what’s the plan?” Tony asked. I could tell that he was getting pretty anxious. We needed to make sure that we kept an eye on him or he might end up killing someone.
“Kellin’s dad will leave the house around noon like he always does. That gives us half an hour to get in and get Kellin out with his stuff.” Gabe began.
“We already talked to Kellin yesterday about packing things slowly so his dad won’t notice.” Jesse added.
“I feel like his dad is keeping him hostage.” Kyle shook his head. “That’s just inhumane.”
“Yeah, it’s pretty much what he’s doing.” Justin stood with his arms crossed, a really irritated look on his face. “He just uses him as a way to let out his anger. I have no idea how he managed to convince a court to let him have custody.” I stood up quickly, startling my brother.
“Vic?” He questioned before I ran to the room where they had been sleeping. I stepped inside and ran to my bag, opening it and rummaging inside. Kellin’s mom had given me the paperwork that his dad had given her. There had to be something wrong with it, but I never thought to actually look.
I found it and began looking it over. I must have read over it about six times when I spotted something. It was forged. I chuckled to myself, overcome with emotion. I heard a noise behind me and I turned to see my brother standing in the doorway.
“Dude, you okay?”
“It’s fake.” I answered. He gave me a confused look. “Mikey it’s a fake.”
“How do you know?” He walked over to me and took the papers from my hand.
“Look right here.” I reached over and flipped a few pages and pointed to one sentence. “These words are spelled wrong.” Mike held the pages closer, looking them over.
“Well I’ll be damned.” He cracked a smile and pulled me back into the living room. “These are forged papers.” He tossed them onto the table. “The dumbass misspelled almost an entire sentence.” Jaime reached over and picked the pages up from the table.
“Yeah, if these were real, an editor wouldn’t have made these mistakes.” Smiles spread across the room.
“Well this makes it a lot easier.” Justin laughed. “That bastard was bound to slip up somewhere.”
This was just what we needed. His mistake was going to be our saving grace. We finally got everything ready and by the time noon rolled around. I was practically bouncing off of the walls. The guys and I had piled back into Kyle’s Jeep and Justin and his friends got into his. We headed over as a group and waited for Kellin’s dad’s car to leave the driveway.
As soon as he was down the street and out of sight I bolted from Kyle’s car to the front door. I knocked frantically as the others surrounded the house, taking their lookout spots. It was a minute before the door finally opened. All of the excitement I had to see Kellin was suddenly replaced with pain.
He pulled me into the house and closed the door behind him, throwing his arms around my neck. I gingerly wrapped him in my arms, mindful to watch where I placed them. He was covered in bruises and cuts, and I was pretty sure he had strangle marks on his neck. I felt my shoulder beginning to get wet and I realized that he was crying. I pulled his face from my shoulder, wiping away his tears and staring into his eyes.
“Shh, Kellin it’s okay. I’m here now.” I leaned forward and kissed him gently.
“Vic… I-I tried to run.” He was shaking again.
“Baby, it’s okay. Come on, let’s get your stuff together.” He nodded before leading me to his room. I almost threw up when I walked inside. There was nothing in his room except his clothes, a mattress for him to sleep on, and blood was pretty much everywhere. I cringed as I grabbed some of his bags. I heard the door open and close and a moment later Justin walked in. He instantly covered his mouth when he walked into the room.
“My God! Kellin…” He walked over and wrapped him in a hug. “Come on let’s get the fuck out of here.” Kellin threw on a sweatshirt to cover the bruises, and we made our way to the front door and joined the rest of the guys. Everyone was really happy to see that Kellin was okay… well as okay as someone who was beaten could be. I was grateful that no one mentioned the bruising on his face or neck. The last think Kellin needed was to talk about it.
As we made our way over to the cars, Gabe caught sight of someone coming.
“Shit! Guys, Kellin’s dad is back early!” I turned to see his car speeding towards us.
“Get to the cars!” I screamed, tossing Kellin’s bags into Kyle’s car. “Come on, babe.” I helped him into the car just as his dad stopped and got out of the car.
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” He screamed at us. Justin and Kyle both had their cars on, the guys standing at the doors, and Kellin hiding in the car with Jaime and Mike. Tony stood next to me, his hand on my shoulder. Kellin’s dad met my eyes. “You?”
“Yeah, it’s me.” I replied, venom dripping through my voice.
“Where do you think you’re taking him?” He began walking towards me, and Tony stepped in front of me. I grabbed his arm and he turned to me. I just shook my head and he returned to my side. By then, Kellin’s dad was directly in front of me. I could feel everyone watching us, but I was done with this man’s shit.
“I’m taking him back.” He laughed out loud.
“Really? And what makes you think I’ll let that happen?” He moved towards me again and I felt Tony tense. He was in my face now and my fingers began twitching at my side.
“You don’t get a choice.” I replied, staring him directly in the eyes. He smirked.
“Hell if I don’t.” He went to punch me in the stomach, but Tony was too quick and stopped him. I pulled my arm back and punched him square in the jaw. He fell back and landed on his ass. He reached his hand up to touch his lips, which was bleeding, and glared back at me as I stood over him.
“Game over. You lose.” I turned back and got into Kyle’s car with Tony. The last thing I saw was Kellin’s dad standing to his feet and watching us leave. Nothing was stopping us now. Kellin was safe.