CHAPTER FOURTEEN
B-ry
“Hey, Cami,” Chris said the moment she walked into the bar. There was something in his tone that held concern.
I was there helping Chris get the place stocked and ready for the weekend. Did I really have to do that? Well, no. It wasn’t part of my duties to the club. But I liked the guy and I didn’t have anything else going on. I figured I’d give the prospects a little bit of a break too. Not that I should have. It was part of my job to ride them hard and make sure this was something they really wanted. But hey, what could I say? Sometimes I was a nice guy.
“Hey,” she said with that sweet smile that she always gave when she greeted someone. I sent her a chin lift as she turned that smile my way.
While she wasn’t really my type—okay, maybe I didn’t have a type—she was perfect for Brand. And though she’d grown up in the same world that her sister had, she didn’t look down on us for who we were. She was cool as shit and I liked hanging around her.
“Have you heard from your sister?” Chris asked and I did my best to look like I wasn’t listening in, though I was.
I thought about it long and hard. I hadn’t heard from or about Laurel in about a week. Not that I expected for her to call me. Especially after I shut the door in her face basically letting her know in every way possible that I was done being her shadow boy. But the fact that Chris was asking with a hint of panic in his tone made me perk up.
“Uh, actually no. Not since the night she was here,” Cami answered and I felt a sense of dread fill the air around us.
“I’ve been trying to call her for two days now and she hasn’t called me back. I figured maybe she was busy, but I stopped by Royally Brewed earlier and they said that she hadn’t shown up for her last three shifts. Dale said he hasn’t seen her for maybe a week.”
This was news to me. Why hadn’t he said anything before? Oh, right. Because no one knew about the connection I had to Laurel.
Fuck!
This was bad.
What if something happened to her?
What if my words were just the right thing to push her over the edge?
No, I wouldn’t believe that. Laurel was fragile at times but it would take something a lot bigger than losing me to send her into a deep downward spiral.
Suddenly Cami looked like she was about to crumble. She lowered herself onto one of the stools and I saw that her hands were shaking.
“Oh, no,” she whispered and her eyes appeared to be unfocused. “What if something happened? I haven’t… I’ve been such a crappy sister.”
“No,” Chris said as he laid a comforting hand over hers. “I’ll get someone to watch the bar and I’ll ride over to her place.”
“I got it,” I said half out of my mind right then.
Chris turned his gaze to me, eyes dancing with questions I knew he wasn’t going to ask right now.
“You should stay with her. Call Brand and get him here.” I did my best to distract from the fact that I’d just jumped at the chance to go check for myself. Or that I knew exactly where to check. As far as they knew, I had no idea where she lived. When in reality, I knew all too well.
Chris opened his mouth but I started walking away. Whatever it was, I didn’t have time to deal with it right then.
The same thought I had every time I rode up in front of her apartment building filled my head this time. My feelings on this place hadn’t changed and I knew they never would. This was a shit hole. Even I felt a little unsure as I dismounted my bike and walked into the door on the first floor. It wasn’t bad enough the thought that something had happened to her, but if it had been while she was here, I knew I’d never forgive myself. From the moment I found out she was moving in here I felt the need to get her out. Sure I was a criminal and maybe I didn’t really have the right to say anything, but I hated that she had to deal with drug deals going on every time she walked through the halls to get to her apartment.
But what was I going to do? Demand that she move somewhere more secure? Offer to pay her rent because I knew she couldn’t afford anything better? Yeah, I knew how well that would have gone over.
Her door seemed to be securely shut and there was no sign of a break-in. I was smart enough to know that it didn’t mean anything though. I didn’t even allow myself to breathe a sigh of relief, not just yet. Not until I laid eyes on her and wrapped her up in my arms.
I banged on the door. It didn’t matter where she was in there, she’d hear it. Since this place was made super cheaply, if she was in there I knew I’d hear her moving around. But I was met with silence from the other side of the door. I waited a minute. Banged again. Still nothing.
Feeling like I didn’t have any options left, I pulled out my lock kit. Probably could have just used a credit card with as shitty as the locks were on the place. In no time, the door was swinging wide open. I was greeted with an eerie silence. Even before I stepped over the threshold I knew I wouldn’t find her here.
Fuck!
Nothing looked out of place. There hadn’t been a break-in I assumed. I flipped the light switch to get a better look. Nope. There hadn’t been a scuffle here. She hadn’t been taken from here. If she had been taken at all. I still had no clue. It had to be the most logical thing. Or that she was laid up hurt somewhere. I needed to check the hospitals.
I immediately pulled out my phone and called Cable.
“Yeah, brother,” he answered right away.
“Got a situation,” I said feeling something rise up inside of me. Anger? Fear? Panic? I wasn’t all that sure which one and I didn’t have time to sort it out right now. “Cami’s sister is missing. I’m at her place right now and she’s not here. It looks like nothing has been touched and all her stuff is still here so I’m assuming she didn’t run off. Need you to check things out. Start with the hospitals.”
“Got it. Do I need to tell Iron?”
With a heavy sigh, I pinched the bridge of my nose. Yeah, he needed to be filled in on what was going on but I wanted Cable to get started right now.
“Nah,” I said shaking my head. “I’m headed back. I’ll find him when I get there.”
“The middle one, right? Laurel Benson?”
“Yeah, that’s her.”
I knew Laurel and Cami had an older sister as well as two brothers, but Laurel never talked about them much. Or at all, really. I guess it hurt too much, to know that they had turned their backs on her too.
“Alright. See me when you’re done with Prez.”
He ended the call without another word. I stood there for a long moment in a state of almost shock.
Then I was moving across the room.
I couldn’t tell you why I did it, but not even five minutes later, I was mounting my bike with a bag full of her things. Some clothes. Her shampoo. A few of those hair tie elastic thingies she sometimes used to put up her hair. The soft throw that she curled up under when she was sitting on the couch. At the last second, I remembered to grab the small jewelry box on top of her dresser.
I had an idea that she didn’t think I noticed, but I did.
The days when things would hit her extremely hard, she would flip that thing open and peer inside for a good long moment before closing it again. And a few times, I’d caught her wearing a dainty necklace with a little pearl and diamond pendant. I didn’t know what it meant to her. And maybe I should have by now. But the important thing was that I would keep it safe until I found her.
Seeing that the box was still full of all its sparkly contents was yet another clue that nothing had happened here.
I rode back to the compound, my head a spinning mess. As soon as I walked into the door of the clubhouse too many eyes suddenly turned my way.
Cami’s were sad and red-rimmed from crying. Brand’s gaze was calculating like he was trying to figure out all the answers in his head on his own. Chris and Ky, well they both looked at me as if they had already figured it all out. And maybe they had but I didn’t stop to find out.
“Did you find her?” Cami asked as she shot to her feet.
“No, sorry. But I can tell you that the place looked fine. Nothing went down there. Maybe she just needed to get away for a bit.” I knew it was a stretch but I needed to keep her calm right now.
Before I could say anything else, Iron walked into the room from the back hall. A huge cup of coffee held up in front of his mouth, steam rising up as he took a big gulp.
I winced, because that did not seem like a good idea.
There was no reaction from the Prez as he swallowed the hot liquid down.
“We need words,” he said sternly.
“Yeah,” I replied back though it wasn’t a question.
Iron’s eyes darted around the room taking in everyone that was there.
“Mouse get Cable. Brand, Ky, Fitz, and B-ry, my office. Now.”
“I-Iron, sir,” Cami stuttered out. She was shaking like a leaf and I wasn’t sure if it was because she was scared about her sister missing or addressing Iron. The so-called big, scary Prez looked at her and I shit you not, his eyes softened a little. “She’s my sister,” she pushed out without being prompted.
Iron took in a huge breath then let it out slowly.
“Come on,” he said and turned, heading for the stairs in the back. “You too, Chris.”
Once we were on the second floor, Iron headed away from his office. He unlocked the door to his apartment and strolled in. He held onto the door until all of us were in and then he walked away, leaving it wide open. It made sense, there were a lot of us and while his office was big, it wasn’t that big. I had a good feeling that emotions were going to be all over the place and it was best not to have us all packed together like a bunch of damn sardines. The silence was deafening as we waited for Cable and Mouse.
“In here,” Iron called out when we heard them nearing the landing to the second floor. “Shut the door.”
Once we all were settled, he started talking again.
“I have a feeling there are some things going on here that not everyone knows about.” He pinned me with a hard stare for half a second. “I need everyone to take a breath and listen. I don’t want shit breaking out here. Now, B-ry, you got something to say?”
I stood up taller and refused to bow my head in shame like I really wanted to. It wasn’t like me to hide things from my brothers. But at the same time, it was my personal life.
And, yeah, maybe I wasn’t really sure what to say about the whole thing and all. It wasn’t like Laurel and I were dating. Not that I would have minded it at all if we were. But something kept telling me that she didn’t want anyone to know, so I did my best to respect that. It was probably more for selfish reasons than anything, because if I told people and she didn’t want that, then I might have lost what little we did have. It seemed I lost it all anyway, in the end.
“I’ve been spending time with Laurel,” I said not really sure how to explain it. Her sister was in the room and I didn’t want her to have to think about the fact that Laurel and I had been sleeping together. Well, fucking was probably more accurate. I also didn’t want to disrespect Laurel, so I kept that part unsaid and figured people could read between the lines.
“What?” Cami asked and Brand placed a firm hand on her shoulder to keep her from saying anything else. Though, the shock was clear on her face. And maybe a little anger.
My eyes met Ky’s and it was like he was saying ‘I knew something was going on.’ Which he had attempted to call me out on at least once before. But I could tell he didn’t have a clue before now who that person was that I was sneaking away to see.
Chris just blinked at me. I didn’t know what to think of that. Guessed it didn’t really matter anyway.
“How long?” Brand asked and I honestly thought that question would have come from Iron first.
I cleared my throat.
“Pretty much ever since we moved her out of her fancy-ass condo.” That was as close enough to the truth as I could think right now. I didn’t want to go into all the other stuff before then.
There was no point in hiding it, that this had been going on for a long time right under their noses.
I could see the shock and betrayal written on most of their faces. This wasn’t the time to go into it. Laurel was missing. Every second counted. Especially because it had taken us so long to catch on. I blamed myself for that. If I hadn’t cut her off then maybe I would have known sooner.
I knew Laurel had a tendency to be a bit flaky with her friendships. Truth was she only had Cami and Chris now.
As soon as all the scandals started up and it was out there that she had been cut off, all those yuppie fucks dropped her like last seasons… Gucci or something. I didn’t know a damn thing about designers, but I was sure I’d heard that one a time or two. My point was that they turned their backs on her, just like her family.
She never directly came out and said anything, but I could tell that it hurt her. I could tell that she was lonely. I also noticed that while she was grateful that she had Chris and Cami there, she still didn’t think she was worthy of their love and support. And maybe she was a little bit ashamed of what she’d become too. It was a hard balance for her. Sometimes her pride got in the way of letting her accept the good things in her life. And sometimes her vulnerability was too much for her to hide, which led to her avoiding people.
So, while it was shitty that neither Cami nor Chris had noticed something was wrong until a week later, it didn’t really surprise me. I’d been in the background this whole time and I’d seen the way she would brush off their calls and texts. Hell, sometimes she just flat out ignored them. And as much as I would have liked to have said it was because she was wrapped up in me, I also knew better.
“So I have a little better understanding, just what the hell is going on?” Iron asked looking at me for answers.
I launched into it, only giving the details that I thought were important right now. I kept my eyes on Iron’s because I couldn’t handle seeing the looks on the faces of everyone else in the room.
“The night she came up to the bar was the last time I’d seen her. Talked to her, even. I…” This time I did look down. I was so ashamed of that night. What I’d done cut me to the bone then but right now it was suddenly worse. Because I felt like this was all on me. “I ended things that night. Whatever we had going on wasn’t doing either of us any good.”
There. I’d said it.
“Why?” Cami asked and though it was off topic, I felt like she deserved an answer.
They all did. Only how was I supposed to explain without making Laurel look bad? Like she hadn’t been using me all these months. To be fair, I had let her. And it wasn’t like I really had any room to complain, I loved every minute I spent with her.
I let out a deep sigh.
I was man enough to admit that this whole week I’d missed her. That I had thought about going to her and taking back what I’d said. I’d thought about letting her see me weak. But I also knew it wouldn’t have done any good. So I stayed true to my decision even though I couldn’t get my Queen out of my head.
“Because she was using me as a distraction. As long as I was around she wasn’t going to face the fact that her life had been turned upside down. She wasn’t going to accept it and deal with it head-on. And I guess I wanted more than she was willing to give.”
I wasn’t ashamed to admit that I cared deeply for her. And I didn’t care that they all knew. I just hated that one decision had led us here.
She was missing.
And there wasn’t a damn thing I could do about that.
Worse than that, I felt completely at a loss and useless. I didn’t have the first clue on where to start.
“You care about my sister?” Cami asked and the dense shock was clear in her voice. It was also given away by the scrunched-up, confused face.
“Yes, Cami,” I said pointedly. “I really fucking care about Laurel.”
“Brand told me that Cami nor Chris has been in contact with her for a week. And she hasn’t shown up to work?” Iron asked.
“No,” I said shaking my head deciding that I was now talking for all of us. “I called Cable when I didn’t find her at her place and asked him to see if he could find out if she was in any of the hospitals.” I turned my attention to Cable.
He just grimly shook his head.
“What if she was admitted and had no identification on her?” I asked but was pretty sure that someone would have recognized her. The Benson family was pretty well known in this city.
“There were no Jane Does at either hospital. Not for a few weeks now.”
“So then we need to try to retrace her steps after she left here that night.” Iron spoke the thing I needed to hear the most. Because I was at a loss as for where to go from here.
“She left the bar and told me that she’d called an Uber and was meeting it out front. I offered to walk her out but she waved me off.” Chris hung his head as he recounted the night’s events. “I started to protest but she told me it was already waiting outside. I let it go, thinking the place was busy enough and I knew there were probably people hanging out front. It’s not like someone would be stupid enough to roll right up to a motorcycle club’s bar and start shit.”
That was true.
“Now that I think about it,” Chris said suddenly looking up at me. “She said that right after I saw you slip out the back.”
“Yeah, she must have followed me back to my room. I hadn’t been there long before she knocked on my door.” I sighed, knowing what happened next. I knew they did too so I just kept going without saying it. “Then what would she have done?” I looked at Cami thinking that she knew her the best. They were sisters after all.
“She probably never even ordered an Uber.” Cami looked off in the distance like she was trying to work something out.
“She would have walked home,” I said through gritted teeth.
I knew it.
And I hated that I hadn’t thought beyond the moment that night.
“She’s broke,” I went on trying to hold down my anger. “You know that. We all do even if we act like it’s not true. She’s barely able to keep the lights on in that shit box she lives in. She never had any intentions of paying for a ride home. She couldn’t even if she wanted to.”
“But why? She knows we would have paid for it. Or gotten one of the sober prospects to take her home.” This came from Mouse.
“Pride,” I grunted. “And she probably thought she was going to stay in my room when she followed me there.”
“Now that you mention it,” Cami said cutting in. “She seemed hesitant about coming out. And I don’t think she paid for a drink all night.” She looked over at Brand. “Everyone kept buying them for her. Is that why she kept flirting?”
The realization of it hit me right then. Like a big slap to the face. She wasn’t trying to push me away. She wasn’t trying to ignore me. She was trying to hide the fact that things were that bad for her. That she had to resort to getting my brothers to buy her drinks in order to keep up the façade.
“Fuck!” I roared.
She pretended I wasn’t there because she knew the moment she looked at me that I would know. Because whether or not she had wanted to, she’d let me in and she couldn’t hide things from me like she wished she could.
How the fuck couldn’t I have seen it that night?
Why am I just getting a damn clue now?!
“Calm down, brother,” Ky said in an oddly soft tone.
“Yeah, okay,” I said holding my hands up because though he sounded calm, his body looked rigid and ready to tackle if need be. “So say she walked home…”
I didn’t finish that thought. I was out the door and down the stairs before I even realized it. I needed to retrace her steps to find some damn clues. If there was anything left to find. It had been a fucking week after all. But I had to try. And fast, because the day was quickly losing light.
It wasn’t two blocks from the bar when I found something. A shoe. It could have been anyone’s, but I knew. I fucking knew it was hers. Right there in the tall grass beside the road. I picked it up and hung my head. It was all the confirmation I needed. Something had happened to Laurel.
“Did you find something?” Ky asked coming to my side.
I couldn’t speak so I held up the shoe to tell him what he needed to know. I couldn’t move either. I was frozen in my spot, staring down at the ground like she’d somehow appear there. Even as Ky patted me on the shoulder and stepped away I couldn’t unglue my feet from their place.
“Hey,” Ky called out a moment later. “This hers?”
That was enough to have me snapping to. My head jerked up and sure enough, there was Laurel’s tiny purse thing. A clutch, I think she’d called it at one time.
“Yeah, I’m pretty sure she had something like that.”
“Let’s, uh, take it back to Cami. She can look through it,” Ky said knowing full well it was a big no-no to go through a chick’s purse. While I tended to agree with that, this was kind of a different situation.
“Just open the damn thing,” I grunted and continued to look around. There had to be something else. Something to tell me what happened here.
I looked back the way we’d walked. Then turned and looked at the area ahead. Though it was slight, I could tell the grass had been trampled down in a clear curved line. Like a car had veered off the road and then back on. There was no way to tell if it had stopped or not but I was desperate for the answer. There seemed to be two options here. One, someone swerved and possibly struck Laurel while she was walking. Or two, they had wandered off road on purpose and Laurel had been taken. Both thoughts made my blood boil. And for whatever reason, I didn’t even think that there was another option where the car tracks had nothing to do with her. I may have had tunnel vision and was grasping at anything to find an answer.
Whatever Ky was trying to say to me I didn’t hear because I was too focused on finding something that gave me some kind of clue.
“No blood,” I mumbled. There wasn’t anything that might have resembled spots of blood anywhere but that didn’t mean that she couldn’t have fallen and hit her head. Or the impact of the car could have broken her leg.
Had she been out here, left for hours, or days, all alone? Had she crawled her way somewhere trying to find help?
But Cable said he couldn’t find her in any of the hospitals.
“Search the fucking area,” I bellowed causing my brothers all around to come running. “Something happened. Right here.” I scanned the thick brush and trees that were just six feet back from the road.
“We’re losing light,” someone said. Mouse, it might have been.
“Get fucking flashlights. A fucking search dog out here. Something. Don’t tell me what I already know. If she’s out there, then we need to find her now!”
“Uh, B,” Ky said coming up beside me, Laurel’s tiny purse thing still in his grasp and something pinched between his fingers. “I think it might have been less one sided than you thought.” He reached out, a thick folded piece of paper pinched between his pointer and middle finger. For some reason, my hand shook as I reached out and plucked the paper away from him. “I didn’t read much. I stopped when I figured out what was going on,” he said the words low so that only I heard them then he walked off.
I shook my head and tucked it into my pocket. My emotions were too heightened right now for me to add anything else. I had no idea what was there but if what Ky had said was any indication, I had a strong feeling I needed to be alone and locked away before I read it.
An hour of searching later and we came up empty-handed.
At a loss, we all shuffled back to the clubhouse. The look on Cami’s face when she realized we had nothing was heartbreaking. I couldn’t take it. I needed a moment to collect myself but I didn’t feel like I deserved it.
“Cable,” I barked, causing everyone’s eyes to turn to me. “You got feed saved from a week ago?”
“Yeah, don’t know how much good it will do. Cameras barely catch anything beyond the parking lot. Might be lucky if we see some tires.”
“I don’t fucking care if we see a shadow. If there was a car and it passed by here, I want to fucking know about it.” I was losing it. But luckily, Cable just snapped his mouth shut, nodded, and walked out of the lounge.
“Take a breath, man,” Mouse said placing a firm hand on my shoulder.
I turned my head and glared at him. His hand remained in place and he didn’t even so much as flinch.
“I get it,” he said softly. “I do.” Then he gave my shoulder a squeeze and backed off.
“B-ry,” Iron called out. “Take a fucking break.”
And because it sounded more like an order rather than a suggestion, I turned and left the room.