Grant
I could almost see the gears churning in Victoria’s head, and I fought back a grin. She was no damsel in distress, and if that was the case, what was her daughter like? She had been through hell, just like Trenton. In an ideal world, the two broken kids would’ve been able to work through their troubles together and come out stronger for it. They would be perfect together and end up married and have two point five kids and a house with a white picket fence.
But this world was far from ideal, and they could be heading down a very different and dangerous path instead, one filled with vice and darkness and drugs. Maybe death, too.
Had Trenton gotten Sage into drugs? Doubtful. Victoria would’ve noticed a chance in her daughter’s behavior, and it also seemed unlikely that Trenton was doing the drugs himself. Which did suggest he was dealing. Was Sage helping him? Were they partners? Or was Sage innocent in all of this? Only involved because she was hung up on a bad boy?
“I haven’t lost hope,” Victoria said, squeezing me tightly for a moment before stepping back slightly to look up at me. “Don’t worry. I won’t give up hope until we find out what happened to them.”
The steely resolve in her eyes and the fire burning there all made for one very determined woman. A woman who looked hotter every second.
She grinned slightly and pushed me away. “Calm down, tiger,” she murmured. “We have an undercover operation to finish setting up.”
I adjusted myself—she had felt me digging into her, but could she really get upset that she had turned me on?—and I grabbed her hand and brought her outside. We got onto my bike, and we rode over to the bar. Holding her hand again, I had her follow me up to the office, where Daryl and Charlie were already there, waiting on us.
I slapped the guys on their backs. “Guys, this is Victoria. Sage’s mom.”
“No way,” Daryl said, gaping at her and giving her a once-over. “This bird is the mom of Trenton’s bird? She’s too young for that. You had her when you were two or something?”
Victoria gave a tight smile. “Adopted mother,” she said.
I smacked Daryl upside the head. “Knock it off.”
“Sorry,” he muttered.
“This fool is Daryl, and I’m Charlie.” He held out his hand. “I’m sorry. Daryl should’ve been named Richard instead.”
Daryl frowned. “What are you talkin’ ’bout?”
“Dick. You should’ve been named Dick.” Charlie smirked.
I sighed. “You both need to can it with the jokes and get serious.”
“Yessir.” Charlie saluted me. He had been in the military, just for a stint to be able to pay for his college. He was a hacker, and a damned good one at that. He was a major asset to the team.
“Got it, boss.” Daryl nodded. That was as serious as he could get.
Victoria shook her head. “You guys don’t have to be serious on my account. If you need to joke around to whatever, go for it.”
“Good.” Daryl winked and pretended to wipe sweat from his brow. “I can’t ever be serious for long.”
I wagged a finger at him. “He’s a clown, all right, but that’ll work in our favor. His jokes make others feel comfortable, and when they’re comfortable, they start talking.”
“I make people feel at ease and make ’em give me their secrets.” Daryl winked again. “And if my jokes don’t work, I can turn on the charm and crack ’em that way.”
“So, here’s the drill. Daryl, you’re gonna go in and work the people. I want you talking to everyone. Customers, servers, the cook if you can. Don’t leave out anyone.”
“Got it.”
“Charlie, you’re gonna do the snooping. The back area seemed to be watched, so you might wanna start there. Be careful, and don’t get caught. If you can, see if you can hack into their system. See what they’re hiding. Because even if they aren’t involved with Trenton and Sage going missing, they’re messin’ in something, and it’s always a good idea to have dirt on people.”
“Dirt on people.” Victoria blinked. “You often try to find skeletons in closets so you can squeeze people and businesses?”
“We might’ve turned in a few businesses once or twice,” I admitted. “I might not like the police or being a snitch, but it’s good to have them on our side.”
“Yet you don’t want the police to help find Trenton.” She crossed her arms. “Care to explain that?”
“Because of the drug connection. And because the police aren’t always loyal friends. Some are corrupt, and some don’t give a shit about anyone. Some are all about the law. It’s complicated.”
“Everything with you is complicated,” she muttered. “Do the police know Trenton did drugs? Was he ever arrested?”
“Trenton was a lot of things, but he was also smart. He never got caught. He hid it well, just not well enough from me.” My lips curled downward. “’Til now.”
“I just can’t believe you would be in bed with the cops and—”
“Do you know how many motorcycle clubs get a bad rap?” I demanded. “We show up and we get the blame for whatever shit is going down, even if we don’t have a damn thing to do with it. Besides, the only businesses we turned in are ones that screwed us over. One time, this place—”
“I don’t need the details.” She held up a hand, and I found myself staring at her fingers. She knew just where to touch me to make me beg, to make me groan.
I shook my head. Now was not the time to get all hot and bothered. “You guys clear on the plan?”
“All set.” Charlie nodded.
“Clear and ready.” Daryl grinned, but there was that glint in his eyes. I always could count on him. He knew when to cool it down. “If they’ve got anything on our guys, we’ll sniff it out.”
“All right. Let’s eat dinner and then you should go. Don’t want you two poking around before the after-dinner crowd gets there. You’ll stick out too much if there aren’t enough people there.”
I ordered a bunch of sandwich platters and ate my fill. Victoria picked at her food at first, but the more she talked with some of the guys, the more she seemed to relax, and then she started to eat.
While she was relaxing, though, I was getting more anxious. I was a man of action. I wanted to be the one out there snooping and asking question. I had no issue with delegating work, but this was different. Trenton was part of the club, and everyone wanted him back, but none more so than me.
Once Daryl and Charlie finished eating, they slipped out the back. They were going to take separate cars and different routes there so they wouldn’t arrive at the same time.
Victoria excused herself to the bathroom.
I helped the other guys clean up the room then grabbed Hank by the arm. “You’ve travelled a lot. I want you to write me down a list of towns one hundred miles north of here.”
Hank nodded. “Can do.”
“Supposedly Trenton and Sage might’ve gone to a town that way. Got the info from Cowboy’s Lasso. Not sure it’s good info, but—”
“Gotta chase down every lead.” Hank nodded. “I miss it,” he muttered. “Camping out every night. Hitchhiking. It’s a rush, man. You gotta do it someday.”
“Someday,” I agreed. I would never hitchhike across the country, though. But with my bike? Maybe. Would be great to explore everywhere.
Victoria walked past the room and continued on down the hall, her cell to her ear. Now I wouldn’t want to go on a trip across the US like that by myself. If I had the right woman to go along with me…
Might be the best way to get over our grief.
Because I had a feeling that things weren’t going well for Trenton and Sage. And if we found them dead instead of alive, it was going to take a lot for us all to get through it. Leaving on a trip might actually be a smart way to try to sort through things.
But Victoria was picking hope, and maybe I should try to take a page out of her book. I’m the one being realistic, though.
Hank nodded again and walked off. Probably going to track down an atlas. He wasn’t one much for phones or computers. He really did like to rough it old school style, although the one piece of technology he did enjoy was a bike, of course.
Daryl was supposed to arrive at the bar in ten minutes, so I left to find Victoria. She was pacing in the hallway, her cell in her hand. She had just hung up.
“Everything all right?”
Her eyes were stormy. “Of course not. I can’t trust anyone to handle anything without needing to be babysat.” She sighed and rubbed her forehead. “It’s the restaurant. Heather Franklin, the one I left in charge so I can help track down Sage? Well, she just called me to say she screwed up and didn’t place an order for the meat we use to make our homemade meatballs. And we run a special every Tuesday night on spaghetti and meatballs. If we don’t have the meat, no meatballs, no happy costumers, no money.” She yanked on her hair. “I have to try to deal with this. Not that I want to, but…”
“You can trust me.”
She blinked as if only realizing now that she was talking to me and not fuming to herself.
“The boys and I have got this. You go handle things with your restaurant.”
“But—”
“Would Sage want you to lose the restaurant over her?”
Victoria’s eyes clouded over. “I’m not gonna lose the restaurant over this!”
“I didn’t mean…” I sighed and held out my hand. “I just don’t think she would want you to risk anything for her. Not the restaurant, not your life.”
Her expression softened. “I don’t care about myself. Only about her.”
“And that’s the mom in you. But you’re also a business owner. Think about your employees. Obviously you’re the engine that keeps that place running because it’s already falling apart without you. You’re also a woman with needs. And…do you have sisters, brothers? What about parents? You’re also a friend, and—”
“And I get your point.” She took my hand and squeezed it. “I should be able to handle everything over the phone. Hopefully. Is there an office or a room I can use?”
“Sure.” I had her follow me to a small room that was mostly used for storage since the office was ready for the wiretap. I released her hand to grab a chair from the dining area and brought it in for her. “Take as long as you need. I gotta get set up with the wire so I can listen in. You do your thing. I’ll do mine.”
She grabbed my hand and yanked hard, forcing me to lower down to her. Her other hand wrapped around my neck, and she kissed me hard. Just a quick kiss, but it was enough to get my blood flowing.
“I’m counting on you,” she whispered. “I don’t like to delegate. I don’t like relying on others. Don’t let me down.”
The last words were almost a plea.
“Don’t worry,” I said. “I won’t. I promise.”
She kissed me again and settled down in the chair, already dialing someone.
I left her to her work and rushed back to the office. I was just putting the earpiece in when I could hear Daryl’s voice loud and clear, “You hear me, boss?”
“Yeah. You might wanna keep your voice down.”
“Calm yourself. I’m just parking now.” The whir of the engine died. “All right. Walking in now.”
A few of the others guys came in, so I opted to switch over so they could all listen in, too.
Daryl mingled with the other customers first, laughing and joking around, paying for drinks and accepting drinks in return. I sure hoped he was nursing them. When Daryl got drunk, he tended to get a little belligerent.
He used the angle that he was hoping to split up Trenton and Sage because “I want Savannie all to myself.” He painted Trenton as a punk, as a lousy asshole, as someone not deserving. All of the ladies ate it up and gushed about how “Savannie” should open up her eyes and get with him, but none of them knew where she was. The guys didn’t understand why Daryl didn’t just get with her. Who cared if she was with another guy?
I shook my head at that. If there was one thing I hated, it was cheating. Sure, I might only be with a woman for a night or two, but during that time, I was a one-woman man. Didn’t loyalty mean anything to anyone anymore?
Next, Daryl started to flirt with a few of the waitresses. The night seemed to be hopping—at times it was so loud I couldn’t catch every word Daryl was saying, let alone the person he was talking to—but the waitresses made time for him.
One mentioned that Sage did seem like she was too good for Trenton. “I wouldn’t serve her any alcohol. Some of the others might but not me. Got a few kids back at home that need me to have this job so I can buy them food. Can’t risk doing anything shady. Anyhow, when they sat in my section one time, and Trenton realized I wouldn’t get her a beer, he threw a fit. Tried to get me fired. This was two months ago. The owner actually came out and told him to leave, but Trenton and Sage came back the next night, and no one batted an eye or made him leave.”
I grimaced. Even when Trenton had been on drugs he hadn’t acted like that, not ever. Drugs could change someone’s personality, but he had tended to be more full of himself than anything. Not angry.
Stress. Maybe that was the cause of his anger. And fear. Worry. If he was dealing for shady characters, if he had double-crossed them or was considering to pull a fast one, that could make him anxious. It could also explain why he felt the need to just drop off the face of the earth.
“See? That’s why he shouldn’t be allowed ’round here. Or be with Sage.” Daryl sounded plain disgusted.
“He hasn’t been around lately at least,” the waitress said, sounding relieved. “She hasn’t either.”
Daryl frowned. “I swear I’m not a stalker. It’s my first time being here. I heard Sage came here, and I was hoping to see her, to be honest. Wanted to buy her food and…What’s the smile for?”
“‘Buy her food’? Are you kidding me?”
“Well, like you said, she’s underage…Legal, but no drinky drinky.”
“Look. I wasn’t born yesterday. I know what goes on, and…What you wanna do is your business. Don’t involve me any.”
“Sorry. I didn’t mean to bother you, and I know you’re busy. It’s just…Savannie…Sage…she’s a good girl. She deserves better than him, and I just wanna make sure she’s all right.”
There was a slight pause, and then the waitress said, “She and I talked a few times, on the very rare occasions when she came without Trenton. She’s a good kid, but she’s hung up on the guy. I don’t know if it’s because he was her first lay, or what, but she’s kinda stuck on him in a bad way. She’s not gonna dump him for you. If it makes you feel any better, she’s not gonna dump him for anyone else either. She reminds me a lot of my best friend, actually. They’re both gone over a guy who is bad news and can’t see it.”
“Why is it that assholes always end up with the girls?” Daryl grumbled.
I had to smirk. As if Daryl wasn’t one of those assholes himself. And I meant that with love. A few of the others guys laughed, too.
“Nice guys always finish last,” Daryl complained.
A strange sound filtered over the wire. A snort maybe?
“Don’t kid yourself. You aren’t one of the good ones.” The waitress laughed. “Take some advice and find another girl.”
“What about you?” Daryl asked smoothly.
“Not gonna happen. I have kids, remember? Sure that does fit the kind of girl you’re looking for.”
“Hey, I like kids,” he protested. “Here. Have a drink later on me.”
“But why?”
“You have kids, remember? Sure they drove you to wanna drink at some point. And I bet you don’t take a lot of time for yourself.”
“I don’t.” She might have said something else, but there was a sudden cheer in the background that drowned out her words.
“What’s going on?” I risked asking Daryl through the small earbud he had.
“Shake that ass!” he yelled then whispered for me, “Girl dancing on table just took off her shirt.”
Should’ve guessed.
Daryl went and talked to a few other people who just entered the bar, but they didn’t know anything about Trenton or Sage.
“Gonna try the bartenders next,” Daryl whispered. It was quitter now, and I figured he was in the bathroom.
The distinct sound of piss came over the wire.
Yeah, bathroom all right. Gross.
“Might have to wait, though,” he continued, “’til closer to closing. Too many people at the bar for me to even get near them right now.”
Considering that he wouldn’t have anything of note to listen in on, I switched over to Charlie. “How’s it going?”
“Security is tighter than an asshole,” Charlie mumbled. “Sorry. Is Victoria listening in?”
“Not right this second.”
“Yeah, tighter than an asshole. Too many guards. They aren’t typical bouncers. I think they’re packing. This place definitely has a secret.”
“Be careful. If you can’t snoop, don’t worry about it. It’s not worth risking your life over.”
“Copy that. I’m trying to hack into their system, but it’s taking me some time.”
“Can’t you hack them from here?” one of my guys asked, and I repeated the question for Charlie.
“Nope. Have to be on site.”
I let him get back to work, not wanting to disrupt his concentration. The more we dug our claws into this place, the more I didn’t like it. The idea that their guards were packing heat at a place that served alcohol made my skin crawl. Drinking and guns should never coexist. What were those assholes up to? Did it have anything to do with Trenton and Sage? Did it have a connection to the drugs Trenton had stashed away?
If Trenton had double-crossed someone, he might be dead. If he had run away from someone, he might’ve been found. If he gotten himself into trouble, why hadn’t he come to me and asked for help? He should’ve realized I would have his back. He was part of the Devil’s Horns. He was one of us.
Maybe I had been too hard on him. Maybe I had pushed him too hard to get cleaned up. Maybe he should’ve gone to rehab instead of just using me as his sponsor. After all, I did weed a few times back in the day. I had never done any of the hard stuff. I hadn’t gone through what he had, not the drugs or the abusive bullshit he had to try to overcome. He hadn’t needed me as a mentor. He needed more help than I could’ve ever given him. He needed a real sponsor and maybe a shrink, too.
I tried to do everything for my boys. My family meant everything to me. If someone screwed with us, we handled it as a team. That was the real reason why we would sometimes be police informants—to take down our enemies. It was the safest way to do it with minimal risk to my guys.
But calling in the police here when we knew for a fact that guns were involved and with the innocents at the bar, it was just big of a threat. I wouldn’t gamble innocent lives. We were on our own.
“Shit. I’m locked out. I can’t find a way in.” Charlie’s voice sounded in disbelief. “They got tighter security going on than the military. What the fuck?”
“Get out of there,” I ordered. I switched back to Daryl. The bar still sounded loud and obnoxious in the background. “How’s it going?”
“Going,” he muttered, then said louder, “You sure I can’t buy you a drink?”
“I’m working.”
“What about after you punch out?”
“I don’t date customers.”
“I haven’t bought anything here.”
“Just because you haven’t had me ring you up—”
“Oh, yeah, talk dirty to me.”
I couldn’t hear her reaction.
“Get outta there, Daryl,” I ordered.
“But I only just started to talk to—”
“You heard me.”
He grumbled, taking his time saying goodbye to practically everyone in the joint, before heeding my advice. Only after I could hear the sound of his car, and Charlie’s, too, did I turn off the system.
My mind was racing. We hadn’t learned much, but we also had learned something. That bar was definitely a front, but for what? A gang? Drugs? Weapons?
Victoria came into the room, her frown tugging at me, causing my stomach to twist into knots.
“Everything all right with your restaurant?” I asked, standing and walking over to her.
She glanced around me to the equipment. “They’re done already? What did they find out?”
I stared at the guys then the door, and they nodded and left us in peace without my having to ask them to go. “Charlie couldn’t hack in, and he couldn’t do much snooping either.”
“Too guarded.” She pursed her lips. “Wasn’t just me they wanted to keep out.”
“Nope. Your daughter had a waitress for a friend, but we didn’t learn a whole lot.”
“From the way you talked up Charlie, he should’ve been able to hack in. So they have someone really good on their side, and that they need someone that good says plenty.”
“You got it. And, Victoria, before you even think about going back there,” I began.
“Who me?” she asked innocently.
“Their guards have guns.”
Her face drained, making her look like a vampire. “That’s not good,” she whispered.
“No.” I wrapped my arms around her and kissed the top of her head. “Don’t worry, though. I’ll keep you safe.”
She pulled away. “I’m not worried about me.”
“I know. Maybe I should’ve said one less worry for you.”
A teensy smile appeared on her lips, so small I might’ve been imagining it. “I think I fixed everything with the restaurant. It’s amazing how much people rely on you to do things and how much things can fall apart if you aren’t there to do them yourself.”
“That’s why you’re the boss. You can juggle everything.”
“Yeah, well, it’s also why I haven’t taken a vacation ever.”
“Ever? Not even when you were a waitress?”
“I couldn’t afford to. I needed the money. And I’m kinda a workaholic so there’s that. I just wish Sage shared my work ethic. She’s been the full-time dishwasher at the restaurant for years, ever since she dropped out of high school. I want to bump her up to being a waitress, but I don’t think I can trust her to do a good enough job. She has her head in the clouds. When she wants something, when she’s motivated, she’s the hardest worker there ever was, but when she’s unmotivated, forget about it.” Victoria rubbed the back of her neck. “Now what?”
“We wait for the guys to return, and then I’m gonna take you back to my place.”
Victoria grimaced. “I feel like we failed.”
“We haven’t, and we didn’t,” I said firmly, retaking her into my arms.
She stared up at me, her hands on my shoulders. “Maybe I could go back and—”
My grip on her tightened protectively. “And what, Victoria?”
“I don’t know!” she exploded. “I feel like we’re not doing enough.”
“Believe me. We’re doing everything we can.” I leveled her a frank stare. “Please promise me, Victoria, that you won’t go back to the bar alone.”
Her lips twisted into a beautiful pout.
I just wanted to kiss her senseless, but I refrained somehow. “If something should happen to you, I wouldn’t forgive myself.”
Her pout deepened, and she wiggled in my arms. “You don’t even really know me.”
“Maybe not as well as I would like to, but that doesn’t mean I want you to go missing too.”
She wormed her way free. “I’m not a child,” she hissed.
“I’m not treating you like one. For Christ’s sake, Victoria, they have guns!”
She paled at that. “I know.”
“And we don’t know for certain that they’re involved. We shouldn’t make a move until we know for certain. The last thing I want is for my guys to have their lives taken from them for no good reason.”
She nodded and blinked rapidly. “You’re right. I’m sorry. I’m just anxious.”
“Completely understandable.”
“How soon until they’ll get back?”
“Maybe ten minutes.”
Victoria gave me a tiny smile. “I’ll get ready to go.” She left to gather her things, not that she had much.
She passed by Hank as he strolled in. I held a finger to my lips and waited for her to be far enough away for him to talk.
He cleared his throat. “Only one place it could be. A small town. Called Douglastown. Nothing else it could be.”
“You’ve been there before?”
Hank shook his head. “Nope, but I did a little digging. It’s near a tourist trap.”
“So there’s a lot of hotels and motels, then.” I rubbed my chin.
He nodded. “I would think so. Shady places, most like. All tourist traps are like that. Wanna make you stop and then rob ya.”
“Not all are like that.”
“When they’re in the middle of nowhere they are.”
I wasn’t gonna argue with him. “Might you fancy a look around?”
Hank grinned. “I’ve been itching for a trip the past few weeks. Would love to. Thought you would never ask.”
“Call me immediately if you see signs of either of them.”
“Will do.” Hank saluted with his fingers and made off.
Daryl and Charlie arrived just as Hank was pulling out. I greeted them, told them to have a few beers—although Daryl had sure acted like he had some there, his breath didn’t stink any. He had only pretended to drink there, and I appreciated that he managed to keep his mind clear without the haze of alcohol to influence it.
Victoria silently came over to me, and we left. Once we arrived, I thought she would like to go right to sleep, but she took me by the hand and lead me to the bedroom. I wasn’t going to complain any, and soon, I wasn’t sure which of us was screaming louder. The way she cried out my name when she came did something to me. There was a connection between us. The only question was whether or not it would last.
Because, the thing was, I was starting to think maybe I did want it to last. It was something I hadn’t even considered with any other woman.
And it terrified me almost as much as I was terrified for Trenton and Sage.