Grant
I gestured for the woman to sit on the couch, but she took one look at it and shook her head. Yeah, actually I wouldn’t want to sit on it myself. It had a few questionable stains.
“Who are you?” I asked when she neglected to answer my previous question.
“Who are you?” she retorted, her brown eyes flashing. She jutted out her chin, as if trying to look down at me even though I was taller than she was.
She had fire, I’d give her that, but did she have any answers? “You’re the one who came banging on the door.” I appraised her. Was she playing me? Why was she looking for Sage?
“You’re the one who’s in an apartment that doesn’t belong to you,” the woman replied coolly.
Unflappable. I liked that. Most women caved beneath my smile and charm. Well, I hadn’t given her the charm yet, and I shouldn’t. I needed to be worried about Trenton. I needed her to answer my questions. I leveled her a stare and waited for her to start talking.
After a moment, she sighed and glanced away. “My name is Victoria.”
“Victoria…” I prompted, waving my hand for her to continue.
“Victoria Klein,” she said in a huff.
“Your connection to Trenton?” I asked.
“To Sage.” Her glower only added to her beauty. “I’m her mother,” she added after a long moment. “Adopted mother. I’m here because I want answers.”
So she knew nothing. Of course.
But to be sure, I asked, “You have no idea where Sage is?”
“I assume she’s with Trenton. Who isn’t here.” She made a point of looking around me to the obviously empty apartment.
“No, he isn’t.” I rubbed my chin, the stubble there prickly against my palm. Just what I needed. A hot mom who was going to try to stick her nose into the investigation and slow me down.
“Do you have an idea where he is?” She started to tap her foot, which made her boobs jiggle.
Really? She was giving me attitude? “I’m gonna find out,” I told her. “Don’t you worry your pretty little head about it. I have it all under control.”
Her eyes flashed. “She’s my daughter, and I will worry about it.”
“Look. You can either stop your foolhardy search—because I can guarantee you that you won’t get anywhere on your own—or you can come with me.”
What the fuck did I just say? I couldn’t be serious. That had to be my cock speaking. But if she really was dead set on finding her daughter, and drugs were involved, she would need to be careful, and she would need someone to keep an eye on her, whether or not she agreed with that sentiment.
“Go with you? Where?” She shook her head and before I could give her more details, she added, “I can’t. I have a restaurant to run.”
A restaurant? Was she the owner or the manager? Either way, that was impressive. My opinion of her went up a notch, but it wouldn’t stay there if she chose work over her daughter. Nothing should mean more than family.
I shrugged. “No sweat off my back. Just know the police won’t help you either. They don’t care about runaways.”
“Sage isn’t a runaway!” From the scowl on her face, I was certain the cops had mentioned the term to her. I sure hoped she gave them lip for it.
“Well then? What’s your decision?” I was done here. Wasn’t about to waste any more time. I’d already confiscated the drugs, but there weren’t any other clues to the couple’s whereabouts here. The drugs were the way to go, and again, we couldn’t have the police down our backs if we were to explore that avenue.
“I…” She took a deep breath. “Do you have any leads?”
“One.”
“Care to share it?”
“Not here.”
Her eyes narrowed. “I told you my name and my connection to them. Who the hell are you, and why do you think you can stand there and dictate what I do?”
“Grant Reardon.”
She didn’t blink.
“Haven’t you heard of me?”
She shook her head.
I blew out an exasperated breath. “Please tell me you at least know about Devil’s Horns.”
“The stupid motorcycle club Trenton’s involved in. Oh.” Her lips formed a perfect O. “You’re part of the club?”
“I’m the leader of that stupid motorcycle club actually.”
Her cheeks stained pink. “Oh,” she repeated faintly.
“That change your mind about coming with me?”
“How long has Trenton been missing?”
I grimaced. I didn’t appreciate that she answered my question with a question of her own, but I did appreciate that she hadn’t apologized for her remark about my MC. She had spunk and her own opinions. Spunk, fire, zeal—they all made for a wild time in the bedroom. “Trenton’s been gone five days as far as I can tell.”
“Sage, too,” she murmured. “They’ve got to be together.” She nodded decisively. “All right. I’ll go with you.”
“Good.”
“On one condition.”
“Look, I’m not in the mood—”
“I just want you to not keep any secrets from me. Deal?” She held out her hand.
The drugs in my back pocket burned me as I shook her hand. “Deal.”
We left the apartment, and I noticed that she watched as I locked up the joint. She followed me down the stairs and kept up my swift pace until we reached my bike.
“My car is over there.” She jerked her thumb to the left.
“Ever rode on a bike before?” I asked as I put on my helmet.
She shook her head. “Another time, maybe,” she said, but she sounded like the chances of that actually happening were poor. “I’ll follow you to…just where are we going?”
“To Devil’s Horns headquarters. Follow me.”
She started to walk away.
“Not much of a daredevil,” I grumbled under my breath.
She whirled around. “This isn’t fun and games. This is serious. If you just want to make jokes and flirt or fuck or any of that, I am not cool with it.”
Fire enough to last lifetimes. Damn.
“If I want to ride on a motorcycle, I will. Not right now. You got it?”
“Got it.”
She walked away. Her hips were swaying way too much for it to not be on purpose. I had to adjust myself in my seat before I could ride away.
Victoria kept up with me easily. She even ran a red to keep behind me. I should’ve waited the light out with her, but I liked knowing she wasn’t a stickler for the rules. She might need to bend the rules with me if we’re to find our people.
Headquarters was located on the floor above my bar. Outside of my office, there was a general room, a meeting room, two bathrooms, and a small kitchen. Posters lined the walls, pictures of my guys goofing off. On one wall, there was a mural of a bike with a man on fire driving off into the sunset. Gray Beard—real name Alan—was a crazy artist. He’d done most of us up in tats.
Victoria walked over to it. “Wow,” she said.
“Nice, ain’t it?”
She nodded. “But wouldn’t the gust created from riding make the fire go out?”
I threw back my head and laughed. “Probably. It’s amazing, though. Riding. It’s powerful. Makes you feel alive.”
“Sure it does,” she said doubtfully.
“If you ever wanna find out,” I offered, “I’m your man.”
“First, I wanna find out about Sage.”
I grimaced. “First, you’re gonna meet some of the crew.” With a hand on the small of her back, I ushered her into the meeting room. Shortly before she’d knocked, I’d texted some of the guys to round everyone up for me. It was strange to walk through the general room without anyone else in it. There were always guys hanging out.
The meeting room was packed, and I quickly introduced Victoria to everyone. She seemed a little stiff and uptight, and I guessed I couldn’t blame her. A few of the guys looked at her like wolves about to take a snack.
I turned to her once everyone calmed down from the introduction. “Are you sure you don’t know anything, anything at all, that’ll help us find out what happened to Trenton? And to Sage?”
“I won’t hold back anything,” she said coolly. “I don’t know where she is. That’s why I went to his place, to Trenton’s. I was hoping I might find him or find out something from one of his neighbors.”
“Did you?”
“No. No one else has seen him. It’s like they just disappeared.” She bit her lower lip.
We all got into a big discussion as to who saw Trenton last and where and tried to come up with a game plan. Did I mention the drugs? No. Not yet. I wanted to keep Victoria safe. She was doing her best for her daughter, and I respected that, but I wanted to also keep her memory of her daughter untarnished. I didn’t know if Sage was involved with the drugs or not, and until I knew for certain, I didn’t want Victoria to freak out. Drugs meant money. Lots of money. And money meant guns. And danger. And murder. We might be looking for Trenton and Sage, but we might find their bodies instead.
We grabbed pizza from the bar to eat for dinner, and I sent a few guys out to chase down some possibilities.
Victoria yawning caught my attention. She stayed close to my side the entire time, but not too close.
“Tired?” I asked her.
She shook her head. “I’m too worried to be—” Another yawn cut her off.
I smirked. “It’s all right to be tired.”
“I should be out there, searching,” she murmured. “If I’m not working, I should be searching.”
She hadn’t eaten much. She’d been texting on her phone, and I assumed it either had to do with details for her restaurant or about trying to chase down some of her own leads, on Sage’s end of it.
I grabbed another slice and put it on her plate. “Eat.”
“I’m not—”
“You can’t stop living. You can’t survive on fear. Eat. Sleep. You need energy to keep up.”
She glowered at me, but she did take a bite.
“Good. Once you’ve finished eating, you’ll come with me to my loft.”
Victoria had lifted the pizza to her mouth, but she lowered it without taking another bite. “To your loft? No. I don’t think so. I have my own place—”
“Victoria, your daughter has disappeared, and we don’t know why. The circumstances, well, they might not be good ones.”
“Because of Trenton being in your motorcycle club?” she asked, eyes flashing.
“Because of Trenton being Trenton,” I said sharply.
She grunted, and I fought back a grin. Sage might not be her blood, but she treated her like she was. That was how I was with my crew. I understood exactly where she was coming from.
“A kidnapping is serious. I don’t know if that’s what happened here, but we have to take precautions, don’t you agree?” I asked. Victoria was rational. I’d appeal to her rational side.
And once we learned what happened to the couple, I would love the chance to appeal to her wild side in the bedroom, if she’d let me.
“Yes,” she said begrudgingly.
“You can’t stay here.” There was a cot in my office, but that was only for me and only in emergencies. “And you won’t be safe at home.”
“But your loft will be safe?” she countered.
“Safer than your place.”
“What if you came over?” Her cheeks flushed.
“I could, but I think my loft is a better option. I’ll keep you safe. I swear.”
It was obvious she didn’t want to, and I understood that. I was a stranger, and I had whisked her away from the lead she was tracking down, hadn’t given her enough hope that we’d find her daughter, and now I was telling her it wasn’t safe for her to go home, that she should come to my place. If I were her, I’d be doubting whether or not to come, too.
“Call a girlfriend,” I urged. “Let her know where you’re going. I swear I don’t have a secret motive here.”
Maybe that was the truth. Maybe that was a lie. I honestly wasn’t sure.
She nodded and proceeded to call someone named Alice and made it clear she was going with me back to my place and she wanted someone to know in case anything happened. Her cheeks turned an even darker shade of pink, and I wished I could hear what Alice said back to her. If I had to guess, it was something about not wanting to know details, or something along those lines.
Victoria ate that slice and a second one, and I ate another myself. Maybe she was stalling. Or maybe she hadn’t been taking care of herself since Sage went missing and she was really hungry. I didn’t say anything when she reached for a third—albeit tiny—slice.
But once she finished it, she wiped her hands on a napkin and threw away her trash. “All right. I’m ready to go.”
“Good.” I put a hand to the small of her back and led her outside. She hesitated, glancing from my bike to her car.
“I’ll follow you.”
I nodded, but inwardly, I was smiling. Once everything was good and right in the world, I’d find a way to get her on the back of my bike. She’d hold on tight, and it would be the ride of her life.
I’d make sure of it.