Victoria
When I saw the call was from Corinne I had to take it. Considering I had no idea what she would say, and that her voice could carry like crazy—there had been times when I would be in a different room from Sage and still hear Corinne’s responses when they were on the phone—I had to leave.
I found an empty room that looked like an office and camped out there, sitting at a desk. “Corinne. Have you heard from Sage?”
“What? No. Sorry. I needed—”
“Have you tried calling her?” I interrupted her sharply.
“Yeah. Course I did. You really think I was just gonna up and call you when I could call her? Well, I did try calling her, but she didn’t pick up. Not sure what’s going on with her lately.”
That last bit of her rambling caught my attention. “What do you mean, not sure what’s going on with her lately.” I racked my brain. Had she been acting differently before she went missing? I didn’t think so, but she did spend as much time with Corinne as she did with me.
“Nothing major, really. She just didn’t want to hang as much. Which killed me. Believe me. I mean, Jack and I are tight. Super tight. And Jack and Trenton don’t jive, ya know? So it had been a little weird. And with Sage always wanting to spend time with Trenton, it made inviting them to come with us to the beach a no-go. Which sucked! My last guy, Ned, he and Trenton got along so great. No, wait, Ryan was between Ned and Jack. Anyhow, Ned and me, and Sage and Trenton all went to the beach together last summer, and it was such a freakin’ blast. But this time, Jack and I found that cove, and we had sex—”
“That’s enough,” I said dryly. “So the whole ‘not sure what’s going on’ is just because she picked Trenton over you?”
“Yeah.” Corinne, who always sounded so upbeat and bubbly, sounded down in the dumps. “We always swore we would never let a guy come between us. Blood sisters, and all that. And now she won’t answer her phone or her email. And I really need to talk to her.”
“What about?” I asked, inwardly cringing that it might be able something I didn’t want to hear.
“Jack. Ever since I told him Ian had been able to make me orgasm three times in a row, he’s being pissy with me. And the thing is, I lied about Ian! I just wanted Jack to try a little harder. He always finishes. I wanna finish, too. Is that too much to ask? No, right? But I guess I made him feel inadequate, and now I don’t know what to do.”
“Here’s an idea,” I said dryly. “Don’t lie to your boyfriend.”
“It was the truth! Stretched out a bit, yes, but it wasn’t a complete lie!”
“Omissions are lie,s too. You have to be honest. Would you want him to stretch the truth with you?”
“If we’re talking about whether or not a dress makes my ass look huge, a stretch would be appreciated if it’s necessary. Which it’s not. My ass looks great in everything.”
“Modesty,” I breathed, rolling my eyes.
“What’s that?”
I exhaled loudly. “If you really like Jack and want to be with him for a while…” Because no way was Corinne gonna be settling down anytime soon. “You might want to start telling him the truth.”
Movement at the doorway had me glancing up. Grant stood there, leaning against the doorframe, arms crossed. He gave me a nod and smile when I mouthed, “Give me a sec,” but then his expression turned dour when he thought I wasn’t looking anymore. My stomach tightened. Bad news?
“I hope things work out with Jack,” I said in an effort to wrap up the conversation. “If—”
“He’s the only guy who ever gave me an O during sex!” she wailed. “Granted, it’s not every time, but is it too much to ask for multiple Os? I just…I don’t know. And you’re not the person to ask, are you? I mean, when was the last time you spread your legs?”
“Corinne!” I admonished. My cheeks were burning, and they only grew hotter when I noticed Grant was trying to hold back laughter. Of course he could hear her. The dead could hear her!
“Not that I wanna know when you last had sex,” she continued.
“Look, Corinne, I’m gonna stop you right there. I don’t wanna know about your sex life either and—”
“Sorry. Geez. Sage told me once that you’re really understanding, and I totally didn’t believe her because, like, you’re her mom, right? Parents never really care. They claim to, but they don’t. It’s only because of blood, and I know you and her aren’t really related but…”
Ouch, did that burn. She sure knew how to knife someone in the gut.
“But she always said she could come to you, tell you anything. That you might get upset, but that you wouldn’t judge. My mom’s not much better than Sage’s. She basically a…She goes from one sugar daddy to another. I can’t come to her with shit like this because she thinks I should find an older, wealthy guy and suck his dick and take his money. That’s not what I’m about. I might fuck a lot of guys, but I wanna find the right guy, ya know? One who is a good guy and a good lay, and I’m starting to think that’s a fairytale. I just thought…with Sage not being around, that you could, you know, talk to me some. Help me work it out. But—”
“Corinne,” I said more quietly. “I didn’t know about your mom.”
“Yeah, well, that’s not something I broadcast. Not exactly something I’m proud of. But she’s my mom, you know? I love her.”
“I’m not judging you. I didn’t think it was appropriate to talk to you about this because I’m not your mom, but if you can’t talk to yours…” I blew out a breath. “Does Jack make you happy?”
“Most of the time.”
“Do you enjoy spending time with him?”
“Heck yeah!”
“Outside of the bedroom,” I clarified.
“Oh. Sometimes.”
“Is sometimes enough for you?” I asked softly.
For once, there was silence on the other end of the line.
“Maybe you should take a day and just do what you wanna do. Separate from him. And separate from other guys, too,” I felt the need to add. “See who you are when it’s just you.”
“Just be by myself? And do what?”
“Do you have any hobbies?”
“Guess sex doesn’t count.”
“No.”
“I…I kinda don’t know who I am without a guy,” she admitted.
“How does that make you feel?”
“I don’t know. I guess I can do that. One day can’t hurt, right?”
“Sure!”
“Watch Netflix, eat ice cream…”
“Or go out to the movies,” I suggested. Something to get her outside. “Do you like to paint? Maybe there’s an art class or something.”
“You mean you want me to do stuff with random strangers?” She sounded horrified.
“I mean do things that might help you connect with others on a nonsexual level. You know, what’s the word?”
“Friendship?”
“Yes!”
“Okay. I’ll try. Not expecting much, but it can’t hurt any. Thanks, Sage’s Mom.”
I laughed. She always called me that.
“Guess you aren’t too bad with the advice thing.” And she hung up.
I rubbed my forehead. “You heard how much?”
“Enough.” Grant chuckled, the sound low and deep, and I found my gaze roving down his body, hesitating over his lips, over the swell of his crossed arms, down his shirt that covered his six-pack, to below his belt.
“Sage’s best friend,” I said by way to clarify.
“Gotcha. She hasn’t heard from her I take it.”
“Nope.” I exhaled. “She’s basically making me her substitute best friend.” I braced myself. “I take it you came here to talk about something other than Corinne and her oversharing.”
“Yeah.” He took a deep breath himself.
“You have a new lead.” I jumped to my feet, my heart pounding. It couldn’t be a good one. “Don’t tell me. They’re alive, aren’t they? They have to be.” My hands flew to my throat. I couldn’t breathe.
“I don’t know. I haven’t found them. No further lead than what we already have except…” He grimaced.
I slapped my palms onto the table. “Just spit it out!” I snapped.
“I found something in Trenton’s apartment. I hoped that it wasn’t connected, but that might be—most likely is—wishful thinking.” He closed his eyes.
My blood ran cold as a guess came to mind based on everything Grant had told me about Trenton. I’d admit that I had a lot more sympathy for the guy after I learned what kind of upbringing he had, but becoming a user wasn’t the answer. It seemed like Grant had done everything he could to help clean up Trenton, and it seemed to me Trenton had cleaned himself up the rest of the way. I never once thought Trenton had been high around me, but that didn’t mean that he couldn’t have gone drugs when he hadn’t been around me.
That he might have introduced Sage to drugs made me want to kill him. Sage was impressionable. She constantly was looking for attention because her mother had never given her any. I tried to make up for it, but let’s be honest, a teenage girl wanted more attention from a guy than her adopted mom. And Trenton did give her plenty of attention—not that all of it was positive.
“Drugs. You found drugs in his place.” I stared at Grant.
He nodded. “I didn’t tell you right away because…”
“You want to shield me, protect my memory of Sage, in case anything should happen to her, in case we find her…” I couldn’t say it.
“I should’ve told you.”
“You did tell me.” I rubbed my jaw. Maybe this wasn’t a terrible thing if—and it was a big if—we could use it to find them safe and sound. “Do you know who his supplier used to be? Do they have a connection to the bar? We have another angle to work.”
“Getting into the drug world isn’t simple.”
I made a scoffing sound. “Even I could find access to drugs if I wanted them.”
“Access is one thing. Intel into who is dealing what and the inner working details, that’s another thing. It’s why agents have to go deep undercover for years to be able to bust up huge drug circles.”
“So what you’re saying is we can’t use it to our advantage.”
He shook his head. “I didn’t say that. I’ve had a few run-ins with his old crewmates. They know my face.”
“So it is a dead end.” I winced. Terrible word choice. It was a horrible phrase overall. No one should use it ever.
“They know my face,” he clarified, “but I do have someone in the loop. One of my guys is inside. Someone Trenton doesn’t even know is a member of Devil’s Horns. It’s not that I don’t trust Trenton. It’s just that I know how devastating drugs can be, how much of a hold they can have on people. Once a user, always a user isn’t always true. People can overcome addiction. It’s not easy, though, and relapses can and do happen. I just wanted to know if they ever came back around. It isn’t always easy to walk away from drugs, from both ends of it.”
“You also wanted to know if he ever came back around to it.”
A muscle in his jaw jumped as he nodded. “I thought he was doing better. He sure had me fooled.”
“Have you asked your guys if they thought he was using again?”
He rubbed the back of his neck and glanced away.
“They thought so, huh?” I assumed.
Curiously, his right hand closed into a fist.
“So they didn’t think so.” I furrowed my brows, confused, but then it hit me. “You don’t think he was using. You think he was dealing!” Oh fuck. That was worse, wasn’t it? Fuck! “If he is selling…” I swallowed hard. I felt lightheaded and had to try to focus on my breathing so I didn’t pass out. “Do you think they’re in trouble? That they might be dead already?”
Grant crossed over to me and embraced me tight against his chest. He rubbed my back, and I closed my eyes, trying to focus on the strong sound of his steady heartbeat. “I didn’t tell you because I didn’t want you to think poorly of Sage. I didn’t want you to lose hope.”
Tears burned my eyes. It would be easy to crumble, to burst into tears, to scream and rage against the injustice of it all. It would be so easy to just lie down and roll over and give up.
It would be so difficult to fight through the pain, to ignore the worry, to turn my fear into fury, to dare to not give up on that hope.
To try to find them, even if we only end up finding their bodies, or worse, finding out what had happened to them with their bodies being unable to be recovered.
Blinking away my tears, I took a deep, body-shuddering breath. I never had been one to take the easy route. If I had, I would still be a waitress. No. I was a businesswoman. I was a go-getter. I was determined.
I was a mom.
And I would do whatever the hell it took to get my daughter back.