Grant
When I woke to find my arms empty, I shot right up out of bed. Where was Victoria? My bed felt so cold without her.
I checked the bathroom, calling out for her, feeling like a fool. I wasn’t the kind of guy to be whipped, but with Trenton and Sage being gone, maybe hurt or even killed, I wasn’t about to take any chances.
I was just about to enter the kitchen when my phone rang.
Hank.
“What did you find?” Hell, did he work fast. Had to love that about him.
“I went around to just about every fucking hotel and motel there was. Even scoped out a few shacks in case they were laying up in one of ’em.”
“And?” I demanded. Was he only calling to say it had been a dead end?
“The girl was seen at a motel called Moonshine Motel.”
I exhaled a sigh of relief. “What about Trenton?”
“No one mentioned him.”
“Stick around but lay low,” I ordered. “Don’t put your neck out on the line. We’ll be up quick as we can.”
“Will do.”
I hung up and continued into the kitchen. There was a note from Victoria. She’d gone over to Trenton’s place.
I tried calling her, but my phone was acting up, and the call wouldn’t go through. Texts wouldn’t either. Great. My cell did this every so often, and I always meant to get it looked at but never made time for it.
I hightailed it over to Trenton’s. I’d just tell her in person, only Victoria’s car wasn’t out front. Didn’t matter. I still ran up to Trenton’s apartment anyway. The sight of the place being ransacked made my blood run like ice through my veins. Had Victoria been here when the fuckers who messed with the place still been here? Had they taken her? Was she all right?
As if by magic, a text came through form Victoria. I’m all right.
Thank God.
I kneeled down in all of the crap on the floor. She was all right. All the worry and dread in my stomach just let go. I didn’t know how Sage and Trenton were doing, but at least Victoria was all right because if she hadn’t been, heads would roll.
She had found a way beneath my defenses. She wasn’t just a one-night stand. She wasn’t just a woman I wanted to fuck a couple of times before sending her away. Victoria wasn’t meant for that. She was meant for something more. I wanted to be a part of her life—a major part.
I tried calling her, but my phone began acting up again. That was all right. I’d get ahold of her.
The rest of the apartment looked the same—like someone had unleashed a tornado inside of it. I had no idea if anything had been taken, but if someone had been looking for the drugs, they wouldn’t have found it. Unless Trenton had stashes in other hiding places. Which wasn’t exactly smart. Honestly, the amount I had found hadn’t been as big as it could’ve been. A little more than for recreational use, but not enough to go out and sell. Just what was Trenton’s endgame?
The puzzle was missing way too many pieces. I had a feeling Trenton was just a pawn in someone else’s game, and if I could find the kingpin, I would have the complete picture.
Fleetingly, I thought about calling the police and telling them they might want to scoop out the bar, but if I were wrong and the bar was mixed up in something else altogether, it might just complicate things further, and if they were involved, I didn’t want to make them go underground. What if Trenton had ditched Sage, and that was why he hadn’t been seen at the motel? But why wouldn’t Sage have come home? Then again, if he stranded her without money or a cell, she’d have no way to get back home outside of hitchhiking. Yet she was at a motel. If she were staying there, that meant money, right?
Man, I was giving myself a headache.
I walked over to the window and glanced out. A black car turned into the parking lot. I didn’t think much about it, honestly, not until I walked out of Trenton’s apartment and spied a woman staring at the car outside a window.
She turned toward me, eyes wide, her gaze shifting from me to the room I just left. “Who are you?” she demanded.
“A friend of Trenton’s.”
Her eyes narrowed, and I could see her mind churning.
“And a friend of Sage’s mom.”
Her gaze relaxed ever so slightly. “What’s the girl’s mom’s name?”
I had to suppress a laugh that she was quizzing me. “Victoria.” Just saying her name made me want to smile.
She snorted and turned back to the window, nodding at the car. “Seen it a few times, like I told Victoria.”
“Connected to Trenton?”
“Seems to me. They give me the creeps. Always coming at night.”
“It’s not night now.”
“No. Makes me even more nervous.”
“You just go back to bed. I’ll take it from here.”
The woman eyed me. “Might not wanna get involved,” she warned me.
“I’m already involved.”
She tilted her head and then nodded. “I see that. I didn’t know the girl that well, but her mom cares enough about her for me to start. I don’t want nothing to happen to either of them.”
“Neither do I.”
“I see that, too, but sometimes biting off more than you can chew can lead to bullet holes.”
I laughed. The car made one loop around so far, driving real slow. What were they looking for? Had they been the ones behind the ransacking? Were they hoping Trenton would show up back here?
“You should sew that quote. Knit it or whatever the term is.”
“I would, but the people who need to read it won’t take it to heart. Might not even be able to read.”
I grimaced. “Just don’t stick your neck too far out.”
“You too,” she called as I raced down the steps.
I darted out of the door just as the black car made another loop around. A Mercedes Benz. Not a bad-looking car, actually. Kind of sleek. I tried to make my nonchalant way back to my car, but the Benz stopped right in front of me, blocking me.
“Excuse me,” I said pleasantly, trying to avoid eye contact and yet scope them out at the same time.
“Who the hell are you?” the passenger asked.
Since they were talking to me, I saw no reason not to look their way. They had already spotted me already. The driver was staring straight ahead, one hand on the wheel. Even though he didn’t seem to be paying me attention, I had the feeling he didn’t miss much. He had a red moustache, but the hair on top of his head was brown.
The passenger had a hard look to him, added by the scar down the side of his face. Maybe from a knife fight. He glared at me. “I asked you a question.”
“I’m nobody,” I said easily.
“You’d better start talking,” the passenger demanded.
“You’re Grant Reardon, aren’t you?” the driver said, still not looking my way.
“Maybe. Who’s asking?”
“We have some questions for you. About your boy Trenton.”
I shook my head. “Can’t talk right now, fellas. I’m on my way—”
“You’re gonna make time.” The passenger got out.
I wasn’t the least bit intimidated. The guy might have that scar, but I had twenty pounds on him. I could take him.
But then he flashed me something, and I got into the backseat of his car without another word.
Fortunately, our talk didn’t last too long, and the moment I climbed out of their car, they sped away.
I didn’t bother to watch them leave or see where they were heading. Instead, I rushed back to my loft. Victoria wasn’t there. Damn. I really hoped she was. Where was she? I’m all right, her last text had said.
My cell still wasn’t cooperating. Damn it. Too fucking bad on my part that I hadn’t memorized her number. I couldn’t call her from one of the guys’ cells.
Maybe something was hope with her restaurant. I kind of hoped that was the case and that it wasn’t. She was dealing with enough shit that she didn’t need to have more piled on her.
I left her a note that explained what I had learned and asked her to call me as soon as she could. Even when my phone was acting up like it was, it tended to still receive calls, at least.
Riding like the devil was at my back, I motored it toward my bar and the Devil’s Horns’ headquarters.
But then I got a phone call, one that changed my life, and not for the better.