Page 41 of Bad Boy Husband

JAMESON

I’d lost track of how many laps I’d made around the house, but I couldn’t sit still. The hardwood floors echoed beneath my feet with every turn, tile smacking against my soles in the kitchen and living areas.

Hooch and Winkle followed me like shadows, their tails hanging low and anxiety shimmering in their eyes. They didn’t understand what was going on, but they definitely knew that something was wrong. It was making all of us twitchy.

Sterling paced the kitchen like a movie villain with a bomb in his hand who was trying to decide if he was going to detonate it, his phone glued to his ear. His voice was clipped and tight, his sleeves rolled up and a tumbler of bourbon dangling between his fingers.

Callum leaned against the wall nearby with his arms crossed, obviously trying to be the calm one. Harrison kept checking the window like he was expecting her to pull into the driveway at any second. But she wasn’t coming.

In my gut, I knew that if she hadn’t come home by now, it meant she was going to. It was nearly morning, the sky just starting to turn gray outside. I’d already canvassed the city looking for her. Twice.

I drove by the shelter, hit up hospitals, and even knocked on Gwen’s door a couple hours ago, scaring the hell out of her. But no dice.

I’d checked every place I could think of that Sadie might’ve gone to cool off after our fight and I’d come up with nothing. Since I’d originally thought she might’ve asked to crash at Sterling and Laney’s, I’d called my brother, and the next thing I’d known, he’d pulled up in front of my house.

Callum and our youngest brother, Harrison, who had only gotten home again over the weekend himself, had arrived shortly after.

There had been many times in my life where I’d thought it sucked to have three brothers.

Tonight hadn’t been one of those times. All four of us had dug in, making calls and hitting up every contact that made sense, but still. Nothing.

“She wouldn’t miss the adoption fair,” I muttered to no one in particular. “It’s in three days. She wouldn’t just bail on that.”

“She wouldn’t,” Callum agreed quietly. “Not unless something happened.”

Something had happened, though. I just didn’t know what the hell to do about it. My chest felt like someone had taken a hammer to it, delivering slow, methodical blows that were killing me, but not fast enough.

“You’re sure she didn’t say anything at the bridal store?” I asked him again. “She didn’t talk about a new friend or an old one? Mention having a dinner or drinks thing?”

He shook his head, blowing out a long, frustrated breath. “For the hundredth time, man, she didn’t say anything like that. She was excited. She found a dress she loved and she seemed pretty tired, but that’s it.”

“I still don’t understand why you went wedding dress shopping,” Harrison said. “It’s weird, bro.”

“It’s not weird.” Callum pushed off the wall and scoffed.

“I was bored. Mom told me they were going and Sadie is my friend, so I figured I’d tag along.

Trust me, it was the right thing to do. If you’d seen some of the disasters they made her try on, you would’ve barfed.

” He looked at me. “I would say that you owe me a thank you for helping her find a dress you’re actually going to want to rip off, but under the circumstances… ”

I rolled my eyes, aggravation simmering in my veins. “I’m still going to see the dress, asshole. I’m not just going to lie down and let these idiots win. If they think this is over, they’ve got another thing coming.”

“I still can’t believe you’re marrying Sadie Shepard,” Harrison said thoughtfully. “I don’t remember her as well as you guys do. Obviously, I was never friends with her, but still Sadie Shepard . Trent’s sister.”

“Not the time, little brother,” Callum muttered. “I’ll fill you in once we’ve found her. Right now, you’re just kicking the hornet’s nest.”

“Yeah. no. It’s just…” Harrison turned to me, allergic to taking anything too seriously—and that was really saying something coming from me. “Did you lose your copy of the Bro Code or something?”

“Nah, he tossed it in the fire and watched it burn.” Callum smirked, but when I narrowed my eyes at him, he threw his palms up in surrender. “Hey, don’t you dare murder me. I can see you want to, but don’t do it. You’ll miss me too much. Besides, I’m not the one who lost her.”

Sterling finally got off the phone and took another swig of his bourbon, dark hair uncharacteristically tousled and a glimmer of laughter in his eyes. A few months ago, before Laney, he never looked happy. Never smiled. Never laughed.

He’d been as cold with us as he had with the outside world, rarely letting us see a glimmer of anything going on inside. These days, he was always happy. Right now, I could see he was worried. It was there in the furrow of his brow and the tightness of his shoulders, but he was still happy.

“If I had known you two were simply going to be the comic relief, I never would’ve called you,” he said smoothly, but his voice lacked any real fire. “Can’t you do something to make yourselves useful?”

“Like what?” Callum asked, his head cocking. “Find her? We tried, bro. I think we’re approaching the point where we’ve either got to wait for her to show up when she’s ready or call Laney’s dad.”

My heart lurched. “You want to call the cops?”

He shrugged. “Not the cops necessarily but a detective. Someone we know who has experience finding people who don’t want to be found.”

“Criminals,” Sterling said dryly. “Vincent finds criminals. Sadie’s not a fugitive.”

“No,” he agreed. “We don’t know that she wants us to find her, though.

Let’s look at the facts. She was here. She left.

The car she took is still at the shelter, but that’s probably because she knew Jameson would be able to use it to find her.

For all we know, she checked herself into a hotel for the night and she’s figuring out if she ever wants to see him again. ”

“Walk me through it again,” Sterling said, his voice tired but still carrying that same hard-edged determination that said he wouldn’t go to sleep until he’d achieved his goal. He glanced at Callum. “You decided to make yourself a bridesmaid and went dress shopping.”

Callum rolled his eyes. “I didn’t?—”

“Bridesmaid.” Harrison chuckled, shrugging as he glanced at Sterling. “That’s a good one. I forgot that you actually had a sense of humor buried somewhere in there.”

Sterling sighed but looked back at Callum. “Nothing happened at the store. No phone calls? Texts?”

Callum shook his head. “Man, I don’t even know if she had her phone with her. I never saw it.”

“This, what’s her name, Collins?” Sterling swung his gaze to mine and waited until I nodded. “Obviously, she’s in town. Is there any way Sadie would’ve gone to her?”

“I’ve thought about it, but I have no idea where she’s staying. She could be in a hotel. Her family could have a place here. Trent doesn’t know either.”

“We should start calling the upmarket hotels,” Callum suggested. “What’s her last name?”

I wracked my brain, about to call Trent to ask when I suddenly remembered. “Elliot. Collins Elliot.”

“On it.” Callum reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone, glancing at Harrison as he did the same. “Start with the big names, the chains. Those are always popular. I’ll try the better known boutique hotels.”

I grabbed my keys off the kitchen island. “I’m going back out there. Maybe I missed something.”

“You tracked the Mercedes, right?” Sterling asked, picking his own phone back up as he waited for my answer.

“Yep. It’s at the shelter.” That was one of the first things I’d done, but while the car was at the shelter, Sadie wasn’t.

Diana, the night vet tech, had told me she had been there, but she’d left after Diana had fallen asleep. No one knew where she’d gone from there or how, considering that she’d left the car behind.

“Okay, let me try something.” He scrolled to a number and dialed it, but when I moved to leave, he held up a hand without looking at me, mouthing, Hang on .

I didn’t wait. I just closed my fist around my keys and I was halfway to the door when my phone rang.

Trent .

I answered before the first ring had even finished. “Tell me you found her.”

He exhaled, the sound long and tired. “Yeah. She’s in Dallas.”

My heart dropped like a stone. “What?”

“I just got off the phone with Carson,” he explained. “It turns out that after that first call I made to him when you and I got off the phone, he went looking for her. He found her at the shelter and convinced her to go home. That’s the reason he wasn’t picking up earlier. They were on a plane.”

He hesitated for a beat. “Jamie, he told her you were calling off the engagement. She thought it was over, man.”

“So she’s in Texas.” My blood boiled, but my voice was dangerously quiet, my words slow and punctuated. “With Carson, who just so happens to be the guy who orchestrated all this bullshit in the first place.”

“Yep. I’m going to fix that, though. I’m on my way to go pick her up right now.”

Sterling must’ve heard me because he abruptly ended the call he’d been on, and a moment later, he was talking to his driver. “Are you still outside? Jameson needs a ride to the jet. He can’t drive himself right now.”

Fuck that. Of course, I could , but I wouldn’t. Red spots were dancing in my field of vision and I was so angry that I was vibrating with rage.

“Yeah, okay.” I swallowed past the burning fury clawing its way up my throat and refocused my attention on Trent. “Go pick her up and take her someplace safe. Don’t let her out of your sight. I’ll be there in a few hours.”

I hung up and strode back to the kitchen island. “I’m going to Dallas. Can you guys take care of the dogs while I’m gone?”

Callum scooped Winkle into his arms, rubbing the dog’s head as he looked at me. “I’ll take this guy.”

Sterling glanced at Hooch, and to my surprise, he actually cracked a smile. “I’m more partial to him anyway. Hooch and I will hold down the fort. Right, buddy?”

Harrison clapped me on the shoulder. “Go get your girl.”

I didn’t say anything, just nodding before I left. My phone was already at my ear again when I climbed into the car. Steve had brought Sterling over last night. Thank God, he’d still been waiting on the property.

“Fuel the jet,” I said when the pilot answered my call. “I want to be wheels up as soon as I get there. Make it fast.”

“Copy that.”

Less than an hour later, I was in the air, the city shrinking below. Antsy and needing a distraction, I cracked open my laptop before we hit cruising altitude, the glow of the screen washing over me as I got to work.

I checked shell companies and investment portfolios, chasing every rabbit I could find. Every name tied to Carson. Every connection to Collins. Every weak spot they had.

This was what I did best, taking businesses—and the people attached to them—apart. Piece by piece. They thought they could screw with my life and the woman I loved?

Clearly, they had no idea who they were dealing with. They would soon learn, though. No one fucked with a Westwood and got away with it.