Page 79 of Mutual Obsession (Rivals of Blackthorn #2)

A fter my meeting has finished, I waste no time heading over to Caged, where I know Jacob will be watching over Indie. It’s not often we stay with her now when she’s working, as we’ve increased security at the club, and I trust she’s safe there.

But tonight, Jacob didn’t have any plans, and with me being in a meeting, he decided to watch over her, knowing I’d be able to join him fairly quickly. My meeting lasted longer than I would have liked, and Indie had been at work for around an hour when I finally got there.

I head straight over to the booth that Jacob uses, and find him sitting there nursing a glass of Coke. As I slide in beside him, making sure my body is blocking us from view, I lean over and press my lips to his.

It’s a short but passionate kiss, and when I pull away, Jacob has a bright smile on his face. “I can’t wait until we can do that anytime we want,” he says, sounding a little breathless.

I can’t keep the smug expression off my face when I see how flushed his cheeks are. I’m quick to agree with his statement, but I understand why we’re dragging our heels on making things public.

Although Marcus and Chloe know, and they were probably one of the biggest hurdles for us personally, as their opinion means the most to us, we can’t take things public until Jacob has discussed it with his parents. I would say they’re our biggest worry.

I’m desperate to tell Courtney, and I know she’ll be pissed as hell that I’ve kept this from her for so long, but due to her relationship with Maximus, telling her is complicated.

I’d never expect her to keep secrets from the guy she’s seeing, but telling Marcus’ dad would put him in a difficult position as he’s linked with Jacob’s father.

So we made an agreement that we’d tell his family first, and then everyone else.

We can’t risk them finding out from someone else.

But I can tell Jacob is dragging his heels a little, worried about what they’ll say.

I’m hoping a night at Caged with me will distract him from that, just for a little while.

“Where’s our girl?” I ask, looking around for Indie.

Jacob takes a sip of his drink before saying, “She had some work to do in the stockroom. She’ll be out on the floor when that’s done.”

“I’ll grab a drink then. Do you want anything?” I ask, and when he shakes his head, pointing at his nearly full glass, I slide back out and head to the bar.

Once I’ve got a Diet Coke, I sit back in the booth with Jacob. We discussed the meeting I had today, and other work we have going on, all while keeping an eye on the room to make sure there’s no sign of any trouble.

By the time I’ve drunk half of my drink, a heavy feeling settles in the pit of my stomach, and I’m getting antsy. My leg is jiggling up and down under the table, and I can’t even keep still when Jake places his hand over it.

“I’m going to see if Indie needs a hand,” I mumble, and Jake rolls his eyes at me.

“And they call me the possessive one. She’ll chew you a new arsehole for interrupting her work,” he says with a laugh, but I ignore him, flipping him off as I stand up.

I make my way towards the storage room, and as soon as I open the door and see it’s in darkness, my stomach sinks. I flip the light on and check the room anyway, even though it makes no sense for her to be in there with no lights on.

Once I’m sure she’s not in there, I open every door I pass, checking to see where she is. I ask every staff member, but none of them have seen her.

When I finally get to the staff changing room, I see that all of her things are still in her locker, but that does nothing to ease the growing fear and anxiety that’s swirling inside me.

I quickly pull out my phone and open my messages, groaning when I see there’s nothing new. I scroll to Indie and press call. It doesn’t take long for her ringtone to fill the room around me, echoing from inside her locker.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” I shout to myself as ice slides through my veins.

I scroll down to Jacob’s name and quickly send him a text.

MILES

Meet me in the security room, now. I think we have a problem.

I then scroll to Marcus’ name and send him a message too.

MILES

Marcus, I really need you at the club now. I think Indie is missing.

As soon as the texts have been sent, I rush out of the staff changing room and head straight to the main security room.

I slam the door open, startling Peri, who is in charge of the monitors this evening.

She lets out a startled yelp, her hand going to the gun on her belt holster as she turns towards me.

“It’s just me,” I tell her, holding my hands in the air so she doesn’t accidentally shoot me.

“Sorry, boss. You scared the shit out of me. Couldn’t you have opened the door like a normal person?” she chastises, but I don’t have time to argue with her.

“I need you to pull up footage from the start of Indie’s shift.” Her eyes widen when she realises what I’m implying.

“Has something happened?” Her fingers are already clicking away on the keyboard as she speaks to me.

“I can’t find her. I’m hoping it’s something innocent, but I have a bad feeling,” I admit as nausea ripples through me.

The door slams open again, but this time Peri doesn’t even look back, continuing with the job I’ve given her. Jacob bursts through the door like an avenging angel. His face is pale and there’s fear in his eyes, but also a harsh determination on his face.

“What the fuck is going on?” he snaps, striding over to me.

“I can’t find Indie. I’ve checked all the back rooms and nobody has seen her. Peri is going back through the security cameras to trace her movements,” I explain, the colour draining further from his face as fear glistens in his eyes.

“What time did she arrive?” Peri asks, distracting us both.

“Eight,” Jake replies, shuffling closer to the screen as Peri pulls up the footage of them arriving for Indie’s shift.

Although Peri is whizzing through the footage, it’s easy to follow Indie as she shows Jacob to his usual table and brings him a drink from the bar. She kisses him before taking off toward the staff changing room—where there’s no fucking cameras, for privacy reasons.

Indie talks to a couple of people on the way, but she goes into the changing room on her own.

Peri slows down the footage as we wait for Indie to exit.

I note the time on the camera shows she’s been in there for longer than normal, and my heart pounds out of my chest as I struggle to catch my breath.

I can feel Jake beside me practically vibrating with pent-up emotions, both of us waiting with bated breath to find out what the hell happens next. When the door on the screen finally opens, I hold my breath, letting out a huff when I see it’s not her.

“Pause,” Jake shouts, pointing at the tall figure on the screen.

Although the camera quality isn’t the best, and the image is pixelated, it’s clear that the person leaving the staffroom is a tall man, his wide shoulders and muscular arms giving him away.

His face is covered by a baseball cap, and his head is tilted down, making it hard to see any of his features.

It doesn’t take me long to work out why Jake asked for the video to be paused. The man is carrying a large duffle bag, which appears to be overly full, as his knuckles are straining trying to carry it in one hand.

The man is wearing black trousers and a long-sleeved black hoodie, covering up any identifiable features. He’s essentially a ghost… He could also be the last person to have seen Indie.

“What’s in the bag?” Jacob asks, his voice trembling.

“I don’t know,” I tell him, before turning back to the screen. “Peri, pull up another screen to follow his movements, whilst we monitor the staffroom door, just to make sure Indie doesn’t come out.”

She does as I instruct, pulling up footage on two of the main screens. The closed staffroom door continues playing at a normal speed on one screen, whilst another focuses on the man’s movements.

The man leaves the staffroom and heads straight down the corridor, towards the staff exit at the back. It leads into a back alleyway, but you can get to the staff car park too.

As soon as he leaves the building, Peri switches to the external footage, letting out a curse as she continues clicking her keyboard. “Bollocks, there are a few blindspots out the back. It’s never been a problem before, but this guy seems to end up in all of them.”

I look over at Jake, who is thinking the same thing I am. “I don’t think that’s a coincidence. He knows exactly where our blind spots are, and he’s aiming for them,” he growls, looking furious.

I reach out and take his hand in mine, not bothered that people might see. We both need each other right now, and that’s more important than anything else.

I cling to him like he’s my lifeline, and he does the same, both of us terrified as the reality dawns on us this man has probably taken Indie.

Peri looks over at the other screen, noting that another server called Susie went into the changing room and came out less than ten minutes later, but there was still no sign of Indie.

“On the changing room, fast forward to the present time. We need to be sure she hasn’t left,” I tell Peri, holding on to the last bit of hope that she might still turn up.

When we reach the footage of me going into the room, my body is flooded with ice once more, nausea bubbling in my stomach as fear overwhelms me. Jake squeezes my hand, and though he’s trembling beneath my touch, I pull strength just from having him close.

“What happens when the man leaves Caged?” Jake asks, neither of us able to see him on the mass of monitors that Peri is controlling.

She lets out a huff that turns into a long sigh. “I don’t know for sure. You see that white van in the corner of screen three?”