Page 50 of Pretty Lies (Watch Me Burn #1)

“Rory’s missing and you’re still having a goddamn pity party?

” I snapped. “Think about it. Some random drunk chick claims she saw her leave, but do you know for a fact that Rory willingly got in someone’s car?

If she was as drunk as you claim she was, why aren’t you more worried about her?

Who cares if she walked out the door on her own? That asshole took advantage of her.”

Caden shut up, thankfully, because I was going to knock him the fuck out.

Tyler gave me a worried look. “You think something bad happened to her?”

“I do. Where’s Lukas and Jensen? Snuggling in bed, I suppose? I thought Lukas would be running around crying about her leaving.”

“They left last night,” Tyler answered, and I gave him a dark look.

“Then go and get them. We need to find her.”

Tyler nodded and pulled his phone out to call them, and Caden sighed.

“I think we’re overreacting. Rory’s pissed at all of us, so I think she did leave on her own and happily jumped in that guy’s car. I never thought I’d see you acting clingy, dude.”

“ Dude me again, and you’ll lose teeth,” I warned, walking towards my car while speaking over my shoulder. “You want to prove to her that you give a shit? Then start acting like it.”

Jensen

My phone rang loudly in my room and I rolled over in bed to blindly reach for it on the bedside table, swiping answer before pressing it to my ear.

“What?”

“Skeet showed up looking for Rory and now he’s flipping out. He thinks something bad has happened to her, and I’m starting to think he’s right,” Tyler said quickly, making me sit up, suddenly wide awake.

“Why does he think that?”

“Rory’s pissed at us, but do you think she’d actually have a one-night stand?”

“She was wasted.”

“So if she did leave to get laid, she’s probably freaking out somewhere by now. Rory doesn’t just fuck around, not with a complete stranger. Holloway thinks she’s fine, but Skeet’s got me worried. He found her phone in the driveway.” He sounded panicked, which made me panic.

“Rory wouldn’t leave her phone behind if she was leaving with a stranger.”

“Exactly. Is Luke with you? Skeet just left to start looking for her, and we’re going to help.

Hopefully, we find her stumbling home somewhere,” he sighed, and I glanced over to look for Lukas, remembering that I’d left him on the couch.

He would’ve freaked if I tried to put him in my bed after last time.

I was conflicted about the kiss because it had felt right but weird at the same time. He’d been vulnerable and upset, but I’d been fine.

Why had I kissed him back?

“Are you listening to me?” Tyler snapped, drawing me back to the conversation.

“Sorry, you woke me up and my brain’s catching up. I’ll wake Luke and we can all split up to find her. Any idea where to look?” I mumbled, making him snort.

“No. She could be local, in the Heights, or even up further in Kingslake or Lightning Cove. We have no leads. I think Skeet is checking around Ashburn, so I’ll head to the Heights with Holloway, and you two maybe head to Rawson Grove.”

“Sounds like a plan. I’ll call you if I find her,” I replied before hanging up and climbing out of bed, shoving some clothes on and heading downstairs to find Lukas.

He was still sleeping peacefully when I walked in, and I studied him silently for a second. He looked exhausted despite being asleep, and my eyes caught on the scar on his wrist from the last time he’d had a breakdown.

I hesitated before reaching out to touch the raised skin, my stomach twisting at the thought of him possibly going down that dark path again. It was awful, and I honestly thought I was going to lose him.

My gaze flicked over his face and stopped on his lip ring, my lips tingling at the memory of pressing against it as he’d kissed me. I’d never even thought of kissing a guy before, they didn’t do it for me, but something about Lukas’ kiss was burned into my brain.

Lukas jerked when he opened his eyes to find me staring down at him, giving me a scowl.

“Why are you being creepy?”

“I was coming to wake you up and zoned out, sorry,” I muttered, stepping back so he could sit up. “We’re going looking for Rory. Skeet’s adamant that something’s wrong.”

“No one’s heard from her?” he asked, forgetting about me staring at him in his sleep instantly. He grabbed his phone off the floor, and I sighed.

“Skeet found her phone in Holloway’s driveway.”

“She wouldn’t have left it behind,” he replied, starting to panic. He flung the blanket off, getting to his feet and finding his shoes. “What if she’s hurt?”

“She might be fine, but if Skeet’s worried, then I think we should listen. He doesn’t give a fuck about anyone outside his crew.”

“Where do we start?”

“Rawson. Ty said they’d check the Heights,” I explained, putting my shoes on and grabbing my car keys.

We headed straight to Rawson Grove and checked every street, but we couldn’t find her. Caden called to check in and they’d had no luck either.

I was a little surprised when Skeeter called me, but the hope that filled me was short-lived.

“Found her?” I asked, his voice rough as he responded.

“No. Meet me at the Shed. I’m going to get the Psychos searching for her too.”

“Does your boss know that?” I asked dryly, knowing Slash didn’t give a shit about Rory.

“Just get to the Shed,” he bit out before hanging up, and Lukas winced.

“What are the chances of this going well?”

“Slim. Slash is going to be pissed. I don’t think any of them even know Rory that well, other than the fact that she’s a girl who fights in their cage for money,” I stated as I headed back to Ashburn Valley, hoping that Skeeter wasn’t about to get us all fucking shot.

Tyler might have been close to Slash, but he didn’t come before the crew. Slash would put a bullet in all of us if he felt like it, just to prove a point.

Tyler

“What the hell are you doing here?” Slash grunted as Caden and I walked into the Shed. If Skeeter was going to drag the Psychos into this, Slash obviously didn’t know about it.

“Skeet told us to meet him here.”

“What for?”

“Rory’s missing,” I said carefully, not surprised when his eyes narrowed.

“So why are you here then? As much as I’d love to take the credit, I didn’t make her vanish. If you boys can’t keep tabs on your girl, that’s not my problem.”

Skeeter arrived and stalked towards us, his eyes on Slash. “Everyone’s coming in to help find Rory. Something’s happened to her.”

“This isn’t Psychos business. Too bad if you lost your little girlfriend, we don’t run a babysitting business. Find her yourself,” Slash scoffed, my eyes widening when Skeeter shoved him.

“This is your fault for dragging me away last night. She’d be in my fucking bed if it wasn’t for you.”

“Jesus Christ, you’re worse than a fucking woman.

The guys don’t want to be searching for your piece of ass, Skeet.

She’s not one of us, and she never will be.

Let her go. She’s probably just run away again,” he said tensely, getting in Skeeter’s face and lowering his voice.

“Shove me again, and we’ll have a problem. ”

Skeeter grinned sadistically before shoving him, and we had to jump back out of the way as they started throwing punches at each other.

“I guess we missed a few chapters,” Caden muttered from beside me, eyeing the two as they beat each other up. “It seems there’s been some disagreements in the crew.”

I jumped as a gunshot went off, and I turned to find Diesel standing in the doorway, his gun pointed up at the ceiling.

“Would you two knock it off? We have company,” he hissed, and Slash shoved Skeeter off him and got to his feet.

“This idiot misplaced his pussy, and he expects us to go and find it. Not our problem.”

Diesel frowned, lowering the gun and walking closer. “Donovan’s missing?”

“No, she’s just wandered off, and Skeet’s freaking out over nothing,” he threw back, glaring at Skeeter before stomping to his office and slamming the door behind him.

“Something’s wrong,” Skeeter gritted out as he stood, turning to Diesel.

“Please, man. Apparently, she left with some guy, but she was wasted as fuck, and her phone was in the driveway.” He blew out a breath before continuing, his voice calmer.

“What if the guy is working for one of the other crews, and they took her because of me? She drives my Corvette around, and the academy kids all talk about me and her. It wouldn’t be hard for it to fall on the wrong ears and get her into trouble. ”

“You should’ve thought of this when you started fucking her regularly,” Diesel muttered, but he looked concerned too. “Where have you looked?”

“Ashburn, Rawson, and the Heights.”

“What if she’s just passed out in the guy’s bed?”

“Then I’ll look like an idiot but I’ll risk it,” Skeeter said flatly, and relief filled me when Diesel nodded.

“Fine, I’ll help, but only because I like her.

If something’s happened to her because of her ties to us, then you need to make a choice.

Don’t make the same mistakes that I did.

It’s selfish. We chose this life, so we can’t change it now.

We’re not going to find love, get married, and have kids like the rest of the world.

Having someone to love means having something to lose,” he said bitterly.

“For your sake, I really hope you give her a chance to live to see her twenties.”

He walked off, and I frowned, but Skeeter shook his head.

“Don’t ask. Where the fuck’s Jense and Lukas? Did they stop for a quickie or something?” he demanded, and now it was my turn to be annoyed.

“Leave them alone. Luke is dealing with some shit and doesn’t need you taunting him.”

“What Luke needs is a new set of balls. He can physically fight, but he needs to work on it up here,” he said as he tapped the side of his head.

“His mom’s a huge problem.”

“He’s a grown-ass man. He doesn’t have to be in contact with her.”

“It’s not that simple,” Caden explained, pulling his phone from his pocket to check where the guys were. “She’s a homophobic, gold-digging bitch. She’s brainwashed him.”

Skeeter smirked, crossing his arms. “Is that why he has to sneak around with his boyfriend?”

“Seriously, man. Drop it,” I warned when I heard Jensen’s car arrive outside.

Between us, surely we could find Rory fast and make sure she was okay.