Page 24

Chapter Twenty-Four

Henley

N othing about this makes any sense. I mean, it does, but it doesn’t. While we wait for Blood Reapers, they want us to run a shipment of weapons about an hour south of the hit spot. All we have is a basic demographic for the buyers and no other information. Honestly, it sounds like one of those stupid FBI stings, but Hael assured me that wasn’t the case.

“Shark got back to me, he doesn’t need you guys there until tomorrow night. Your go bags need to be packed and ready to hit the road by eight in the morning, understood?” Hael barks, a swarm of nods passing around the seating. “Some of you will be assigned the rigs, others will take your bikes. You will get your assignment later today.”

“I have an update on DuClaire,” Ruel says, his fingers interlacing above the table.

“The floor is yours,” Hael agrees.

“Upon further review, I was able to show other signs of his…connections.” Ruel reaches down by his feet and grabs a brown folder filled to the brim with paper. “Elodie was promised to a known skin trader, one of Kastiloff’s henchmen. Something happened, we’re not entirely sure what because there’s no paper trail, but that led to her deal being severed.”

My stomach pinches with unease. I wonder if…

“I’m not entirely sure what happened after he called it off, I just saw that the contract was severed. Now, he’s married to another girl from the West Coast. Looking back at his record, he has three previous wives that have been found dead, cause of death varies, but all have resulted in suicide.” He uses finger quotes around suicide, probably because none of us believe it. “All of the girls were found in less than savory positions, all of them still-shotted with a husband saddened with grief. This girl is his fourth wife, who would have been Elodie. So, the main question would be, why Elodie? Why would DuClaire promise Elodie to a known skin trader?”

“Because he’s part of the trading,” Zale, our tail gunner, hisses, his eyes narrowing to slits. “There’s no other way to explain what’s happening.”

“We don’t have time for accusations right now, we need solid evidence,” Hael says with a heavy sigh. “For now, you’re dismissed.”

Glancing at my watch, it shows a quarter past eleven, and my smile stretches wide at the prospect of spending a lazy day with my Ole’ Lady. Thinking about her being around her father has my skin crawling like spiders on flesh. Why put her on the market? That part doesn’t make any sense.

Stretching my arms over my head, the joints in my shoulders and elbows crack loudly. Adjusting my back, I try to push the horrible thoughts from my head. “Shit, getting old sucks.” Hael laughs next to me, knowing all too well what I’m talking about. Neither one of us took good care of our bodies when we were younger, and unfortunate to say, I’m feeling the consequences now.

“No fucking kidding-”

“Henley!” A voice barks, immediately putting me on high alert. Zink strides over with a slight limp in his gait. “Your fucking girl kneed me in the balls and dipped. I have tried calling you twice!”

“What the fuck?” I ask, my hand flying up to get him to pause. “What do you mean she fucking dipped? Your job was to man the door, Zink, not fucking nap!”

“I wasn’t napping man, I swear!” He defends, his fingers dragging through his hair and exhaling roughly. “She came bolting down the stairs, I asked her where she was going, she said out. I asked her if you knew, then she went on a spiel about being held captive or some shit. I told her she looked like an angry kitten, then she kneed me in the fucking nuts.”

Pinching the bridge of my nose, I work to tamper down my anger. She was the one who decided to leave. He did his job to try and stop her. My bunny rabbit is suddenly turning into a Tasmanian devil.

“Did she say where she is going?”

“Nope, just booked it.” I clap him on the shoulder and make my way to the bar area. Ruel must have overheard the conversation because he is muttering to himself about getting the footage from her sneaking out. Pulling out my own phone, I call her new phone.

“Hey! You’ve reached Elodie Eryx, please leave-” I hang up the phone. A moment later, my heart slows as I realize what I just heard.

Now isn’t the time to process that, but holy fuck if it’s not being placed in my mental rolodex for later. Calling her over and over, she doesn’t answer. I don’t know if it’s because she knows her ass is grass, or if she truly doesn’t know it’s ringing.

For some reason, I don’t think it’s the latter.

“Her phone is on the move, a few of the street cams show her riding with a giant fucking smile on her face.” He tosses his phone to me from a few feet away, and I take it.

Her sweet face, the huge grin spread across her face, has me feeling slightly guilty for not taking her out more often. She sits easily on it, and you can tell it comes naturally to her. But my heart rate picks up and practically rockets out of my body because she defied my order. She specifically did what I asked her not to, and she better be fucking prepared to not sit for several days. Fuck, she might not be able to move from the moment I leave to the moment I get back. Also, she gets another punishment for not wearing a fucking helmet. Of anything I taught her, I swear I made her promise to at least wear one of those stupid brain buckets. Anything to protect the landing if she crashed.

Tossing the phone back, I grab the keys to my own bike. “Call me when you get an exact location when she stops. Send me her most recent coordinates and which way she is headed so I can track her.”

“You got it, boss.” Ruel turns on his heel, his fingers flying across the screen of his phone. Swinging by the coat area, I grab her helmet and step onto the gravel. Before I can even reach my bike, my phone pings with two notifications, both from him. One with the most recent location then the other with the way she is going.

She has no idea what she has gotten herself into.

I hear crunching behind me, and when I turn, I see Hael with a trail of other guys behind him. Furrowing my brows, Hael throws his hands in the air and tosses his leg over his own bike.

“You didn’t think we’d let you ride off into the sunset by yourself, did you?” He calls out, his arms crossing over his chest.

Shaking my head, I scoff. “I don’t think this is a sunset ride, baby.” He cackles, his arms waving to the other guys to hurry up their paces. Hael lifts the side of his jacket, his gun tucked tightly to his hip. “We have no idea what hell can be waiting for us right now, especially with her dad. He has not called to collect any debt, and if he were as dyer for money as we anticipated him to be, that’s pretty fucking concerning.”

I don’t respond, I just nod. My own side piece is strapped to the belt of my jeans, and it’s not going anywhere until I make it. Climbing over the seat, I lean over to the side of the bike and she purrs to life. The kickstand comes up easily as I take off out of the parking lot of the club. My brain runs a thousand miles an hour trying to determine how the fuck she is going to get punished. I mean, her ass being blistered will be a good start. Orgasm denial may also be in her very near future.

Another negative to her not telling me where the fuck she is going? I can’t stop a tornado of thoughts that slam into me. If she crashes, will someone stop to help her? Fuck, it’s not that I don’t trust her. It’s the other fucking idiots that drive on the roads who fail to see anything besides the phone in front of them. She has turned into one hell of a rider, yet getting crashed into isn’t someone a good rider can really avoid. Riding alone can also be tricky. What if someone tries to run her off the road? Tries to target her and slow down in front of her? Twisting my wrist and flexing my ankle, I drop into another gear, speeding through this town like there’s a fire behind us.