“Not sure man, spoke to the boys in Mississippi, Loui, Kansas. Dexter even went as far as New York, but we don’t wanna be digging in Deno’s turf. He’ll take it as an insult and we might just find ourselves in a cross fire with the Famiglia,” Knight explains.
I trust the guy, he’s Italian and a war with Famiglia will put Killer in a tight spot.
We can’t have that.
We’re all sitting in the basement. Our mind on one purpose, finding Jade. Either she’s been kidnapped or worse, dead.
After Beggar fled the room earlier, I destroyed half my bedroom. I was angry at myself for wanting her so bad, for losing control.
I was furious with her for stopping me and also for making me this way.
And those words, what the fuck was I thinking?
I called her the very thing I said wouldn’t.
I threatened her.
I was losing my fucking mind, so I did the best thing and jumped on my bike and left.
Went to see my dad. He wasn’t there, so I cooled off at the barn.
The need to clear my head and get my shit together was potent.
I’m a grown man acting like a fucking kid who can’t keep it in his pants.
Then snapping and blaming a 21-year-old for my attraction to her.
Truth is, I am attracted to Beggar but is it physical or something deeper?
I wish I had a fucking clue. We’ve barely spoken in these past five days. It’s all my fault, I’ve been a snippy snarling jackass to her since I took her to the park.
I can’t even fuck Falon without thinking of Beggar.
I know I should break things off with Falon. I’ve never cheated on a woman before.
I did it today, I cheated on the woman I wanted to claim. Falon doesn’t deserve that, Beggar doesn’t deserve it.
What if I didn’t leave Falon and Beggar is the one? What if I did leave Falon and Beggar and I didn’t work out?
My mind raked up questions and answers, by the time I got back two hours later. It was clear that I had to get to know Beggar.
I had to risk this with Falon and see if there was anything between Beggar and I besides the urge to fuck her.
Five days I’ve watched Beggar talk and smile with my brothers and the women.
Five days I held off. I continued to ignore her and treat her badly hoping the urge to want her would wane.
But the need, the pull increased.
At the same time, I’ve been asking myself why her?
Why don’t I have these feeling for Falon? I care for Falon enough to marry her, well at least I did a week ago.
Now I’m ready to dump her and I don’t feel an ounce of regret.
Fuck my life.
Today Beggar offered to help me even though I deserve the pain from every punch Killer delivered.
I asked him to do it. Storm is supposed to dish out my punishment ’cause he’s the VP, but I knew he’ll hold back.
Killer wouldn’t and he didn’t. He knew I needed it.
I hurt her, sent her into a panic because I didn’t want to handle the fact that Killer spent his nights in her bed, while I hoped it was me.
I wanted her to turn to me, to smile at me.
Yet, she buckled and fought the second my hands made contact with her body.
I didn’t want to believe it, so when she kicked out, I put my hand on her and held her down.
But even though I deserved to suffer she was willing to fix me up, and I didn’t hesitate to accept.
While Beggar massaged me, I tried really hard to keep it together.
Her calloused hands on my flesh was too much even for a man like me.
And I caved into the unwanted yet undeniable pull between us, for that moment I consumed her.
The feel of her blunt fingers in my back, her long legs wrapped like a dream around my hips.
Her long hair fanned out on my bed. She was everything and more.
The way she touched me, the way she kissed me. Our mouths fused like two lost souls connecting for the final time.
I’ve never sucked a woman’s tongue so hard or kissed a woman as thorough as I kissed Beggar.
I’ve never wanted to leave my mark on a woman before, not even Falon.
When she stopped and refused me, I was thinking maybe she was denying me because she was fucking Killer. I didn’t give her a chance to prove me right.
I hurt her.
I rejected her. And I didn’t think I’ll feel like I lost something important.
I didn’t think I would feel like I was experiencing grief in the form of a woman I’ve met five days ago walking out my door without a backward glance.
I need Beggar and I know she needs me too.
I just have to convince her.
I planned to go seek her out when I got back and beg for a chance, but all my plans fled to shit when I got the call from Houston and that was that.
I hadn’t had a chance to think about anything besides finding out who took one of our own.
“Who was the first person to know she was missing?” Killer asks Storm from his corner in the room.
“Mercy, Jade promised to call her yesterday when she got to Texas City. They were supposed to meet there before joining up with Moscow and Trader somewhere in Sugar land,” Spade adds from behind me.
The brother is good friends with Jade. He never claimed her but I know they’ve been sleeping in the same bed for a couple of months now.
This shit must be hard for him.
I listen attentively to all that they say whilst my fingers work furiously on my laptop.
“Her last known location was Texas City, just picked her up on a traffic cam, shot was taken23 hours ago,” I say to them before I meet Storm’s alert gaze.
Rounder was having a bad day today with the chemo so Falon and Chadley took him for a check-up.
Texas followed behind them.
My VP is in charge of this one. So, he is going to have to make the call.
“Prepare to ride tomorrow. I’m not saying Houston can’t find our girl, but you are the best hunter we got man,” Storm says to me.
Which is the truth.
It’s how I got my name.
Zero failed missions, zero missed kills, zero unfound missing persons. And for the last 8 years since I got the name it has remained, zero.
“I’ll go with him,” Spade demands.
No one argues to that.
“Get Falon to go to Barfa this weekend and speak to Kandra, maybe she heard something. Knight and Killer, you stay, got a bad feeling about this. Don’t want the girls and Prez without protection. Snake and I are going on a little racing trip tomorrow night. What do you say man?” I feel Snakes energy across the fucking room.
The guy loves speed of any kind.
“Bull needs to shadow the girls. Venus don’t tell them shit. Falon is the only one who needs in. At least until we know more got it.”
“Yeah.” Venus has been taking it bad since we found out, she was the one to send Jade on the mission.
Jade was up for getting her tat.
We voted her in a few months back but Rounder said to hold off until she sorted stuff out with her sister, Abby.
“This was supposed to be a walk in the park, a simple meet up with Mercy, collect some evidence for a client then come back to Kanla. I think the question is not whether she was taken but where was she taken,” Snake points out.
“And who the fuck took her!” Spade growls from behind me.
“There’s not many people who’ll touch a Satan Sniper. I don’t think we should rule out the entire Cosa Nostra. The Famiglia yeah, they’re too powerful to even bother with that shit, but the outfit is still into trafficking. Jade has a history in that world, it’s clear someone could’ve seen her, recognized her. She did after all kill a dozen of their men.”
Killer voices exactly what I’ve considered except,
“We are forgetting one other person who could want her dead.”
They all stare at me.
“Mayor Grison.”
Storm considers the implications this would cause but his eyes harden.
“Killer, you up brother.” Killer nods but his face looks grim and I know why.
His brother’s son is spending the night at the Clubhouse. He hardly gets to see the kid since he moved in with his dad in New York.
Killer sees my intent to go in his place but shakes his head at me.
“Let’s get Jade home.” Storm bangs the hammer on the table.
The mumble agreements from all of us as we walk up the cemented steps to the main floor dies down when Spade opens the door.
Music is blasting through the Clubhouse and there’s not a soul in sight.
Crazy girl by Eli young band is playing, but it’s not playing from the speakers but sang by a feisty 19-year-old trouble maker.
Storm’s feet carry him faster than all of us to where the music is coming from, well more to who the music is coming from.
Knight groans and Bull follows the man to the bar.
Venus smiles next to me but doesn’t move, neither does Killer whose lips are pressed in a harsh line.
“Your sisters here, what’s up your ass?” I ask him.
Killer snickers,
“My sister is here dumbass.” He follows the direction Storm went in.
“His pride is a bit bruised. Beggar rejected his gifts this morning and hid out with Spade for over two hours in the training room.”
Venus shakes her head.
“Who does that? She’s something.”
“Didn’t know they were hooking up,” I reply, feigning disinterest but inside I’m fucking boiling with rage.
And this is the last thing I need now if my head is going to be clear to find Jade.
“Not yet.” She sounds too certain.
“How do you know?”