Chapter 8
Anchor
I sigh as I lean back in my chair and run a hand through my hair, closing my eyes as I lean my head back, my temples throbbing, Summer’s sweet shy smile hitting me right in the fucking chest as I picture her like I always do, her laughter ringing in my ears, laughter I miss so fucking much making my confusion and frustration build higher and higher causing my head to throb more than it already is.
I’ve been going over the schedules and the strip club's finances for the past four fucking hours while hearing the thumping of the base through my walls as men cheer and shout, and I’ve had enough.
Between the twins still turning up on each other’s shifts, getting pissed by what the other is earning, and causing fights, Doc refusing for me to have my revenge by killing that fucker, Gabriel.
My mind is constantly wondering where in the fuck Summer has gone, my head is killing me, and my frustration builds even more that I’m struggling to focus on anything, struggling to fucking breathe.
I feel like I’ve got a ton of bricks weighing down on my chest.
For a year and a fucking half, I’ve tried to move forward with my life, knowing I’d be spending it alone, trying not to think about Summer and the life she chose without me, refusing to let Dirty try and find her, refusing to think about the petty fucking revenge I did that hurt her, but as each day goes by the urge to get Dirty to look for her consumes me, making me barely be able to concentrate on anything.
I groan as my hands tingle and I open my eyes and look at my phone, swallowing hard.
I tried to call her, something I swore I would never do, drawing a line between us. Since seeing her mama a week ago, I've attempted over twenty times, and each time it’s gone to voicemail, making my stomach drop.
Something in my gut is niggling that something is wrong, and I fuck.
I grab my phone and unlock the screen. A photo of Summer sitting on my bike, grinning at me, hits my eyes, and I take a deep breath as I bring up a number I have been trying not to fucking call about this situation, but I-I…
“Brother?” Dirty answers instantly, and I swallow hard as I put him on speaker.
Dammit, she left me, she went back to a man who grabs people off the street, but I, fuuuuck…
“Find her. brother,” I demand with a whisper, not second-guessing myself, knowing I need fucking answers that only she can give me, to help me be at peace once and fucking for all.
“Are you sure?” Dirty asks lowly then reminds me, “She could be a part of the Pillars. brother…”
My jaw ticks, and I gently trace her name on my neck, understanding his concern, understanding I could be setting myself up for even more heart break but I…
I grunt, “Find her,” then hang up without second-guessing myself, needing answers. The club doesn’t have to get involved beyond Dirty finding her, but I need this.
My dad taught me always to follow my gut, and even though he was a dick after I chose to stay with my mama, he was right.
My gut is telling me something is wrong, and until I speak to Summer, I won’t fucking rest, even if it is to see her settled with someone else. As much as it hurts, I need to see her, to get some answers.
I throw my phone on my desk with a sigh just as my office door opens and fucking Barbie waltzes in wearing nothing but a G-string and nipple pasties, giving me a sly smirk, clearly wanting one thing that she is not getting.
My cock doesn’t even twitch, and yeah, if I thought of Summer, it would, but I just can’t. The thought of letting anyone touch me makes me feel completely sick.
“What can I do for you, Barbie?” I ask as I lean forward and grab the paperwork on my desk, putting it in the drawer before she can try to sneak a look at it, locking it for good measure.
Wouldn’t be the first time she caused shit between the twins when she was placed on the main stage after sneaking a peak at the schedules before they were even put up, and I have church in forty minutes, so I can’t be dealing with another catfight between the three of them.
I swear, if they didn’t bring in the big bucks for the club, I would have fired their asses long ago.
“Well, I was wondering what I could do for you, Anchor,” she whispers as she rounds my desk and I look up at her with a glare, stopping her short of sitting on my desk as she’s halfway through peeling her nipple pasty off.
Every fucking day she tries this shit, and every day I tell her the same thing, fuck, last week I put her on bar duty after finding her sprawled out on my desk naked.
“Turn around, get the fuck outta my office and get back to work before I decide fuck it and fire your ass for sexual harassment,” I demand lowly just as Doc walks into my office and stops short with a raised brow at the situation.
He can see I’m pissed off, and he can see I don’t want her in here, and by the look in his eyes, he’s now pissed off too.
An unsuspecting Barbie, who hasn’t walked out of the room when I demanded her to, is instead biting her bottom lip, peeling the nipple pasty off completely clearly delusional in thinking it would change my mind.
I swear, stop fucking a woman, not getting both of you off, makes them crazy.
“Barbie,” Doc snaps, gaining her attention, her eyes widening as she quickly puts her pasty back on before she spins around, gasping in shock, and I roll my eyes as she lies, “I was just coming to check when my next shift was…”
“No,” he growls, “you were yet again trying to proposition a brother who has told you several times to fuck off. If this were the other way around, a restraining order would have been filed. Now do as your boss has said and get the fuck out and get back to work before you lose your job!”
She flinches and quickly rushes past him without looking back at me, and he shakes his head, muttering, “Fucking patch chasers,” and I hum, because that is exactly what Barbie is, and she set her sights on me years ago despite fucking other men and women and I just fucked her because she was easy.
Then I met Summer.
Fuck.
Regret is a hard pill to swallow. I never should have used Barbie the way I did, especially knowing what I felt for Summer, knowing she was my one, knowing I would feel fucking sick and dirty.
“Shouldn’t you be on shift?” I ask, knowing full well he finished this morning.
Dirty called him, it’s why he’s here, but I cannot be fucking bothered to deal with his lecture, especially when he nearly married someone else, all because his dad was threatening his position within the club, something the fucker had no right to do and is lucky to still be wearing his patch.
Fucking, Doc, instead of speaking to us brothers, he kept the burden to himself and he almost lost Brittany and Bailey because of his fuck up.
He sighs, “You know we have church in half an hour, brother.”
I shrug, “Doesn’t explain why you’re here, though.”
“Don’t fuck with me, Eric. You knew Dirty was going to call me,” he states firmly, and I swallow, looking down.
“You told him to leave it?” I confirm, trying not to work my jaw to show him my frustration.
“No,” he denies, and I look at him with a raised brow. He smiles softly and mentions, “You’ve barely spoken to me in a week, Eric. Never mind our ranks within the club, you are my best friend, and you haven’t said a word to me since I told you to leave the fucker be and let Cannon deal with it.”
“You sound like a chick, Doc,” I mutter, and he rolls his eyes.
“Look, I pissed you off, I get it, but you know he is Cannon’s kill, you never claimed Summer,” he says and I curl my lip at him, about to snap I was about to but he puts his hand up and voices my thoughts, “Yes, you were going to, but you didn’t, so you don’t have any claim on his life but if you want to find her and get your answers then you deserve that because I am so fucking worried about you, Eric. ”
“I’m not going to try and kill myself, Asher,” I whisper, already seeing where his thoughts are going, “Sum and I were only together for four months, Trigger was with Ash since they were ten.”
“That doesn’t mean shit, and you know it, brother, you have not been yourself since she ran outta the strip club in tears,” he reminds me, and I flinch at the reminder as my eyes go to my desk that I had replaced after I tried to get revenge for the pain she put me in, and I swallow hard.
Doesn’t matter I pulled out of Barbie as soon as Summer ran out, I shouldn’t have done it, two wrongs don’t make a right.
“I just, I need answers,” I admit, confirming his thoughts, and he hums, but before he can reply, his phone rings, making him sigh.
“Dirty?” he answers, and I look up just as he puts his phone on speaker and Dirty growls, “She never fucking left the country!”
Doc furrows his brows in confusion while I frown and ask, “Who?”
“Your fucking girl!” he snaps, and my eyes widen as I stand in shock, knocking my chair over.
What the fuck does he mean she didn’t leave the country?
“Explain, brother,” Doc demands.
“Her phone’s last fucking location was at her mama’s apartment.
I checked the cameras, brother, she went into the apartment building a year and a half ago but never fucking came back out again, she didn’t leave a week after you ended things with her, her mama was lying.
” He says, and my body trembles with fear.
“She’s missing,” I state the obvious, and Dirty agrees, “Yeah, she is. Her college, she never contacted them, never removed herself from their classes, and several feelers have been put out by her lawyer trying to fucking find her but he’s doing it on the downlow because if she’s reported missing to the cops, all her inheritance will be spread between different charities, two fucking million worth of inheritance. ”
Fuck, fuck, fuck.
Bile builds, and absolute terror fills me.
“Brother?” Doc questions, but I shake my head as I begin to pace.
Fuck, is this why I haven’t seen her around town?
“Her bank cards?” I question.
“Emptied the same day you two broke up which only had roughly $900 in, but after her lawyer didn’t have any contact with her, nothing else was put into her account from him.
They have a system, every month, he speaks to her to confirm she’s okay, then he transfers a certain amount.
If he doesn’t hear from her, everything gets locked up tight, her money, house, car, fucking everything, and her mama has tried to access the house eight times, and last month she was arrested for it as well.
” He answers, and I swear to fuck, my stomach drops.
“Fuck,” Doc chokes and Dirty states, “we’ll find her, I will fucking find her and you will get your answers, brother, but right now, we have more pressing matters.”
I glare at the phone and snap, “What’s more fucking important?”
“The missing women, men, and kids, Cannon followed Gabriel to a warehouse ten miles outside of town to an abandoned airstrip. He and two of his men hid and watched as Gabriel and several other men dragged people inside. We’ve got to roll out and fucking now.
Only one looked eighteen,” he states, and Doc and I lock eyes.
“Then let’s fucking roll out, Dirty get all the brothers ready, we’ll need everyone, and get Stone to call Axel, we’ll need his help as well, and get all the fucking vans we have.
I’ll speak to the chief of police…” Doc commands and I say, “Let’s go kill some fuckers shall we, brothers, and if a stray bullet happens to hit that fucker’s neck, well… ”
I shrug and Dirty laughs as Doc shakes his head, dropping it with a groan, making me smirk as I grab my phone from my desk and storm out of my office with Doc right behind me, murder on my mind.
We push through the rowdy customers and I feel Barbie’s eyes follow me as I leave, but I ignore her, fucking ready to fire the bitch, not caring how much she brings in.
It’s time to save people, kill those fuckers, then go to Summer’s mama’s apartment and find out what really happened to my girl.
I just hope my heart won’t be torn out by what I find.