60. Jasper
60
JASPER
Naomi’s voice is a grating whine in the back of my mind, but I tune her out. I can’t let her bullshit cloud my thoughts right now. I need answers, not her twisted delusions. My gut churns with a sense of impending doom, and every second that passes without knowing what the fuck is going on amps it up further.
“Why are we going to the lake? I don’t have a swimsuit,” she complains.
I nudge her to keep her walking, the wood dock creaking as we reach the end of my pier. “I don’t want you in my fucking house, Naomi.”
“We’re supposed to be happy and together now, Jasper. And you’re ruining it.” She turns around to face me, her back to the lake, and stomps her foot like a fucking child.
“And where is my fucking cat?” All of his favorite hiding spots were empty. My chest pinches at the thought of him wandering around out here alone. It’s mildly irrational considering he was an outdoor cat, but he became a domesticated little prince years ago. I don’t even know if he remembers how to defend himself out here.
She blinks those owlish eyes at me. “I don’t know. Maybe your little whore took it.”
I clench my jaw so hard I swear my teeth might shatter. "Watch your fucking mouth.
Naomi’s eyes narrow, her face twisting from an ugly sneer into something heartbroken as quickly as if she flicked a switch. “She doesn’t deserve you, Jasper. She’ll never understand you like I do. We’re the same, you and I. We’re meant to be together.”
I take a step closer, my voice low and dangerous. “Last fucking chance to tell me the truth.”
She cuts me off, her voice shaky but still tinged with that damn delusional hope. “Jasper, please! I didn’t mean for things to get this far. It wasn’t supposed to be like this. The plan was simple, okay? We’d be together, and Coraline would be with him. Everyone would be happy.”
“ Who ?”
My fists clench at my sides, and my mind fractures with possibilities. Is it retaliation from Falcone? Another club trying to start shit with Reapers? Is it fucking random because my half-sister is unhinged?
The sheer number of possibilities is overwhelming. I can’t possibly follow up on them all. I need more information.
And the only person who can give it to me won’t stop talking in fucking riddles.
Her eyes dart to the side, like she’s trying to find an escape route. “I don’t know his real name,” she stammers. “He never told me. He just said that he knew Coraline, and that he’d take care of her so we could be together. That was the deal.”
My blood turns to ice. “Take care of her? What the fuck does that mean?”
She shakes her head, panic flashing across her face. “I don’t know! I swear, Jasper! He said he’d make sure she wouldn’t come between us anymore. That’s all I know! But we weren’t supposed to do it for another few weeks, but I just got so tired of waiting.”
A sharp whistle cuts through the air, and I turn to see Hawke standing at the edge of the dock, his expression blank. “What’s up, Jagger?”
I grab Naomi by the arm and march her over to Hawke. “Remember my half-sister?”
Hawke’s face pales a little as he looks from me to her. He squints, looking her up and down for a second. It wasn’t the kind of question that required this much thought from him.
“Naomi Bennet. I almost didn’t recognize you without your cowboy hat and denim jumpsuit,” Hawke says, his grin a slash across his face.
“You two know each other?” I look between them. Naomi averts my gaze, staring toward the water.
Hawke laughs, but it’s sharp and grating. “I should’ve known something was fucked-up when you asked me all those questions about being a Reaper. I thought you were thinkin’ of becoming a bunny. But I guess I was wrong.”
Naomi’s face drains of color as she looks between Hawke and me. “It’s not my fault. He wouldn’t talk to me,” she says, pointing a finger at me.
I shake my head in a futile attempt at clearing out her bullshit. “You know what? It doesn’t even fucking matter right now.”
Hawke’s eyes narrow as he looks at Naomi, and then back at me. “What’re you thinkin’?”
I shake my head, frustration boiling over. I push her toward Hawke. “She’s talking in circles, man, fucking nonsense too. You stay here and try to get the full story from her.”
He jerks his head in agreement, his hand circling Naomi’s bicep. “What about you?”
“I can’t just fucking sit here. I’m out,” I start, walking up the pathway to my house. “Call me if she says anything useful.”
“Where are you going, man?” Hawke yells.
“I’m going to bring my woman home,” I tell him, pitching my voice louder.
I pull out my phone and pull up the security app I installed, switching to view both her home and bakery. I’m praying like hell that there’s something, anything, that can give me a clue. But instead of seeing six squares of footage on my phone, it’s an error symbol.
Fucking maintenance. Again.
“I’m gonna fucking kill these motherfuckers,” I seethe, squeezing my phone hard enough to hurt. It’s on me because I should’ve changed companies when their servers went down, but I was swept up in Coraline. And it’s easier to be mad right now than give into my fear.
Time is ticking, and every second feels like it’s dragging Coraline further away from me. I practically sprint to my bike, ignoring the way Naomi’s voice pitches high as she yells for me to come back.
I swing my leg over my bike and settle onto the worn leather seat. The familiar roar of the engine rumbles through me as I turn the key, the vibrations traveling up my arms and rattling in my chest. With a twist of my wrist, I rev the throttle and peel out of the driveway in a spray of gravel. The tires grip the asphalt as I lean into the first turn, the wind whipping past me. Adrenaline pumps through my veins, sharpening my focus.
I hit every red light on the way to her bakery, my mind racing with all the worst-case scenarios. I stop myself before I fully spiral—I can’t let myself go there.
My girl is strong as hell. Stronger than she realizes. She’ll be alright.
And I’m going to find her, no matter what.
I pull up to Sugarplum Bakery, my tires screeching against the pavement as I brake hard. I'm off my bike in an instant, barely taking the time to kick down the stand before I'm striding toward the front door.
I try the handle, finding it locked, which is good.
I press my face to the glass, peering into the darkened interior. Everything looks normal, no signs of struggle or even her being here.
I exhale, my breath fogging the glass for a moment before dissipating. She's not here.
I step back from the door, my mind already shifting gears. If she's not at the bakery, there's only one other place she could be—home.
I swing my leg over my bike and fire up the engine again, the roar echoing off the quiet street. I speed through town, weaving between the evening traffic with single-minded focus.
Her apartment comes into view, the streetlights casting a warm glow over the manicured lawns. I pull up to her apartment with my heart in my throat. The door is open and my cat sits on the front porch like some kind of sentinel. His tail swishes back and forth, his glowing green eyes tracking me as I get off my bike and run up her walkway.
“Pudding,” I call out, my voice cracking as I kneel down to scoop him up. He squirms in my arms, his little claws finding purchase against my chest as he tries to climb out of my hold. “Where’s our girl, buddy? Where’s Coraline?”
He lets out a meow, but I don’t speak cat yet. So I don’t know if that’s a be careful, there’s someone in the house meow or she’s upstairs and she’s hurt or how the fuck did I get here .
I tuck him under my arm, grab my gun from the back of my pants, and go inside her apartment. The house is eerily quiet, and as I move from room to room, my unease only grows. There’s no sign of struggle, nothing out of place, but the silence is suffocating.
I pull out my phone and call Nova. He picks up on the second ring. “What’s up, Jagger?”
“Is Coraline at your house?” I ask, my voice tight with desperation.
He picks up on it right away. “What’s going on?”
I snap, “Is she there or not?”
“Nah, man, she’s not here,” he says slowly. “Wanna tell me what’s going on?”
I pull the phone away from my face and let out a silent frustrated yell. I bring the phone back and exhale. “She’s missing.”
“Fuck. For how long?”
I shake my head too many times, not that he can see me. “I don’t fucking know, man. We got into this argument, and then she texted me that she was meeting me at my house, but I didn’t fucking see it. I didn’t fucking see it in time, Nova . And now she’s just fucking gone. And my creepy fucking half-sister is at my house, claiming she conspired with some guy to take Coraline.”
The words roll out of me, gaining speed with every one. By the time I’m done, I’m panting into the phone.
He waits a beat and then says, “You have a half-sister and you never told me? What the fuck, bro,” Nova exclaims. “Yeah, I know, not the time. But shit, man. I can’t believe I didn’t know about this.”
I shift my weight, my neck growing hot. “Yeah, well, you’ve been busy with the baby.”
“Still. You can still fuckin’ talk to me, man.”
“We’re talking now, aren’t we? I don’t know where she is, Nova.” I spin in a circle, looking around her neighborhood like the answers are going to magically appear. “But I think she’s in trouble.”
“Maybe she’s just taking a breather. You said you got in a fight, maybe she went somewhere for a little space,” Nova reasons, his voice calm.
“Yeah, maybe. But my cat is at her apartment and she’s not.”
“Fuck,” he curses into the phone.
“Yeah, fuck is fucking right,” I growl into the phone.
“I’ll let the guys know, and we’ll all start looking, yeah? Did you try Magnolia Lane?”
Magnolia Lane. Nana Jo’s house, the place Coraline spent most of her summers growing up.
“I’m going to need a favor,” I tell him, jogging to my bike. “I need you to watch my cat.”
I end the call and tuck Pudding into one of my saddlebags, closing the flap. “Stay inside, buddy. You’re gonna hang out with Nova for a little bit while I go get our girl, yeah?”
He blinks at me with a murmured meow, and I take it as his agreement.
If I don’t find her there, I don’t know what I’ll do. But I know one thing for damn sure—I won’t rest until I do.