26. Blake
Blake
The choppers land in a field beside the airstrip just as the police arrive and swarm the black plane that is still sitting on the runway. Looks like they got Tate’s tipoff, just not in time to help Callie.
We make quick work of disembarking. Not wanting to get caught up in a bunch of red tape, we stay out of the way as we wait for our ride. Ten minutes later, a deep purple Pontiac GTO in mint condition with white racing stripes pulls up beside us.
A woman with honey-kissed skin and shoulder-length chocolate brown hair steps out, making Marcus groan beside me. In skintight ripped blue jeans and a tank top with Dope AF printed across the chest, I can easily see her starring in many a man’s fantasies, but not mine. All I care about is a certain little blonde-haired beauty with copper-colored eyes.
“Hey, boys, need a ride?” Her voice comes out sounding like a promise of things to come, making Marcus perk up even more.
“Damn, you look like my future ex-wife,” he whistles, making me slap him in the chest hard. She throws her head back and laughs.
“If you value your dick, you’ll keep your eyes off my sister. Because if I don’t kill you, Reign’s men will,” Tate tells Marcus seriously as he wraps his arms around her and gives her a hug.
“Men?” Marcus questions, never learning when to shut the fuck up.
“I’m a very hard woman to satisfy,” she tells him with a wink, making him whimper, and I slap him again.
“Shut the fuck up already. While you’re standing here thinking with your cock, my woman is out there with some fucking nut job,” I snap, climbing into the back seat.
“Sorry, boss,” he answers, looking remorseful. “I’ll stay back. See if the cops find anything interesting.”
I nod in agreement. “Arlo, stay with Marcus. Felix, you’re with me.” Felix climbs in beside me as Reign gets back into the driver’s seat.
Tate turns to face Gunner. “Make sure these two stay out of trouble,” he orders, pointing at Arlo and Marcus before climbing into the passenger seat beside his sister. They nod their assent and Reign pulls out with a squeal as soon as Tate’s door is shut.
“How did I not know you had a sister?” I ask, trying to keep my mind occupied. I knew he had brothers, a whole bunch of them, if I remember correctly. But I had never heard him mention a sister before.
“Guys have been chasing after my sister since she woke up one day when she was fourteen with boobs. I find if I don’t mention I have a sister, then I don’t have to keep knocking my friends out,” he answers, making his sister snort.
“And how’d that work out for ya?” she asks, making him mutter something under his breath that I don’t catch.
My phone ringing draws my attention away from the bantering in the front seat. “Kellen,” I greet.
“Got the mother,” he answers without making me wait for it, thank god.
“And?”
“She says she knows nothing about a car accident or anything that’s happened since. Apparently, her bag with her ID and driver’s license was stolen two days ago.”
“Fuck, did she report it? Where was she when she realized it was missing? And have you called Banner to ask the woman he’s watching how she came to have it?” I pepper him with questions.
I hear a door open and close and then the distinct sound of traffic in the background. “Sorry, I didn’t want to talk around her. I haven’t had a chance to call Banner yet. O’Neil and Mathews are questioning Brenda right now, but I’ve gotta tell you, something doesn’t seem right here.”
“How so?” I sit up straighter, everyone in the car going silent around me.
“For a start, she backtracked about the stolen bag. At first, she said she reported it, but when pressed, she admitted that she figured it was pointless as the perpetrator would be long gone.”
“She could have just felt embarrassed. She’s old enough to know she should have reported it.”
“I considered that, but…”
“But what?”
“It’s her reaction to everything. She just seems… off.” He sounds frustrated, like he can’t quite put his finger on it, but knows something is not right.
If I’ve learned anything working with these guys and the team of brothers I lost before them, it’s to listen when people say their gut is telling them something.
“Tell me what you’re thinking.”
“She shed a few tears. Her voice is shaking as she talks to Mathews, and she’s wringing her hands in her lap. All signs of worry or grief, and yet, all of it feels fake. Like someone hired a two-bit actress to play Callie’s mother.”
“Okay, push her, get her to crack. If she’s hiding something, I want to know what it is.”
“On it.” He hangs up.
“So, what’s the deal here?” Reign asks from the front.
“Some asshole kidnapped my woman and is trying to force her to marry him,” I answer succinctly.
“Seriously? What the fuck! Who does that? How the fuc—” Her voice is cut off by the sound of a phone ringing.
The car must be fitted with a Bluetooth receiver because moments later, a gruff voice fills the interior.
“Yo, you’re on speaker, and my brother is in the car, so please refrain from using the words dead, murder, or alibi.”
“I don’t know how your men put up with you,” I hear muttered over the line.
“Oh, hush, we both know you harbor a secret, unrequited crush on me, Kermit, but alas, I have more penises than I know what to do with.”
Tate leans forward and bangs his head repeatedly on the dash.
“The crew is spread up and down the strip. Everyone is being sent to check out as many chapels as we can. Saint is calling the LA chapter to see if they know anything about this guy, and Bates says to tell you he’ll text you when they find something.” Then the line goes dead.
“Well, goodbye to you too, Kermit,” Reign mutters.
“Kermit? As in Kermit the frog?” Felix questions.
“Bikers and their nicknames.” Tate shakes his head.
“It’s not a nickname, dickface . Kermit is his road name,” Reign tells her brother, speeding us closer toward the famous Vegas strip.
“Do I even want to know why they gave him the name Kermit?” Tate questions warily.
“Oh, that’s because he has a thing for Muppet porn.”
Well, that was one way to get everyone’s attention.
“I’m sorry, what?” Kellen splutters.
“You know, where Kermit likes to pork his piggy? No?” Reign says when we all look at her like she’s crazy.
“I swear having a penis lowers your IQ in some way,” she mutters, making Tate glare at her. “His last name is Froggett. Jesus, tough crowd.”
Tate opens his mouth to speak when her phone chimes with a text.
“Check it for me, Tate, but don’t scroll up. Priest and I were sexting earlier,” she orders, not slowing down at all as she takes the corner.
“Why couldn’t God have given me another brother?” he asks, pained. He scans the phone. “Bate’s says they have a lead. Head to The Little Blue Chapel.” He reels off the address before turning to look over his shoulder at me. “They’re already on their way. They’ll meet us there.”
I sit up straight, my heart racing at the prospect of finding Callie, when my phone rings again, as do Felix’s and Tate’s.
A wave of sickness washes over me, a premonition telling me that this phone call will bring nothing but bad news.
“Hello?” I listen to Wade’s voice on the other end of the line, his words twisting my insides as he delivers each blow with calm detachment. I lift my head and watch Tate’s face fill with pain.
I mumble that I’ll call him back before I hang up, feeling numb.
“What? What is it?” Reign asks anxiously.
“Someone just blew up my office building. I had a man and Callie’s mom inside. Tate had two of his men with them. The building is gone. No news yet on casualties,” I answer, feeling numb.
“Shit,” she whispers just as Tate hangs up his phone, his eyes on me.
“That was Mathews. Kellen and Callie’s mother are en route to the hospital. I don’t know anything more than that.”
“O’Neil?” I ask, remembering the other man’s name.
He shakes his head, his eyes turning haunted for a moment before he pulls it back.
“He didn’t make it.”