Chapter 62
SIXTY-TWO
KASHTON
We’re all gathered at Blackout for a meeting. While Eve was out to lunch with Haidyn, Hooke called Saint and wanted to get us all together. So I shot Haidyn a text to just meet us here since they were already in town.
I’m lounging in a chair, sitting at a round table with Ryat and Sin. Colton is sitting on top of the bar next to Finn. Alex and Jenks are in a booth over to my right.
The club is currently closed since it’s the middle of the day, so we didn’t have to hide in his office.
The door opens, and I look up to see Haidyn holding it for Eve to enter. I stand and walk toward her. “Hello, angel.” I open my arms, and she steps into me. “Everything okay?” I ask softly into her hair.
“Yes,” she assures me.
I let out a sigh of relief. I want her to have a relationship with Haidyn. One that a brother and sister are supposed to have. She needs that. To know that people care about her. I’m all she’ll ever need, but one day I will no longer be here.
“What’s going on?” Haidyn asks, pulling his pack of cigarettes out of his pocket and lighting one up. “What did I miss?”
“Not much. Hooke should be here any moment,” Ryat answers.
“Did he find Hailey?” Haidyn wonders.
I shrug. “Wouldn’t tell us. Just said that he needed to meet with us. He landed twenty minutes ago.” I sit in my chair and pull my wife onto my lap.
I don’t miss the way Colton’s eyes go from Eve to Haidyn, wondering why she arrived with him but is sitting on my lap. No one here other than Haidyn, Saint, and Sin knows she’s my wife. Sin doesn’t even know she’s Haidyn’s sister.
Tyson walks out from the back with Hooke next to him. Hooke pulls out a barstool, and Tyson chooses to remain standing.
“The Mason brothers were able to get me a number. I’ve managed to track it down, and he’s here.” This is what he must have been doing in Vegas while we were at his place in New York.
“What’s the plan?” Sin asks.
“Well, I don’t really have one. We need to lure him in, that way we can trap him and find out where she is.”
“I’ll do it,” Eve states.
“No.” Haidyn shakes his head.
She huffs and pushes off my lap. “Give me her phone number,” she orders Hooke.
He looks at me, and I nod. I’m interested to see where her mind is going. If I think it’s not safe, I’ll squash it.
She pulls out her cell, and he rattles off Hailey’s number. Eve types away for a second and then places her phone on the table in front of me.
“Eve,” Haidyn growls.
“It’ll be fine,” she assures him. “Like Hooke said, we have to lure him in. Blackout is the best place. All of you will be here.”
“What did you send her?” Ryat asks.
“I pretended to be an old friend. Told her that she was right and I dumped my piece-of-shit boyfriend and got a new number. I asked if she could meet up, told her I’d love to tell her all about it at Blackout tonight. Drinks on me.”
“Won’t work,” Hooke tells my wife. “Her phone is off. It’s been out of use since she went missing.”
Eve’s cell beeps. I look at it sitting on the table and read her incoming text out loud. “Can’t wait to hear all the tea.”
Saint frowns. “How did he answer that if Hailey’s phone is off?”
“They’ve forwarded all of her incoming messages and calls,” I answer.
Ryat nods, confirming. “I’ve done it before.
” He smiles proudly. “It’s actually pretty easy to do.
You install an app on your phone and theirs, and it sends you everything their number receives…
texts, emails, calls…and you make it appear that you’re responding from the number they reached out to if need be.
You also have access to their search history or any app that they use.
It’s literally like you’re looking at their phone on your own. ”
“I don’t care. I don’t like it.” Haidyn voices his opinion.
“It’ll be fine.” Eve rolls her eyes. “Seriously, all of you will be here. I’ll be at the bar when he shows.
I’ll make it obvious I’m waiting for someone.
He’ll sit down, strike up a conversation, and dig to see if I’m here alone and who I’m waiting for.
After a little while, when she doesn’t show, he’ll want to leave.
I’ll have him follow me outside, you guys grab him and stick him in the car and take him to Carnage. Simple.”
“It’s never that simple,” Haidyn argues.
“Why not keep him at Blackout?” Alex questions. “Tyson has a basement, and you don’t have to take him far. We have the bartender slip him something and we just drag him down the steps.”
Hooke shakes his head. “I don’t want him here. The best place for him is Carnage. I want to see how he reacts when he finds out Isabella is there.” He looks at me, and I stand, handing Eve back her cell. “See if they have a connection like I suspect.”
“Your safety comes first. If I think he’s getting shady, it’s over,” I tell my wife.
“With all of us watching, what could happen?” Alex asks, arms out wide, and Haidyn snorts.
EVERETT
Checking the time on my phone, I see it’s almost midnight. I’ve been sitting here since ten o’clock. I never mentioned a time in my text, but the party doesn’t start until after eleven. Everyone knows that.
The guys are all over Blackout tonight. Ryat and Sin have been sitting in a round booth right off the dance floor for as long as I’ve been perched at the bar.
Kashton is standing up on the breezeway with Saint. I haven’t seen Haidyn, but I know he’s here too because we rode together. Thankfully, he gave up his argument about how bad of an idea this is.
I can handle myself. I know I wasn’t always like this, but I like to think I’ve come a long way since I was that scared little girl. I kill grown-ass men. Sure, there have been some close calls, but it’s always worked out. This one won’t be any different.
I’m going to play whatever part I have to in order to help them find this missing woman.
I hate to tell Hooke, but it’s been weeks.
If she’s part of the human trafficking ring, she’s been sold and is long gone.
If she’s lucky, she’s dead. But even if that’s the case, she should be laid to rest. Everyone is entitled to peace, and her family deserves to pay their respects.
“Is this seat taken?”
I look over to see a man standing beside me. He looks young. Mid-twenties, dressed in light-wash jeans and a plain white T-shirt. His blond hair is combed over, and it makes him look like a jock.
He’s my guy.
I bite my bottom lip, looking around nervously. “Yeah. My friend is running late as usual.” Reaching out, I go to pull the barstool from his hand, but he doesn’t let go of it.
“How about I sit until she gets here?” he offers. “Promise, I’ll get up the moment she arrives.”
Sure, you will. I nod and he gives me a charming smile. I pick up my drink and take a sip from the thin straw.
“Do you come here a lot?” he asks.
I shake my head. “I used to, but I moved away a couple of years ago with my boyfriend.” I roll my eyes. Kashton wasn’t happy that I had to take my wedding ring off. I told him to keep it in his pocket so I could have it back as soon as we get this piece of shit outside.
“Sounds like there’s a story there.” He laughs, signaling for a bartender.
“He cheated. I left. That’s all there is.
” I finish off my drink as the bartender walks over and takes his order.
I allow him to get me another one. “How about you?” I look to see if he’s wearing a ring.
I’m surprised he isn’t. They use men like him to pick up women—charming and good looking.
They lure you into a back alley where they throw you into the trunk of a car, and then the world never sees you again.
Your life is gone. Over. And you wish that you’d just die.
You’d be surprised how much your body and mind can endure when you wish either one would just give up.
“She also cheated on me,” he answers.
The bartender places our drinks down on the bar, and we both pick them up, turning to face one another, and tap the glasses together. “Fuck them,” I say, and he smiles, tossing his back, and I take a sip of mine.
“Yeah. Fuck them.” He winks, and I want to roll my eyes but instead, I bat my lashes.
Pretty sure that was him telling me he’d rather fuck me, but whatever. That’s not happening, but I can play along.
He stands and motions to the bartender to return. When he does, he orders two shots before he turns to walk away.
I arch a brow. “Leaving me already?”
Smirking, he shakes his head. “Save my seat?”
“Sure.”
He walks away and disappears into the crowd. I keep my eyes on my phone that sits by my drink and have to hide my smile when I see I have a new text from the same number that Hooke had given me earlier.
Can’t make it.
Of course she can’t. The thought sends a chill up my spine. The poor woman is gone, and Hooke will probably never find her. I hope the Lords beat the living shit out of this guy.
He returns to his seat. “Well, fuck,” I sigh, slamming my cell down.
“What’s wrong?” he asks, placing his hand on my thigh. I stiffen, and he removes it just as quickly.
I push my hair off my shoulder, hoping that my husband didn’t see that because he will most definitely blow my cover. “My girlfriend canceled.” I frown. “I was really wanting to see her.”
“Well, no reason for the night to go to waste.” He shrugs.
“What do you have in mind?” I look him over as if I’m interested. Not like I need to give him that impression. Men don’t care if you want them or not. They don’t ask for permission.
“Let’s have another drink and then take this to a party.”
There’s always a party. It’s funny how predictable they all are. “Sounds good.” I down what’s left of mine while he orders another.
I pick up my cell and send a text to the group chat that Kashton added me to this afternoon.
Get ready.
Then I turn my cell off. I don’t need a response, and I don’t want this man to read my texts.
I take a quick look over my left shoulder and up to the breezeway, noticing Kashton isn’t there. My eyes quickly scan the club. It’s useless, though. The neon lights flash to the bass of the music, so it’s hard to focus on much.
Something wet drops on my thigh and I look down, running my fingers through it, smearing it over my skin.
Frowning, I look at my hand and rub my fingers over the oily substance.
I take the bar napkin and wipe it off along with my thigh.
Then feel up under the bar to see if something is dripping, but it’s dry.
Weird.
“Here you go.”
I wad up the napkin and toss it onto the bar, then take the shot from him. We clank them together once more and down them.
Without another word, we get up, and I follow him through the club and out the back door where I immediately step to the right for Alex and Colton to jump him.
The poor bastard never saw it coming. He tries fighting back, but they get him tossed into the back of the Cadillac SUV and drive off, squealing the tires within seconds.
Kashton grabs my hand and pulls me toward my car, opening the door for me. I crawl into the back while he takes the driver’s seat and Hooke gets in the passenger side. We had to bring mine for the back seat, and I’m still cramped back here.
My body starts to heat up, and I rub my hands on my bare thighs. Sighing heavily, I lean my head back and close my eyes. My skin is tingling.
“You okay, Eve?”
Looking up, I see Kashton’s pretty blue eyes staring at me in the rearview mirror. “Of course,” I answer him.
He gives me a smile that makes my thong wet. Fuck, I want to sit on his face so bad. I can’t wait to get back to Carnage.
Hooke turns to look at me and frowns. “Are you going to get sick? You had quite a bit to drink.”
I want to argue that I can hold my liquor, but instead I say, “I’m fine.” Just horny as fuck.
They fall back into a conversation while I gently rock my hips back and forth on the seat, imagining it being my husband’s face while my hands are cuffed behind my back.
Kashton reaches around his seat and tucks his tatted hand under my heated knee, and I have to bite my lip to quiet a moan at his touch. I wish Hooke would have gone with the others so I could beg my husband to fuck me.