Chapter 17 #2
Val sighed. “Yeah, Adrian thought if he came onto me that I would incriminate myself, Pete would get it on film, and I’d get fired.
When I didn’t take the bait, he accused me of sexually assaulting him.
He pressed charges, convinced they’d take his word over mine.
He’d thought the accusation alone would be enough to get me to step down, but I fought it, and Pete had a change of heart.
The case was dismissed, the charges dropped, and Adrian got fired. ”
“Why?” Joker asked. “Wait, you said Adrian came onto you.”
“He wasn’t gay. Just disgusted that I was.”
Jack stared at him. “This guy did all that just to get rid of you because you were gay?”
Joker threw an arm up. “The fuck? Unbelievable. If those assholes put in half as much effort into shit that matters, the world would be different.”
“Given,” King growled. “But that’s a conversation for another day.
Jack checked the cameras in the area. A couple of doorbell cameras caught a guy dressed in a black hoodie running and, shortly after, another guy who was clearly Saint.
There were no signs of any cars leaving the neighborhood, so they’re likely still in the area. ”
Ace pointed to his left. “There are some businesses over there. That’s where I would start. If this guy is hiding somewhere, it won’t be in a residential neighborhood. None of these houses back here have fencing, so you can see straight into the backyards.”
Val agreed. “The problem is, if he’s hiding, then Saint is in trouble because if Saint lost him, he’d have called.”
“Let’s start looking,” King said. “Everyone, watch your sixes and keep in communication. Ace, you go with Lucky; you’ve got the hotel and surrounding businesses.
Jack, you’re with Joker and Chip; you’ve got the resort and the buildings around that.
Val, you’re with Mason. You take the inn and the buildings around it.
If we don’t find anything, we’ll meet back here in an hour. ”
“What about you?” Val asked King.
“I’m fine.”
Val and Mason exchanged glances. Mason’s lips were pressed together in a thin line, but he didn’t respond.
“Let’s go.” King took off and disappeared into the shadows.
“Is he going to be okay?” Val asked the guys.
“King?” Joker waved a hand. “Of course.”
Ace sighed. “No, he means is King going to be okay if he finds Adrian first.”
“Oh.” Joker wrinkled his nose. “That I don’t know. I suggest we find Adrian first.”
They all agreed though Val’s priority was Saint. He’d leave Adrian to the rest of the guys. Everyone agreed to stay in communication and meet back in an hour if they didn’t find anything. With that, they split up in pairs as King ordered. Val joined Mason as they hurried off toward the small inn.
The night was cool, with a slight breeze since they were near the beach.
It was still early evening, so local restaurants and tourist shops were pretty busy.
They needed to make sure they kept a low profile.
The last thing they needed was to get arrested or for some asshat to take matters into their own hands because Welcome to Florida .
“You okay to hop on over another fence?” Mason asked Val.
“Sure, why not. That’s what health insurance is for.”
Mason chuckled as they neared the fence between the hotel and the adjacent property.
“We can cut through the parking lot of the seafood place to the inn. Otherwise, we’ll have to climb a bunch more fences because walking down A1A is out of the question.
” He laced his fingers together to hoist Val up.
As soon as he was on the other side, he reached up to help Mason, but the cowboy didn’t need help.
He dropped down with ease and grinned at Val.
“Just like on the ranch back home,” Mason drawled.
“Of course it is,” Val said, amused.
They hurried through the parking lot of the seafood place.
It was a weekday, so it wasn’t too busy.
They walked through the lot casually, like they were taking a stroll, and keeping their faces turned away in case the restaurant had security cameras.
When they reached the lot of the inn, they used the trees and the shadows to hide themselves as they made their way toward the back of the lot.
“You think he has Saint in a motel room?’ Mason asked as they stopped across from the inn.
Val hated the thought of Adrian having Saint at all. But if he did, what was he doing with him? The only reason he would keep Saint would be to use him against Val, but he’d yet to receive any word from Adrian.
“I highly doubt it. It would mean getting caught on camera, and even if he got inside through the back, there’s no way Saint would have gone along quietly. My bet is he’s in one of the closed businesses. No witnesses, no one to get in the way.”
“Okay, but which one?”
That was the million-dollar question. Seeing as no one had yet to call, Val would guess none of the others had found anything. They kept to the shadows, listening for any indication that either Adrian or Saint might be nearby. There were over a dozen cars parked in the lot of the inn.
“Don’t worry,” Mason assured him. “If anyone can find him, it’s us and the guys.”
Val just hoped Saint was alive and well when they found him.
They swiftly headed for the end of the lot and were about to jump the fence when Val heard something. He threw a hand out to stop Mason.
“Did you hear that?”
Mason stilled and listened. “Did that…did that sound like glass breaking?”
“Sounded like someone using something to break glass, like a shirt or something.”
“They’re breaking into a building,” Mason said. “Shit, but which one?”
There were several small structures around them, businesses that looked like houses.
“It came from somewhere that way,” Val said, motioning to their left and the general vicinity. “What have we got over there?”
Mason climbed partway up the fence and peeked over. “Looks like some storage units and a few other small buildings. I can’t see what’s over to the right.”
“Okay. Let’s do this.”
They climbed over the fence, landing behind one of the self-storage structures across from what looked like a house and, most likely, the main office area for the self-storage place. The two units behind them had closed doors secured with locks.
“I don’t see any cameras,” Mason said. “But just in case.” He removed a thin black box from his pocket.
“What’s that?” Val asked. The Kings always had the most fascinating gadgets.
“Signal scrambler. Let’s go.”
Val hurried after Mason, running toward the storage units.
There weren’t many, which made it more accessible.
There was the one they’d landed behind and five more buildings with units on both sides.
They started with the row containing three sections.
All the doors were padlocked from the outside, meaning Adrian and Saint weren’t in them.
They quickly moved to the other side of the same three structures, again all the doors were padlocked. Once they were done, they checked the back two—same thing. Everything was locked and secured. Val motioned ahead to a larger double unit, and they hurried over. Both doors were locked.
Mason gestured to Val, and they ran behind the main building, shrouded in shadows with a large tree and plenty of greenery.
Carefully, Val looked through one of the windows.
The place looked empty, all the lights were turned off, and the blinds were drawn in most of the windows.
They listened but didn’t hear anything and saw no movement inside.
“Damn it.” Val shook his head. “Nothing.”
They continued to move forward, stopping when they got to the small fence behind the self-storage office. On the other side was a dirt lot with junk lined across the fence. It looked like pieces of broken furniture, stuffing, springs, and discarded materials.
“It looks like the back of a furniture repair shop or maybe an upholstery business,” Val said.
The place was dark, the awning at the back casting a long, dark shadow.
They edged along the fence, crouched low in case someone hid in the darkness.
Val had no idea why, but he got the feeling that maybe they’d found what they were looking for. “I think they’re in there.”
“You sure?” Mason asked as they drew close to the opening in the fence.
“No, but my gut tells me this might be the place.”
“Okay. I’ll notify the guys.”
Val nodded. His pulse raced, and he itched to charge into the damned building, but he knew better. If Saint was in there, they had to do this right. The last thing they needed was for Adrian to feel trapped.
Hold on, Sweetheart. Just hold on .