Chapter Twenty-One
King
I can’t focus.
Madaline looked dead. Her face was bruised and she was cold as ice. If it hadn’t been for Michael we wouldn’t have found them in time. Seconds before the call was dropped Michael was able to gain access to Knox’s phone. He was only able to hold it for less than a minute but thankfully he received a location ping. It was a storage rental place with only thirty units.
With a little threat to the one in charge, he was able to tell us which one was recently opened. The unit itself was transformed into a walk-in freezer. Apparently, the person renting this particular unit stores meat from illegal and exotic sources.
“Brother, I know where your mind is, but I need you here with me right now.”
Squeezing my eyes shut, I push all thoughts of Madaline away.
“What do we know?” I ask.
“Michael has the name of the person renting this storage unit,” Steel says. “Someone named Nick Thornfield. He didn’t list an address or a phone number. The only thing we can do is wait for Michael to get back to us.”
“It took us less than an hour to find the girls,” Jax says. “Surely Knox isn’t far.”
***Twelve Hours Later***
“I believe I have obtained the whereabouts of Mr. Knox, Master Michael.”
I am never going to get used to that damn robot. Apparently, Sentry Bot is something that he created when he was a teenager.
“Thank you, Sen,” Michael says. “What do you have?”
“Mr. Knox was moved from the club called, The Playpen, located thirty minutes and seventeen seconds outside of Harborbrook, Kentucky, to the Smithston apartments three point seven minutes from The Playpen.”
“Do you have an address?” Michael asks.
“I am sending the coordinates to each of your phones GPS tracking.”
At once, every phone in the room comes alive with beeps.
“Your robot friend creeps me out,” Colt says.
“He has that effect,” Michael smiles. “Sen, are you able to gain access to the security feed inside of the club?”
“Negative, Master Michael. The club is currently closed for remodeling. All electricity has been temporarily deactivated. However, I have access to Nick Thornfield’s cellular device.”
“Why the hell would he have been at The Playpen?” Steel asks.
“It’s a BDSM club much like ours,” Blaze explains to some of the confused faces.
“Except it’s an open club,” Steel slams his fist against the wall. “Meaning anyone can join regardless of their background. It’s fucking dangerous to the Subs and even some Doms if their scene partner isn’t completely vetted.”
“Vetting your scene partners is important for a variety of reasons,” Blaze again explains to the room. “Safety, consent, compatibility, trust building, communication, experience level, their emotional state. The list goes on. Knox isn’t supposed to be going to places like that.”
“He wouldn’t have had to if you two would have let him become a member of Obsidian Oasis.”
Madaline is reclining on her hospital bed glaring at my brothers. It took five hours for her to wake up, but the doctors say she’s going to be just fine. They did some scans of her brain as a precaution but they came back clear.
However, right now, she’s one pissed-off woman.
Walking over, I sit beside her and hold her hand. She’s about to blow up on the twins. I can see it in her eyes.
“That man has tried for three years to join your club,” she tells them through gritted teeth. “He has gone through your vetting process only to be denied. Twice. You told him that Oasis wasn’t his scene. All he wanted to do was spend time in the Little’s room. He didn’t want to be stripped naked, spend hours on his knees, or take part in any other scene. He didn’t want anything to do with any of that. He wanted a safe place to go to be himself. To feel safe enough to simply let go.”
Releasing my hand, she stands and slowly makes her way to Blaze and Steel, hands on her hips and eyes angry as fuck.
“Because you two idiots denied him access to the ONLY safe place in town he could go to, he had to look elsewhere. Did you know that The Playpen isn’t the only BDSM club he’s attended? He’s been to several in the past year alone trying to find the one place that fits him. He’s stuck. He can’t regress because he doesn’t feel safe enough to do so. Not even in his own home. That’s why we had a sleepover at my house before all this crap went down. We tried our best to help him. We’ve been trying for months.”
“Bitsy was the only one who could help him, though,” Sophia says from the doorway. She had to have surgery to realign her femur and will be stuck in that chair until she gets used to crutches. “Bitsy was able to regress with him but even that wasn’t enough. I think he pretended just so we wouldn’t feel bad.”
“You fuckers are idiots for not letting him into your club,” Bitsy yells. “He probably got taken by some DD wannabe fuck who he met at one of them.”
“Don’t say fuck, wife,” Viper says. “Our baby can hear you.”
“Really? How many times a day will this baby hear the word fuck in this family.”
“Mr. Knox’s position has been confirmed, Master Michael,” Sen says from a drone that is constantly floating next to Michael’s head. “I have intercepted a call made from Nick Thornfield to his wife Donna Thornfield. Mr. Knox was in the background weeping. I have verified his voice from his audio recordings on his computer. They are located at Mr. Thornfield’s second rental property.”
“Why the fuck was he crying?” Blaze asks.
“Unknown, Mr. Blaze. I did not have a visual of him.”
“Madaline, come and lay back down,” I demand. “I need to go after Knox, and I need to know that you’ll be safe. How’s your head?”
“It still hurts,” she admits, climbing back onto the bed. “But I’ll be fine. Just get him back.”
“You have my word,” I promise. “I love you, baby. With everything I am.”
I kiss her quickly before nodding at my brothers to follow me. Jax, Colt, and Michael are all staying behind to watch over the girls.
“Don’t kill anyone,” I order. “I want this man and the ones responsible for hurting Madaline, Bitsy, and Sophia to check into Hotel King.”
“The chambers are already emptied of the previous trash, cleaned, and prepared,” Ghost says. “Let’s go collect our guests.”