Chapter 5
Chapter five
Julius
I’d promised to let everyone know when I was safely at home, but I didn’t have the energy to send out a hundred text messages, so I sent one to Mika and asked him to let everyone know Gator had seen me home and I was there with my door locked and my security alarm armed.
But even as tired as I was, I couldn’t sleep.
My phone ringing woke me up the next morning, and I fumbled around on the nightstand trying to find it. I didn’t know who was calling me this early, but whoever it happened to be was fixin’ to get an earful for waking me up so damn early.
Or at least that was my thought process until I managed to locate the phone and flipped it over to see it was 10 AM, and it was Migs calling. Fuck. Sunday Brunch.
I pressed the button to answer his call.
“Sorry, Migs. I overslept.” I swung my legs over the side of the bed and rolled my neck in a pointless attempt at stretching out the kinks.
“You overslept?”
“I know that’s not like me, but I had a rough night at Kirby’s.” I got up and stumbled to the bathroom. “Give me about thirty minutes and I’ll be there.” I looked at my smeared makeup, crazy hair, and the dark circles under my eyes in the mirror and sighed. “Better make that an hour.”
“Okay. We’re all here. Do you want me to order for you?”
“That would be amazing. Just get me my usual.”
We hung up, and I turned on the shower. I set the water as hot as I could stand it before stepping under the spray.
The water trailed down my body, and I tried to imagine it washing away any and all thoughts about what happened last night.
Normally, that worked for me, especially after a particularly difficult day at work, but it didn’t work in this case.
Instead, I wondered if that poor guy had access to a shower or food, or if he was even still alive.
Once I realized a hot shower wasn’t going to help, I made quick work of washing my hair and got out. I tossed on a pair of sweats and a t-shirt. Not my normal attire for brunch, but I didn’t have the time or the energy to do anything else.
Forty-five minutes later, I pulled into the parking lot of Sweet Madeline’s.
I went inside and easily spotted Migs and the others at our regular table.
Marcela saw me come in and gave me a nod to let me know she would be over with my food in a minute.
She was my favorite of the servers here at Sweet Madeline’s, and that wasn’t just because I did her hair.
I made my way over to our table, but before I managed to get seated, they started.
“Damn, Jules. You look like shit. I hope the ride was worth it,” Alberto said.
My mind flashed back to that kiss Gator and I’d shared. I was pretty sure that would have been a hell of a ride if things hadn’t gone to shit instead. Hopefully he’d meant it when he said he wasn’t letting me get away this time.
“No kidding, babes. You look rough.” Robbie gave me a sympathetic look.
I could only guess at all the scenarios they were imagining, most of which probably had to do with me finding a big, strong Daddy to blow my back out. Sadly, that wasn’t what had happened.
“I actually don’t think I’ve ever seen you leave the house looking so… plain,” Migs added. “Maybe you’d better tell us what happened.”
Marcela showed up just then with my eggs benedict, a side of fresh fruit, and a mimosa.
I thanked her and waited until she left before launching into the story of what I’d seen last night.
There were gasps and murmurs as I told the story, but no one said anything until I was done. Then they all had something to say.
“Who was it?”
“Did you know the bad guy? Did they know you?”
“Poor thing.”
“How terrifying.”
They were all talking at once, and I wasn’t sure who even said what.
“I didn’t know him or the bad guy, and yeah, it was pretty scary. I just keep thinking there had to be something I could’ve done differently to save him.”
“Jules,” Migs said in a firm tone. “You just told us there were at least three guys out there. What else could you have done? It wouldn’t have done either of you any good if they’d grabbed you, as well.”
I nodded like I believed him, but the words landed heavy anyway.
He was right—logically, I knew that—but logic didn’t do a damn thing about the sound of that kid’s voice still echoing in my head.
Every time someone laughed too loud or a car door slammed outside, my stomach clenched before my brain could catch up.
I stirred my mimosa just to give my hands something to do.
“Gator said the same thing.”
“Well.” Migs grinned. “I don’t know this Gator, but he sounds like a pretty smart guy.”
“And a great kisser,” I tossed out, hoping to change the subject. The last thing I wanted to do today was sit around and speculate on what the deal was, and as I expected, it worked.
“Oh, do tell, and bonus points if you have pictures,” Robbie said.
“There isn’t that much to tell. I didn’t sleep with him or anything.”
“But you wanted to.” Alberto gave me a knowing look before taking a drink of his mimosa.
“I did. The man’s hot as fuck, and like I said… a great kisser.” I looked at Robbie. “Sadly, I don’t have pictures. We were a little busy after the kidnapping and everything.”
Dammit. So much for wanting to change the subject, but lucky for me, Migs was there.
“You said he goes by Gator, right?” He typed on his phone before stopping and humming appreciatively. “Is this him?”
He turned his phone around, and I found myself looking right into Gator’s beautiful, intense eyes.
“Yeah, that’s him. How did you find him?”
Migs shrugged. “I knew you’d been lusting after one of those Three Bears guys for a while now. So I went to their webpage and wha-la there he is.”
“Let me see?” Robbie held out his hand for Migs’s phone, and he handed it over.
“Hello, Daddy.” Robbie grinned before passing the phone to Alberto.
“I’d do him,” Alberto quipped.
“That doesn’t say much, sugar.” Migs rolled his eyes and took his phone back. “All joking around aside. Are you sure they didn’t know you?”
“I’d never seen them before.”
He nodded. “Just so you’re safe.”
“I am, which is more than I can say for the boy they took.”
Robbie pointed his fork at me. “True, but it’s not going to help him for you to let your benny get cold and gloppy.”
Migs nodded vigorously. “Cold hollandaise sauce is the worst.”
I sighed and took a bite. They were right. Me starving myself wasn’t going to help that poor guy at all. Hopefully the police would be able to find him.
Gator
It was after 1 AM by the time I left Kat and went up to grab a little shut-eye. Sleep had been hard to come by, so I reminded myself that Julius was safe and Kat was sharing any information she found with Carmine. He was a good detective and would do everything he could to find the missing man.
I’d planned on sleeping late to catch up on what I’d missed, but my internal clock had other ideas, so when I woke up at my normal time, I groaned and rolled out of bed.
Who needed sleep anyway? My days in the military had taught me to catch cat naps when possible.
Back then, four straight hours of sleep was a luxury, so I might not like the fact that I was up, but I’d be fine.
I threw together a protein shake, downed it, and then got dressed to go for a run. On my way down, I stopped by the ops center to check in with Kat. She was sitting at her desk, and it wouldn’t surprise me to learn she had never left.
“How’s it going?” I asked.
“I’ve done about as much as I can do. I managed to identify the boy, and I found a partial plate on the car. Unfortunately, the cameras never got a good look at the kidnapper’s face. I sent all that to Carmine and let him know we’d be happy to help if he needed us.”
“I’m sure he’ll reach out if he needs anything. What are you working on now?”
“Just running background checks on some guys for Knox.”
“Have you even been to bed?”
“Yeah, I got a little sleep.”
I looked at her, trying to decide if she was being honest with me or not. Kat was nothing if not dedicated, but she was too valuable to Three Bears for us to let her burn herself out.
“Just make sure you take care of yourself. We can’t do this without you.”
She rolled her eyes. “I take care of myself just fine, don’t worry about me.”
“I’m going for a run, but later on I’ll be in the lounge with the others to watch some football.
You should join us.” We always offered, but for whatever reason, she never accepted.
She was easy to get along with and worked her ass off for our company, but she wasn’t very social.
We didn’t push her, but we always wanted to make sure she knew she was welcome.
“I’ll pass on the sports ball. Thanks, though.”
“You know where to find us if you change your mind.”
By the time I got back from my run and took a shower, it was almost time for kick-off. Game day had become something of a tradition around here, so I walked into the common area on the ninth floor. I wasn’t at all surprised that pretty much everyone who wasn’t on assignment was there.
The twins were sitting on the couch, Tuck and Knox were standing near the snack table munching, Wolfe and Crowe were sitting at the poker table, and to my surprise, Diego was sitting in one of the armchairs.
Hawk had brought him on a few months ago, but this was the first time he’d come for game day.
Most of the guys who worked here lived here on the ninth floor making it easy for them to all hang out, but Diego had his own place on the north side of town.
I thought about joining Wolfe and Crowe, but I figured today would be a good chance for me to get to know Diego better.
Before I joined him, I needed something to eat.
Before Mika moved in with Hawk, our game-day snack selections had been pretty rudimentary.
Open up a couple of bags of chips, toss them in a bowl, and call it good. But not anymore.