Chapter Thirty-Six
My vision is a blurred haze of red, anger vibrates through me while I help Brittany and Mrs. D. get Nina into her and Johnny’s room. I scoff internally at the thought, Johnny – when will the kid realize he hasn’t been Johnny since he returned home. Nina is so tiny in my arms that she really does resemble Tinkerbell, or Tink, as Brittany calls her. As soon as they have the door open, I cross the room in a few long strides and gently place Nina on the bed. Her cat, Pinhead, hisses at me until he realizes I’m not a threat. His loud purr echoes through the room as he curls up next to his human. My eyes land on Mrs. D, the woman who helped raise Johnny. They say it takes a village, and in this life that couldn’t be more true. I was young when the kid was born, but I took him under my wing the best I could. Knowing that he’s out there on his own with a man who held his own blood captive and used her as a punching bag for years only serves to piss me off more.
I spin on my heel without a word toward the same way we came. My feet move with purpose as my mind reels with the list of things we have to do to fix this chaos. I hear Brittany’s voice behind me talking to Mrs. D, but I don’t register what she says until it’s too late. The compact stick of dynamite that I haven’t been able to stop thinking about since she first called me Daddy bounds across the room and stands in front of me . The door latch clicks in place when it’s pulled closed, leaving us alone in the hallway.
“Michael, why am I here?” It’s the first time I've ever heard the tiger refer to me by name. My God the sound of my name on her lips, my cock is weeping. Christ.
I lower my gaze to her, narrowing my eyes. When I saw her at the book shop with Nina, two things went through my mind. First, I can’t leave Nina without a support system and second, I can’t leave without knowing Brittany is safe. That is where I fucked up, because now, I won’t let the woman out of this house until I know everything is settled and she’ll be alright on her own. I don't give a shit who her mother is, she’s too important not to look after myself. She has been taunting me every fucking time I’ve seen her. It’s a shock I’ve lasted as long as I have without pulling some stupid shit like this.
“You know exactly why.” I growl as I press her roughly against the wall and lower my lips to hers. My mouth captures hers in a possessive manner as I kiss the shit out of her. She melts into me, her fingers tangle in my short mane and she tugs as she tries to take control, which would normally lead to me turning a woman around and fucking her from behind against a wall, but I don’t have that kind of time, and I need time to explore Brittany’s body. A quickie in the middle of a hall when we’re both stressed over Johnny’s disappearance isn’t the fucking time. I groan and pull away before I retreat to the office.
Milo is pacing the length of the room when I enter, his anxiety is rolling off him in waves. Ignoring him, I take a seat behind the desk and boot up the computer. I pull up several of the programs a tech wiz we’ve used in the past for hits we couldn’t be associated with provided for us. Once it’s up, I type in the information to load all security camera feeds at and near the parking garage where we found Danny’s body. Now, it’s a waiting game.
“I swear to God, you fucking pain in my ass, if you don’t take a god damn Xanax and sit the fuck down, I’m going to kill you before Johnny gets a chance to do so for fucking Vanna.” I snarl at Milo who is still wearing a dent into the hardwood floors.
The heat of his angry glare on the side of my face pulls my eyes away from the computer.
“She’ll never forgive you if you are too worried about her to get him back. Get your shit together and let’s do this.” I stare at the kid I've trained to replace me when the time comes. He’s nowhere near ready when this is his initial reaction.
Tens of thousands of images load from the area. Given it’s city fucking hall, I'm not shocked. It takes Milo and I hours to review everything that has come up. I’m confused with what I see in some of the images, but the final location is exactly what I’d expect.
We’ve been waiting for nearly fifteen hours for visual confirmation. The cell phone ringing in my pocket pulls me from my task at hand. The task being pulling my hair out with fucking worry. I drag the device out and place it on the desk before swiping to answer. Once the call is placed on speaker, I speak.
“What?” I growl to the person on the other end.
“Confirmed with visual and thermal imaging. He’s in Barone’s basement.” Abel’s calm voice sounds from the other end of the phone.