Chapter 20
“Travis, can you come to the club?” Kane asked through the phone.
“Bit busy at the moment, Kane. Can you handle whatever it is?”
Kane Majors was a new addition to his staff. He’d hired him to run Whip It to give him more time to put into Raptor Inc. So far he was turning out to be a good hire.
He was calm, careful, but also stern when needed. He got the job done and well.
Which is why Travis was certain the other man could handle whatever had come up.
“I can, but she says that she knows you. Actually, she first said she knew Jace and then she tried to make me promise not to call him.”
Travis frowned and walked out of the busy meeting room at Raptor Inc. They’d been searching for Rory since yesterday morning and had nothing. Seemed she’d learned some things from her brother over the years about how to move around under the radar.
She had to be using cash as there had been no movement on her credit card or bank accounts. And somehow, she wasn’t using her ID to get around.
If she was hitchhiking then he would tan her damn ass. Everyone else could get in line.
“Who is she?” he asked.
“Name, sweetheart?” Kane asked.
“I’m not your sweetheart. I want to talk to him.”
Relief filled him. He was almost certain that was Rory.
“Tell her that if she hitchhiked here from Dallas I’m going to come and whoop her ass,” he grumbled. “Fuck.”
“Did you hitchhike here?” Kane asked in a low voice that spelled trouble.
Shit.
“I did not! I got a ride with a friend. I’m not an idiot.”
“Kane, put her on speaker.”
“Done,” Kane replied.
“Rory!” Travis snapped down the phone. “Do you realize that all of Black-Gray as well as all of my guys are currently searching for you? Do you know how much manpower we’ve put into this? Gray is going out of his mind with worry.”
“I . . . I didn’t think anyone would be looking for me,” she said with a sniffle. “I’m so sorry.”
“What were you thinking?” he asked. “Gray is trying to find flights home to come find you.”
“Oh no.”
“Travis, ease up a bit, man,” Kane said. “She looks upset. Here, sweetheart. Sit down and have a drink of water. Tell me what’s going on.”
Travis sighed and pinched the top of his nose as he stared down at his feet. “Sorry. We’ve just all been worried about you, Rory.”
“That’s Rory? Where is she?”
He glanced up to find Jace bearing down on him, worry filling his face.
“She’s at Whip It,” he told his brother.
Instantly, the worry disappeared and anger filled its spot. Uh-oh. It was rare for Jace to get angry, but when he did, everyone had to brace.
“What the fuck?” he whispered.
Travis eyed him warily. “Kane, keep Rory there. I’ll be there shortly.”
“Give me the phone,” Jace demanded, holding out his hand.
“Nope.” He ended the call. “You need to take a moment to breathe.”
“I don’t need to fucking breathe!” Jace roared.
People spilled out of the meeting room to gape at them both.
“Rory has been found safe,” he explained. “She’s at Whip It.”
“Uh-oh,” Tyler said. “Somebody isn’t sitting for a week.”
“Jace and I are going over there now. You can all go back to your jobs. Clay, can you call Gray? Tyler, call Hunter.”
“Oh goody,” Tyler grumbled. “Can I call Cady instead? She’s so much easier to talk to. And prettier.”
“I don’t know, I think Hunter is kind of pretty,” Alexa said. “Want me to call him?”
“No!” everyone snapped.
Fuck. That was the last thing he needed. Why had he hired Alexa?
Oh yeah, because she was a fucking genius.
But sometimes he really did worry about her.
“I can’t believe she just turned up at Whip It,” Jace said as he followed him to the stairs. Travis thought it was better to take the stairs than the elevator, give Jace a chance to work off some steam. “Did she say why she was there? Or why she didn’t tell anyone?”
“I don’t know anything other than she sounded upset when I told her everyone is worried and searching for her.”
“Why was she upset? Did you upset her? You shouldn’t have snapped at her,” Jace told him.
“Jace, pull it together, man,” he replied as they reached his car. “You look like you’re torn between hugging her tight or spanking her ass. All I did was scold her a bit. And everyone is worried about her.”
The drive to Whip It was quiet. Not necessarily a good sign. Jace jumped out before Travis had even stopped his car. With a sigh, Travis followed him into Whip It and then through to Kane’s office. He was here early. Kane didn’t usually get here until after six.
Jace stormed into the office and Travis shook his head. This wasn’t going to end well.
He moved in quickly behind him as his brother walked over to where Rory sat on the sofa.
She looked tiny and pale. Her oversized clothes dwarfed her and she wore her dark hair long and falling over her face.
Shit.
Travis tensed. She didn’t look like she was in a strong enough state of mind to handle Jace on a rampage.
“Jace,” he warned as Kane stepped in front of her.
Fuck.
He didn’t know how Jace felt about Rory, but all the signs pointed to him caring about her. Because Jace didn’t usually get this riled up over anything or anyone.
So he wasn’t going to take Kane trying to protect her very well.
“Get out of the way,” Jace ordered.
Kane stood his ground.
“Kane, let him see her,” Travis told him. “Don’t worry, he won’t harm her. Will you, Jace?”
“Not worried about physical harm,” Kane said. “She’s fragile.”
“I’m fine,” Rory protested.
Travis shot her a look, running his gaze over her. Yeah, she didn’t look fine. She looked pale and thin. “Jace has this.”
Kane grimaced but moved.
Travis was prepared to interfere if Jace started yelling. But to his shock, the big guy kneeled in front of Rory and reached up to take gentle hold of her chin.
“You’re okay?” he asked.
“I . . . I am. I promise. I’m so sorry I worried everyone. I really didn’t mean to. Why didn’t Mom tell you all where I was going?”
“Because your note didn’t say anything about where you were headed,” Jace told her. “It just said you were going back to the beginning.”
“But I wrote over the other side that by beginning I meant New York,” she said. “And I’ve been talking about coming back here for a while.”
“Shit. Did anyone think to check the note?” Travis asked. He quickly sent off messages to Gray and Hunter.
Fucking hell.
He thought that Hunter would have sent someone around to check the note.
Hunter messaged back. And he sounded angry.
“Hunter said that your mother threw the note out before anyone could see it,” Travis told her.
Rory shook her head. “Of course she did. Because then you’d all know where I was and she couldn’t create a drama.”
“You think she deliberately kept that information from us?” Travis asked. “From your brother?”
“I don’t know. Maybe not.” Rory looked tired.
“Living with her is like . . . like being caught in a dark web. She manipulates things how she likes them. I don’t think Gray knows just how bad she can be.
She’s kept me scared of the world for so long with her stories of doom and gloom.
I just couldn’t take it anymore. I had to leave. I had to . . . to come here.”
“Why here?” Jace asked.
“Because it was here that he took me.” She wrapped her arms around herself. “I have nightmares of being kidnapped from here every night, you know? I thought maybe if I came back here I could face them head on. Is that dumb?”
“Not dumb,” Jace told her quietly. “But I wish you’d told me, Rory. You know I would have done what I could to help you.”
Had the two of them kept in touch? He remembered Jace asking about her during the wedding rehearsal.
Interesting.
“I know. I guess I figured I should be able to do this on my own.” Rory clenched her small hands into fists.
“I’m just tired of other people having to take care of me.
I want to take care of myself. I want to be strong again.
I want to be able to sleep without nightmares in a bedroom that isn’t in my mother’s house. ”
“Sounds like that part might be a smart idea,” Kane said.
They all looked at him.
“What?” Kane said. “Rory just told us that her mother loves drama and she’s full of doom and gloom, keeping her down and in a dark place. Maybe what Rory needs is some independence. A change.”
“She won’t let that happen,” Rory said, sounding dejected. “Even if I moved out, she’d still be at my place every day. Or bugging me constantly with videos of all the bad things happening in the world.”
No, Gray likely didn’t know any of this, Travis thought.
“So move towns,” Kane said.
He didn’t know Rory’s background, what had happened to her, so Travis knew that while he was just trying to be helpful, that wasn’t a simple thing for Rory to do.
“I can’t just leave Dallas. Gray would lose his mind. And where would I go? I couldn’t be completely alone.” She shuddered.
“Move here,” Kane said. “You have back-up here.”
“Kane, could I talk to you in the hallway?” Travis asked.
“Yeah, sure. Nice to meet you, Rory,” Kane told her with a gentle smile.
“Sorry I interrupted your day,” she said.
“That’s okay, sweetheart.”
They both left the room so Jace could chat with Rory.
“How did you know she was here?” Travis asked. “You weren’t here already, were you? You don’t start work until after six.”
“Ahh, yeah, I was just in here doing some paperwork. Saw her in the cameras,” he said to Travis.
Travis nodded. “Thanks for taking care of her until we came.”
“Seems like she needs someone to look out for her while helping her to find her feet again. Something bad happened to her, huh?”
“She was kidnapped by the Latin Lothario.”
“That serial killer?” Kane asked, growing pale.
“Yeah, he kidnapped her from here. Fucking bastard used her as bait to get to Lacey. Unfortunately, Rory is really struggling still.”
“I don’t think living with her mother is helping.”
No, it didn’t seem it was.
“I’m going to go get some coffee,” Kane told him. “Want some?”
“Yeah, thanks.” A wave of exhaustion hit him. Nearly two days of searching for Rory meant he’d been working non-stop. And there was all the other work he had to get done. Fuck.
He drew out his phone and messaged Gray and Hunter again. Then he opened up the messages from Caren.
Every time he’d thought to check in with her it had been late at night or early in the morning. But what did he say? Finally, he just settled on something brief.
Travis: You okay? Need anything?
The door to the office opened before he could think of anything else to say.
Like, I want to come around and finish what we started.
Jace nodded to him as he walked into the office.
“Tell him,” Jace said to her.
Rory glanced up at him nervously. “I’m really sorry that I caused so many issues for you, Travis. I’ll call Gray soon too. I should have messaged him but I thought Mother knew where I was going. And he’s on his honeymoon.”
“That doesn’t matter now,” Jace said quietly. “What matters is that you need a break from your mother.” He turned to Travis. “She needs somewhere to stay and she struggles with being on her own. I thought one of the apartments in your building.”
“Yeah, of course. She can stay on my floor—”
“Those are temporary spaces. There’s one next to me free,” Jace said.
Ahh, what did temporary matter if she was only here for a short time? Unless Rory thought she would stay longer than a week or two?
Or does Jace just want her near him?
Interesting.
“And she needs a job,” Jace added. “We need a new assistant. Someone at the front desk.”
Travis raised his eyes at that . . . suggestion.
“Jace! Travis can’t just give me a job,” Rory protested.
Jace stared at him steadily and Travis understood what he was trying to say without actually saying it.
Rory needed someone to keep an eye on her and they could do that if she lived in his building and worked for him. And they could do it in a way that wouldn’t smother her. Or pull her down into the darkness.
Fuck.
Who knew that Lacey getting involved with Gray Mathers could end up being such a fucking headache for him?
But at the end of the day, that made Gray family. Which made Rory family.
And Travis always took care of his family. It was the reason behind everything he did.
Making sure his family was safe.
Right. And is that the reason you had Caren spread out like a feast on your kitchen island, about to eat her pussy like a man starving?
Fuck.
Best not to think about Caren’s pussy right now. She hadn’t replied to him. He should go around to her place and check on her.
It’s only been a few minutes since you texted her.
“All right, you have the job,” he told her. “Training will start Monday. It’s a temporary job at the moment until we make sure you fit with us and vice versa. And that way if you want to go home, you can.”
Relief filled her face.
“But, there’re some rules.” He pointed at her.
“I’ve got the rules under control,” Jace told him.
“You sure? Because she’s family now and that means that while she’s here we’re in charge of her protection.”
“I can take care of myself,” Rory protested.
They both ignored her.
“Of course,” Jace replied. “I’ll take personal responsibility for keeping her safe.”
“Figured you would,” Travis said.
“I can keep myself safe,” Rory muttered. “I got myself here, didn’t I?”
“How exactly did you get yourself here?” Jace asked, crossing his arms over his chest.
“You know, why don’t I start training tomorrow?” Rory suggested. “I’ve got nothing else to do with my time other than go to Caren’s exhibition.”
“Caren’s exhibition?” Travis asked, distracted.
“Yeah, she’s having an exhibition this Friday night,” Rory said, frowning slightly. “Lacey was really upset that she couldn’t make it, but she’ll be on a plane home from the Bahamas. Now I can go.”
“Is it at some wedding expo or something?” Why else would a wedding photographer have an exhibition?
Rory stared at him for a long moment. “Why would her exhibition be at a wedding expo?”
“Because she’s a wedding photographer.”
Rory gaped at him for a long moment before she burst into laughter. “Oh, you’re in for a treat.”