Chapter 10
Chapter
Ten
AFTERMATH
“ H ave you located her yet?” I ask Red. I called him the moment his text came through about Kensi missing. No one has seen her for a few days and I haven’t had cell phone service out here in BFE until now.
“Her SUV is at her dad’s house but she isn’t answering,” Red responds. “I don’t know what is going on.”
“I don’t know either and I’m stuck here for another few days. I’ll try calling her. If she doesn’t answer, will you send Nadia over to check on her?” I don’t understand why Kensi would leave without a word to anyone. Is she in trouble? Is she being forced to leave?
“Yeah, brother, I will. Let me know if you hear anything.” Red answers.
“Thanks, brother. Keep in touch.” I hang up the phone before Red can respond.
We’ve been stuck out here in the middle of nowhere BFE and our cell phones don’t work unless we're back at the seedy motel we’re staying in. Which is the only motel in a thirty mile radius from where we believe the young girl is being held.
“Everything OK?” Torch asks, looking up from his phone. He isn’t carefree and happy like he normally is. This trip is taking a toll on both of us.
“I don’t know. Kensi left sometime a few days ago and no one can reach her.” Playboy snorts from his bed across the room and my eyes narrow. “You got something to say?”
“Nah, man. Go call your woman.” Playboy responds, closing his eyes. “That’s what I’d do if I were you.”
Playboy’s attitude has been shitty this whole trip, making it impossible to rest when we need to. “I don’t know what your fucking issue is, but if you have something to say, by all means say it,” I growl.
“I don’t have shit to say to you. You disgust me.” Playboy stands up and collects his things from his dresser. “Fuck this, I’m out.” He slips on his boots and stomps out the door, slamming it behind him.
“What the hell was that about?” I ask.
“I have no clue. The boy has been a ticking time bomb since the head injury he received when protecting Jezebelle and Seth. I think the assholes hit him too hard or something.” Torch responds.
“That or they didn’t hit him hard enough.” I snort. “I’m going to try and reach Kensi. Something is up and I need to figure out what.”
“Go for it. I’ll be here missing my kids and Ol’ Lady.” Torch sighs lying down on his bed and closing his eyes. This shit is hitting Torch pretty hard but we gotta do what we gotta do for the sake of the club. And it should only be a couple more days, then we can get home.
Closing the door behind me, I step onto the cracked concrete and wander further away from our room. The wind slightly picks up and a tumbleweed spins past me, lost in its path. I wander to the back of the motel for privacy and better cell phone service. The desert sweeps on for miles. The sun is starting to set, painting the sky in deep reds and purples. I lean against the concrete building and dial Kensi’s number. It rings several times before going to voicemail. My heart plummets into my toes. This isn’t right. Kensi never sends me to voicemail.
I try calling her three more times with the same results. Not to be the one to give up, I try again and her sweet voice picks up on the fourth ring.
“What?” Just one word portrays the anguish and heartbreak in Kensi’s tone.
“Tiger, what’s going on?” I ask, clearing a lump in my throat.
“I don’t want to get into this right now, Aftermath,” Kensi whispers.
“Get into what? Kensi, what is going on? C’mon, baby, I can’t fix this if I don’t have a clue what has you running.” I plead.
A long pause settles between us and Kensi snorts, “I’m not running, Aftermath. I’m done.” Her voice is stronger now, anger clear in her tone. “Until you can come clean and be honest with me, I’m fucking done.”
Kensi hangs up the phone before I can respond, leaving my head reeling with questions. I call back, but it goes right to voicemail. “Fuck!” I grip my phone in my hand, surprised it doesn’t crush under the strain.
Dialing Red, I grind my teeth. He picks up on the second ring. “Yo, did you get ahold of her?”
“What the fuck happened?” I ask with anger lacing my tone.
“What the fuck do you mean? Nothing happened.” Red growls back. “Look, I know this is frustrating, brother, but you need to focus on getting this job done and then worry about what’s going on with Kensi. I’ll send Seth and Knight over with Nadia to check on her but that’s the best I can do right now. I know it sucks, but the Club comes first.” Red hangs up the phone and I punch the concrete wall I’m leaning against. My knuckles bloom with blood.
“Fuck!” I scream into the twilight. I let Kensi’s words run through my head. Until you can come clean and be honest with me, I’m fucking done. Come clean. Be honest with me. I’m done. “Shit.”
Storming back into our hotel room, I fling open the door, letting it hit the wall. Torch is still lying on his bed, staring at his phone. Either Daisy sent him naked pictures or twin pictures. From the sad look on his face, I’d say the latter and he’s missing his kids. Playboy is also lying on his bed, his phone in his hand. He glares at me and rolls away.
“C’mon boys, get the fuck up. I’m done playing cat and mouse with these fuckers. We’re going in tonight and going home.” I stomp my way over to my side of the room and start throwing shit in my bag.
“What the hell are you rambling about?” Torch stands up and starts packing his shit too. Playboy hasn’t moved yet.
“Like you give a shit about going home.” Playboy grumbles.
Ignoring him and his pissy ass mood for the last couple of days, I answer Torch. “I’m talking about going in and getting the girl then getting the fuck out, tonight. I don’t know why we’re sitting around here with our thumbs up our asses. We know where she is, andhow many guards she has. We’re going in, fucking shit up and then going home to our women.”
“It’s about damn time. Being here with you isn’t my idea of a fun time.” Playboy throws his phone on his bed and a picture of the woman who came onto me catches my attention.
I pick up his phone before he can grab it. “What the fuck is this?” I demand.
“Not your fucking business.” Playboy tries to grab his phone out of my hand but I don’t let him. “Give me my fucking phone.” He tries to swipe his phone again, but I put him on his ass with one hit to his jaw.
I scroll through the messages and anger surges through my veins. “You know this is a lie.” I rant. The more I read, the more pissed off I become. “This bitch is a liar.”
“Says you,” Playboy stands up, wiping the blood off his lip and snatches his phone back. “Tell me you didn’t see her naked.” I don’t answer because it would be pointless to lie. “Tell me you didn’t bump into her at the grocery store with Pearl and Lexi.” He air quotes the word bump.
“How the fuck do you know?” I ask.
“She told me the night I fucked her at the Clubhouse.”
“What did she say?”
“She said she was wrong to fuck one brother and then another, especially when she said she didn’t know the first brother was unavailable.”
“Why would you assume it was me?”
“I didn’t. She’s the one who told me who it was. Lynn said she felt guilty the next morning because the one with the multi-colored eyes had no idea what kind of asshole her man is. Kensi is the only one with those eyes.” Playboy responds.
“Is this why Kensi left and you’ve been a dick this whole time?” I ask, not expecting a response but Playboy gives it to me anyway.
“I’d fucking leave your ass too if you were cheating on me, asshole.” Playboy seethes.
“What? You cheated on Kensi? When? Where? How the fuck?” Torch pipes in.
“I didn’t cheat on Kensi!” I shout.
“Then explain to me what the fuck is going on.” Torch demands, crossing his arms over his massive chest. As the enforcer of the Royal Bastards, you have to be one big motherfucker and Torch is just that. His shaved head and tattoos make hima scary son-of-a-bitch and one person ahead of me as our Sgt at arms.
I exhale a deep breath and sit down on my bed, running out of steam. “I didn’t touch that psycho bitch. When Red and I were at Nadia’s dance studio a couple of weeks ago, he was updating their security and I was getting restless. So, I went to make sure all the doors were locked and no one was there. The woman’s locker room was unlocked so I went inside. After calling out several times and no one answered, I went in. I cleared the showers and stalls and on the way out, I had to sit down. I was a ball of nerves going in there and I don’t know why. That’s when it happened.” I hang my head. “That chick came out of nowhere, naked as the day she came through her mama’s cunt. She tried to come on to me and I yanked her hand off my arm and got the fuck out of there. I didn’t see her again until she ran into me and the girls at the store. She ran into me, I wasn’t looking for her and the innuendos she was throwing, Pearl and Lexi were catching. She insinuated we slept together when we didn’t. Then having her show up at the Clubhouse our last night at home, threw me for a loop. I don’t know what this bitch is playing at, but I never touched her and I don’t want to. It wasn’t my choice to see her naked and I didn’t ask for her to come onto me.” That’s it. That’s the whole story and I feel better getting it off my chest, like a weight has been lifted.
Torch is scowling, making him more menacing. “Why didn’t you tell Kensi?”
I pick my head up and glare at Torch. “What?”
“Why didn’t you tell Kensi about this?”
“Why would I? Nothing happened.”
“Because, dumbass,” Playboy pipes in. “If you would have told her the truth, none of this would have happened and that bitch wouldn’t have been allowed in the Clubhouse and she would have been fired from Nadia’s dance studio.”
“Fuck.” I scrub my hands down my face when therealization hits. “Because I didn’t do anything, she spun it to make me the bad guy. Who is this crazy bitch?”
“That’s what we’re going to find out.” Torch pulls his phone from his pocket and dials Red. “Hey did you run a background on Nadia’s new dancer, Lynn?” The line is silent for a beat while Red replies. “Well, something isn’t adding up, not if this bitch can come between brothers and their Ol’ ladies.” Torch motions for Playboy to give him his phone. “Run this number and see what you can come up with. Then when you’re done, check Playboy’s room for any of her fingerprints. She isn’t being honest with us.” Torch rattles off the number to Red. “And keep this between the four of us. I don’t want anyone else, not even Nadia to know about this until we have all the details. I’ll run it by Capone when we get home. Thanks, brother.” Torch hangs up his phone and shoves it in his pocket. “Let’s get our mark and fuck shit up so we can get back home.”