Chapter Twenty-Six
Jake
“Lauren’s okay,” I told Max and Wade after hanging up, letting out a breath of relief.
Ever since Max said she was missing, I hadn’t been able to stop worrying about her. I was barely able to get a wink of sleep last night. I was afraid if I closed my eyes, I would see that bastard Clyde doing things to hurt her, things I promised myself I would never let him do.
I was just failing people left and right, wasn’t I?
At least, Lauren was safe. For now.
“Where is she?” Wade asked.
As far as I knew, he hadn’t slept as well, even though he should be resting. He was supposed to still be in the hospital, in fact, but as soon as he heard the news about Lauren, he insisted on getting discharged and coming back to the Shelton mansion with me, both of us making the trip after I’d spoken to Black Storm to let them know about Clyde. It was a shorter meeting than I had wanted, but I’d just have to talk to them some more later. For now, making sure Lauren was safe was the most important thing.
“She’s at a place called Letty’s Diner in Fernvale,” I said. “I told her to stay there until I arrive.”
She had offered to meet me somewhere halfway on the bike she had used to get away from Clyde, but I refused, knowing the roads in Fernvale had many dangerous curves. It was a feat in and of itself that she had managed to escape to the diner.
Max pulled the place up on a map on the big screen. “That’s an hour from here.”
“Not if you let me borrow one of your bikes,” I told him.
I could be there in forty minutes, maybe thirty.
No. I was going to be there.
Max grabbed his phone. “I’m coming with you. The men I’ve got on standby are coming, too.”
“So am I,” Wade said, standing up.
I gave him a frown. “Have you forgotten that you just got shot?”
Wade shrugged. “That’s precisely why I have to go. Besides, I don’t need to be perfectly healthy to shoot a gun.”
I sighed. A part of me wanted to argue with him some more, but I knew that once Wade made up his mind, there was no turning back. Besides, we didn’t have a second to waste.
“Fine,” I told him and Max. “Let’s go.”
We were about to exit the dim theater when Irina appeared in the doorway, a woman with silver hair, and a man in a black leather jacket standing beside her.
My eyes grew wide. “Billie? Mike?”
What were they doing here?
Billie stepped forward to give me a hug. “Oh. It feels like ages since I last saw you.” Then she looked at my face and frowned. “You look like you’ve aged, too.”
“After you had that meeting with us yesterday, we all talked,” Mike said. “And while we felt a bit hurt that you didn’t tell us everything in the beginning, we all agreed that you were doing your best to protect us and keep the gang together. That’s why we’re here to support you.”
My eyebrows arched. “We?”
“There’s a bunch of them outside,” Irina explained.
Mike scratched the back of his head. “We hope you don’t mind, Max. We kind of found the address of this place on the internet.”
“It’s fine,” Max said. “It’s not your fault everyone now knows everything about me now.”
Billie grinned at him. “I’ve always known you were special. But enough of all this. George told me everything that’s happened. Let’s go get your girl back, shall we?”
“Actually, she just called,” I told Billie. “She’s at a diner in Fernvale. We were about to go get her.”
“We’ll go with you,” Mike offered. “We’re worried about Lauren, too. And we want to stick it to this Clyde bastard who thinks he can mess with our family.”
His words made my chest swell with gratitude and pride. We at Black Storm were a family, all right. I should never have forgotten that.
Billie patted my back. “I’ll stay here and fix up a feast for when you guys get back. I’m sure you’ll all be hungry. Lauren, too.”
“Thank you, Billie,” I told her.
“The kitchen is all yours,” Max added.
I looked at Max, then Wade, then Mike. “Let’s go get Lauren back where she belongs.”
Lauren wasn’t at the diner, though. The place had been turned upside down just like Billie’s, shattered dishes on the floor and puddles on the counter. There was only one person around, a waitress huddled behind the counter who was too scared to speak. At least, that was what I thought until I heard a clatter from the kitchen.
As I peeked in, I saw a man trying to escape, stumbling over pots and pans. I managed to grab him before he made it through the back door. His face was covered in cuts and bruises, but I recognized him, my forehead bunching up as I tried to make sense of his presence.
“What are you doing here, Randy?” I asked him. “And what happened to you?”
He shook his head as he struggled to come up with an explanation. “I…I…”
I frowned as I let him go. Since he couldn’t give me an answer, I had to go with the only one I could come up with.
“You’re the traitor, aren’t you? You’ve been working with the Devils all this time?”
Randy put his shaking hands up. “I only did it for the money. You know Gina’s pregnant, and she’s having a difficult pregnancy.”
“So you sold out your family instead of asking us for help?”
“You guys have already helped me enough.”
“So you decided to repay us by telling the Devils about Lauren?” My hands clenched into fists as my anger simmered. “By giving them the keys to Billie’s so they could destroy the place?”
Randy waved his hands in front of his face. “I swear I had no idea they were going to hurt Lauren. Or trash Billie’s. I tried to stop them, but I couldn’t, so I just tried to clean up as soon as it was over.”
“And what else have you done?” I demanded to know, thinking my next course of action would depend on his words. “Did you help Clyde Roarke kidnap Lauren?”
“He didn’t kidnap her,” Randy answered. “She came to him on her own because she wanted to protect you and Wade and Max. At least, that’s what I heard.”
So she decided to sacrifice her happiness for our safety? That thought made me even angrier, but I tried to calm down. I would talk to her later, but first, I had to find her.
“Where is she? Where’s Lauren?”
“I don’t know,” Randy answered.
I didn’t believe him, so I grabbed his collar, glaring at him. “Where is she?”
“I swear I don’t know,” Randy said. “She was here. The bike she stole is in the back. But by the time we got here with Clyde, she was gone. He was so furious he trashed the place and took his anger out on me. I passed out, and when I came to, they were gone and you guys were here.”
So what? I was supposed to feel sorry for him now?
“Jake.” Max barged in through the back door. “We found…”
He stopped as soon as he saw Randy.
“What happened to Randy?”
“He betrayed Black Storm and was punished for it,” I gave the short and straight answer. “What did you find?”
“There are tracks leading to the woods in the back,” Max told me. “Some strands of dark hair caught in a branch, too. We think Lauren must have escaped to the woods, then when Clyde got here, they chased after her.”
Then we had to go after her. Now.
I had already gone out the back door when Randy called after me.
“Wait.”
I threw him a frown over my shoulder. “What?”
“Clyde Roarke is scared of spiders,” Randy said. “I heard some of those guys he hired making fun of it. And he had an accident a few days ago, crashed into a glass table when he was drunk, and had to get some stitches on his right arm.”
I narrowed my eyes at him. “And you’re telling me this because?”
“I never wanted anyone to get hurt,” he said solemnly. “I never should have trusted him.”
Whatever. His words hardly meant anything to me now. He had betrayed his family, and for me, that was an unforgivable crime.
I left him behind, joining the others in following the tracks leading deeper into the woods behind the diner. When I saw a few drops of blood on a log lying on the ground, I lost my breath, fearing that Lauren had gotten hurt. I took a deep breath and tried to clear my mind, though, trying not to think of the worst. I had to focus on the task at hand.
“Let’s split up so we can find Lauren faster,” I ordered.
Lauren was out there, and the clock was ticking. We had to find her before it was too late.
I started running, my heart pounding in my chest.
Just hang in there, Lauren. We’re coming.