23. Chapter 23
Rabble
D ash and Declan arrived less than fifteen minutes after Rabble called.
They’d activated the emergency plan for Elyza, Bekah, and Kellyn, who were holed up at The Wild Bride.
The locked doors would remain that way under threat of brotherly punishment until either Declan or Dash contacted their sister.
Elyza was no fool. Knowing the world her brothers lived in, she was prepared to keep her friends and herself from any harm that might come knocking.
Rabble paced in Skye’s living room, trying to analyze what he could while simultaneously losing his shit.
The brothers came through the door like avenging angels, focused and determined.
Rabble watched them work, reminded again why he trusted these men absolutely.
After Rable told them he found the door open, they too took in the discarded and cracked cell phone, moving from one room to another, then to the house keys in the sink basin.
Rabble ran his hand through his hair in agitation, the strands already standing on end from the fingers he’d been raking through it. The sharp tug of him pulling his hair centered him, just barely.
Annoyance shot through him. Almost eight years of combat and hostile situation experience had utterly failed him.
The fear that rode him nearly all-consuming, and he hated how useless and weak he felt.
When his brain registered that his Skye was missing, not a stranger, all his training and experience dissipated like a cloud of dust, even though he needed it more than ever.
Declan investigated the rest of the cottage, finding the same things Rabble had, her relatively tidy bedroom and bathroom. Both wonderfully ordinary.
“Whatever happened,” Dash strode to the living room, his hazel-green eyes clear of the panic swamping Rabble, “is localized to here.”
“And it happened fast,” Declan said. “With this little evidence, the police won’t suspect foul play.” He winced. “What I mean is—”
Rabble held up a hand to stop him. “I know what you meant. We’re on our own.”
Shame-faced, Declan didn’t respond.
“She hasn’t mentioned anyone, no parents or teachers from school who have a problem with her. Nothing. She’s a fucking kindergarten teacher for fuck’s sake.” Growling, Rabble threw his hands in the air, hating the helpless feeling that wormed its way inside him, heading straight for his heart.
“Okay, Rab.” Dash looked him in the eye, a deadly calm in his gaze. “Let’s work this like a regular case.”
Rage threatened to blind Rabble, and he got in Dash’s face. “A normal case? This is Skye we’re talking about!”
Despite the red-hot fury pulsing through Rabble, Dash didn’t back down.
Declan moved to stand shoulder to shoulder with his twin, raising his voice because Dash wouldn’t. “And you aren’t any good to her with your head up your ass!”
As quickly as his anger surged, the fight left him, and he deflated. “You’re right,” Rabble said, feeling pale and shaky.
Neither brother spoke. They didn’t try to console him with sugary sweet lies and promises they couldn’t keep, and Rabble appreciated that more than anything as he gathered his thoughts. Each of them grasped his shoulders in silent support, keeping Rabble from falling to his knees.
“Okay, normal case.” Rabble swiped at his eyes and sniffed, forcing himself to focus.
“Skye doesn’t have any enemies, not that I know of anyway, especially not anyone who would wish her harm.
She’s kind, generous, involved in the town.
For fuck’s sake, she’s a kindergarten teacher.
” He reiterated with a groan, remembering the way she’d run away from him.
For the first time, Rabble told his brothers everything that transpired between himself and Max and Dylan outside of their sister’s bridal shop.
They’d heard some of the more damning parts from Elyza, what she’d gathered from behind the glass of The Wild Bride’s front windows.
Since his earlier conversation with them, Rabble now knew Dash and Declan at least saw where his teenaged mind had been when he’d messed up before.
At the time, he had thought of nothing but his lack of name, family, worth, and a past so covered in rust and dirt that it didn’t warrant speaking of.
Now though, now he knew without a doubt, he’d not only taken that choice away from Skye, but had undermined her at the most fundamental level, the one where she could make her own decisions, be her own person, and still love who she wanted. Even if the one she wanted, was him.
The twins kept any additional thoughts on the topic to themselves, having said their piece already.
If he could do it all over again, he’d have dropped to one knee on graduation day and taken Skye with him.
They could’ve run away and faced life’s challenges together head-on, instead of wasting years on sorrow and regret.
Declan glanced at his twin, both knowing exactly which memory haunted Rabble right now.
“Okay,” Declan said, “so you haven’t heard from her since then, and her friends last heard from Skye this morning.
That leaves her family. And this Dylan guy.
I say we pay a little visit to the illustrious mayor. ”
Rabble didn’t respond. His barely controlled panic roiled beneath a mask of anger and violence. The brothers exchanged worried glances but remained silent while they hurried to their trucks. As Dash climbed into his, Declan beat Rabble to driver’s door of his own pickup.
Declan held out his hand for the keys. “No way you’re driving when you look like you want to plow over anything that gets in your way, and you’re just wasting time if you argue with me.”
Recognizing the truth in his words. Rabble tossed the keys to his friend and jumped into the passenger seat as they sped toward their destination, the courthouse.
It took Rabble all of five seconds to determine the mayor’s secretary was a demon on loan from hell.
At first glance, he might have mistaken her as a kindly grandmother.
She was older, portly, and about a foot shorter than Rabble with curled gray hair perched atop her head.
Her eyes, hard and mean, ruined the image though.
Her mouth pinched and twisted with distaste at the sight of the three tall men crowding her office.
She set her handbag on her desk and drew herself to her full height, her back going ramrod straight.
“Mayor Wellington isn’t available right now.” Her nasally voice grated on Rabble’s frayed nerves.
Behind her, a shadowy figure moved about behind a translucent window.
Someone occupied that space and Rabble would bet money the mayor worked late hours to avoid the uptight wife he kept at home.
Rabble maintained his composure just enough not to shove the woman aside.
He planned to enter the mayor’s office, regardless of whether the mayor was available or not.
“Ma’am.” Turning on his charm, Declan directed the entire well of his charisma at the woman, though an undercurrent of unyielding determination threaded through his words. “We really need to speak with Mayor Wellington. It’s about his daughter, Skye.”
“I’m sorry, but the mayor…” She sounded like a broken record.
As Rabble lost the battle rationalizing why he shouldn’t charge past her and land his fist solidly in the mayor’s smug face, the door behind her, the one she guarded like Cerberus at the gates of Tartarus, clicked open and revealed Max Wellington, all five foot six inches of self-righteous asshole.
The three men skirted around the flustered secretary and backed the mayor into his office. Rabble slammed the door behind them and locked it before turning to Max, an unreadable promise in his eyes.
“What’s this about?” Max demanded, his face flushed red with indignation.
“Where is Skye?” Dash asked, his tone neutral.
Rabble admired how Dash maintained his composure because composed was the last thing Rabble felt.
Max snorted. “How should I know? She ran off after you—”
“Cut the crap,” Rabble spat. “You knew she would be there. You planned that shit show so she would hear everything, all so you could drive a permanent wedge between us.”
Dash and Delcan glowered, the disgust evident in their eyes, and Max backed away another step, putting his ostentatious leather executive chair between them.
“Where is Skye?” Rabble growled low in his throat.
That barely contained fury spilled through his clenched jaw.
It wouldn’t be long until Rabble lunged for the man.
As if he could sense Rabble’s hold on his control slipping, Declan moved to block him and encouraged Dash to continue.
They needed answers quickly. Somewhere in the recesses of his mind, Rabble knew if he attacked Max, any chance of finding Skye would drastically decrease.
He breathed deeply and reined in his rage, coiling it tightly in his chest, right next to his heart.
“I haven’t seen her!” Max shouted. “Gayle said she spoke with her, that Skye was beginning to see the merit of marrying Dylan. She said Skye had big news to share with us at the house later tonight.”
“Dylan?” Declan frowned, then used his most confident voice to lie in the hope of tricking Max into revealing something, anything, that would help them.
“I wasn’t under the impression marriage was on the table, based on what she told us about him.
From my understanding, that relationship was over before it even started. ”
Max tugged at his shirt collar, loosening the tie that reminded Rabble of a noose.
“Yes, well, Dylan never really took her seriously. He insisted she was simply playing hard to get. Women are like that. He’s considered her his fiancé since college.
His father and I, well, we just sort of encouraged him to continue pursuing her. I knew she’d come around eventually.”
Rabble’s stomach rolled again. He might truly throw up all over the man.
Dash crossed the space between them, cornering the mayor against a bookshelf behind his desk. He leaned down, face mere inches away from the mayor’s sweaty face, and growled, “She is a human being , you sick son of a bitch.”
Declan joined his brother, his usual easy-going nature nowhere to be found. Together, they created an impenetrable wall.
“Sounds to me like you have a real hard time letting your grown daughter make her own choices. Makes me wonder how far you’d go to get her back under your thumb.”
“There better not be a single hair on her head out of place,” Rabble said.
For a moment, his mouth fell open, and Max blanched. “She’s my daughter. Why would I hurt her?”
Rabble snorted. The fact that Max couldn’t see how his actions broke his daughter’s heart every day for twenty-six years made Rabble realize it didn’t matter what he said; Max would deflect it. He refused to take responsibility and would never be at fault for anything, ever.
Declan shook his head in disbelief, his mouth opening to tell the mayor exactly what he thought of him, but Rabble stopped him with a quick shake of his head.
Rabble’s tone came out firm and flat, “We’re done here.”
As one, Rabble & Bros. Security team turned away from the revolting man, if he could even be considered a man, and not a ruthless snake.
They waited to speak until they stood before their trucks. Declan clapped Rabble on the shoulder. “I don’t like what we heard about this Dylan. If he still thinks he has a chance with her, he’s at the top of my list. Unrequited love is such a bitch. Tends to bring out the crazy in people.”
A drifting cloud momentarily blotted out the moon and Rabble shook his head.
“Maybe, but Max gave himself away. Skye loathed that house. If she has such big news to share tonight, my bet is that’s where we’ll find her. And based on what we saw at the cottage, she didn’t go there willingly.”
Dash unlocked his truck. “Let’s go get Skye.”
Dash’s hazel eyes met Rabble’s, and the promise that shone in those depths settled Rabble’s heart just a little. No matter what happened next, there were no other men he’d rather have with him than the two walking beside him.
Rabble nodded. “Let’s go get my woman.”