Chapter 20
I had a strong suspicion that this was Player’s work and, if that was the case, we wouldn’t have much time to lose.
Neil
“I’m here!”
Hours later, I walked into the house to find Logan standing in the living room.
“I hope you’re about to tell me something important because I had to get on the first flight out to get back here this fast,” I said flatly, closing the door with a motion of my heel and peeling off my jacket.
Then I spotted my mother pacing anxiously on the other side of the living room while Matt tried to comfort her and Miss Anna offered them cups of tea.
“Neil! Where were you?” As soon as my mother registered my presence, she headed for me with arms outstretched. I stepped back, keeping her from making contact, and Matt glowered at me.
Ever since he found out about the decidedly unhealthy relationship I had with his daughter, he’d despised me. He barely said a word to me.
“Darling, calm down,” he told my mother. I turned to look him up and down. He was in one of his usual perfectly tailored suits, his beard neat and his black hair slicked back with gel.
“Is someone going to tell me what the fuck happened?” I snapped, reaching the limits of my patience. Just then, Alyssa came down the stairs. Despite his girlfriend’s arrival, Logan didn’t move a muscle. I could tell from the look on his face that something serious was going on.
“Neil, listen… Okay…this all happened just last night. While you were gone, Chloe snuck out to go somewhere. I have no idea where, and she hasn’t come back yet!
” Logan blurted out, the words, hitting me like a blast of cold water.
Suddenly I found myself in the middle of an earthquake, at the epicenter of a devastating explosion, and my head spun from the sudden rush of blood.
“What?” I’d heard him just fine, but I needed to process the situation; I needed to make it real in my head. The sound of my mother’s sobs and Matt’s soothing words brought me back to the present before I was ready.
“How the fuck did she sneak out? You were in the house, weren’t you? Where the fuck were you when she just walked right out the door? Huh?” With a sudden catlike move, I leaped on my brother and grabbed him by the collar. Everyone winced at the motion.
“I was in my room. I had just seen her. She was lying on her bed reading. She told me she was tired and she wasn’t going anywhere and…” he explained, and my grip slackened. After all, I knew it wasn’t really Logan’s fault. Not even if she’d…
A lightbulb went on in my brain.
The invitation to the masquerade party…
“Fuck!” I shouted, running up the stairs to Chloe’s room.
Once inside, I started tearing through everything in my path, searching for that paper with the address of the party on it.
A few minutes later, I found it discarded under the bed.
With the invite clutched in one hand, I raced over to my own room and grabbed the keys to my Maserati.
“Where are you going?” Logan asked when I got back to the living room, but I couldn’t waste my time answering him.
Instead, I ran outside and strode toward my car.
Logan followed me, Alyssa trailing along behind him.
I didn’t object and let both of them come along with me.
I had a strong suspicion that this was Player’s work, and if that was the case, we wouldn’t have much time to lose.
“I told her not to go! Goddammit!” I shouted, enraged.
Then I settled into the driver’s seat and started the engine.
“Stay calm, Neil. We’re going to find her.
” My brother put his hand on my arm, but I immediately shook it off.
I drove away from the house, accelerating hard.
The tires squealed against the asphalt, and in the back, Alyssa let out a scream, but I didn’t give a shit.
The speedometer showed a dizzying speed as Logan entered the party’s address into the GPS.
About ten minutes later, we pulled up in front of a grand two-story house where the party had been held. I parked quickly and leaped out of the car, stalking furiously up the driveway toward the door.
“If I don’t find her here, someone’s going to die today,” I gritted out when I heard Logan and Alyssa’s footsteps behind me. “And our sister is going to be punished,” I went on furiously.
I rang the doorbell incessantly until a sleepy-eyed dude with long hair appeared in the doorway. The skin under his eyes was puffy, and his eyes were red and glassy. Whatever he took the night before was probably still swimming around in his veins.
“Who are yo—” I didn’t let him finish but shoved him aside and went into the house.
I went through the scene before me like a hunting dog, examining everything.
The living room was big, with two sectional sofas, a plasma TV, and a coffee table covered in snack bags, assorted paraphernalia, and a bunch of other crap.
I moved determinedly into the room, anger boiling my blood as I scanned the inert bodies on the floor, either still asleep or so drunk they looked like corpses.
Almost all of them wore masks. Red Solo cups were strewn all over the room along with cigarette butts and roaches.
A naked couple was all tangled up on the sofa, and someone else was sitting with their back against the wall.
The air reeked of weed, cigarette smoke, alcohol, and sex. The same mélange that characterized every rager I’d ever attended.
Where in this place is my little koala?
I examined everyone, looking for her golden hair and big gray eyes. I didn’t even know what kind of mask she might have worn or how she was dressed, but I knew that I’d recognize her no matter what.
“Miller? What are you doing here?” A short, beefy blond dude stood in front of me, blocking my progress and, consequently, that of Logan and Alyssa.
“I’m looking for Chloe; has anyone seen her?” Everyone knew that she was my sister, and they also knew what would happen if they laid a finger on her.
“Uh, the little blond? Umm… Don’t know. I might have seen her… Maybe.” He chuckled. He was probably still drunk, and my anger took control: I grabbed the unfortunate man by the back of his head and slammed his face into the wall.
“Neil!” Logan tried to intervene, but I wasn’t listening to him. I had skills that I could use to get what I wanted, and this was the ideal situation to put them into practice.
“Where the hell is Chloe, asshole? Try really hard to remember where you saw her last!” I yelled into his ear as I ground his cheek against the wall.
“I… I…don’t know… I don’t remember…” he babbled, terrified, but I was so angry, so afraid of what could happen to her, and so desperate that I couldn’t control myself.
Furiously, I dragged the guy into the closest bathroom.
Then I used my body weight to force his head into the sink, turning on the cold water.
“Here you go, a little refresher to get your brain working again,” I said as the boy squirmed against me, but he was no match for my strength.
When I was satisfied, I turned off the faucet and pulled his face up so he could look at himself in the mirror with me looming behind him.
I was almost a head taller than him, and he was shaking.
“Now, shit for brains, you better remember where you saw her last, or I swear I’ll beat your ass.
” He lifted his hands in surrender, but I refused to let go of his neck.
I held him tight, giving him a stormy glare.
“I… I…” he stammered.
“You piss me off and I’m going to get mean. Talk. Now,” I said in a threatening growl. No one touched what belonged to me. I’d lose my shit if someone did.
“She was with…with this girl dressed as a devil and…the Krew…” he mumbled fearfully, and I let him go, disturbed.
“The Krew?” I echoed, in shock. Images of Xavier, Luke, Alexia, and Jennifer surrounding Chloe popped into my head, leaving me even more alarmed than I had been.
“What the hell was she doing with your friends?” Logan put in, sounding afraid. He was probably thinking about what dangerous sons of bitches they all were. I raced away from that unfortunate asshole and the nasty bathroom, digging both hands into my hair. I needed to stay calm and think clearly.
I looked up at the second floor, where the bedrooms were.
“Neil, wait!”
I ignored my brother’s cry and climbed the stairs.
I kicked in every door I found, hoping to reveal Chloe curled up alone in someone’s bed.
Maybe she’d be a little hungover, but I wouldn’t have given her too much shit.
What really mattered was finding her safe and sound.
But all I found were couples snoozing under the sheets or people who were too stoned to register anything that was happening.
“Damn it,” I swore as I stalked down the hall until my eyes alighted on three figures coming our way. I recognized them immediately—it was the Krew, minus Xavier.
“Where the fuck is Chloe?” I vented my anger first at Luke, grabbing him by the collar and slamming his back against the wall. He just laughed and made a face at me, not at all disturbed. Asshole.
“Hello to you too. And it looks like you’re pissed off. How unusual.” He grinned, but the enraged look on his face made him grow immediately serious again.
“That little ho is probably just cuddled up in someone’s bed, relax,” Jennifer put in, and I whirled around to look at her.
She was in a sexy little nurse outfit with her tits crammed into a fully exposed red lace bra.
I let go of Luke and automatically grabbed her by the neck and squeezed one-handed. Blondie gasped, clutching my arm.
“The only ho around here is you,” I hissed through gritted teeth. A grin of amusement spread slowly across Jennifer’s crimson lips. With her free hand, she reached between my legs and shot me a teasing look.
“You always like it, though.” She winked at me, and I released her roughly in a single angry motion.