Chapter 16 #2
Rocky laughed outright. “I’m actually surprised it took him so long to sell that piece of shit.
I figured he’d have gotten rid of it a while ago to get cash to gamble with.
Fine, one of you can drive him. One. If anyone tries to grab my guy to get info from him, you’ll never find your missing girl.
Besides, he doesn’t have the information.
The only people who do are me and the two men who stashed her for me—and you’ll never find them. ”
The shit thing was, Lucky believed him. “Fine. We agree. But you need to swear that after this, you forget all about Spencer and anyone he knows and loves.”
Rocky laughed again, like all this was a game to him.
“I’m good at forgetting stuff,” he said.
“But I’m guessing little Spencer will be knocking on my door sooner or later, wanting to do business again.
An addict’s an addict, and I depend on people just like him for a living. He’ll be back. Mark my words.”
“I’m done,” Spencer said firmly.
Rocky just laughed yet again. “I’ll see you soon, Spence. And hopefully I’ll be talking to the lot of you again tomorrow morning.” The other man clicked off the connection without another word.
Kinley made a small choking sound, and Lucky saw that she was crying. They probably should’ve sent her home, but when she’d returned to the house with Lefty, no one had thought to make her leave.
As Lefty comforted his woman, Lucky’s thoughts returned to Devyn.
She was going to have to spend another night in whatever hell she was going through. He hated it. Wanted to go to Austin right this second and get this shit done. But they had no choice but to wait until tomorrow.
“I’m driving,” Grover said.
“No fucking way. I am,” Lucky told him.
“Wrong. No way in hell are either of you driving down to Austin tomorrow,” Doc said.
“I’ll go.” He held up a hand when everyone began to protest. “Brain, you have to be with Aspen. Chance will be coming home soon, and she just got home. She’ll need rest. Oz, you need to be with Riley.
The last thing you want is her baby coming prematurely because of all this stress.
And there’s your niece and nephew to consider.
As for you two,” he said, eyeing Grover and Lucky, “I’m seriously worried about either of you being alone with Spencer right now. ”
Lucky reluctantly nodded. Doc had some very good points.
Especially that last one. There was no telling what he’d say or do to Spencer if he had to spend forced time in a car alone with him.
He might be Devyn’s brother, and she might love him, but it would be a long time before Lucky forgave him for putting Devyn into the position he had.
Grover’s hands were fisted, but he nodded.
“I’ll keep you guys informed the entire time,” Doc said. “I’ll keep my phone on speaker so you’ll know what’s going on.”
Lucky happened to glance at Spencer—and saw that his stare was glued to the stacks of cash on the other end of the table. “Don’t even think about it,” he said in a low, lethal tone.
Spencer’s gaze whipped up to meet his.
“I mean it,” Lucky warned.
Spencer nodded, swallowing hard. “I just…I never thought I had a problem. I blew off Devyn’s worries. I wasn’t addicted to gambling. I just wanted to make a few bucks. But sitting here, seeing all that money…my hands are shaking and I literally want to grab it up and go find a casino.”
The man sounded lost. Beaten.
“Sometimes you have to hit rock bottom before you can claw yourself upward,” Lefty told him.
Grover walked over to the money and began gathering it up. He looked at Doc. “Don’t let him anywhere near it until it’s time for him to get out of the car. The last thing we want is him absconding with it.”
“I wouldn’t do that,” Spencer said, but it was easy to hear even he wasn’t that sure of what he was saying.
“I’ll take it home with me tonight,” Doc said.
“It looks like it’s about sixty miles to the North Lamar neighborhood,” Trigger said, looking up from his phone.
“I’m thinking if you leave around eight, that will give you time in case there’s traffic, and you can find a place to stake out the apartment complex.
Since Rocky didn’t say exactly where this guy would be, you might have to search for him. ”
“I’ll be here at quarter to eight tomorrow,” Doc said with a nod.
“I’ll update commander tonight. Let him know what’s going on. He’s not going to be happy we didn’t call him right away, but I have no doubt he’ll do what he can to help us once we get Devyn’s location.”
Lucky nodded. Colonel Robinson would definitely help them. He remembered how frantic the man had been to get to his own woman, Macie, when she’d been in trouble.
“And tomorrow, after Doc and Spencer leave, I’ll get in touch with the detectives,” Lefty said.
Lucky felt like he should volunteer to do something. But the only place he wanted to be was here at Grover’s house. Waiting for Spencer to return so they could call Rocky and finally go get Devyn.
Everyone began to say their goodbyes, but Lucky couldn’t do anything more than stand woodenly against the wall. Finally, it was just him, Spencer, and Grover left in the house.
Spencer, not being completely dense, mumbled, “I really am sorry about everything,” before slinking down a hall to the room he’d been sleeping in.
Grover sighed and went to the kitchen. He reached into the fridge for a bottle of water. “Want one?” he asked Lucky.
“No. There’re a lot of things I want right now, but a drink isn’t one of them.”
“I get why she didn’t want to tell me about Spencer,” Grover said softly as he propped his ass against the counter.
“I don’t like it, but I get it. She’s always been the peacekeeper.
Not liking when anyone was fighting. That doesn’t mean she couldn’t hold her own when she was in the midst of a fight, but she always preferred for all of us to get along. ”
“I truly didn’t think this loan shit would blow back on Dev,” Lucky told Grover. “I never, ever would’ve kept that from you if I’d thought for one second she’d be in trouble.”
“I know. We’re good, man.”
Lucky let out the breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding.
“She’s tough,” Grover said. “She doesn’t think she is, but my sister went through hell with those cancer treatments when she was little.
Even when she was throwing up and had no hair, she was reassuring everyone else that she was fine.
That when she grew up, she was gonna find a cure for cancer so no other little kids would have to go through what she did. ”
Lucky chuckled. “That sounds like her. Except the whole being a doctor thing.”
“She’s much happier working with animals,” Grover said.
The talk of animals suddenly made Lucky wonder where his were.
“They’re in the guest room on the other end of the house,” Grover said, reading his friend’s mind.
“After Gillian and the other women cleaned them up, they put their crate in there and made a comfortable nest for them. They were taking Angel outside to do her business, and Kinley set up a litter box for Whiskers when she and Lefty got back from the bank. I also saw them taking a bowl of tuna back there earlier, and some leftover baked chicken I had in the fridge.”
Lucky appreciated their thoughtfulness, feeling guilty that he hadn’t thought about Angel or Whiskers in several hours. “I can stay?” he asked.
“I’d be pissed if you didn’t,” Grover responded. “But…I’m gonna ask you not to kill my brother in the middle of the night.”
Lucky wasn’t sure if his friend was kidding or not. “I won’t. I’m pissed as hell at him, and I can’t believe he put us all in this situation, but I won’t kill him.”
“Appreciate it. I’m gonna make sure he gets his ass into rehab,” Grover said. “And he’s gonna pay every cent of that money back to everyone, even if it takes the rest of his life.”
“I don’t give a shit about the money,” Lucky said. “I just want Devyn back.”
“Me too, brother. Me too.”
They were both silent for a moment before Grover said, “We’re gonna find her.”
Lucky nodded in agreement. Because the alternative was unthinkable.
He gave his friend a chin lift good night then headed down the hall toward the guest room. He slipped inside and took some solace in the fact that Angel lifted her head, then actually got up to come to him.
Kneeling down, Lucky scratched the dog under the chin. “It’s been a shitty day, hasn’t it, girl?”
Her tail wagged tentatively.
“You guys wanna sleep on the bed with me tonight?” He and Devyn didn’t allow the animals on their bed at home, but he needed their comfort…
just as he thought they might need his. He had no idea where they’d been while Spencer was getting beaten up, or what they’d done in the days they’d been locked inside the house, but it had obviously traumatized them.
He lifted Angel onto the mattress then reached for Whiskers.
He grabbed two of the towels they’d been nested in and climbed into bed next to them.
He settled onto his side, and Angel actually crawled closer, snuggling against Lucky’s belly.
Whiskers joined her companion, and the three of them lay there quietly, trying to relax after everything that had happened.
Lucky knew he wouldn’t sleep. He was beyond tired, but all he could think of was Devyn. Was she sleeping? Was she hungry? Scared? Cold? Was she being hurt? Tortured? Sexually assaulted…?
He had no idea. Rocky didn’t seem all that concerned, but that meant nothing. The man was ice cold and had no compassion whatsoever.
“I love you, Dev,” Lucky whispered.
His heart hurt when he didn’t get the usual “love you back” in response.
Devyn’s mouth was dry and it was a struggle to swallow. A light rain had fallen earlier that day and she’d sat against the tree with her mouth open, trying to swallow as much water as she could. Every muscle in her body hurt and she felt as weak as a kitten.
But she refused to give up.
It was dark again. Night three. Every now and then, she’d scream her head off, hoping against hope someone would be hiking in whatever forest she was in and hear her and come to her rescue. But no one ever came.
She’d talked to herself for hours, just so she wouldn’t feel quite so alone. She’d counted from one to five thousand, and back down to one. Anything to pass the time and to keep her mind occupied. She refused to give up. She couldn’t.
The first night she’d fallen asleep and had a nightmare that she’d given up and died.
But even though she was dead, she still saw Lucky appear out of nowhere and find her.
Even in her dream, she’d felt his horror and devastation.
She didn’t want Lucky to have that kind of memory when it came to her.
She’d woken up determined to do whatever was necessary to survive. Grover and Lucky would find her. They had to.
Moaning when she moved and her shoulders screamed in agony, Devyn sighed. She hadn’t thought this was going to be easy when she’d first woken up, but she’d underestimated how not easy the experience actually was.
She was in pain, and hungry, and thirsty.
And embarrassed and revolted beyond belief…
When she realized she had to go to the bathroom, she’d done her best to hold it, but it was no use.
There was no way she could hold back her body’s natural functions forever.
She’d cried after she’d done it. Knowing she had to sit in her own filth.
She couldn’t get her pants down, couldn’t do anything but sit trussed up against the tree as if she were a piece of trash.
There were moments when she hated her brother.
She swore she’d never forgive him for getting her into this situation.
Then she’d cry and promise out loud she was sorry, that she didn’t mean it.
Her emotions were all over the place, and Devyn knew if she wasn’t found soon, she probably wouldn’t last…
“Just hang on, Dev,” she whispered. “The big rescues never happen in the middle of the night. They’re probably doing what they do best…planning and getting ready to come get you. Just hang on one more night. You got this.”
She wasn’t sure she did, but she was doing her best to pretend.
Then, closing her eyes, and trying to convince herself she wasn’t sitting in the middle of some forest somewhere, Devyn thought about Lucky.
How much she loved lying against him in bed.
They’d listen to Angel and Whiskers circle and scrunch their blankets before settling down.
Both animals snored, and several nights she’d fallen asleep with the feel of Lucky’s bare chest against her cheek and the amusing sound of snoring from the animals in the room.
Just before she fell into an uneasy slumber, she heard Lucky say in a deep, husky, sleepy voice in her head, I love you.
“Love you back,” she said softly.