Chapter 31
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
OAK
Something was up.
I knew the moment I stepped into my bedroom. I didn't have to look at the camera on my dresser. The one hidden among the carefully curated piles of stuff. To anyone else, it would look like a mess. To me though? I knew where everything was. Nothing was there without a reason.
I stepped carefully around the room, glancing under the bed and behind the curtains. No one was there. I knew they wouldn't be, but I had to check. The risk of leaving someone unnoticed while I turned my back was unacceptable. What sort of security guard would I be if I did something that stupid?
Fade would serve up a smart ass response, but I didn't give a shit. He wasn't here right now.
Confident no one was in my room, I grabbed the key from the dresser.
It wasn't where I left it. Judging by its placement, it was tossed there in a hurry.
I glanced toward the bedroom door, glaring in the general direction of Hel and Fade, wherever they were. Probably in Hel's office.
Yes, Hel owned the place, but if either of them were in here without asking me, I was going to be pissed off. A guy was entitled to his privacy.
I slid the key into the lock and opened the basement door. Already knowing what I'd find.
"Fuck."
I left the door open and hurried out of the room. What did it matter if I closed it now?
"Hel?" I trotted to his office and shoved the door open with my shoulder.
Fade was on his knees, his mouth around Hel's cock. Hel grunted as he came down Fade's willing throat.
If I wasn't so pissed off, I would have been turned on. Shit, I was both. Angry and aroused. Fuck my life.
"He's gone," I said. "Did one of you let the prick out of the basement?"
They both stared at me before Hel shoved Fade away. He rose and tucked his cock back into his pants.
"Neither of us let him out," Hel said. He pushed past us both and headed into the kitchen. "Shannon, we had a guest."
"I'm aware," she said. "I figured you wanted that extra lunch for someone." She looked like she didn't give a shit. Of course not, she wasn't paid to ask questions. She wouldn't have if she was. The crap we got up to? She left us to it. Plausible deniability and all that.
"He's gone," I said.
She shrugged and went on pulling plates out of the dishwasher to put them back in the cabinet. "Don't know anything about it. I haven't seen anyone around today until now."
"What about Teddie?" Hel demanded.
"No idea." Shannon started putting away the coffee cups.
Before anyone could say another word, I turned and bolted out of the kitchen. I took the stairs two at a time, coming to a stop outside her bedroom. The door was open. Even before I checked the bathroom and the wardrobe, I knew no one was there.
"Why the fuck would she let him out?" Fade asked. He stared past me, mouth open like he was trying to catch flies. Or cock.
I didn't answer. I pulled up the feed for the camera in my bedroom and watched the last hour on fast forward. Teddie sneaking past, into the basement. Her and that prick coming out. She looked pale. Shaken.
"Fuck," I whispered. "We need to find her."
"Piece of cake," Fade said, more smug than usual. He pulled himself together fast. I had to give him credit for that. “Her new car has a tracking chip enabled."
He pulled out his own phone. "Looks like she's at the ice cream parlor having a snack."
"That snack better not be that asshole's cock," Hel growled. He stepped into the pantry, emerging a few moments later with guns in his hands. He handed one to Fade and one to me before tucking his into the back of his pants.
I did the same and glanced at him, but had nothing to say.
This whole situation had gone south far too fast. We were supposed to be dealing with this piece of shit, not letting him run off with our woman.
If he touched a hair on her head, I was going to rip off his fucking hand and hit him with it.
Then I was going to cut off his cock and shove it down his throat. Then… I'd think of something.
"I'll drive." Fade was at the back door before any of us could respond.
Knowing he'd leave without us if we let him, Hel and I were right behind.
I barely had time to put on my seatbelt before Fade gunned the engine, speeding down the driveway and away from the house in a squeal of tires.
"How far ahead are they?" Hel asked, looking over the passenger seat at me.
I checked the timestamp on the video footage.
"Approximately an hour." A minute was too long.
The sooner I wrapped my hands around the asshole's neck, the better.
More important than that, though, I wanted my arms around Teddie.
I needed to explain everything. Yes, we locked a guy down in the basement, but not without a good reason. She needed to know.
Should I send her a text message? No, she might not read it. Or believe it if she did.
Worse, she might tell Victor we were coming. There was no telling what he'd do if he knew. I wasn't willing to risk her. Not anymore. I needed to see her, to know she understood. She would, we'd make sure of that.
"Her car stopped outside the ice cream place half an hour ago," Fade said. "Chances are, they're sitting there enjoying a couple of banana splits."
"That better be all it is," Hel growled.
Fade hummed his agreement, as angry as Hel.
Neither gave me looks like they blamed me.
They didn't have to; I blamed myself. What sort of guard couldn't keep one guy locked down in the basement?
Had Teddie heard him shouting during the thunderstorm right after we brought him in?
I should have taped his mouth up first, but he'd fought us.
It took all three of us to restrain him and tape him to the chair.
The asshole almost deafened me with his yelling.
We drove in silence through the streets of Saltgrave cove, the town we'd all called home since we were kids. The place I thought about leaving a million times. Put the past behind me. If it wasn't for these two guys, I'd be long gone.
From town.
From life.
They gave me a purpose. Something to focus on other than my fucked up childhood. My mother, who sat in a jail cell and would until the day she died. The reason she was there.
My fault.
My mother and my friends would insist it wasn't my fault, but I’d blame myself until the day I died. And then some.
If I hadn't let it happen…
If I hadn't said anything…
My mother would be at home with my father and my younger sister, Hazel. Yeah, my parents like trees.
I was jolted out of my thoughts by the car braking to a stop so sudden, it threw me forward in my seat. If not for my seatbelt, I might have slammed my head into the back of Hel's seat.
I would have cursed Fade out, but I was busy grabbing the mask Hel took out of the glove compartment and shoved back at me.
"We might need these." He pulled on his own and stepped out of the vehicle.
Teddie's car was parked beside ours.
I placed the mask over my face and pulled the elastic down, just above my ears.
While we were driving, the sun had set, leaving the street in darkness. There was no light on in the ice cream parlor, the place was in darkness.
Fade tried the door. "Locked." He pulled a lock pick out of his pocket and fiddled with the door for a few moments before he pushed it open.
“Be on alert." Hel pulled out his gun and started into the store.
"I'll look behind the counter.” I pulled out my own gun and moved carefully. I almost slipped on a puddle of ice cream in the middle of the floor. The cone lay beside it.
"Teddie?" I whispered.
Fade, his own gun in his hand, started up the steps to what I guessed was an apartment. He was gone for maybe a minute before he trotted back down.
"There's no one here."
"There was." I crouched down to pick up something off the floor. I held out my palm to show them. The chain was broken but we all knew that necklace. The tiny teddy bear that dangled from the chain.
Teddie's.