Chapter 29 Nick
Nick
“You’re late.” I peer over the top of Maya. Her and Ethan seem to have dozed off in the sand. I’m livid. I warned her not to be late. “Get your ass inside right now. Lucas is waiting.”
“I’M ONE FUCKING MINUTE LATE!” she shouts, jumping up and heading towards the stairs.
“Whether it’s one minute or one hour, late is late. There’s no such thing as an excused tardy around here.” I chase after her. She’s quick, I’ll give her that.
“You’re such a fucking asshole,” she cries from the top of the stairs, her face beet-red and her body shaking.
“I warned you that I wasn’t a nice person, cupcake, do you believe me now?” I stomp up the stairs after her.
“What’s your fucking problem today? Sasha not fulfill you enough after I left so you decided to rain on my parade?” Tears stream down her face at an alarming rate.
“What the fuck do you mean? I didn’t fuck her after you left. I have no desire to fuck that whore, ever again.”
“Yeah, well maybe you should have. Then maybe you’d chill the fuck out and your internal dick will stop fighting for the top spot over your external dick to see which one is bigger.”
“Are you saying I have not one, but two big dicks?” I throw my hand over my heart in mock surprise.
“Why don’t you take one in each hand, shove one in your mouth and the other up your ass!” She screams so hard spit flies from her mouth and sweat beads pour down her face.
“If you don’t stop right now, I’m going to silence you with one of my dicks down your throat. Preferably the external one.” She can spit on that.
“You wouldn’t dare.” Her eyes wide. Not sure why she’s surprised.
“Baby girl,” I lean daringly close to her, “you can consider that the truth, dare, double dare, with a promise to repeat.”
She slams the door in my face. I look through the glass to see her running to her room, Ethan hot on her heels.
He must’ve gone in the garage entrance. Great.
Now I’m going to have two people pissed at me.
I take a second to stretch and crack my knuckles.
Emma hands me a bottle of water when I step inside.
“I can run my own firm, crime ring, horseracing business, but I don’t know what the fuck I’m doing with women.” I sigh.
“You’re not wrong.” She laughs, always finding humor in my misery.
“I warned her not to be late.” Deep down even I know my reaction was wrong. This girl can pull rage out of me quicker than anyone.
“Your response was uncalled for. When are you going to admit it to yourself how much you care about her?” What? Her face is serious. She can’t be. She is. What the hell?
“Care about her?” I’m confused. Haven’t I shown my concern for her wellbeing by everything I’ve done?
“Yeah, dummy, care about her.” She leans over, putting her elbows on the table. “Personally, I like the rage she brings out in you.” Her tone is full of amusement. Emma has the most graceful ways of laughing not with me, but at me.
She was thirteen when my parents hired her to babysit me. Her parents worked on our farm. Emma would come with them to help keep me out of trouble. She’s been trying to straighten me out—unsuccessfully, I might add—ever since. I’ve known her almost my entire life.
“Why would you say that?”
“Because you’ve never let a woman get under your skin like this. You’ve never even had a jealous bone in your body. There’s only one way a woman can get under a man’s skin to the point it drives him literally insane.”
“What the fuck are you trying to say?” I chug the rest of my water down.
“You’ll figure it out.” She snickers and walks away.
If today goes any more astray, I might snap.
Before we walked in on Maya and Marcus dry humping each other, Ethan was filling Vade and I in on a lead I would have never expected causing my initial irritation.
There’s someone in my inner circle who could potentially jeopardize this whole operation if things don’t go their way.
“I started doing a facial recognition scan of people in the city to start a database where we can keep track of people going in and out of Cottontails, while also searching for the missing girls. Check this out,” Ethan says, zooming in. “Recognize either one of these faces?” Vade and I get closer.
“Yeah, that’s Logan Bradley, Sasha’s brother. What about him?” I grab a round of beers from the mini fridge and pass them out. I’ve been careful not to drink whiskey at lunch.
“The other guy in the photo is Tony Siles, and he’s the manager at Cottontails.” Ethan glances back to Vade and I, neither one of us making a solid connection. Gulf View is a big little town. People know one another despite it being a large tourist destination.
“I’m listening.” My curiosity piqued for where he’s going with this.
“Look here,” he clicks back a few slides, “this is Logan, a week and a half ago, with one of the girls who was reported missing.”
I lean in closer to get a better look. She appears very young. “Son of a bitch.”
Logan’s always been on the wild side. Drugs, alcohol, petty crimes, but never did I see him getting caught up in a trafficking ring.
He clicks ahead a few more slides. “And here he is, walking into The Lucky Rabbit with her by his side. I was able to hack their cameras, and follow them inside Cottontails, but a minute and forty-two seconds into the footage, they disappear.”
“What the fuck do you mean they disappear?” Vade says. “Casinos have cameras covering every single inch of the place, except for bathrooms. I have a hard time believing they vanished in thin air.”
“Well, if you look here,” Ethan pauses the video, “this little line right here in the feed. The footage has been scrubbed from the system. I’ve been watching it from different cameras all day and the only thing I see is him leaving the casino at 4:17 p.m., sans female.”
“Any audio?” Vade asks.
“I’ve checked, there’s no audio recording anywhere inside.” Ethan sits back in his chair and stretches.
“That’s one hell of a solid lead. Good job, Ethan.” Vade pats his shoulder. “But now we have a bigger problem. How close is your secretary to her brother?” He turns to me.
“As far as I know they’ve been out of touch for a while.” Sasha doesn’t associate with anyone who isn’t of personal service to her in some way. Her and her brother had a falling out a few years ago because he wouldn’t hand over control of his assets to her when he did some time in jail.
“What’s your next move? She could potentially spoil this whole operation,” Ethan asks.
“Keep your friends close and enemies closer. We don’t let her know of our potential lead and carry on business as normal. We only give her vital information. Ethan, see if you can clone her cell phone.”
“That’s easy. I’ll have it done by this evening.”
“My nephew, Liam, is starting security at Cottontails next week,” Vade says, setting his beer down. “Pass me another.”
“We’re going to take them down, and rescue all the girls, I promise.” I know how hard he takes these things. I pass out another round.
“I’ve set up a program that will record surveillance feed from The Lucky Rabbit.
It takes time to process these large files, so I’ll need my days free to monitor things there and throughout the city.
If you can, get someone to follow Logan.
I can’t watch him, the city, the casino, and make sure you don’t destroy your decoy during the process,” Ethan deadpans. He stays mad at me lately.
I’m assuming the girl’s too mad to do her self-defense training, so I might see if Lucas will spar with me instead. I have to let some rage out.
I walk down to the gym where Lucas is waiting. “Feel up to a fight, old man?” I roll my neck and shoulders around, loosening them up.
“I thought you’d never ask.” He gives me a stupidly fake playful smile. “I heard your fight with the missus.” The whole town heard that one.
“She’s not my missus.” He knows good and damn well that will never happen.
“Oh yeah? Fuck her and find out. You two are made for each other.” He circles me like a tiger ready to pounce.
“You’re going to regret saying that.” I take a defensive stance, ready for him to come at me.
“Bring it on.” He comes at me and I swing as hard as I can, my fist cracking across his jaw sending blood spatters flying through the air. That felt good.
He stops in front of me, slightly dazed but smiling.
“I deserved that one. Been sparring with your future missus too long. Tell me Nick, does that niece of yours moan for you like she does for me when I pin her down?” He purposely taunts.
“You’re not fooling me with that ‘she’s family’ bullshit.
You’d have to have siblings for that to be true. ”
I know he says it for the sole purpose of working me up, as if I wasn’t already. Lucas loves to fight and rile up his competitors. We used to go to the underground fighting rings. He’s won countless fights by getting in his competitors’ heads. To this day, his only loss was against me.
He’s also one of the few people who know Ethan isn’t exactly my blood relative and that I never had any siblings. It’s just easier to call him my nephew than explain everything.
“There’s plenty more where that came from.” I send another fist flying at his face, but this time he’s expecting it and dodges it just in time.
An hour later, I’m tired, sweaty, my shirt’s been ripped off, and Lucas and I are both beaten to a pulp. I have a cut lip, and several bodily bruises. It’s hard to tell who won.
“I needed that. Thanks man.” I worked the majority of the rage out and feel so much better.
“Anytime, bud. I haven’t had a brawl like that in a long time.” He shakes my hand. One thing I like about Lucas, he can beat your ass and will buy you a beer after. He’s a real stand-up guy.
“Are you two done acting like animals where I can get my lesson in?” Maya says from the door. Her beautiful face is swollen from crying, and it’s all my fault. I feel a tinge of guilt for acting the way I did with her.
“Of course. Should I play some music to get the mood just right for you?” I tease.
“I got this covered. Alexa, play ‘She Fucking Hates Me’ by Puddle of Mudd.” I knew she’d hate me, eventually, I just didn’t expect it to bother me the way it does.
“Excellent choice, my spicy little cupcake. May I have this dance?” I extend a hand to her, she gives me a death stare and walks right by me.
“Stop pushing her Nick,” Ethan calls from behind. He’s right. I fucked up and I need to fix it.
“Leave us,” I tell the men. Her and I are going to work this out like adults.
I shut the door behind them as they exit and turn to face Maya. Her training must be working because she stands tall and isn’t fidgeting.
“Why did you make them leave?” she asks.
“Thought you could train with me instead.” I take a step in her direction. She tenses slightly but doesn’t immediately say no.
“Do I have a choice?” She holds her head high—I am so proud of her.
“Yes, and I promise not to hold it over your head if you say no.” I hand her a pair of wraps to protect her hands.
“Same rules apply for when you spar with Lucas. No dirty shots, I’m not wearing a cup. It’ll be good practice for you to learn someone else’s technique.” That and I want to be the one working with her from now on.
“You’re going to trust me not take dirty shots after you’ve shown me I can’t trust you not to act like an asshole?” she questions.
Good point. She might deserve to get in a cheap shot, or two, but I hope she’s more merciful than I am.
“I was out of line. Saying I’m sorry to you isn’t enough, but believe me when I say I am. Here’s your chance to take your aggression out on me.”
“Coming back to slam me into the mat and mock me again? Just like a typical narcissist, trying make yourself feel better,” she deadpans.
“No. If you still want to work with me, we have to work through our differences. You and I are also a lot alike. Fueled by unresolved rage, but I don’t want to lose you to that.” Or at all.
“Are we just practicing punches or full take downs?”
“Whatever you pick. Do you want me to wrap your hands?” I step closer, invading her space.
“I can do it. I want full take downs.” She stands tall and unwavering.
I grin. “Good girl.” I want her to give it her all.
Her breath hitches. “What’s going to happen if I decide to let Marcus take me out?”
“Do you know why Marcus was running late today?” I grab the blocking pad, ready for her to swing.
“Ethan told me. Are you bringing it up to hurt or deter me from seeing him again?” Her moves are calculated as she circles me, looking for the best shot to take. Lucas has taught her well.
“I’m telling you because it’s the truth and you deserve to know. He gets around a lot he’s no good for you.” I haven’t been any better but I’m tired of warring with myself over what I want.
I want her. I can’t even hide it from those around me, they see it too. She’s constantly on my mind from the time I wake up until the time I go to bed. It’s driving me crazy—literally.
Since she came into my life I’ve been completely off my rocker. Handling and reacting to things in the worst way possible. I’ve always been hard to deal with, but these last few months have been a whole other level of unhinged.
“I’m capable of deciding that for myself.” She throws a punch and I quickly dodge it.
“I know.” I crouch, readying myself for her to come at me again.