Chapter Three
Hex sat in the fifth row from the front, close enough to see Elle saying something to her groom, but not close enough to hear what.
She turned to Pastor Winterborn and said something, then she turned to face the guests.
Her eyes came straight to him or at least he thought they did. She met his gaze as she spoke.
“I can’t do this,” she said before picking up her dress and leaving. She didn’t look back at him. She didn’t say anything to him, but he needed to find her. He needed to make sure she was okay.
“Well,” Mother sounded incensed.
Several voices rose around them, speculating and wondering what had driven her to call things off now.
Hex had no clue, but since Elle wasn’t married and that she’d been looking right at him when she’d declared that she couldn’t do it, he felt lighter than he had since he’d found out about the wedding.
“I need to check on Sandy.” Mother moved toward the front of the room, toward Elle’s mother.
“You do that. I’m getting out of here,” Hex said. He didn’t wait for an answer, just turned down the aisle as soon as his mother had stepped out of the row and left.
He went straight to his truck and headed for the compound. On the way he used the Bluetooth in the truck and dialed Cypher.
“Yo,” the Savage Warriors tech sergeant said in answer.
“I need you to do a trace for me.” Hex didn’t bother to identify himself. The other man had his number and should know who it was already.
“What kind of trace?”
“Location mainly, but you should check for credit card activity too, I need to know if she’s stopped anywhere.”
“All right. Who?”
“Elizabeth Williamson.” He gave the other man all her details, phone number and all the vital information he knew, which, since he’d known her for her entire life, was pretty much everything.
“What about her social security number?” Cypher asked.
Hex scowled, why the hell would they need that? “I don’t know, why do you need it?”
“I don’t. I just wanted to see if you had it. You had everything else.”
“Fucker.”
“There’s the sunshine of a president we all know and love. How soon you need this?”
“Yesterday.”
“Not sure I can manage that, but I’ll get back to you as soon as I know something.”
“Hey, Cypher?” Hex spoke quickly because the Warrior’s hacker was about to hang up.
“What?”
“If she stops at a hotel somewhere, find what room she’s in if you can.”
“Boss!” he sounded appalled. “I can’t believe you would doubt my skills!”
“I don’t know what their system might be like, or how you get the information you get. Just that you do.”
“And that’s all you need to know. You need info, you need intelligence, I better be your first stop because I know I’ll be the last and why waste time if you don’t have to?”
“Whatever, just let me know when you find something.”
“Will do.” The call disconnected and Hex tried to figure out what he would say when he showed up. What wouldn’t sound stupid and push her even farther away?
He focused on the road. First things first. He needed to get to the compound. He wanted to change out of this monkey suit and get his bike. Hopefully, by then, Cypher would have found Elle, and he could at least go check on her. He needed to be sure she was all right.
Hex stepped out of the house and swung his leg over his bike.
He put on his helmet and started the bike.
He’d already talked to Cypher and found out she’d checked into hotel about ten minutes away.
With her room number memorized, he started his bike and pulled out.
He had to slow as he got close to the compound gate, but the prospect manning the gate saw him coming and hit the button, so Hex didn’t have to stop before he left.
He’d decided on the drive back to the compound that he wasn’t going to plan what to say, only check on her and make sure she was all right. That she didn’t need help. Then, if she wanted, he would leave her alone.
That’s what he kept telling himself. He was almost at the hotel when he spotted a liquor store and pulled in on a whim. He picked up a bottle of the Jack Daniels Tennessee Honey he knew she liked then headed down the road.
While he had no way of knowing what was wrong, there was little that couldn’t be fix, or at least improved by relaxing a little with a friend. Five minutes later he was knocking on the door of room 217.