Chapter 6
Tate Madden
Iclutched the wheel and landed my forehead on it.
Sixteen fucking days.
For sixteen days, Shay had been held captive—or had he? What if he’d been murdered? What if he was lying in a goddamn ditch somewhere and…
I swallowed against the nausea.
Deep breaths.
Sixteen days.
In a realistic best-case scenario, he’d be alive but…injured? Terrified? Dehydrated? Malnourished? I didn’t know. I didn’t fucking know what was realistic about this bullshit. I couldn’t visualize anything. I couldn’t imagine shit.
A breath gusted out of me, and I leaned back in my seat.
The heat had seeped into the car to the point where I was sweating, and it was time to head inside.
I only had two hours here today. I thought I could tidy up, maybe prepare some snacks, and make sure the dishes were done.
Fingers crossed I could get an update too.
Yesterday, Archie had called me, nervous.
He was almost certain that Master Greer would be off soon. Greer and his brother, in fact.
They’d called in reinforcements from the grandparents so that all four of them, Greer, Sloan, Archie, and Corey, could be here.
Before I left the car, I sent a message to Lee.
I think we need Chinese tonight when I get home.
Something about today put me on edge, so he’d offered to take the girls to an indoor trampoline park. Jack and Franklin were there with Lily too.
I just couldn’t. I had the worst feeling.
I blew out another heavy breath and dragged myself out of the car.
There were few vehicles in the carport, and only two parked in front of the house.
When Reese came home, he was gonna shut that down quick. No parking allowed on the front lawn. He’d bitched about it in the past.
KC’s SUV stood there now, alongside the Finlay van.
That thing legit seated ten people. The whole family.
They usually only used it when they were all going someplace, but I did recall something about their soccer-mom car being in the shop.
Sloan was working on it. Corey’s bright-green Mini Cooper was parked in the carport—and it was always fun watching Greer fold himself into that little thing.
I’d imagine he wasn’t using his work truck while he was on vacation.
Some vacation that turned out to be, if he was about to deploy like a soldier going off to war.
Not that I doubted his capabilities, but it had been a long, long time since he’d left the Marines.
I climbed up the porch steps and entered the house.
In the club area, I spied Santiago, Nathan, KC, and Nora.
Everyone in there was always glued to a screen, whether it was a phone, laptop, or one of the TVs.
More and more news had been pouring out lately too, so we never ran out of updates, even though each segment went on repeat until we were exhausted.
Everyone was exhausted—but we couldn’t stop. Members who had no connection to the Tenleys were wondering when we’d open up the house to kink again, and it pissed me off. I wasn’t as diplomatic about it as Mr. West and Lucian either. The two had waived the August membership fee.
I found Macklin and Master Greer in the kitchen, and I paused in the doorway, not wanting to interrupt whatever dispute they had going on.
“…don’t need to check the damn sandwich, Sir,” Macklin grated out.
That was precisely what Greer was doing, checking the contents of his sandwich. While wearing only a towel wrapped around his hips.
Greer cocked a brow. “Boy, you gave me banana and ham last time. The trust I had in you is obliterated.”
“I was going through something! And it’s not an uncommon combo in some cultures,” Macklin argued.
“Well, this is fucking America,” Greer told him. “We don’t do weird shit.”
Macklin rolled his eyes, and I snorted.
They spotted me.
“I’m gonna share that one with Mr. West, for his updates in Shay’s notebook,” I stated.
Greer knitted his brows. “I thought he only wrote down funny stuff.”
“And you’re freaking hilarious, Sir.” I went over to the fridge to see if they needed me to go on a grocery run.
Lucas Carter
As relieved as I was to see Kit and his closest brat friends find some joy in life again, my favorite part of the day was when they were all played out.
It happened in the afternoon; reality set back in, they wanted to check the news, their worries came out in bursts, and they became cuddly as hell.
Not that I wanted them worried, but it was natural, given the circumstances, and they communicated so well.
I’d rather get bombarded by their questions than watch them close themselves in and pretend everything was fine.
After their pool day, a few Littles had gone home with their partners, and Kit and Noa had disappeared upstairs to shower and change into jammies.
With that out of the way, my boy had plastered himself to me on the sofa, much like Noa had with KC.
The questions followed. Anything new? Had more bad guys been killed in California?
Any messages from River and Reese? Had Greer been contacted? Was his nephew okay?
Crew Finlay was supposedly all right. He’d been MIA in Europe for a few days, but Greer had let us know yesterday that Crew had resurfaced. Apparently with an FBI agent.
And no, no one had reached out to Greer yet, but he appeared to be expecting a message in the next couple of days.
Corey clung to him like a Band-Aid, Archie fussed over him more than usual, and Sloan was working the logistics of having Greer gone for a while.
They were discussing possibly canceling their upcoming vacation to Denmark.
“Where’s Daddy?” Kit asked, scrolling down a bit on my tablet. He was a fast reader, that one.
“He’ll be back any minute,” I replied. “He and Ty finished their prototype, so they’re gonna give it to Greer.”
That made Noa perk up two sofas over. “Is that the thingamabob that detects movement?”
Ask me anything but that. Ask me about editing software, human behavior, and PR. Ask me how one could create a successful marketing campaign to launch a new product. Don’t ask me about shit happening in the defense industry.
“It’s a scope of some sort,” I answered. “It goes on a rifle.” I racked my brain for the words I’d heard Colt and Ty use. Infrared something, improved night vision, something about measuring vibrations in the damn ground. I…didn’t fucking know.
Ty had been working on this thing for over two years, but it was being developed for home security systems, surveillance or whatever, and then Colt had come up with the brilliant idea of rushing the work and adapting it to Greer’s needs in what might become a combat scenario.
These last few days, they had essentially taken apart an existing scope, and they’d upgraded it with Ty’s invention. I was very impressed—we all were—but I didn’t understand what I was impressed by. As long as they knew what they were doing, I was happy.
Admittedly, I was also turned on when Colt—and Ty—got going. They were so talented and tech-savvy.
There was something about watching people concentrating hard, getting things done, and creating solutions.
Lane had, for very good reasons, given Ty a T-shirt that read, “Of course I’m sexy. I’m an engineer, for fuck’s sake.”
Kit planned on ordering a similar tee for Colt, but he would replace engineer with fighter pilot.
Colt was gonna eat that shit up.
I combed my fingers through Kit’s hair and kissed his temple as he leaned in and clicked on another article on the tablet.
“You need a haircut soon, little one,” I murmured.
“Um-hum… Did we read this one already?” He pointed to the screen.
I opened my mouth to respond, but commotion coming from outside stole my attention. I didn’t see anyone yet, but I heard it based on the number of feet making it across the deck. We’d pulled all the drapes shut to prevent glares from the sun when we were doomscrolling news.
Then I heard Corey and the worry in his voice.
“But when are you leaving? Right now?”
Fuck.
In a matter of two or three seconds, those who were out at the house flooded the club area. It was as if everyone had been on high alert for the slightest indication that Greer was flying out to Los Angeles. Or wherever the Tenleys wanted him.
“Whoa, wait, what?” Kit flew off the sofa.
As did Noa, and Macklin, Tate, and Nora hurried in from the kitchen.
“I heard something,” Macklin stated, searching the room. “Who’s leaving? Greer?”
Lucian and Pen told people to calm down and let Greer speak, right when Colt and Ty returned from MadCo. And I’d thought Jordan had gone home when James had arrived, but I was wrong. They’d stuck around with Nathan.
“Did Reese’s Pieces call?” Noa demanded. “Are they okay?”
The whole scene caused my pulse to skyrocket.
“Oi!” Greer let out a sharp whistle. “Simmer down.”
That worked.
“Look,” Corey whispered, grabbing Greer’s phone out of his hand. Corey showed Kit the screen. Greer started talking, but I wanted to see the message.
“Are you going alone, Sir?” Tate asked.
Remember back in the day, some two weeks ago, when you offered your assistance?
I hate asking, but we could use you, buddy. We’re outside LA, but it’s probably not the ultimate destination.
I swallowed.
The text was from Reese.
“…asking questions I don’t know the answers to,” Greer was saying. “Yes, I’m goin’. That’s all I know. My communications will run through Colt while I’m away. Do not hassle my partners for updates. Whatever I tell them is private.”
Colt nodded toward the lobby, and nobody really had time to process or react before Greer followed him and Ty out of the club.
I released a breath and spotted Archie and Sloan in the doorway to the patio.
I knew exactly what was running through their minds. I’d been there. Every goddamn time Colt had deployed.
I didn’t miss those days. But at least I could be a decent support system for what came next.
Greer Finlay
Fucking finally.
I hadn’t felt this energized in over two weeks.
I was sure Cullen felt the same.