Chapter 26 #2
I shook my head. “Unlikely. Tommy checked with the Border Patrol and, though there’s a lot of smuggling activity out there, they said that the cartels and rip crews in the area wouldn’t mess with civilians.
If they did anything, they’d rob them and keep moving.
They don’t want the headache of dead bodies.
” I wiped my free hand on the denim of my shorts to remove the sweat that’d popped up.
“My dogs are some of the best in the state. It’s not normal for us to not find what we’re looking for.
It’s not like a significant amount of hikers go missing there, hundreds of people hike that area.
But when someone goes missing, one hundred percent of the time they stay missing.
We lose their trail and can’t pick up any tracks.
There’s never any sign that they’ve been killed by wildlife. Just…nothing.”
“Aliens,” Dash said with a chuckle.
Everyone rolled their eyes at that. “I don’t know what is going on, but I want to find out,” I said, voice firm, ignoring Dash’s joke. “That’s where you come in. If I go out there alone I might go missing, too.”
Hush’s hand tightened around mine until I looked up at him. “Don’t you even fuckin’ think about goin’ out there.”
“I haven’t gone alone,” I told him. “It’s too dangerous. But maybe with some of you with me, we could figure out what’s happening.”
“What made you think to come to us?” Riptide asked, exchanging an unreadable look with Lockout.
I took a deep breath. “I’m not trying to get him in trouble, but Brad told me what you did for your friend… The one who owns the convenience store?”
“Who’s Brad?” Lockout asked.
Hush answered for me, “Kid who works there. He’s dating Seek’s sister.”
“Who’s Seek?” Butcher asked, confusion written all over his face.
“That’s my nickname,” I told him. “I thought maybe if you were willing to help out your friend with his store, maybe you’d help another.” My gaze turned back to Lockout and Riptide.
Lockout looked over at Hush and nodded. Hush squeezed my hand. “Come on.” He led me to the door and nudged me outside. “We’ll discuss it and then I’ll let you know. Wait out by the bar.” He dipped his head and gave me a brief kiss before he shut himself back inside.
I went over and sat on a stool. About ten minutes had passed when someone came inside the clubhouse.
I glanced over as a woman walked up, hips swaying.
She had on short shorts, a sparkly top, and was carrying a pair of skyscraper heels in her hands.
On her feet were flip flops. Her blonde hair was cut short around a pretty face.
“Hi,” I greeted her with a smile.
Her bright red lips turned down in a frown. “Who’re you?”
“I’m Jamie,” I told her. “Hush’s old lady.”
Her jade green eyes widened then narrowed in a glare. “Hush doesn’t have an old lady.”
“We’re newly together.”
“You’re a liar,” she hissed.
No one had greeted me with animosity so far, so it was a bit of a shock. “No. I’m not. He’s in church right now, but you can ask him yourself once he’s out.” I wasn’t going to get into a ‘he said, she said’ argument with this woman.
“You need to leave,” she told me as a response.
“I’m not going anywhere.” I was more worried about Hush getting angry when he found out I didn’t stay where he’d told me than listening to this woman.
Not to mention, I didn’t like taking orders, from anyone.
The only reason I’d listen to Hush was because he was my boyfriend and I cared about him.
I had no reason to want to obey this woman.
“Leave, or I’ll make you,” she snapped.
I tried to hold back the grin, but there was no chance. She was probably five-one, maybe one hundred and ten pounds soaking wet. She wasn’t going to make me do anything. At five-ten and one-eighty I was much bigger than her. I could probably pick her up like a baby and carry her out the door.
My grin must have been condescending enough to piss her off because she launched herself at me like a crazy person. Her nails raked over the side of my neck and her other hand latched into my hair.
I tried never to start fights, but I wasn’t about to sit here and let her kick my ass either. My fist plowed into her soft belly and she let out a screech that would have done a pterodactyl proud.
We ended up in a pile of limbs, rolling around on the floor. I was screaming at her to let go of my hair because my scalp felt like it was on fire. She was on me like a tick so I kept hitting her.
Hands wrapped under my arms and yanked me off her—she was underneath me sobbing. I was grateful she’d let go of my hair or it would have been ripped from my head when I was hauled off her. The arms clamped down over mine as the man dragged me backward, holding my upper body immobile in his grip.
“Enough!” The deep voice behind me boomed.
The woman on the floor realized I was unable to defend myself and scrambled to her feet, coming at me with her claws out. The guy behind me cursed and tried to swing me out of the way.
Keeping calm, I kicked out and felt a bone crunch under my sneaker when my foot collided with her face. My smile was smug when she let out a piercing scream and held her nose. Blood gushed between her fingers, pooling at her feet.
“What the fuck!” More voices joined us and I grimaced when the men from the meeting came storming out.
“Sorry, Hush,” the man holding me said. “Found them brawling and tried to put a stop to it.” There was amusement in his tone as he said, “Your woman’s a scrapper.”
The fight had brought more men down from upstairs and I couldn’t help but think of this place like an ant hill.
There were people everywhere. A huge man glared at our group as he came down the stairs.
He was by far the largest man I’d ever seen and I wondered if he had to turn sideways to go through doorways, that’s how broad his shoulders were.
“It’s fine, Toxic,” Hush said, answering the man who was still holding me. He held out his hand and Toxic handed me over into Hush’s care.
“Pixie,” the mammoth of a man from the stairs growled at the woman who was sobbing and bleeding all over the floor. “What the fuck are you doing?”
“She’s-”
“An old lady!” he bellowed at her, interrupting whatever excuse she’d been about to give.
Pixie’s eyes widened and she looked over at me.
“Told you,” I said with a shrug. Rubbing my scalp to ease the sting, I tried to get my heart rate under control. Adrenaline had dumped into my system at the beginning of the fight and now I was feeling jittery.
Pixie’s eyes narrowed and she started to lunge toward me. The man reached out one arm and snagged her by the back of the shorts, lifting her into the air. She looked like an enraged kitten being carried off by its mother. She hissed and spat, contorting in his grasp, trying to get loose.
“Sorry, Prez,” the man grunted at Lockout as he walked out with his burden in one hand.
“No problem, Hell,” Lockout replied with a huge smile on his face. The men were all chuckling as they watched the spectacle.
I wiped my arm over my eye where sweat dripped down my face. It wasn’t until I looked down that I realized there was blood smeared on my arm. Was that mine? Ignoring the blood, I looked over at Hush. “What’s her problem?”
He sighed and dipped down.
“What are you doing?” The last word came out on a squeal as his shoulder hit my hip and he tossed me over his shoulder. “Hush!”
Laughter became louder as he carried me upstairs. “Seems I need to talk to my old lady about fightin’.”
I glared at his back as all the blood rushed to my head.
“If I remember correctly you were recently in the hospital because of fighting,” I reminded him.
That got another chuckle from the crowd.
Folding my arms over my chest, I waited for him to put me down.
It hadn’t been my fault. That woman had attacked me first.