Losing Me, Finding You(58)

“When can I call you back, so we can talk?”

“Wednesday at six?”

“You want me to call this number again?”

“I'd owe you the world,” she whispers, and then she hangs up, leaving me feeling empty and anxious and jumpy all at once. I wrap my arms around my bare chest and close my eyes. Her parents aren't evil, but they can be cruel. I hope that whatever it is that they're doing to Christy, that she can survive for just a little longer. If I have to, I'll steal Austin's bike, so I can go back and get her.

I toss the phone back onto the nightstand, crawl out of bed and sneak over to my purse. Inside, I still have both Adam and Daniel waiting for me, shoved in next to my pepper spray and a small photo album. Their pages are wrinkled, but I try not to blame myself. I was in a hurry after all, and I'm just glad they're here. Granted, I'd rather be spending my time with Austin, but a good book should do me just fine. With a book, you're never alone. I take them both back to the bed with me and fall asleep to the black and white whispers of literary love.




Chapter 42
“What in the shit is it now, Kent?” I growl as Kimmi leads me into his room with a frown on her face. The look she gives me says she doesn't like what's going on here anymore than I do. Something's up. It's obvious from the way Kent is acting. He's pacing the floor and running his hand through his hair. To be honest, I didn't know the man had any emotions other than greed or jealousy, so to say I'm a bit surprised is an understatement.

“Bested by Crows is onto us,” he says, chewing at his thumbnail and pausing to shove Melissa off of him and onto their bed. Kimmi and I both pretend we don't notice that she's wearing skimpy lingerie and winking at us when we make eye contact.

“How the hell do you know that?” I snap at him, crossing my arms over my chest. It always seems like I get interrupted in the middle of f*cking Amy. I'd been planning on taking her up against the shower wall, all soapy and hot. Now I'm standing here in a pile of Kent's dirty f*cking laundry.

“They pulled into town about a half an hour ago.”

“What?” Kimmi screams, stepping forward and getting into Kent's space. “How the f*ck? We rode raw, no plans, nothing. Tell me how they found us, hmm?” Kent looks down at her feet and back up at her face. Kimmi takes a step back. Neither of us like to follow Kent's orders, but we do it anyway. For the most part. He is the president, after all, and loyalty and respect are key here. Without that, we're nothing but a bunch of criminal *s riding around on motorcycles. “We have a rat, Kent.”

“No, no.” He's shaking his head like he doesn't want to believe it. “They must've had someone tailing us.” I purse my lips and don't argue. Kimmi and I both know that's bull. Kent might not want to believe that one of his little pets, his followers, his dreg dragged up from the depths of hell, has betrayed him, but we both know it's true. Even Melissa looks concerned. Well, sort of. At least she's stopped winking at us.

Kent pauses suddenly and swings his gaze between me and Kimmi. Is it me or does his skin look even paler today? Seriously, I'd bet a hundred bucks that the stupid f*ck is a vampire. He's gotta be at least ten years older than me, but he doesn't look it.

“Well? Any ideas?” he snaps, like we're both letting him down, and the whole Bested by Crows thing is our fault. God, I hate turf wars.

“Well,” Kimmi begins, taking out a cigarette and sliding it between her lips with a scowl. “I'm not going through what happened last time ever again. If I hadn't parked down the block and hiked through those damn bushes, we never would've even known the f*cking cops were staking us out. I am not spending my life playing the lipstick lesbian in a block of butch dykes.” Kimmi lights her cigarette.

“So what do we do?” Mel asks, speaking up for the first time since we entered the room. It's hard to take her seriously when she's laying upside down like that, tits all but exposed for the whole world to see. What the hell was Kent thinking making her a part of our group? This bitch is gonna get us killed in there.

“Obviously we abandon this gig,” Kimmi says, but before she can continue, Kent is grabbing the cigarette from her mouth and flicking it onto the floor where it singes the carpet fibers and melts them into a little lump. Nobody moves over to stop it.

“We're running low on money, Kimmi. You like your smokes and your nice earrings?” Kent flicks his bony knuckled fingers at one of Kimmi's ears. “Remember, we have to actually have cash to pay for 'em.” He turns his black eyes to me and frowns, pulling out a cig of his own and lighting up. “Besides, don't you both have worthless girlfriends that don't pull shit for shit? You want to keep them happy and fed along with the rest of your buddies. How about Gaine and Beck and Mireya? If you want to see how those twisted f*cks will survive in the real world, be my guest. Otherwise, to keep Triple M alive, we need the three.” Kent's scowl turns into another croc grin, stretching wide and ugly over his face. He lifts up a hand. “Motorcycles, Madness, and … ” He stands there with his f*cking hand in the air waiting for one of us to finish for him. Thank God that Mel's in the room because I'm pretty sure Kimmi and I woulda rather stood there in silence forever.

“Money,” she says, sitting up and setting her feet down on the floor. For a split second, and I mean a split second, she looks real serious, like she knows something, but then she brushes it off and stands up with a smile, flicking her long, blonde hair over her shoulder.