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Maybe she did.
Problem being, I didn't fucking know where home was for her.
"Reeve, under the sink inside the mop bucket is her cell. Bring that to either Janie or Alex, whoever picks up their phone, and get them to give you an address. If they come up with one before I get back..."
"I'll check in on her. No worries."
He ended the call and I took a shaky breath, trying to keep calm until I had something genuine to worry about.
She said she would stay.
But she also had no idea what withdrawing was like completely alone.
Maybe she needed some of her shit, some familiar stuff to comfort her when I wasn't around. Maybe she would even be going back once she grabbed them.
I was probably being paranoid, but I figured it was better to make sure that was the case.
In case it wasn't and she needed help.
"Go," Edison said, shrugging.
It was that simple for him.
Edison was a loyal brother so far, but Edison was also the kind of man who followed his own set of rules most of his life. In the same situation, he would have been long gone already.
Conflicted, knowing I was going to get my balls handed to me by Reign and Repo if I left, I looked to Pagan who gave me a head shake as well.
"You gotta go."
And when two brothers had your back, gave you the same advice, you took it.
"Thanks," I mumbled, giving them a nod then tearing across the field toward the bikes, walking it out onto the street so I didn't wake anyone else turning it over.
I kept one promise and broke another.
I wore a helmet.
But I drove fast enough for the damn speed limit signs to be nothing but a blur. It was more than half a day's journey even being a few over so I figured if I completely obliterated them, I could make it there in six or eight. It was too long, but it was as quick as I could reasonably ride.
My chest was compressed under a heavy weight of uncertainty, my hand reaching to check my phone obsessively, knowing the rumble of the bike would make it impossible to hear the ring.
But there were no calls.
There were no texts.
There were no goddamn updates, a fact that had my guts twisting painfully.
Jstorm and Alex should have been able to find something by now. The sun was streaking yellow and orange through the dark sky, making a hopelessness settle like lead in my bones as I pulled into my apartment building, finding it especially stark and ugly as I raced up the stairs and down the hall, finding my door slightly ajar.
I felt a swelling sensation in my chest.
But as I pushed the door open, what I walked into was an apartment completely full of people. Reeve stood with his back against the front window overlooking the street, the sun behind him casting his face into deep shadows. At the dining room table was Janie and Alex. Lo was leaning against the wall drinking coffee out of one of my mugs.
"So your girl doesn't work anywhere according to her history," Janie supplied, not bothering to look up as she typed with one hand and reached for an energy drink with the other.
"She said..." I started.
"Then she works off the books," Alex cut in.
"What about an apartment?"
"Again, wherever she's living, there isn't history of it. Her DMV records, which aren't fun to get into anymore I might add," Janie went on, looking up with those big blue eyes of hers and lifting a brow that seemed to say: you are going to owe me for this, "still have her listed at her old family address. Which was sold a couple months back."
"So you're nowhere." My tone was clipped and agitated and borderline unappreciative. Luckily for me, they were all used to the drama, to the small life-or-death emergencies over the years and the high energy and swirling emotions attached to them. No one seemed the least bit phased by my tone as Lo pushed off the wall, walked behind me, and reached for the coffee pot.
"Here," she said, pressing a hot mug into my hands, the steam swirling in the somewhat chilly apartment. "Drink. Shower. By the time you get out, we should at least have a direction to send you in."
Knowing there was nothing I could do but annoy them with my presence and sour attitude, I walked through to my bedroom and into my bathroom, putting the coffee down, stripping, and climbing under the cold spray, hoping it would both wash away the sweat and dirt of the road and maybe settle my frazzled nerves.
Fifteen minutes later, clean, redressed, caffeinated, I took a deep breath and forced my heavy limbs to carry me back into my living room.
No one took notice of me for a long moment, each occupied by their own task. "Gotcha," Janie declared loudly, making everyone start. She looked up at me, excitement sparking off of her skin. "You know that new fixer firm bullshit they are opening across the street?"
