AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Oh grasshopper.” Neil beamed at her. “She had a john go a little crazy on her, laid her up for a while, surgery, rehab, the whole nine. Some of those, uh, augmentations you see are chosen and some were necessary.”
Gretchen toggled between the two images on Neil’s phone, trying to find traces of the young woman in the face of the Madame.
“Carlisle paid for everything. After she healed, he helped her start her own business as a way to say sorry,” Neil explained.
Jackson bit into a fry as he listened. “Does Carlisle know what she’s doing?”
Gretchen’s stomach tightened. If Carlisle knew, wouldn’t that mean Finn knew?Please don’t let Finn know about this.
Neil raised a brow. “Wouldn’t you know? Carlisle supposedly doesn’t have a hand in the business, but do you think one pimp doesn’t know what another is up to?”
“What happened to the guy?” Gretchen already felt the answer in the pit of her stomach. Still, she had to ask.
Neil met her gaze straight on. “No one’s seen him since.”
Yeah, that sounded about right. Ronnie was Carlisle’s girl, and Ronnie had been attacked, Carlisle would take care of the problem.
“She’ll be in town soon and Carpenter’s getting a real hard on for her,” Neil continued.
“Me too until you said she kidnaps people.” Jackson glared at the picture in front of Gretchen and his jaw tightened.
“Well, keep that to yourself,” Neil informed him. “She’s Jay Finley’s, and he’s ruthless.”
It took a moment for Gretchen to remember Jay Finley andherFinn James were the same man. When she did, her brain came to a screeching halt.
“Rumor is she wants to relocate here because of him,” Neil added.
Gretchen shook away her shock. “Wait. What do you mean she’s Jay Finley’s?” Finn wouldn’t openly sleep with her if he had a girlfriend. Would he?
“They’re together.” Neil bit into his burger.
Gretchen raised a brow. He needed to spell this out for her, because right now, none of this made sense. Finn had hated Raymond Carlisle and even blamed him for his mother’s murder. He couldn’t be in a relationship with someone who would force women into that same life.
“He means they’re fucking,” Jackson told her through a mouthful of burger.
Neil elbowed him, motioning toward Gretchen with his own food. “Watch your language in front of the lady.”
Jackson choked on his dinner before managing to swallow it down. “Lady? It’s Gretchen. She has bigger balls than all of us.”
She rewarded the rookie with a smile. “Yes, I do. That’s why I wear them on my chest.”
Jackson coughed out a laugh. “You wear them really well too.” He winked.
Beside him, Neil clenched his jaw.
The smile slipped from Gretchen’s face. “So, what’s the plan?”
Neil turned his attention back to Gretchen. “Carlisle’s still our priority but send anything you can get on Sinclair our way. So far no agency’s been able to touch her.”
Gretchen took a sip of her beer. “So far they haven’t sent us.”
Laughing, the men went back to their meals, but she’d lost her appetite. The Finn she knew wouldn’t condone Ronnie’s actions. He wouldn’t be okay with women and young girls being raped or held captive. So, did that mean Ronnie was innocent or that Gretchen didn’t know Finn after all?
~ ~ ~
Finn studied Gretchen out of the corner of his eye as he pulled waffles from the iron and put them on a plate. He didn’t want to think about how right it felt to have her in his apartment as he did something as simple as making breakfast. The two days she’d been away from the club, doing God knew what in her real life, had been hell. He couldn’t admit to her how much he’d missed her. She was back now, and she’d spent the past four nights with him, pulling further away from him each day, until he suspected she was playing him as much as everyone else.
“You’re thinking too hard.” He ducked into the refrigerator and came out with a carton of orange juice.
