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Tears filled her kind eyes.“Survive what, sweetheart?”
“Getting a taste of something good.Pure.And then having it snatched away.”
CHAPTERTWENTY-EIGHT
jack
The tightnessin my chest wouldn’t ease.The knot in my throat kept choking me, and all I could do was pace the bedroom while I listened to Nishia and Mom in the bathroom.
When she’d gotten out of bed earlier, I’d kept my eyes closed and reluctantly let her do what she needed.I heard her in the shower and ached to join her, but she wasn’t ready for that.Fuck, I hadn’t even kissed her yet.As badly as I wanted to dive in headfirst, she was still recovering from everything that had happened to her.She had to set the pace.
My ears strained while I listened to the water turn off, and then she’d just stood in there.Unable to stop myself, I’d gone to the door and tried to get her to let me in.With the door ajar, all I would have had to do was nudge it open, but I hadn’t pushed her boundaries.No matter how badly I’d wanted to comfort her.
All I could do was text my mom.She’d been in the kitchen and came running after I told her Morgan had called Nishia the night before.That was all it took to get her moving, and before I knew it, she was bursting through the front door and whooshing past me.
Every broken word that left Nishia, every sob, was a gut punch.My hands balled into fists at my sides, and I kept reminding myself that punching a wall would scare my little fairy.She was already upset with me enough; I couldn’t stomach it if she feared me too.
Feeling helpless was a sensation I had no experience with.Frustrated, I swiped my thumb over my phone and lifted it to my ear.
“Yo, biker—”
“How the fuck did he get her number?”I seethed.
“Good morning to you too, asshole,” Mieke said in a bored tone.“A little more context would help, ya know.”
“Clint Morgan.”I struggled to keep my voice low, not to bellow each word.It would scare Nishia or make her even angrier with me.
Fuck, I wasn’t going to survive this.She was never supposed to be upset with me.Not like this, not for anything, damn it.I had to fix it.Iwouldfix it.But first, I had to figure out how the bastard had gotten so close without setting off alarms.Alarms Mieke was supposed to be monitoring.
“He called the little fairy?”Her surprise only spiked my agitation.The click-click-click of her typing fingers was like nails down a chalkboard.“Last call to her phone was from a burner cell.I fucking hate burners,” she muttered as if talking to herself.“Cell tower signals pinpoint the caller ten miles east of Creswell Springs.Right on the border of Trinity County.It has a Northern California area code.Do you want to call it?”
“Text it to me,” I barked.From the bathroom, I heard Nishia give a little scream as she yelled, and I gripped a handful of my hair at the roots, my pacing speed only increasing.“How did he get her fucking number, Mieke?It’s unlisted.”
“Who knows her number?”She was still typing away, and a throb in my temple began to tick to the rhythm.
“Shit, I don’t have a list.Any number of people.She gave it to a few of my cousins, their wives, and most of the residents at Sanctuary.”I paused my pacing and inhaled slowly, my rage burning like an inferno.“He sent her pictures of her mom’s body.”
“Yeah, I saw the messages.The pictures were grotesque, let’s just say that,” she said with a sigh, still clicking away.“I would have lost it.Of course, my mom is, hands down, my favorite person, second only to my husband.And some days, second to no one.Doc can be a real pain in my ass.Nishia’s relationship with her mom wasn’t a good one at all.I can’t imagine what she’s going through right now on top of everything else.”
“Could he have gotten a hacker to find her number?”
“Unless he hacked it the instant you got the phone plan, then no.I locked it down tight when you gave me the details.I did a full search on all the staff and residents at Sanctuary.No one stood out.I gave you the details as I vetted each person.”She made a humming noise.“But burner phones are tricky.Unless I have a phone number or a serial number to trace, I have nothing to look for.Now that I have the number Morgan called her from, I can do a little more, but I’m not making any promises.”
“Anything,” I gritted out, continuing my pacing.“Someone gave him that number, and it sure as fuck wasn’t Amy.”
“Are you sure?”Her voice was full of curiosity.“I haven’t seen much on her digital footprint.”
I paused midstep.“What do you mean, much?”
There shouldn’t have been anything because the bitch was fucking dead.
“Well, I have a few transactions on her debit card each week.The necessities.Groceries.Dinner at that diner in town, Aggie’s.The shop near the college, WomanLand.Violet brought me back a really beautiful top the last time she went to visit her brother-in-law, and I’ve been kinda obsessed with that place ever since.But there has been minimal activity on Amy’s phone.She turns it on once a day, plays a few mobile games, checks her social media, but hasn’t posted anything in at least six weeks.Guess she’s been keeping a low profile…”
Her clicks seemed to grow a little more aggressive.“She hasn’t made any calls to Morgan, not even to this burner number you provided.”
My heart rate slowed, a new calm coming over me.The monster inside me wanted to play.I hadn’t let him out since Arizona.There had been no need to release the darkness that normally built until it was about to explode out of me, taking everyone in the immediate vicinity with it.Nishia was my light, my peace, the only person standing between me and the evil that festered inside me.
And someone had caused my precious little fairy pain.
