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“The one whose face is plastered all over town right now.” He slams his palm into the missing poster that's stuck above the hand dryer. “You can’t look fuckin’ sideways without seeing her.”
“What about her?” I still have no idea why Savanna is so hell-bent on helping Leia solve this case, she never had me down as the good Samaritan type.
“I remember her. I saw her. I… Cole, I had her in my car.”
“Jesus Christ, Zayne.” I shake my head and close my eyes.
“No.” He screws up his face and shakes his head at me. “Not like that. It was years ago. I got a call from Karina, she was at some party and needed a ride home like she always does. When I got there to pick her up the girl was with her.”
“And where did you take ‘em?” I find myself gettin’ invested in this too. Savannah’s right, girls don’t just disappear.
“Back to the Mayor's place. They were both wasted, she had her bag with her. I don’t know how she ended up at the party or what happened to her after I dropped her off, but I’m kinda feelin’ like me and Karina should tell the police?”
“Will you keep your fuckin’ voice down? You ain’t speakin’ to no police. Have you forgotten who you are?”
“Cole, her mom’s in town lookin’ for her. I may have done some pretty fucked up shit over the years but I’m not heartless enough to let an innocent woman suffer when I got information.”
“Zayne, you could have been one of the last people to see that girl alive. That ain’t gonna be good for you. You did the right thing telling me, I’ll look into it, but this has to stay between us, and word can’t back to Leia about the fact she ended up at her father’s place either. You call up Karina and you tell her that right now.” I just hope we’re not too late in getting to her. Wade is angry enough about Leia and Savannah helping this woman, the fact Leia’s concerns might be true is only gonna add to that anger.
“Just sit on this until I can figure out what happened and put some damage control in place.” I slap his shoulder before I attempt to get back to Savannah.
“Cole,” Zayne calls after me again.
“It wasn’t me, I would never hav—”
“I know.” I nod my head back at him. I’ve always been cautious of trusting the River Boys, they may have become branded men a few years ago but on paper, they still work for Harvey. Still, they’ve never given me a reason to doubt ‘em, each one of ‘em has shown us nothing but loyalty.
I head back out, and when I see Savannah waiting for me at the table, she has a sparkle in her eyes that makes it hard for me to regret the agreement we just made.
“You took your time.” She smiles up at me.
“Come on, we're getting out of here.” I place some dollar bills on the table and drag her up by her arm. I’m surprised at how willingly she comes. Maybe she’s taken on board what I said about listening to me and she intends on being complacent. I march us toward the door and just as I’m about to open it, I feel her tug me back.
“Cole, wait.”
And we were doing so well.
I look back over my shoulder and I see that sparkle in her eyes has turned to rage as she stares at the missing poster that's pinned to one of the wooden pillars. A huge pair of fake tits have been drawn on the girl’s body with a black pen and the word slut has been written across her forehead.
“Who did this?” She tears it down and looks around the room.
No one says a word, but I notice how a few sets of eyes peer over toward the pool table where some of the Mason bunkhouse boys are hanging out.
“Come on, darlin’. Don’t worry about it.” I take her hand again so I can get us out of here. I intentionally never made the promise that I wouldn’t fight. The fact she made it one of her requests tells me she doesn’t like it when I do.
“No, Cole. I will worry about it.” She snatches her arm away and starts marching over toward the rowdy bunch.
Knowing this is only gonna head one way, I take a breath and follow after her.
“Which one of you jerks did this?” She slams the poster onto the pool table and waits for an answer.
I recognize the one about to make his shot, he was at the diner on Sunday with Leonard and one of the first to get in his truck and get the fuck outta there the second shit got real. He ignores her presence and makes his shot before straightening up his back and smiling at her.
“Was just a bit of fun is all.” He shrugs like it ain’t a big deal.
“Fun?” Savannah laughs sarcastically. “That girl is missing, has been for years. Her mother has had her heart ripped out of her chest ever since. What is wrong with you?” She goes to step closer and I quickly wrap my arm around her waist and lift her off her feet. “Come on now, you made up the rule about fightin’,” I whisper into her ear.
“Fuck the rule for this asshole.” Her eyes glare at him.
