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“Nah, Stel just hasn’t caught me yet.” The orange dot bobbed in the darkness as he walked toward me. “But don’t you worry, she will.”
So, that was his angle. He was hoping to goad Stel into talking to him. Yeah, good luck with that one old man. Stel was hiding behind her watchdog, Brandy, and hadn’t spoken to anyone in the club in the past thirty-six hours.
Hunter was the one who told us that Stel refused to see anyone from the club and what had happened to the missing CIA agent. Ryder told the rest of the guys to give her some space but wisely kept his mouth shut when it came to me. He’d been back to check on her every day, but her answer was always the same.
“Might want to try smoking in front of the window, then,” I said with a shake of my head.
“Can’t be too obvious about it, or she’ll know what I’m up to.”
He stopped beside me, the twinkle lights on the porch casting shadows over his face as he blew smoke out of the corner of his mouth. “What do you make of the dark-haired girl being holed up in there with them? Something ain’t right, but I can’t put my finger on it.”
“I don’t like it either, but I trust Stel. If she says the girl doesn’t know anything then she doesn’t know anything.”
“Normally I’d agree, but with what she just went through…” He put the cigarette to his lips, his hand shaking slightly as he inhaled, then blew out a breath. “She ain’t exactly thinking clearly right now.”
I looked up at the large front window of Hunter’s place, hoping Stel would walk past. These days, that was the only way I could see her, with a pane of glass separating us. Once in a while I’d catch her standing there, staring out the front window, but then she’d see me, and back away.
With a lit cigarette between his lips, he pulled out the pack he kept hidden in the inside pocket of his cut and handed me one. When he patted his jeans pocket, I shook my head, and pulled out the silver lighter with The Deviants logo in the center that Stel had gotten me a few years back.
“That’s why I’ve asked Hunter to keep a close eye on the girl. I can’t imagine a human trafficking ring as sophisticated as this one not doing their homework first, and taking the sister of a CIA agent is the type of fuckup that would bring the entire operation down.”
Unlike Mad Dog, my love affair with nicotine began when I was fifteen and discovered that it helped me to focus, and I’d never once thought of quitting. There was something about that first hit to my system that calmed the mass of competing thoughts inside my head so I could organize them. Unfortunately, I didn’t like where those thoughts were leading.
“You ever consider that whoever is behind this might be using the club as a smoke screen?”
He rubbed a hand along his jaw. “What are you thinking?”
Don’t get me wrong, the club had plenty of enemies, and I wasn’t ruling any of them out, but too many things just weren’t adding up for me. Mad Dog wasn’t wrong. Something was off.
“If this was club related, then why not go after either the president’s or vice president’s old ladies? And why take Stel’s”—it physically pained me to say this—“boyfriend? It would have been easier for them to either wait for her to be alone or kill him when he went to take a piss. Once they had Stel, what did they need him for? You and I both know that anyone can be made to talk under the right set of circumstances.”
As I inhaled more of that sweet nicotine into my lungs, one thought kept circling like a buzzard over its kill, waiting for the right time to strike. No doubt this had already occurred to Hunter, because the man was always ten steps ahead of everyone, but it wouldn’t hurt to state my intentions.
Since I’d gone nomad, I didn’t really need this charter’s permission to do shit, but that didn’t mean I had a desire to go stepping on anyone’s toes. When walking around Hunter’s backyard, especially, you should be damn clear about why you were there unless you wanted to wind up in an early grave.
“There’s only one reason Hunter would have received an invitation to that auction. Someone out there wanted us to find her, and once Stel is well enough, I intend to find out who that someone is. No one does favors for free, and I’d rather not be blindsided by the return request. If you catch my drift.”
“I do, but do you think it’s wise to involve Stella?”
“Don’t kid yourself, old man.” I patted his back and shook my head. He didn’t know his daughter very well if he thought for one second that she was going to sit this one out. “Stel will be out for blood, and I intend to be right there beside her as she bathes in it.”
CHAPTER 18
STELLA
After I broke the news of Jules’s death, the girl sat there, staring at a point over my shoulder. Her utter stillness and lack of a reaction were a little disturbing, and frankly creeped me the fuck out, but I tried not to judge her. Everyone dealt with grief in their own way and the girl had already been through hell before this piece of unwelcome news.
My eyes darted over to where Brandy sat, her mouth pulled down at the corners, and her blond brow furrowed as she stared at her. Well, shit. She was supposed to be helpingme out here. Brandy might be a little socially awkward, but let’s call a spade a spade, I was a bull moose on the best of days.
I cleared my throat, and Brandy jerked in her seat, her hazel eyes meeting mine. My brows rose, and I hoped to fuck she’d take the hint because now that I’d said what I needed to, I was dangerously close to face planting into her couch cushions.
“Well, ah…” Brandy floundered for a moment before finally saying, “I’m sorry, nobody ever told me your name.”
My sleep addled brain wondered if I’d even thought to ask what it was before I just blurted out that Jules was dead because of me. Fuck. Me and my big mouth strike again.
“Delilah,” she supplied woodenly.
At least she was talking, which was a good sign. Right? Maybe she’d just gone into shock or some shit and that was why she was…zombie-ish. Which, at this point, I wasn’t even sure was a thing. I rubbed at my eyes, hard, and blinked, my vision slightly fuzzy.
