Chapter20
Loco
Sleep didn’t come easy anymore.My body didn’t feel right not having her draped over me.Sleep wouldn’t wash over me like before.
It hadn’t since DC.Since her laugh in the kitchen.Since the way her body fit against mine like it had always been meant to.Even when I closed my eyes, my mind stayed half-awake, listening for a phone that might ring, a threat I couldn’t see yet.
I had gotten in late.Club business that dragged past midnight, the kind that required presence and patience and too much whiskey amongst men trying to make a deal.I crashed on the couch in my room at the clubhouse, boots kicked off, cut tossed over a chair, body heavy but wired.
The phone rang just before dawn.
I came awake instantly.
Not groggy.Not confused.My hand was already reaching before the second ring hit.
“Yeah,” I rasped.
“Dante.”
Char’s voice.
The sound of it—tight, brittle, shaking—ripped me straight back in time.Hospital hallways.ICU monitors.Blood on tile.Her crying into my chest while a rage built inside me that only a man’s death could soothe.
Something was wrong.I sat up, feet hitting the floor.“Char.Slow down.What’s happening?”
“I—I can’t reach her,” she stammered, breath hitching.“I’ve called her phone, her work line, her apartment.I went by this morning to drop something off and she didn’t answer.Her car’s in her spot, but she’s not here.It’s like she’s gone.”
The room tilted.
“What do you mean gone?”I asked, my voice already cold.
“She didn’t text me last night.She always texts me,” Char said, panic bleeding through every word.“Dante, something’s wrong.”
The world stopped.
Every sound dropped out.Every thought narrowed to a single point so sharp it hurt to breathe.
“Nita didn’t miss check-ins,” I stated.“Ever.”
“I know,” Char whispered.“I know.”
I was already moving.“Go home,” I told her.“Lock your doors.Stay with Eli.Keep the girls home and close.Don’t go anywhere.”
“What are you?—”
“I’ll find her,” I said.It wasn’t a promise.It was a fact.“Can’t be distracted worrying over you.Get up with your man, have him home with you and your girls.I’ll be there in a matter of hours and I’ll find her.”
I hung up and grabbed my phone, fingers flying, pulling up the feed Dippy had set for me days earlier.
Her hallway.
Empty.
Timestamp showed hours ago.No alerts overnight.My stomach dropped.
“Shit,” I muttered, scrubbing a hand over my face.Think.Don’t panic.Panic wastes time.
I flipped to the parking lot.
