In the kitchen, I expect to find water on the floor and butt marks on the bench. But instead, there’s a strong smell of disinfectant and a neatly folded cloth, and our clothes are hanging by the fireplace. He must have brought them in from outside and cleaned up after he put me to bed. I bet he checked the perimeter outside too.
What a thoughtful guy. I would’ve been fast asleep, and maybe he thought it was weird to climb into bed with me afterward. I wouldn’t have minded, but Hudson does have his rules.
Grabbing a glass of water, I take it to the table where the laptop is charging alongside the burner phone. I flip it open and pull up my email.
There’s a sale on carpets and a newsletter from my favorite romance author, but nothing from my brother.
I close the laptop and take a deep breath.
“Any news?” Hudson peers over the side of the loft.
“Nothing.”
It’s been five days since Tyler last messaged me. He’s never gone that long without contact. I try to tell myself it’s because he’s living his new life, and everything’s fine. But I can’t shake the uneasiness.
“I’ll check in with Marcus.”
Hudson climbs down the ladder, and even the sight of his tight butt in his tighty-whities doesn’t lift my mood.
I take a sip of water, thinking about Tyler and trying to imagine him tucked up in bed nice and safe. Maybe with a girl he’s met. Or maybe he’s up early for the new job.
Please keep him safe.I say a silent prayer to whoever’s listening.
“Hey.” Hudson puts a hand on my shoulder. “We’ll find him, Willow.”
He’s all confidence, and I want to believe him. I just hope it’s before the Kings get to him. “If they find him first…”
I leave the sentence unfinished, because my mind fills with all the things they could do.
Hudson grips me by both shoulders. “Don’t spiral, Willow.”
I look at him, his eyes as gray and steady as stone, and a thread of calm weaves into my mind.
“We’re putting together a plan to deal with the Street Kings. We’ll get them, and we’ll find your brother. We’ll deal with it.”
He squeezes my shoulder, and it’s reassuring. If I just focus on Hudson, I can keep everything else below the surface.
I focus on the heat radiating from his touch, his big hands on my shoulders. Remembering the way his hands and mouth worked me last night, the way he made me forget for a while about everything. I focus on the playfulness and the control and how I surprised him and made him come apart. And how desperately I want to do that again.
What I try not to think about is the disappointment that he didn’t sleep next to me and what that might mean.
I take a long breath and give him my best flirty smile. “You’ll deal with it like my good boy.”
His lips twitch up, and the smile I give him is almost genuine.
20
HUDSON
Later that afternoon, I’ve got a screw in my hand as I tighten the hinges on the door to stop the wind catching it every time we open and close it.
Willow is outside drawing, which seems to keep her happy. She hides her concern about her brother, but I can tell it’s getting to her. This whole shitty situation is.
Marcus is scouring the CCTV cameras in Staunton. He picked up Tyler coming out of a convenience store a week ago, but nothing since.
Meanwhile, we’re working on the problem with the Street Kings. He’s trawling online data, trying to find enough evidence to put them away for exploitation.
But he needs to gather the evidence before we go to the feds. And he needs to make sure it points back to Mani, the leader of the Kings. If we can hand over the evidence to the feds, the Kings will never know where it came from. Mani will go away, and Willow and Tyler will be safe. And if the leaders are taken down,the entire gang might disperse. They’re a small-time street gang; I doubt they’ll keep operating once their leaders are put away.
