Brick stared at the dark screen for a heartbeat longer than necessary.A familiar, unwelcome pressure tightened in his chest.Tessa was punctual to a fault.If she was late, she called.
If plans changed, she texted.If she was unsure, she asked him.She didn’t vanish.Brick checked his phone to see if he missed any messages or calls from her.Brick’s heart sank as it dawned on him that he missed two messages from her earlier.
The ones he hadn’t properly read.
Dillon is missing.I can’t reach him.Please call me.
I’m worried about Dillon.Something feels wrong.I’m going to look for him after work.Don’t be mad.
Brick’s breath left him slowly, hollow and cold.These messages might as well have been written in blood.He remembered seeing the notification.He remembered thinking he’d respond once the delivery wrapped.
Once the crew was safe and everything was settled.There was always one more thing.One more responsibility, another fire demanding his attention that needed to be put out.
Damn it, now she was gone.A savage wave of guilt slammed into his chest.
He should have replied, gone to her immediately and listened to that uneasy instinct he’d felt all day and brushed aside.
“Fuck,” he muttered under his breath.
Screw this.Brick had to try reaching out to her.He called her.The phone rang again and again.Each unanswered ring wound tighter around his ribs.The Iron Serpents had been quiet for weeks, and he’d let himself believe the threat had passed.
Brick had let himself believe Dillon was no longer worth their time.He’d foolishly convinced himself that Tessa was finally safe.Brick had been arrogant and careless and that attitude had cost him.
Brick closed his eyes for one brutal second.He needed to think this through and not let his rampaging emotions get in the way.A week ago, he had somehow convinced her to let him install a tracker on her phone.She had hesitated, because who wouldn’t?
In the end though, she’d agreed when he told her it wasn’t about control.It was about finding her if she ever needed him and couldn’t call.
Now he prayed to every god he didn’t believe in that the phone was still on her.He quickly found the tracking app and the screen loaded.Impatience grated at him and it felt like an eternity, but the map finally snapped into place.
A red pin blinked on a narrow side street on the east side of town.An alley.Brick was moving before thought fully caught up to instinct.
He was on his bike in seconds.The engine roared to life beneath him as he tore out of the lot, tires screaming in protest.The night air clawed at his face, sharp and cold.
Traffic became an obstacle course he attacked without mercy.Lights blurred.Horns blared.Nothing mattered but that glowing red pin and the woman who should have been attached to it.
When he hit the alley, he cut the engine so hard the bike skidded sideways.
“Tessa!”His voice ripped through the dark.
No answer.The alley felt wrong.It was too still and quiet.The kind of quiet that followed violence.
Her phone lay near the trash bins, screen cracked, glowing faintly.Brick dropped to one knee beside it, his hands shaking just enough to piss him off.
The signs were everywhere once he forced himself to look and focus on what was in front of him.
Scuffed shoe prints.A broken fingernail near the wall.A dark smear of blood across the concrete.Long drag marks toward the street.
She had fought.The realization hit him like a hammer to the ribs.
Pride surged through the terror, sharp and painful.Tessa didn’t go quietly.She never had, but the cost of that fight burned into his chest with brutal clarity.
“If any of you touched her...”he growled into the empty alley.
He didn’t finish the sentence.For one reckless heartbeat, he considered riding straight to the Iron Serpents’ compound alone.Guns blazing.Consequences be damned.He could do it.He’d kill every last one if that was what it took.Brick could gun them all down.
He breathed in and out, and finally calmed down a little.Brick wasn’t a fool, not when her life was on the line.Not only her, the Iron Serpents must have Dillon, too.Those spineless bastards.Brick couldn’t do this alone.He needed back-up if he wanted get Tessa and Dillon in one piece.
Brick swung back onto his bike and rode.The clubhouse came into view like a fortress carved from shadow and light.He didn’t slow as he entered the lot.Hell, Brick didn’t cut the engine as he stormed inside.
