“I know,” he said simply. “How do we make it stop?”
“Point it out. I won’t do it if I’m thinking about it, but as soon as my mind wanders, my hand will drift back to my neck.”
He nodded. “Is it because of her or him? Or both?”
“Him,” I whispered. “I can handle the medical stuff because I know what to expect, to some extent. But not knowing where he is or what happened to him,” I said and shook my head. “I don’t know how to process it. My mind keeps going over all the possibilities, and none of them are good.”
“Yeah, I know what that’s like.”
“You do?” I asked in surprise.
“Harper was kidnapped and held hostage for several days before we were married. So, I get it. There’s nothing anybody can say or do to help. You’ve got to work through it any way you can and lean on the ones who love you when you need to.”
“Is that what you did?”
“Sort of. I ran myself ragged searching for her. When I became a danger to myself and others, Phoenix ordered me to rest. He told me he’d have Patch sedate me if I didn’t comply. I was mad as hell at the time, but it was the right thing to do. I was exhausted and wasn’t thinking straight.”
“Obviously, she was found. Can I ask how that happened?”
He smiled wistfully. “Harper’s tiny but mighty. She took down her kidnapper and saved herself and Shaker. He’d been taken, too. They ran through the woods for miles and finally flagged down a car. I don’t remember who it was that woke me up, but when I saw her standing in the middle of the common room, I thought I was dreaming.”
“I’m glad it worked out.”
“This will, too. Ink’s resourceful and clever. People tend to underestimate him because he’s always smiling and joking around, but that boy is a walking weapon.” Carbon chuckled. “One time, I walked into the gym at the clubhouse. Dice and Ink were in there with water guns. When I asked them what they were doing, they showed me. They’d watched a video on how to disarm someone if they were pointing a gun at you. They practiced with water guns until they could disarm each other without getting wet. I thought they were crazy, but they used that exact move just last year at the diner.”
“Was that during the incident with the guy looking for Dice’s sister?” I asked.
“Yeah, it was,” Carbon said. It seemed like he was going to say more, but he quickly stood instead, reaching into his pocket.He pulled out his phone and walked out into the hall to answer it.
I managed to contain myself for all of two seconds before I got up and followed him.
“Are you fucking serious?” Carbon said quietly. “Fucking hell. Yeah. Okay. I’ll tell her. No, no changes, which isn’t good, but isn’t bad either. Got it. Later.”
“Please tell me they found him.”
Carbon cleared his throat, and I braced for bad news. “They did, and he’s hurt. I don’t have any details, but they’ll be bringing him here as soon as they get him into an ambulance.”
I nodded and swallowed thickly. He was alive. Hurt, but alive.
“There’s more,” Carbon said quietly. “Let’s go back into Ariel’s room.”
I didn’t hesitate. I wanted to know whatever he had to share.
“Phoenix mentioned you were cool with how things were handled the night of the party. Is that still the case?” he asked cryptically.
“If you’re asking me if I have an issue with your club taking care of the person or people who hurt Ink and Ariel, the answer is no. In fact, I prefer it.”
Carbon nodded once. “Good. Because we’ve got one of them and have positive IDs on the other two.”
“How?”
“A girl showed up at the clubhouse and said she knew where Ink was.”
“What girl? Do you know her name?” I interrupted.
Carbon cleared his throat. “Chloe Nelson.”
“Chloe Nelson?” I blurted, louder than I intended. “Sorry.”
