He got to his feet, pulled me toward him, his eyes softening as he murmured, “Yeah, baby. I’ll carve out some time.”
I brought my fingers up to touch his face gently, taking in the circles under his eyes and tired expression. “Go do your paperwork and get some sleep.”
He leaned down and touched his mouth to mine, while at the same time patting my ass. “Drive safe,Dubheasa. I’ll call you tomorrow.”
“I’ll see ya to your car, Ash,” Nox offered. “I wanna go for a smoke anyway.”
We headed toward the door and emerged into the parking lot, where I noticed Bootneck, Bounty, Cruise, and a few other guys were shooting the shit and smoking. My lip curled slightly when I noticed Saskia was still outside hanging with them too.
They saw me, and Bootneck jerked his chin at Saskia, who turned and disappeared into the clubhouse.
My heart warmed. Boot knew I detested the bitch, so it was nice of him to get rid of her. I shot him a beaming smile. “Hey, Bootneck. You okay?”
His face warmed. “Yeah. You?”
I nodded.
“How’s that boss of yours doin’?” he asked with a smirk. “Can he sit down properly yet?”
The boys laughed, and I giggled along with them. “I don’t know. He hasn’t been back to the office since.”
“Good.” Boot shot me a knowing little wink.
Car headlights appeared at the gates, and I turned to see Roxie’s car slide into the parking lot. “Hey, Ash!” she called out of her open window over the thump of music from the car radio. “Heard you were here. Glad I caught you.”
“Fuck,” Nox muttered from beside me. “Thought she was workin’ tonight.”
“Candy asked to swap with her,” Cruise interjected.
I watched Rox park before walking over and hugging her the second she jumped out. “I’ve been tying up all my loose ends at work,” I explained, pulling back so I could look her in the eyes. “We’ll have to arrange a night out with Zara.”
“Cool,” Roxanne exclaimed. “We’ll come over to Hambleton. I still haven’t been to your family’s bar.” She waggled her eyebrows suggestively. “And maybe we can finally meet all those hot brothers of yours. I caught sight of them when they came here to party a few months back. Good looks run in the family.”
A weird growl escaped Nox’s throat, but Roxanne ignored him and asked, “Where are you heading now?”
“Back to Mam’s,” I told her. “Actually, I’d better call and let her know I’m leaving so she can head to bed.” I went into my jacket pocket to grab my cell, but it wasn’t there, so I went into my crossbody bag and checked.
Nothing.
I looked up at Roxie. “I can’t find my phone.”
“Check again,” she told me. “Is it in a different pocket?”
I patted the sides of my leather jacket and delved inside, checking for the small, rectangular bulk of my cell. “It’s not here.”
Looking up, I caught Boot shooting Nox a weird look, and a strange feeling slid through me.
Something wasn’t right.
“Maybe you dropped it inside,” Roxie suggested.
“Yeah,” I agreed. “It could have fallen out of my pocket when I sat down.
She linked her arm in mine and pulled back toward the clubhouse. “Come on. We’ll check.”
We headed back through the doors, into the bar, and made straight for the seats where Castle was still sitting and talking to Scrap.
His eyes veered toward us, and his brows snapped together. “What’s up? Thought you were leavin’?”
