“Kaden and them,” he clarified.
Her smile returned, her eyes glittering with interest. “Was it serious?”
“No.”
JJ nodded her head and took a sip of her orange juice. Reese could practically hear the wheels turning, knew she was about to say something that was going to make his ears burn with embarrassment.
“Cindy likes to mix it up with two guys at the same time, huh?” she mused, sounding both impressed and, yes, curious. “Lucky girl.”
Reese knew his face was beet red, but he refrained from gagging.
“Rein it in there, woman,” Baz inserted, smiling at JJ. “I’m more than enough for you.”
She laughed, then patted his hand. “Of course you are.”
Some of the tension eased from Reese’s shoulders as he watched the pair, but it didn’t last long.
“So this is more of a favor to your mom,” JJ noted.
“Not a favor,” Reese corrected, then went on to explain how they’d gone to Toby’s house and found it ransacked. He told her about the picture he’d seen of his mother and the fact that her name had been scribbled on the back of it.
JJ’s expression turned serious. “Do you think she’s in danger?”
“Z’s got a couple of guys keepin’ an eye on her around the clock,” Brantley told her. “Just in case.”
A fact Reese knew Cindy found fascinating, something he had learned during the conversation they’d had last night when his mother decided to overshare the details of her weekend with Hugh. And Mark.
He could’ve gone his entire life without knowing that his mother had a fascination for threesomes, thanks to the fact his father had introduced her to them.
Ah, hell. He really wished someone made brain bleach.
“Why’d you send Slade and Evan to the strip club?” JJ took a sip of her juice. “And did they find anything?”
“We were hopin’ Toby’s former girlfriend might be able to provide some insight into where he is,” Brantley explained while Reese took a gulp of coffee and let the scalding hot liquid burn off some of his mortification. It didn’t help.
“And did she?” Baz asked, now sitting beside JJ and looking equally as enthralled by the story.
“Not on his whereabouts, no,” Brantley answered. “She did tell us that Toby and Hartwood were in business together.”
JJ’s eyebrows lowered. “I thought you said he borrowed money.”
“That’s what Z told us,” Reese noted. “But I’m not sure it’s the case.”
He proceeded to tell her about the travel agency and how he believed it was somehow tied into it. He opened the junk drawer and pulled out the brochure he’d snagged from Toby’s house, passing it to JJ.
While she glanced at it, Baz’s eyes went hard. “I don’t want to go down a dark road here, but you’re talkin’ about a guy who manages a club that exploits women, and based on what I know of the place he runs, he’s also into other nefarious activities. Have you considered…?”
Reese was grateful he’d trailed off because, yes, he’d already given some thought to human trafficking, which no doubt Baz was referring to, and it made him sick to his stomach to think about.
“Considered what?” JJ asked, glancing between the three of them.
Before anyone could respond, her eyes widened. “Oh.”
“Right now, there’s no evidence to support Toby bein’ involved in trafficking of anything at all,” Brantley said defensively. “It’s all speculation. Until we find him, we won’t know what he’s into.”
“But you think it’s a possibility?” JJ directed the question at Reese.
“Personally, no,” he said honestly. “Not Toby.”
