We’re all listening to him talk, so we all hear when his cell rings. He looks at the caller ID a second before he cracks his phone from squeezing it too hard.
“Ten bucks it’s the prospect,” Bass says out of the side of his mouth.
“No deal,” my dad replies. We all already know it is.
“You were supposed to stay at Chains’ place with the other old ladies for a bit. And always, fuckingalways, have an escort with you.” He grabs her under her arm, but she doesn’t wince, so I know he’s being gentle as he helps her stand from her bent position.
“Yeah, yeah. Later, Beast.” She pats him on his chest, then walks over to me and falls into the waiting seat.
“Damn, girl, did you run here?” my dad asks as he eyes her.
She nods.
“Isn’t that like five miles away or some shit? Do you even run?” Bass asks as he looks her over.
I notice Mad Max standing sentinel at her back, his arms crossed and a glare on his brow.
“Yes, it is. And no.” She huffs out a breath. “I don’t.”
“Then why did ya?” Dad says with a confused look on his face, questioning her sanity. I would, too, if I didn’t already know this is on par with her normal actions.
“It was faster than trying to find my keys, and the prospect was busy.”
“He shouldn’t be busy. He should be watching over all of you. Ain’t that hard,” Mad Max grinds out as he looks away, probably imagining what he’s going to do to said prospect when he sees him again.
Fairy turns in her chair to look at her man. “There’s four of us, not to mention the kids. He’s doing a damn good job of keeping us all safe. I stepped out, and he didn’t see. I made it apointfor him not to see so he didn’t have to split detail.”
“Why the fuck is he alone?” Bulldog growls from the bar to no one in particular. Then his eyes land on the two other prospects who should be over at Chains and Mama Bear’s place but are here eating.
“Cool it,” Law says before Bulldog can start busting heads, walking in between everyone. “I told them to take lunch breaks in shifts. They crossed paths with Domino and Jumper, who were on their way over. Fairy must have ducked out during the switch.” As if on cue, the boss’s phone rings, and he answers it. “Yo, Domino, what’s up? Yeah, man, she’s here. Nah, she ran. Yeah,” he chuckles, “looks like it. Keep eyes on the others, and I’ll fill you in when you get back.”
“Looks like what?” Mad Max huffs.
“Like she needs a Kool-Aid pack and a nap. Now tell us, darlin’, what’s got you so amped up that you chanced a five-mile run here instead of dealing with your old man for not liking what you did?”
“That obvious?” She worries her bottom lip between her teeth, and Law laughs as her man just growls under his breath.
“Yeah, darlin’, to me it is. So spit it out.”
“I reached out to the Store Owner.”
The entire club takes a collective breath. We’ve never dealt with them, only Fairy has, and only for a short time when they fed her the information that started us down this rabbit hole of human trafficking.
“You did what?” Mad Max seethes with anger.
Huh, I get why she calls him Beast now. He’s a bit slobbery and growly and seems to be growing as he talks. I might not know Mad Max on a personal level, but I know he takes the protection of those he cares about very seriously. By reaching out, Fairy’s put herself in the crosshairs again, something I doubt he likes very much. Especially since the last time she did this, she got pretty banged up.
“I didn’t tell them anything,” she says with a shake of her head. “Just wanted more intel. I figured they hadn’t stopped looking for Candy when they pulled me in. I wanted to check the data they might have gotten and not shared since we last talked and see if anything new came of it.”
“Did you get anything?” I ask.
She nods. “Yeah, but it’s not a person or an address. They sent this.” She pulls out her phone and taps away on it.
“Jesus, did you contact the dark web on your cell?” Mad Max drags a hand over his face.
“No, I used my secure laptop. I took pictures with my phone to show you.” She passes me her phone, and I look at it as she keeps talking. “A few months back, they ran across an abduction report. They flagged it, like they did all the rest. The description of the person was nothing to go on, but the vehicle? That left an impression. So they searched a few other reports of missing people, and witnesses all claimed to see the same make and model. Granted, there’ve also been a lot of vans and trucks spotted, but this one is unique.”
“Why’s that?” Bass says around a mouthful of deli meat.
