B - stard (Royal Bastards MC) - Sapphire Knight Page 0,9

lunch.

My gaze falls to the name I’d scribbled.

Alice Compton 287-747-8990 cell

Don’t think I’ve ever met an Alice before. Even her name sounds like she belongs to a fucking senator or on a magazine cover. We don’t need this shit, but my brother seems pretty fucking smitten with Maddy-the-stripper-slash-cock-sucking-wailer, and we take women seriously in our club. If he wants her, then none of us will stand in his way.

Not sure I can say the same for this Alice person. The last thing I want to do is bring her attention to us, but if I don’t, they could turn this into a missing person, and that’ll lead them to us regardless. Those bitchy dancers can’t be trusted, and they all know Maddy has sucked mine and my VP’s cocks while at the strip club. Hell, they’ve all given us a bit of lip service. It’ll put us at the top of her family and the authorities’ lists as suspects. It seems like some sort of shit is always coming at us, so I shouldn’t be surprised. I wonder if any of the dancers have fed Alice information already. I should send a brother there as well to do a little recon.

“Powerhouse!” I holler, and he ducks back into my office. The fucker is built like a goddamn brick house, hence his road name. The females at the club love his ass, so he’s the perfect person to go snooping around.

“Prez?”

“I need you to head over to BJ’s.”

“We need the VIP section? Gonna cut loose tonight?”

I shake my head. “Nah, this is just you, brother. You heard Blow talking about that nosey bitch asking around town about Maddy. I need you to find out if anyone else told her about Maddy coming to the club. Be my eyes and ears on this.” Those strippers gossip like their life depends on it, and if someone offers up a buck, they’ll spill whatever details they have. There’s no loyalty when their lives revolve around a quick payday.

He nods. “I can do that, Prez, no problem.”

“And be discreet. If they don’t know anything, I don’t want them to become curious as well. Don’t offer up knowledge for them to give, ya know what I mean?”

“Got it.” He nods again. “Anything else?”

I shake my head. “Appreciate it, man.” I should mention that he needs to pull his head out of his ass where the dancers are concerned, but I hold back. I’ll let him live in his fantasy world with them a bit longer, but if they cross us, it’ll come to an end.

“No problem. Give me a few hours.”

“Bet. Ride safe.”

He’s out the door before I can say another word. I steeple my hands, staring at the name Alice and wait…it’s all I can do, for now.

Chapter 4

Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and

rightdoing there is a field.

I’ll meet you there.

- Rumi

“It’s been a week, and nothing so far. I’ve left my card with a few businesses, and the team has been checking bars and clubs in the evenings regularly. I don’t think this is the spot, Dad. What made you think of this city in the first place?”

“I didn’t say anything before. I didn’t want to get your hopes up in case it was nothing. Madison checked her voicemail. Jenkins gets a printout weekly of any numbers that connect to her voicemail, and the latest she used pinged on a cell tower in that city.”

“Wow, that’s huge! I had no idea she was checking her messages.”

“It’s what had me suggesting Nevada last time, but that lead was weeks old. There’s no telling how long she’s been gone from there. She could’ve checked her voicemail in Nevada as she was leaving—the same with this Texas city. We have no idea. You could be hopping from place to place chasing her, or else she could check it when she first gets to a city. We just don’t know her pattern, unfortunately.”

I sigh, staring up at the off-white ceiling. “I’m just happy to know she’s alive.” My voice cracks, emotion clouding me. “I was getting worried. She’s been gone longer than any time before. I don’t like this, Dad. I want to see her.”

“By four weeks,” my father replies, telling me what I already know, and I clench my eyes shut. She needs to come home. Madison can barely function living a privileged lifestyle, so why would I expect her to stay afloat and alive on the run?

I clear my throat, attempting to reason. “Can Jenkins get