her face, but we had to be careful. “Madison is there?”
She nodded. “Said the guy she works for was willing to pay good money for a few hours of work and once I convinced her I wasn’t looking to home in on her side hustle, she gave me the room number. Said the new girl was there now when I told her my man liked ’em young.”
I glared at her cheeky smile. “Gross, Kitty Kat.”
She shrugged and smiled but the way her gaze kept tracking the rooms behind us, proved she was still worried as hell. “We got the room number, Terry, that’s what matters. Let’s go.”
She grabbed my hand and tugged me towards the flat two-story building that held about a dozen rooms.
As soon as we reached the designated room, I yanked Kat back until she was behind me, safe. Protected.
“Door’s open,” I whispered before she could chew me out for manhandling her.
Instead, behind me I heard the snap of a holster and the sound of her gun being prepared to shoot. That’s my girl. At the threshold, she reached around me and pushed the door open, leaving me free to sweep the place.
“Fuck me, it’s empty,” she growled.
It was empty but it hadn’t been for long. “The cigarette butt is still smoking. We didn’t miss them by much,” I told her even though I knew nothing but finding the girl unharmed would ease Kat’s guilt and her worry.
“We have to keep looking, Terry. I have to find her.”
How could I deny her anything when she set those big blue eyes on me like I was some kind of goddamn hero? I was nobody’s hero, just a man in a position to help. A man who would do just about anything to help this particular woman. “We will, Kitty Kat. I swear.”
Her shoulders relaxed and Kat’s lips pulled into a half-hearted smile.
“That’s the only reason I’m letting you get away with calling me that dreadful nickname. Come on, moonlight is burning.”
I followed her, as it seemed I always would.
Always.
Chapter Thirteen
Kat
Three fucking hours later and we were no closer to picking up Madison’s scent, which put me in a really bad mood. It was well after midnight and lack of sleep and the long drive was getting to me.
“There’s another number programmed in here,” I told Terry and I could hear the excitement in my voice as I tapped it and listened to it ring. And ring. And fucking ring.
“She’s not answering.”
Terry snorted. “She’s not on vacation.”
I knew I shouldn’t have taken offense, but immediately I stiffened at his mocking, condescending tone, refusing to let Terry see just how much his words bothered me. Right. Of course, she’s not on vacation. She was kidnapped and she’s probably dead already.”
A depressing thought I refused to think about until I was staring at cold, lifeless eyes.
“I didn’t mean any—”
“Forget it. Obviously, they’re not gonna let her answer the damn phone.”
Which meant it was time to admit when I was beat and call in reinforcements.
“Hey Cal, I need your help for a quick minute, maybe two.” He was the most brilliant person I knew, especially when it came to techy shit and my kid brother was always willing to help.
The line was silent for so long I thought maybe the connection had dropped. “Hello? Cal?”
“Cal is busy.” Bonnie’s voice was stiff but I ignored it in favor of more pressing business.
“Right, sorry Bonnie. Can you get him please? It’s kind of an emergency.”
“I said he’s busy,” she said much more slowly and with a whole lot of fucking attitude.
“And I said put Cal on the fucking phone, Bonnie! I don’t have time for your pregnancy horse shit.” She started to say something else but I was too fired up and too pissed off to listen. “I’m looking for a little girl who was kidnapped by your church perverts. Do you think you could possibly have my brother call me back when he’s not busy?”
I hung up before I said something I might have to apologize for later and dialed Sadie.
“Kat? Where the hell are you? It’s crazy around here and you’ve disappeared.”
“I guess Jasper’s been too busy to explain,” I told her and gave my mother a quick rundown of the past few hours. “She called twice, the final time right before Ravager fucked us royally. I assume he’s being dealt with?”
I could hear my mother’s hot breath through the phone. “As soon as we find that bastard, he’s mine,” she growled, her