Vicious Rebel (82 Street Vandals #2) - Heather Long Page 0,49
other man glanced back at me, and I nodded to him.
“Thank you. We owe you one.”
And I paid my debts.
“No,” Doc said. “You don’t. Friends never owe friends debts.”
Then he disappeared inside the building, and I scowled. We were not friends. I’d pay back the damn favor. In the car, Freddie leaned back with an exhausted sigh. All his earlier energy seemed to have evaporated, and he looked pale.
“You good?”
“Just hungry,” Freddie admitted. “I know maybe I should stay here…”
“But you don’t want to.” I got that.
“No. There’s no stuff at the clubhouse. I mean, there’s weed, but…”
Weed wasn’t the problem. “Lay off it anyway, okay?”
“I will.”
I blew out a breath. “How about I swing by and get us some tacos?”
Chuckling, I shook my head. Some things never changed. Freddie was always hungry.
“Jas?”
“Hmm?”
“Thanks for coming to get me.”
“Shut up, punk,” I murmured and then ruffled his hair. He groaned at the action, then laughed.
It didn’t take long to buy enough tacos, burritos, and chalupas to feed a damn army, though I would have to hit the books at some point this week and check our accounts. I didn’t usually let them go this long.
There was a lot of activity at the clubhouse. Rats were loading a truck, so we must have had a shipment come in. As I pulled in, Kestrel met us with Liam of all fucking people. What the hell was he doing here?
Goddammit. The guy just kept showing back up.
“Problems?” Freddie asked, and I shrugged.
“Who the hell knows. Take the food inside and settle in.”
Freddie hesitated, scanning the warehouse. I’d already done the same. She wasn’t out here. As soon as I was out of the car, Kestrel headed for me. Vaughn pulled in right behind me, and it looked like he’d hit a store too.
I paused at the sight of the flowers and quirked a brow. He just met my gaze with a stare. For Emersyn.
Goddammit, everyone wanted a piece of her.
Sucking in a breath, I focused on Kestrel. “What’s going on?”
“We have a problem,” he began, and that was never good. All business, Kestrel detailed what happened at the auto shop, from the attack on Emersyn to the fact he and Liam had to track down the second guy.
That guy was currently in the fridge awaiting interrogation. The guy who went after Emersyn was dead.
“They’re PIs, as far as I can tell,” Kestrel continued as the anger began to pound away in my blood. “Looking for her. I don’t know if it’s for her family or what, but…”
He hesitated, and I raised my eyebrows. “Don’t get shy on me now, asshole. You took her the fuck out of here where she’s safe and exposed her. So let’s finish it. But what?”
His jaw set and Kestrel glared at me, but the flex of his jaw said a lot more for his current mood. He was pissed, but not because I was questioning him or challenging what the hell he’d been thinking. That was definitely a conversation we were going to be having.
“But there’s a reward that’s been placed for any and all information leading to her successful recovery, and Liam told me there’s a bounty out on her now.”
What the fuck? I swung my head to look at him. “Since when?”
“Since five days ago.”
Since the day we’d gotten Freddie back. I ran a hand over my face.
“Jasper?” Freddie asked. “Is this because of me?”
“No,” I told him. Kestrel echoed it, but Vaughn frowned.
“Where is Dove now?”
“About that…”
I closed my eyes and counted slowly, fisting my temper in both hands, before I opened them and raised my brows at Kestrel. “Yes, Kellan,” I said slowly, even as Vaughn loomed at my shoulder. Apparently, he was on my side in this argument. “Where is Emersyn?”
“She and Rome took off on my bike,” Liam answered. “I told him to get her out of there. We didn’t know how many might be around, and I stuck around to deal with the mess. He probably took her to my place.”
Yeah. I was done.
“Get in the fucking car,” I told him as I pivoted to go to the car. “Freddie, inside, eat, shower, sleep. Don’t touch the liquor and don’t touch the weed. Kestrel, try to keep an eye on him and do a better job than you did with Emersyn.”
I didn’t wait for a single response as I slid into the driver’s seat. Liam apparently took that particular command well. He