Page 11 of Blood of Vengeance

“I’m so sorry, Lock.”

The sincerity in her voice ate at me, weakened my defenses. And my first tears began to burn a path down my cheeks. “We’re going to start looking for his body in the morning.”

“You’ll find him, and then you can honor him the way he deserves.”

“Yeah.” I frowned and wiped my eyes, then adjusted the height of the screen to get a better look. “Where are you?”

“Work. I picked up an extra shift.”

“Don’t wear yourself out.”

“Okay, Mom.” She rolled her eyes, but there was no hiding how tired she looked. “Now answer the same—where are you? A hotel?”

I fought the instinctual urge to lie. To tell her, yes, I was in a hotel room. That I was alone and safe and completely locked up in some sort of official place. But I had never lied to Zella about anything, and I wasn’t about to start.

“One of the guys at the club brought me home to stay at his place.”

Her expression went dark, and her tone dropped as she said a simple, “Locklyn.”

“It’s fine. He gave me the bedroom, there’s a private bath, and he’s hanging outside. It’s fine.”

“You said it’s fine twice. Where’s his girl?”

“What do you mean?”

“That looks like an actual headboard behind you. Looks like something from this decade and everything, being all creamy taupe. So where’s the girl who picked it out?”

I looked over my shoulder, eyeing the oatmeal-colored wall. “No headboard—just a wall.”

“You sure?”

My eye roll nearly gave me a headache.

“I’m leaning against it. Trust me, it’s a wall.” I raised a fist and tapped against said wall. “See? Wall. And there’s nothing here—a couch, a table, this bed. That’s pretty much it. No sign of a woman ever having been here.”

She huffed a defeated laugh. “Check for tampons in the bathroom.”

“Zella.”

“Locklyn.” She glared at me through the screen for a long moment, not backing down. I didn’t either, though, and eventually, it was Zella who broke the contest. “Fine. No woman to worry about, but he’s still a stranger. A dangerous one. Just…be careful.”

“I will. I promise.”

“And know that I’m tracking your location. You don’t text me every few hours? I’m coming.”

“You don’t need to be here.”

“Need is a qualitative word. I’ll decide what I need for my peace of mind. You just make sure you keep me up to date on what’s happening. Otherwise, expect a knock on that door.”

My heart broke, my grief swelling even more as my best friend in the world berated me. “I love you, Zel.”

She frowned, watching me fight back tears again. “That’s it. I’m getting on a plane tomorrow.”

“Don’t you dare.” I wiped away the single tear that had escaped and pasted a wobbly smile on my face. “I’m fine…see? It’s all good. I’m just really tired and need to go to sleep.”

Zella sighed. “Fine. But I’m not kidding?—”

“Text every few hours. Got it. Go back to work, but don’t you dare wear yourself down. Do I need to send you food or anything?”

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