Page 55 of Not Ready

These idiots are just too close to be able to recognize it.

“Answer it,” Bishop finally says, staring straight into Vale’s eyes. It seems like he’s picking up on something from the bond. I don’t know exactly, but it’s my gut feeling.

“This is Mercy. I’ve got you on speakerphone. Bishop, Holt, and Vale are listening.”

“It’s a full house,” Merrick says distractedly. “You want me to go with the information?”

“Yes,” Bishop growls.

“Right. Andrew Landis is part of a small group that originally surfaced in Miami. He was going by the name Dayton Price then. That was three years ago. He’s grown his hair out and is sporting a goatee now.” Merrick chuckles.

“No wonder he gave off sketchy vibes,” I retort.

“Yeah, it’s kind of universal among the dickbags. Although, I don’t have a control to compare it to, so my experiment may have skewed results.” Merrick clicks away in the background, like he’s pulling something else up on his computers.

We’ve had a running joke for years—the only thing worse on the asshole meter than a goatee is a mustache.

Stakeouts are boring as fuck.

We make stupid jokes to pass the time.

“Right, so he was being investigated in Miami. That turned into him and his core group of fuckwads leaving in the dead of night. Mr. Price still has a fair amount of collections accounts searching for him for all the bills he dipped out on.” Merrick pauses. “He’s wanted in connection with the missing persons cases of three omegas—two female, one male.”

Vale gasps.

“Yeah,” Merrick agrees. “Total scum. He pops up a year later in Myrtle Beach. Another couple omegas and two betas go missing in a rash of cases. All were tourists. He had a new name for that and those same three slime balls with him. They bounced once the police started heavily looking into the missing persons cases. I couldn’t find him again until just over a year ago when he popped up in DC.”

“Jesus,” Mercy says, his accent thicker than normal. “The others, were they stalking cases like with Vale?”

“No, not from what I can tell,” Merrick says. “Then again, I couldn’t find any contact between him and Vale. Without knowing to check the video feeds at The Kitty Cat Lounge and the ATM across from her apartment, I wouldn’t have found any hard evidence of him stalking her, either. It’s hard to say with any certainty, but my guess is he and his team are in the skin trade. Who the fuck knows how he stumbled upon Vale. She could have been a prospective victim, only he got obsessed and wasn’t willing to cash in on her. Maybe he stalks his victims before selling them. You never know.”

“Selling them,” Vale repeats. “Okay, you know what? I think I’ll take you up on that walk.”

“Come on.” Mercy stands, moving around to help her out of her chair. She glances at Bishop, but he looks a little like he’s about to chip a tooth.

He still bends down, kissing her forehead. “I love you, gorgeous.”

My jaw falls.

Fucking hell, that was fast.

Vale pats Bishop’s stomach. “I know. I love you too.” She wraps an arm around his back, giving him a quick hug, and lets Mercy lead her out.

They’re already at the whole I love you stage?

I’m baffled.

Maybe it’s because I’ve never experienced the emotion romantically, but Jesus fucking Christ, that came out of nowhere.

I swipe my palm over my face, shaking my head.

They’ve known each other in person for a handful of days. But they’re bonded for life, so who am I to judge?

I also find it weird as fuck that she’s already so comfortable with Mercer.

I have a job to do, and dissecting what my friends do in their personal lives isn’t part of it.

“So, what’s the plan?” I ask to get back on track.

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