Page 97 of Mob Princess

I send him the smooches emoji and a crying laughing one.

Sean

Ok sweetheart. Nite cailín.

He sends me three snoring emojis.

Me

Nite Daddy.

“Nikki! Nikki!” Bang, bang, bang. “Nikki!”

“Shane?”

I wake to the sound of pounding on the bedroom door. I glance at the clock on Sean’s side of the bed. It’s already four a.m. Sean definitely hasn’t been here. There isn’t a wrinkle on his side of the sheets. And since we started sharing a bed, I haven’t woken yet to him not touching some part of me.

“Can I come in?”

“Yeah.”

It’s also the first night I’ve worn pajamas. Sean threatened to throw them away just like he already has three pairs of panties I dared wear. Shane eases the door open, and I sit up. I reach for the bedside lamp and flick it on.

“What happened to Sean?”

“We don’t know. He texted me to say he was leaving the club and on the way home. That was an hour-and-a-half ago. When he didn’t show up within forty-five minutes, I tried calling and texting him. He didn’t answer. He didn’t set off his alert, but I can’t pull him up on our app.”

“His alert?”

“Do you not wear one? Our watches are trackers. The larger dial sets off a distress signal if it’s pressed. The alert goes to all of us and our dads. No one’s heard from him.”

I throw back the covers and get out of bed. “Who was the last person to see him?”

He hesitates.

“Shane, who was it?”

“Lucy. She’s one of the dancers. She said they were in the office for a while, then he left.”

I refuse to assume the worst about this part. “And you trust her?”

“Yeah. They used to?—”

“Were involved?”

He looks toward the window before meeting my gaze. “She was his sub until six months ago.”

He said he hadn’t been involved with any of them recently. That it hadn’t been since high school and college. He lied to me. I expect him to lie about people he’ll see, places he’ll go, and things he’ll do. I get that. I learned that when I was a kid. But he swore up and down, left and right that he wouldn’t cheat.

“Did you speak to her? Did they leave together?”

“Dillan did. It surprised him that she called. She doesn’t work at that club often. I didn’t know she was on the schedule for tonight, and I’m the one who made it. She traded with someone.”

“To work there tonight? Or someone asked her to cover for them?”

“I don’t know.”

“Well, there’s a fuck ton difference between the two considering she was the last person to see my boyfriend, and they were tucked away in an office together.” I inhale. “Shane, I trust Sean. But I don’t know this woman, and they had one of the most intimate kinds of relationship. I don’t know how things ended. I don’t trust her. Is she affiliated?”

---