Page 19 of Vengeance

“You’re sure she’s not in there?” West asks.

Pulling out his phone, he calls his wife and glares at the man. “Her car’s gone, and she and the kids are nowhere inside. Yeah, I’m pretty fucking sure.”

“Colt?” Lex answers, her voice low.

“Where are you?” he asks, his heart climbing into his throat. Please don’t be gone. Please don’t leave me.

Even though she says they’re good, he can’t get over the feeling of dread he gets every time he thinks about how much he’s put her through. He wouldn’t blame her if she changed her mind one day and walked away for someone else who can give her everything she deserves. If she leaves him again, he won’t make it. He knows he won’t. It’d be better if someone just put a gun to his head and put him out of his misery.

“You’re home early, aren’t you?” she asks and sighs.

She hadn’t expected him home until morning. That’s why she’s gone. And she’s smart enough to know when the guys arrive. She also knows they don’t check inside, so as long as she was gone by the time they showed up, no one would know. She probably planned to come home after they left in the morning, and no one would be the wiser. But why the fuck did she leave? And where the fuck would she go?

“Where are you?” He knows she can hear the panic he’s trying to suppress, but he doesn’t care. All he cares about is getting to his wife. Now.

“At the hotel.”

Hotel? “What the fuck?”

The idea of Lex with another man pops into his mind, and his jealousy gets the better of him. He’ll kill any man she’s with. Break his fucking neck and make him wish he never laid eyes on Colt’s wife.

“If you’re home early, that means Shep and Jace are, too, huh?”

That was not the response he’d expected. “Jace is, but Shep got held up with something. He’ll be home soon. Why? Lex, what the fuck are you doing at the hotel?”

A phone ringing in the background catches his ear. “Call Shep. He’s going to lose his mind if he comes home and finds Heidi gone again. Have him meet you at the hotel. We’re in room four fifteen.”

“We?”

“Heidi and Mel are here with me. Jace just called, and I assume he’s on his way already.”

“I’m on my way.”

West raises his eyebrows. “She’s at a hotel?”

“Yep,” he says and calls Shep. “Shep, meet me at the hotel-”

“I can’t. I gotta find Heidi. I just got home, and she’s not fucking here! The Puffy Taco’s completely empty, and I don’t know where the fuck she could be!”

“She’s at the hotel. With my wife and Melanie. I’ll see you there.”

“So, we’ve just been guarding an empty house for three nights, haven’t we?” York asks.

West nods. “Yep.”

Colt ignores them and runs to his bike before speeding away without a word to the two men. He heads into town, and Jace and Shep wait for him in the parking lot of the hotel. Parking his bike, he hurries towards them.

“What the fuck is going on here?” Jace asks and tosses the cigarette he smokes on the ground.

Colt finds it strange he’s picked the habit back up, considering his girl was used as an ashtray, but that’s not his business.

“I don’t know,” Colt says and shrugs. “But coming home to find the house empty... fuck, I damn near lost my shit.”

“I was right on the verge when you called,” Shep says, and they step into the elevator. “If there are men here, they won’t be able to get the blood out of the goddamned carpet.”

Jace shakes his head as Colt pushes the button for the fourth floor. “No one can keep up with Mel, so I doubt anyone without ovaries is here with them. Fuck, I can barely keep up with her.”

Colt feels his heart race in his chest. Something isn’t right, and he can feel it. His anxiety flies through the roof, and the elevator seems to take its sweet time. He wishes they’d opted for the stairs instead. At least he’d be doing something to release some of his anxious energy.

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