Page 38 of Savage Hero

“In or out?” Vito asks as he saunters up to the counter, tucking his new smokes into his dress shirt’s breast pocket.

“Outside where they can see us.”

The food only takes a few minutes to arrive, but I feel ten years older by the time the server hands us our plastic baskets.

I have no idea if the girls have retraced their steps, or if we scared them off for good, but Vito and I sit and eat our late lunch, checking our phones and having an idle chat. The tacos aren’t nearly as good as La Buena Papa’s, but I could have been eating ashes.

We’re partially blocked by the car parked behind ours, but I still have a good enough view of the motel’s hallway in my peripheral vision. Which is why I can see the girls coming back about ten minutes into our meal.

They move just as fast as before, but this time Athena watches us from the moment they step out from the stairs. Seconds later, they’re inside their room. I’m sure if I was closer, I would have heard every deadbolt on the other side of that thin door being slammed closed.

I pity them.

They seem terrified now that they’re alone in the world, despite Nyx’s efforts at reassuring her sister she was safe.

I could have let Nyx use her own phone, but I had to record her call. Just like I had to come down here and see who this Athena was. Vito cracked Nyx’s phone the same day I gave it to him, but there wasn’t much on there. She’d mapped out a few routes from this motel to random places around Florida, and only had a few numbers she called, or who called her. One of them to a burner number that was already disconnected when we tried to call it.

“Let’s go to the club,” I tell Vito, tossing him my keys.

“We aren’t going up?” Vito frowns at me, but he’s already heading for the driver’s side door.

“I got what I wanted.” Which was confirmation that the call between Nyx and Athena was authentic, and not some kind of code.

The boxing club was another one of Nyx’s frequent calls. It’s a few blocks away—close enough to walk, which is probably why she chose it. There are a few cars parked outside, so it looks like there’s something happening inside. The sign is in good repair, but it’s far from new. Just like the rest of the club.

We stake out the place for an hour or so, taking note of who comes and goes, but I don’t see any familiar faces. There’s an alleyway beside the building, and I tap Vito’s arm when I see a red-haired guy in his mid-twenties taking out a bag of trash. He stops to smoke a cigarette and then goes back inside.

Is he Liam, the guy Nyx texted? It sounds platonic, but they weren’t exactly writing essays to each other so I could be wrong. He looks buff—I guess if he works at the boxing club, he has access to the equipment all day. Or maybe he’s a trainer?

My hands creak around my phone, and I hurriedly shove it back into my pocket. I only ever get possessive over my family, so why the hell do I want to beat in Liam’s brains for thinking he gets to spend time with Nyx in such close quarters? For all I know, his only job is to pick up trash and clean out the toilets.

“Let’s get the fuck out of here,” I mutter.

“Sure you don’t want to take a look inside?” Vito’s frowns are starting to irritate me.

“Should I go in there and empty my mag?” I ask him, tugging aside my jacket so he has a clear view of my Beretta.

Vito shrugs, looking as annoyed as I feel. “Jesus, relax.”

“I’ll relax when you get us back home without hitting a pothole.”

“Like I aim for them,” he mutters.

“You might as well.”

We drive in silence, but my thoughts are too scattered for me to make anything of Nyx’s life. The only people that she communicates with are her sisters and this boxing club.

Then there was the burner number. They call every month-end—just one or two calls. But there was an uptick in calls about two weeks ago, and then a string of missed calls the day of the drive-by.

It could be something.

Or nothing.

But it’s the only piece of this puzzle I don’t have eyes on yet. So I’m thinking I’ll spend a little time with Nyx. They may call back while I’m with her. And if they do, I’ll know everything there is to know about Nyx Gray.

Chapter Nineteen

Savage

---