Page 21 of Wild Angel

“You see a girl pass this way? Small, blond, looks like she could punch your teeth in?”

The guy frowns, pushes his shades up onto his buzzcut. “Nah. But lemme ask.” He trots back to his crew under the bridge. I’m too far away to hear anything they say, but their gestures give me some hope, especially when one of them cups his hands in front of his chest like he’s describing a big pair of tits.

Buzzcut jogs back.

I’d still love to know how the fuck these guys’ pants don’t end up around their fucking ankles. Physics be damned.

“My guy says he seen a chick walk down the street a few minutes ago. Blond. Pink shirt.” He screws up his face, squinting in the sun. “That her?”

Pink? Nyx would sooner walk around naked. I snort out an irritated, “No,” and I drive away as I’m rolling up the window.

Riding around aimlessly hoping for a sighting of Nyx isn’t going to get me anywhere. When I dial Vito from the car’s hands-free system, he answers with a cheerful, “Yo.”

He must be doing coke. I feel like a train wreck, and he sounds like he just woke up. “She’s gone.”

“Wh…gone? Like,gonegone?”

“The fuck else doesgonemean?”

“Shit, Savage. You think she headed back to the motel?”

“Going there now. You put the word out I’m looking for.”

“Are you sure?” Vito sniffs faintly, confirming my suspicion about the coke. “I mean…what if it gets back to Sergio?”

I grind my teeth. “He already knows about her. The fuck does it matter?”

“I guess.” Vito still doesn’t sound convinced. “He’s going to Georgia anyway.”

“Georgia? The fuck for?”

Vito laughs dryly. “Like he’d tell me.”

Christ. I don’t like this. I don’t likeanyof this. “Get the word out. Tell me when you find her.”

I end the call and grab my chin, my elbow wedged in against the window. I’m cruising down the road like I’m looking to start trouble, but higher-ups know this car and they’ll know not to mess with me.

But it’s not them I need to worry about. To reach Nyx’s hotel from here, I need to cross Bogota territory. There, my black Expedition isn’t welcome. There, I can’t take the chance that someone will recognize me before they start shooting.

I put on my indicator and head for the freeway. It’ll take longer than cutting through Pine Hills, but it’s safer. I can’t risk something happening to me while Nyx is out there on her own.

What the fuck was she thinking?

And why the fuck couldn’t she just stay put like a good girl?

My bicep starts to throb again, and I bark out a laugh.

Yeah, I forgot.

My little Nyx isnota good girl.

Chapter Thirteen

Nyx

“Why are you stopping?” I stare out the window, and then give the cab driver a glare. “We’re still like a mile out.”

“That’s a private road,” the driver says. He’s shifting on his seat like he needs to take a shit or something. “I can’t go down there.”

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