Page 26 of Tess, Property of Blaze

Lu’s hand moves from her hip to my shoulder, giving it a squeeze. “Look, I don’t know much about Tess, but I know she grew up without a mom. This is all new to her, give her time, Blaze. She loves you, though, I do know that for sure.”

I look away, up at a café sign nearby, wanting to change the subject. All this feelings shit is hard, and I just can’t think about all the rest right now, not when I need to find out where the fuck she is.

“This it?” I ask, tilting my head toward the café.

She looks at the café, too. “Yeah, this is where we were.”

“Let’s go in.” I raise myself off my bike and sit my helmet on the handlebars.

When we walk into the café, Luisa points to a table. “That’s where we were sitting.”

I look over to where she’s pointing then to my right, noticing a hallway that leads to the restrooms. “That the bathroom she was in?” I nod in the direction of the hallway.

She nods. “Yeah, that’s it.”

I walk that way and knock on the ladies’ bathroom door once I’m standing outside. Nobody replies after a few seconds, so I open it hesitantly and poke my head inside. “Anyone in here?” Again, no response, so I enter the small, tiled room, Luisa following close behind me. I look around the plain but clean area, and my eyes immediately zero in on a few dots of something crimson on the floor. Is that fuckingblood? I walk over to it and crouch down, then touch my finger to it and bring it up to my nose to smell. The tacky feel of it is almost enough to confirm my suspicions, but the coppery scent acknowledges that without a doubt it’s blood on the floor of the café’s ladies’ bathroom. The very same bathroom Tess was in not too long ago. Is it Tess’s?

I rub my fingers together, then look at Lu, whose eyes are wide, her face pale in the dim lighting. “Please tell me it’s not blood?”

I nod, fear filling me at a rapid rate. If Tess was bleeding—and that’s if it is Tess’s blood, which my gut is screaming that is is—why did she run? “It is,” I say, standing upright again. I move over to the sink and turn on the tap to rinse the blood off my finger.

“Maybe she had a blood nose?”

I turn and stare at Lu, one eyebrow raised. “Something tells me that’s not what happened here.” I then notice something on the tiled wall just behind Lu and walk over to it—it’s a strand of hair, caught on the sharp edge of a broken tile. I pull at it until it’s free and bring it up closer to my eyes. The color and length is about the same as Tess’s, and my hand starts to shake, the single strand wavering and catching the light of the cheap fluorescents.

I look at Lu, her fear now evident from the tears pooling in her eyes. She cups her mouth with both hands, holding in a sob. “Oh God, Blaze. Someone has taken her.”

I nod, staring down at the proof pinched between two of my fingers. “Either that or she escaped from someone. Tell me exactly what her text said.”

She walks up to me and holds out her phone. I read the words on the screen; it’s exactly what Lu said, that she’s fine, and she’ll be in contact with Lu.

But what if she didn’t write the text?I grab my phone from my back pocket and dial Prez’s number, and he picks up on the first ring. “What’s up.”

“Prez, I need your help.” I try to keep the tremor out of my voice but can’t.

Quill doesn’t hesitate to respond. “Anything, brother. What is it?”

I explain to Quill the day’s events, and what I’d found in the restrooms. Being the man Quill is, he’s on top of it right away. “You need the brothers to help with findin’ her?”

“Yeah, Prez, I do. It’s not like her to go missing. I’m gonna go see if she’s at her shop, can you have a couple of brothers checking the local hospitals, see if she’s there?”

“Sure, man, we find anything, we’ll call right away.”

I let out a deep sigh of relief at that, grateful I have my brothers backing me up. “Appreciate it, Prez.”

“Blaze?”

“Yeah?” I respond, pacing the floor now, ready to get going and find Tess.

“We’ll find her, I promise.”

I run my hand through my hair. “I hope so.”

“We will, now go to her shop and call us if you find anything.”

“Will do.”

I hang up the call and storm out of the bathroom, Luisa trailing behind all the way out to my bike. I straddle it and start it up. I look over to Luisa, who’s standing there looking lost for what to do. “Go back to the club. If she calls you again, let me know right away, got it?” I push down the fear and soften my tone when Lu just nods, fresh tears threatening to fall from her red-rimmed eyes. She’s worried about Tess too. “Don’t worry, I’ll find her,” I say, trying to believe my own words.

“Please find our girl.”

I can only nod, then I kick the stand up and head to Ink Me.

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