Page 15 of Morsel

I will, too. I don’t feel like talking. I’m sure she thinks she has a lot more to say, but she doesn’t. Instead of sticking around to watch her gorgeous naked body, I leave the bedroom, and I close the door behind me.

Once I’m back in the living room, I call both of my brothers.

“Oscar?” Phoenix says, answering the call. Ryan joins seconds after.

“Where the hell have you been?” Ryan asks.

“Abducted,” I say.

“What?” Phoenix asks.

“What the fuck?” Ryan adds.

“The receptionist,” I say by way of explanation. “Our girl Dolly took me and didn’t seem to mind. It’s not exactly a good look, really.”

“What happened?” Phoenix asks.

“I was invited out to coffee. I did not get coffee,” I say.

“She took you? How?”

“Two men were with her. Their names are Hank and Craig. Craig is her brother.”

“On it,” Phoenix says. I know he’s doing his Hacker Man stuff where he tries to find out everything he possibly can. The thing about Phoenix is that he’s wildly smart. The other thing about Phoenix is that he doesn’t have any financial limitations, so he can pretty much find anything he wants to.

“What did they want?”

“Apparently, they told her they wanted to talk to me,” I say.

“And that was not the case,” Ryan says.

“No.”

“They took you,” he says. “What details can you share? Vehicle?”

“They jabbed me with something. I passed out. Not sure how long for. I woke up in a minivan. Dolly was with me. They didn’t expect her to.”

“So was she an accomplice?” Phoenix asks. I hear his keyboard clicking. He’s tapping away, trying to figure something out. What exactly, I’m not sure. Something helpful.

“I don’t know.”

“Bro, you have to have an idea,” Ryan says gently. He’s breathing heavily.

“Are you fucking right now?”

“No.”

“Oh shit,” Phoenix says. “Ryan. Stop.”

“I’m not doing anything,” he says, but we can all hear him breathing heavily.

Shit.

“Look, all I know is that she says they wanted to talk to me. Then they took me. One of them said something about adoption stuff.”

“You think this has to do with Dad?” Ryan asks.

“Bingo,” Phoenix says. “Here’s what we’ve got.”