Page 30 of Deceit

Before I can process what’s happening, something hard comes down and slams into the back of my head. I know the trunk is already open and has been since Jerome got close to me. As I slowly sink into oblivion, I feel my body being shoved into the small trunk. There are things jabbing into my body and I can’t be bothered to move anything because nothing wants to work. I can barely breathe as I let the darkness consume me and everything fades away to nothing.

Chapter Seventeen

King

TODAY’S BEEN LONG asfuck. I typically don’t go out on the installation jobs for P.B. Security. Valor wants me in my office monitoring our various client’s homes and businesses because that’s part of the service we offer them. Plus, I’m always around the clubhouse for any club business that comes up or I can fill in at the various businesses the club owns. Unless, of course, I’ve had physical therapy and can’t move from my bed for a few days. Those are the days I use my laptop to monitor everything and keep an eye on certain clients if we’ve noticed shady shit going on. It doesn’t happen often, but there have been a few times we’ve prevented break-ins and dealt with the situation before the cops were involved. So, it takes a lot out of me when I go to an installation and don’t have help like normal. Valor always tries to schedule at least two of us for every job so one person isn’t doing everything on their own. That couldn’t happen today because of the job so I was given the house to do on my own. The damn place was a mansion and not a home like I was led to believe. Fuckers!

The job took a few hours so it’s not like I was gone all day long. Brynn assured me she’d stay at the compound and try to get some work done because it’s been three days since she was able to focus on anything more than what I told her about Jerome and what was discovered at his apartment. I’ve been with her constantly and didn’t want to leave her today, but had no choice in the matter. Thankfully, I didn’t run into any problems when I was doing the installation. The hardest part of the job was having to climb up and down the ladder to ensure everything was in the right position and then make the adjustments. I spent more time going up and down the damn thing that my legs are killing me and I don’t feel as steady as I should on my feet. The rest of the day I’ll have to use my cane to make sure I don’t fall over when my legs give out. This is why Valor doesn’t let me do jobs on my own. He doesn’t want me going up and down the ladder when I have no one there to make sure I don’t have an accident and fall. Today it didn’t work out that way and I’m doing the job slower than normal so no mistakes happen.

I skipped lunch in order to finish the job as early as possible. My stomach has been growling for the last half hour because of my decision not to eat and I know when I get to the clubhouse that’s the first thing I’m going to do after checking on my girl. Hopefully the ol’ ladies are making something amazing for dinner and it’s not one of the nights we all tend to fend for ourselves. Those days used to bother me but now I use them to spend more time with Brynn in our room alone. We eat our takeout and spend hours talking and laughing or watching movies. Some nights we don’t eat our dinner when it’s still hot because one of us can’t help but start something that needs to be finished right then. Those nights are my favorite because I’ll never get tired of being with my girl and worshiping her in the way I’ve learned she loves.

Walking in the clubhouse, Savannah enters from the opposite door and tears are falling from her eyes as Valor enters behind me and his wife rushes to his side.

“What’s wrong, Love? Why are you cryin’?” he questions her, his voice soft and gentle as he pulls her against his chest.

“It’s Brynn. She’s gone,” she cries out, her eyes landing on me as I stand as still as a statue, thinking I misunderstood her words.

“What the fuck do you mean Brynn is missin’?” Ghost yells out, entering the clubhouse through the main door behind me. “She’s not supposed to leave the clubhouse or compound for any reason.”

“I know she’s not. Cyrus got sick a while after everyone left to go to work. I managed to catch Genesis before she left for work. When I got down here to find one of the Prospects, the clubhouse was empty. No one was here which meant there was only a Prospect on the gate and everyone else was at work. Brynn was sitting in here with a bottle of water looking bored and out of it. I mentioned Cyrus being sick and Vault and Annabell being on their way home. Brynn went to the store to get some medicine for Cyrus. I didn’t want her to go but she rushed out of here,” Savannah informs me as more tears continue to fall and her voice breaks several times with the fear and concern racing through her.

“Why would she go to the store if you didn’t want her to leave, Savannah?” I ask her, my tone full of accusation as Valor holds her closer while glaring at me.

“I wanted her to sit with the kids while I went to the store to get what was needed for Cyrus. Brynn refused to sit with them. She didn’t want to risk Jerome making his move when she was with them and something happening to one of them. Told me she wouldn’t be able to live with herself if one of them got hurt because of her,” Savannah informs us as Vault and several other men enter the clubhouse to find us standing around. “I tried to stop her, King. She brushed by me so fast I couldn’t get a grip on her. I doubt she even felt it as she rushed out of the clubhouse.”

I’m rooted to the floor as I try to process what Savannah’s telling us. The words are a jumbled mess as they float around my head and I try to clear every other thought from my mind to make sense of what I’m being told. It doesn’t work. The only thing I can truly hear is the blood rushing through my veins and my heart beating out of control as rage and fear consume me with the thought of my girl being out there on her own and Jerome getting his hands on her.

“King!” Vault yells, getting in my face as he snaps me out of the frozen state I’ve been in. “Go to your office and track your girl. Find her. Try callin’ her.”

Pulling out my phone, I press call on Brynn’s contact. It doesn’t even ring before going to voicemail. I try several times in a row with the same result. Going to the app I use for tracking, I click on her name and nothing comes up at first. After several minutes, a red dot shows up at the grocery store. I zone in on the area and know she’s no longer there deep in my gut. I don’t even have to show up there to know Brynn has been taken and is now in Jerome’s hands.

“It’s showin’ her at the grocery store not far from here. She’s not there. Jerome has her,” I state, my voice void of any emotion as I look around the room.

“You don’t know that, King. She could be there gettin’ what’s needed for the kids,” Hope says, walking in the room and trying to ease my fears.

“No, I know. Deep in my gut I know she’s been taken by him. I have to call Blood,” I say more to myself than anyone else in the room.

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