Page 20 of Stone Cold Bad
“Nope.”
“She’s really gotten to you, huh?”
“Yep.”
“Jeez, I think you went at it a little too hard last night.Can’t get more than one syllable words out of you.”Slade took off on a wave and shot in toward the shore.I followed on the next crest.
The section of beach wasn’t visible from the highway, and there was no public parking.It was also a steep hike through some grassy weeds to get to the sand.Except for a few hardcore surfers and a couple walking their dog, the place was deserted.
Jade looked up and smiled as Slade and I walked toward them.
Amy held up her phone.“Just in time.Hunter’s looking for you guys.Who wants to talk to him?”
Slade ignored her and flopped belly down on his towel.I dried my hand and took the phone.
“The reception is shitty out here,” Amy said.
I sat in front of Jade.She ran her fingers over my scars.Normally, it bothered the hell out of me if a girl touched them or mentioned them, but it wasn’t that way with Jade.The scars were a part of me, and I wanted her to know everything about me, even my ugly, shitty past.I knew she understood.She immediately wrapped her sun-warmed body around me.
“Ah, soft, hot titties pressed against my cold skin.That’s better than any blanket.”
She kissed my shoulder.That small gesture sent my pulse racing.Immediately, my cock tightened.
I put the phone against my ear.“What?”
“Been trying to reach you,” Hunter said.He’d ridden up the coast with some other biker friends.They liked playing pool at some dive off the highway.I could hear loud voices and the clatter of cue balls in the background.
“Well, you reached me.”
“I’m out here at Fink’s Pool Hall and got to talking to a few of the guys who are regulars.They said some mean looking assholes were hanging around at Fink’s yesterday asking about a missing girl.They were spouting off about some ten thousand dollar reward for finding her.They showed me the picture the men left them.It was Jade.”I turned around and kissed her before standing up.I walked down toward the water.The reception grew worse, but I didn’t want Jade to hear.
“Did they recognize the guys at all?Was one of them the bookie?”
“Didn’t sound like him.No one had ever seen the guys before.You think he hired some private eye or something?The dick had money.That’s for damn sure.”
“Don’t know, but now I’m worried about Jade working over at Lazy Daze.They might be scouring all the coastal hangouts looking for her, and ten thousand would sound pretty nice to a lot of people.”
“She’s not exactly the kind of girl who can fade into the crowd either.”
I looked up the beach toward Jade.Her light hair shimmered in the sunlight, and her white smile sparkled as she laughed at something Slade said.“Nope, she definitely doesn’t fade.”
“You going to tell her?”Hunter asked.
“Not sure.”
“And some more bad news.We’ve got to make another drop tomorrow.I told Rincon about the motherfucker they’ve got on the other end now, but he just laughed.Said if we wanted to give up the gig, he had plenty of people waiting to step in.Like I said, a little more time and we can start investing in more legit prospects.”
“You mean like the kind where your business acquaintances don’t shove their fucking Glocks into your skull?”
“A little longer, Colt.Just a little longer.Hey, we’re going to hang out here for a few more games.Are you going to Stokey’s party tonight?Or maybe you won’t be able to take your dick out of Jade long enough to step out.”
“What the fuck do you want from me, Hunter?”
“Nothing.Not a damn thing.Just seems like you’re getting wrapped up tight in this thing, and she obviously comes with a lot of baggage.”
“You just worry about your own fucked-up life, and I’ll worry about mine.”
“Yeah, yeah.Sore subject.I get it.Talk to you later.”
