Page 37 of On the Rocks
She doesn’t need to answer. Her fingers driving through my hair say ‘yes’ without any words.
It’s been a god damn fucking three fucking days. She’s still fucking gone. All the fucking power and money and deference in the world hasn’t gotten me a god damn fucking thing.
Sitting in this stupid ass hotel room and getting wasted won’t help a god damn thing either. But I don’t know what to do without her. My fucking pussy ass cannot function any more. Not without her sunshine permeating my world. The fear that I’ll never see her again too insidious. Too deep and pervasive I can’t ignore the reality now that they're gone again. We get so fucking close, and every damn time they fucking slip away.
I don’t even look up as Noah kicks my foot.
"Sober up dumb ass."
Nothing I give a damn about but drinking myself into unconsciousness. Where she’ll visit me in my dreams. Hold me tighter than I deserve. Kiss me harder than I can stand.
“We found her.”
Unable to move with the hope surging through my veins. The glass shatters in my pulsing hand. “I will fucking end you where you stand if you are fucking with me.”
His gaze meets mine. Rare in this world for most men to look directly at me. In my eye. But my brother does. He fucking does. He’s telling the truth.
I fly off the sofa. Everything a blur except for the paper I rip out of his hand.
Trinity.
Never fucking expecting to see her in a mug shot. Crazy short hair. Bruises on her face and throat that make my fingers ball into fists. But it’s her eyes that fucking destroy me. Not scared. Or mad. Just empty. Like she’s given up too.
“She was taken in by the cops for a well-being check. A mental health examination after she spent the night in a closed library. Looks like she’d been hiding there from Butcher.”
What the ever loving fuck? My brave girl escaping from that bastard. Pride beats in my chest. I knew she was tough and smart and resilient. Just so damn sorry she had to find out for herself this way.
He fills me in on the rest while we hustle outside and climb into the SUV. Once again I have to let Noah drive. Too drunk and crazed to navigate the roads.
“Police report confirms the amnesia. Says she doesn’t know her name or where she’s from. A 'Michael Wire' showed up when they were talking to her at the hospital and she freaked out. They had to sedate her and now she's locked up in the psych ward.”
With sticky alcohol-covered fingers, I swipe my phone. Alerting the guys to track that motherfucker down now that we have his location. "Well, first we'll bust her out and then I'm finally going to fucking kill that son of a bitch."
"It may not be that easy. We've got a lot explaining to do about the device. People aren't going to easily believe something that sounds like fucking science fiction."
No fucking worries. I'll talk all fucking night if I have to. Bring in the fucking FBI. Empty my fucking bank account. Whatever it takes to get her back.
12
Chapter Twelve
“There’ssomeone here to see you.”
Panic heats my face as much as the rest of my body from the nurse's words, and my hand shakes so bad I drop the puzzle piece onto the table. They can’t force me to see him. They promised. “Please no…I…”
“It’s not Michael.”
My taut body relaxes but I still hug myself. Uncertainty seeping through my veins from the hesitation drawing down her round face. “Another doctor?”
Kim shakes her head. The hopefulness in my tone sounds so pitiful to both of us.
“He says he’s your husband. He brought paperwork, your ID, and pictures of the two of you.” I latch onto the optimism in her voice. My only friend. She wouldn’t lie to me. I don’t think. “He seems genuinely worried about you. Asking a whole bunch of questions and getting pretty upset when they wouldn’t let him in to see you right away.”
“That sounds good.” I meet her cocoa eyes. So rich and deep and beautiful I'm sure I can see right to her angelic soul. “Doesn’t it?”
“Yeah, it does.”
My head and heart argue. Both of them too damaged to make good decisions. But the need to see him is so strong. To know if he's the one that I've been missing is more than I can ignore. “Will you go with me?”
