Page 72 of Glass Wings
“Hey, Reign baby, you got some funds coming my way from the johns I’m sending?” Grant’s voice echoed through the phone.
“The last guy peed on my floor, Grant. He peed through his underwear . . . on my beautiful flooring,” she said flatly.
“Well, you know, that’s always a risk,” he chuckled.
“Grant.” Reign was pacing back and forth now, hitting her thigh on the edge of the bed frame. “Do you know where I can find Hailey? She left something with me when I took her shopping that I need to get back to her.”
Grant was quiet for a few seconds before he let out a dramatic sigh.
“That little girl, Reign, she went on and broke my heart. I thought we were supposed to be a team.”
“What do you mean? What happened?” she asked impatiently.
“She went on and went back to a client without me. She cut me out, Reign. She thinks I don’t know, but no, no, Grant has his ways of keeping tabs on his ladies. It’s my job to keep you all safe. We are a family, after all.”
Reign smiled because she knew that he truly cared. He was kind of disgusting, but also very protective.
“I don’t think she left you, Grant,” Reign said. “I think she was kidnapped.”
Grant lost his ability to use words temporarily as Reign listened to a few moments of grunting and angry, senseless mumbling.
“Well fuck, let’s go get our girl back,” he said, finally pulling himself together.
“It sounds like a party.” Reign hung up the phone as she walked out her front door, car keys in hand.
The sky was uncharacteristically gray, even for November. Reign pulled over a block away from the East Sacramento mansion that she knew Hailey to be at. She hit the engine button, turned the car off, and waited.
Five minutes went by before she heard the loud, clunky car that Grant drove. He stuck out like a sore thumb in this neighborhood, which, in retrospect, wasn’t great for a rescue operation.
Grant pulled over, parked right behind her, and jumped out of the car, wearing a greasy t-shirt with cowboy boots underneath his jeans.
“Who dresses you?” Reign asked, stepping out of her car.
“I’m a grown goddamn man. I dress myself, angel.” He winked ather. “Now, what’s our game plan? Should I sneak in through a window? I’ve got some ninja stars in my trunk that my parents got me for Christmas as a teenager. I've been waiting for a good excuse to use them.”
She didn’t know whether to roll her eyes or frown at him, but it was probably not best to say she would just force whoever she was talking to to spill the truth.
“I can be very persuasive. Lets just go to the front door and start a conversation,” she shrugged.
“If things get wild, we call the cops after,” he suggested. “Of course, let’s keep our names out of it. I’ve got a business to protect.”
Reign nodded at him, truly grateful to have this human in her life.
The pair walked side by side down the street, approaching the house. Grant’s chest was puffed out, and Reign's lips twitched into a smile as she saw him thumb his back pocket, the outline of a metal ninja star pushed against the denim material.
Grant knocked on the door. Well, pounded on it would be more accurate. He ignored the doorbell and continued to connect his fist to the formal slab of wood until the door popped open, and a bronzed nose and dark hair slid into view.
“May I help you?” a familiar voice asked.
“Amis?” Reign asked, startled by the nose's similarities to someone who had fought by her side twenty years ago, someone who had grown up with her.
“There’s no one here by that name. Good day.” The door shut abruptly, not revealing any more of the person who answered it.
“That’s some bullshit,” Grant yelled back and began pounding on the door again. “You think you know that asshole?”
“Maybe,” she answered. “I didn’t get a good look at him.”
Grant continued to pound on the door with no answer.
