Page 23 of Gemini
He played with his phone for a moment, then typed back. “He won’t tell me anything, trust me.”
“You’re not on speaking terms?”
“Rivals don’t talk.”
My face twisted in confusion. “How are you rivals? You just broke off.”
I could tell he didn’t want to tell me at first. He took his time replying. “We might not be with the Serpents anymore but we’re not lone wolves either.”
It took me a minute to understand. “Are you trying to say you started another gang?”
The look in his eyes was answer enough. I let out a short laugh in frustration. “Don’t tell me those assholes in the black bandanas were your goons.”
He shook his head. “No. But some of ours were walking around.”
I hugged an arm around myself, dread creeping up in the back of my mind. “How can you help me then? How can you help me find my sister?”
The waitress returned with Dom’s pie, filling up his coffee cup before moving on to the next table. Dom turned his phone around. “We have people everywhere. Many are ex-members of the Serpents. One of them is an insider—they got connections into the gang.”
I placed a hand flat on the table. “So you can talk to them, call them up and see?”
“Already did,” he replied. “Earlier today.”
“And?”
Once more, it appeared hard for him to type. When he showed me the screen, my stomach twisted. “They know about your sister to some extent. They know she got involved with someone in the gang. Apparently, the Serpents frequented her club. But something went bad, and Jasper ordered them to take her. The insider doesn’t know where they are keeping her. From what they’ve seen she’s not at any of the hangouts or hideouts that they know of.”
“Shit, you don’t think…” I covered my mouth, too scared to even say it.
“I don’t think they killed her. Not yet. But for some reason they are hiding her well. It’s odd that they are keeping the location hidden from others in the gang. My bet is only the higher-ups know anything.”
“Like Jasper.”
He nodded.
I covered the rest of my face in my hand. As I took a deep breath, I started shaking. “Trish…”
Fingers engulfed my wrist and gently pulled my hand away from my face. I looked back as Dom took my hand and held it in his. His was heavy and firm, comforting in a way. He studied myface, and I knew what he was trying to say without having to type it. “We will find her. We will get her back.”
My mouth trembled, suddenly remembering Dom back at the church, light-hearted and grounded unlike his brother. Even when he left me all alone the night they disappeared, he tried to comfort me, if only for a moment.
I wanted to go to him and embrace him. To feel his heavy hand trailing through my hair. I knew that wasn’t going to happen, so instead I squeezed his hand. “Thank you, Dom.”
He smiled at me and squeezed my hand back.
The diner door swung open and shouts from a loud group broke the moment between us. Dom’s smile instantly disappeared as he released my hand, his black eyes glaring behind me. Confused, I looked over my shoulder and immediately tensed.
Leslie sat at a table on the other side of the diner while the other men and a few women with him slid into a seat next to him. He wore all black under a leather jacket with a patch on the sleeve—what looked like twin knives, one pointed up, the other down. Underneath and above them were two slash marks. His black hair was styled back, and I could just make out his messed-up ear. He pretended not to notice us, until his green eyes traveled around and caught me watching.
I looked away instantly, face burning.
Neither of us moved for a moment, then I started to slide out of the booth. Dom caught my hand. He looked at me, pleading. “Wait,” he signed. “Please.”
My hands balled into fists. “I don’t want to see him.”
He gestured again for me to wait, then started to text something out. I was ready to bolt any minute, the hairs on the back of my neck standing on end.
“I’ll talk to him,” he typed. “I’ll tell him to back off.”
