Total pages in book: 43
Estimated words: 38973 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 195(@200wpm)___ 156(@250wpm)___ 130(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 38973 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 195(@200wpm)___ 156(@250wpm)___ 130(@300wpm)
When I got downstairs, Arlo was the first person I saw. And just as I expected, when I scanned the room, my boy was MIA. I pointed a finger at Arlo, and he glared at me as he shifted his little girl in his arms, readjusting his hold on her. Frankie, who was coming out of the kitchen, blinked in alarm at the hostility radiating off my tense frame.
“Where the fuck is he?” I growled.
“Watch how—”
“I sent him out to gather intel,” Shaw hurriedly said, appearing from the hallway where I knew his office was located. Ace had given me a tour of this place yesterday, and I’d memorized every room and every single exit, just in case I ever needed to get Ace to safety. “He’s fine. Go ahead—call his burner. What he’s doing isn’t dangerous, Gunner.”
I scoffed and snatched my phone out of my pocket, typing his burner number in, which I’d taken time to memorize yesterday. Disposing of two bodies shouldn’t have been dangerous either, but he’d managed to get hurt then. I glared at Shaw as I raised the phone to my ear. “He’s still recovering from a goddamn concussion,” I snarled, listening as the phone rang. “He doesn’t need to be out by himself yet.” And definitely not without me.
Ace’s phone rang. And rang. And rang.
Trepidation flooded my gut. Hanging up when the voice message popped up to tell me he didn’t have a voicemail set up, I jabbed my finger against my screen, calling him again, trying not to panic. I’d been in high-risk, dangerous situation before. I knew how to keep my cool.
But in those situations, my boy wasn’t fucking missing.
My heart, my soul, my life wasn’t fucking MIA.
When I got the same message again, I clenched my jaw, grinding my teeth together. I lurched forward and gripped the front of Shaw’s shirt, slamming him against the wall. His head bounced off of it, and he winced, but he didn’t try to fight me back. He just calmly met my gaze and even shook his head at Arlo when Arlo got up, passing the baby off to Frankie.
“Where is he?” I snarled. I shook him. “Where the fuck is he?!” I roared. They’d sent my boy out by himself to gather intel on a dangerous as fuck trafficking ring, which I had no doubt had big players. Big players with big enough pockets to make my boy completely disappear. I wasn’t playing fucking games.
“He went to gather intel on Jeffrey Dorman,” Shaw told me calmly. I wanted to bash his head through the wall. How the fuck was he so calm? I noticed Amaliya come down the stairs, her eyes wide and filled with horror as she took in the scene in front of her. “If he’s not answering his burner, he could just be in a place he can’t. It doesn’t mean he’s in danger, Gunner.”
I leaned in close to him, narrowing my eyes at him. “One thing to know about my boy, Shaw, is that he will always answer my calls. He may be a brat and an asshole to you five, but he’s not to me.” I shoved away from him, backing up into Jax. I hadn’t even heard him come up behind me. My muscles locked, ready to swing on him if he touched me.
“What’s going on?” Jax demanded, looking between me and Shaw, his brows furrowed.
“He’s losing his shit because Ace isn’t answering his phone,” Arlo said like I was just being overdramatic.
Jax frowned and pulled his burner out, flipping it open. I watched as he punched in Ace’s number before he raised the phone to his ear. After a minute, he clenched his jaw and ended the call, his fingers tightening around the phone.
“He wouldn’t ignore my call either, Shaw, and you know it,” Jax growled. He looked at me. “Let’s go.”
“I’ll come—”
“No,” I barked at Arlo. He sneered at me, but I didn’t give two fucks how he felt. He’d had a problem with me since second fucking zero, and I didn’t have time for his shit. “You can sit your ass right here,” I snarled. Turning, I stormed out of the clubhouse, the door banging against the wall with the force I slung it open with. Jax quickly followed me out, his phone to his ear. Judging by his conversation, he was more than likely telling Blakely, his old lady, what was going on.
“I need to make another phone call,” he told me as we jumped into my truck, both of us slamming the doors at the same time. “I’m calling in a favor.” He looked at me. “It might cost us something, but Rico knows what he’s doing.”
I shook my head as I peeled off the lot, hitting the highway in the direction Jax pointed, gunning my engine. “Do whatever. No cost is too high to find Ace.”