by Romi Hart
He wasn’t a man whore, and he held his ground. Which meant she was special in some way. It was worth a shot.
Packed and ready, Rory picked up the suite phone and dialed the concierge.
“Hello, Miss, how can I help you?”
“I need an early checkout, and I need to collect my phone as quickly as possible to call an Uber and to see if I can get my flight exchanged for an earlier one.” She wasn’t going to waste any time.
“I can put you on the shuttle, Miss. And I will have your phone ready for pickup as soon as you are downstairs.”
“Thank you so much,” she smiled with relief. “I’ll be down in twenty minutes.”
“Of course. Anything you need, Miss,” he said, and she could hear him typing and whispering instructions to someone else. “You are taken care of. Let me call the airline for you, and you can check back with me before you leave.”
“Thank you,” she told him, shocked that everything would be taken care of for her. She hung up and grabbed her carry-on, hauling it out the door and tucking the key card safe in her pocket. With one last look to make sure she didn’t leave anything, she let the door shut behind her and shuffled down the hall to her last stop.
She hated to wake Valerie up so early, especially just to bail on her, but this wasn’t the kind of thing to announce via text from the airport. Her friends deserved better.
It took a moment for Valerie to come to the door after she knocked, and Rory couldn’t help but laugh at her friend’s disheveled appearance. Through the door she caught sight of one of the men from the pool and winked at Valerie. “Sorry to bother you,” she began quietly, trying not to wake the man, “but I’m going to cut out early, and I wanted to thank you for doing all of this for me. It means the world, but I have some business to take care of back home.”
“Would that business happen to be tall, dark, and handsome?” Valerie teased.
Rory beamed and shrugged. “Could be.”
“I knew you would work it out. There’s no reason not to go for it. The worst that can happen is the same outcome as if you don’t say anything. And if he doesn’t want to go there, you can come back next weekend so I can introduce you to some of the men here,” she winked.
Rory threw her arms around her friend in a tight embrace. “Wish me luck.” As she walked away, Valerie shut the door, probably going back to the bed and that hottie. Shaking her head with a smile she couldn’t put away, Rory took the elevator down and went straight to the concierge desk.
He smiled at her and nodded. “You’ll have to be quick as the flight leaves in an hour, but the shuttle is waiting, and your ticket will be waiting at the gate. With only a carry-on, I don’t see there being an issue.”
“Thank you so much!” Grateful, she slipping him the key card and a hefty tip. It was hard to make those kinds of things happen, especially without a lot of added expense, so he obviously had personal connections with the airline or a way with people that got things done.
She ran outside and climbed in the shuttle, loving the beauty of Miami but ready to say goodbye to the town, as well as its humidity. Give her the dry Texas heat and the man on the motorcycle.
The airport was only a few minutes away, and she found herself rushing, no time to even turn on her phone and look at it before she was boarded and instructed to turn off all electrical devices.
There was no point in even bothering to turn it on until she got home, and she buckled in and waited for the flight to take off. She would have to get in contact with Eli after she landed. She had hoped to see him right away, had vibrant manifestations of him picking her up at the airport, but what could a few more hours hurt?
The flight was so smooth, she barely felt takeoff and landing as she slept through most of it, still tired form her early rise. She would take a bus form the airport to her hometown since there were no direct flights, and rescheduling the connection would be ridiculously expensive. But she was antsy to get back to Eli, hoping he hadn’t dismissed her while she was gone.
Thinking of him, she settled on the bus and pulled her phone out, finally able to turn it on. She half expected nothing popping up, no one missing her except maybe Leigh. It wasn’t that she didn’t feel like anyone cared. It was simply that she’d only been gone a couple of days, and lately, it seemed like she only talked to Leigh a couple of times a week, and everyone else even less. And she certainly didn’t expect to hear from Eli. He had business, and he hadn’t called or texted without prompting yet.
But as the device caught up with the network, she was bombarded with messages, voicemails and texts, almost all of them from Eli. She began to look through them and gasped, drawing the attention of those around her on the bus. He had apparently been trying to reach her all weekend and was worried that something had happened to her.
Guilt consumed her, and panic and desperation weighed heavily on her. She thought back to when Leigh was kidnapped. He was probably frantic, thinking she’d been taken or something. Now, she didn’t just have a confession to make, but also an apology.
14
Saturday morning, Eli started to worry. He hadn’t slept all night. Not only had he been thinking about how he might have screwed things up with Rory and how the hell he was going to try to fix it. Now, his mind was running a mile a minute. She still hadn’t gotten back to him, not a hello, not a brush off, not even so much as a fuck you. It wasn’t like her, and he didn’t like the timing. He had lost his ride or die to this life, and he hated the reminder. But he hadn’t worried about anyone like he did now since she was gone. It was why he had sworn off women. What if Rory ended up a casualty of his lifestyle?
There had been so many threats and kidnappings lately, and obviously, between the tipoff that led to the shootout and the fact that they’d attacked in the first place, put the Devil’s Flames right in the middle of the Ravens’ bullseye. All they had done was piss Gomez off. And knowing what they did about the Vipers now, Eli didn’t trust anyone, not even their allies. He knew someone was leaking information, and he also heard rumors of sex trafficking and sales around the border, which put their women in danger.
What if this was the payback for the attack? What if Rory had been taken and no word had gotten to him yet?
Maybe they didn’t want to negotiate and would just drop her dead body on the doorstep of the clubhouse as a message never to fuck with them again.
Eli’s heart raced at the thought, and he started to sweat, his anxiety getting the best of him. It was a little early, but he had to visit Corey to see if there was any new intel on the Vipers, the Ravens, or the next move their allies wanted to make. The Diamond Kings had eyes and ears inside and might be able to put in a call for an update. He couldn’t bear the thought of having taken Rory for granted and pushed her away, then losing her before he even got to take a chance on her.
He went straight to Corey’s office, practically banging down the door. He needed to calm down, but it was impossible.
“You look like shit,” Corey greeted, not looking so hot himself. He obviously hadn’t gotten a wink of sleep, either, with huge dark circles under his eyes. “What’s going on?” He motioned for Eli to sit down, yawning as he kicked back in his own chair, looking stiff.
But Eli paced back and forth impatiently. “Have you heard anything about the Ravens or the Vipers making a move? Or can we get the Kings or the Reapers to make a call? I have a bad feeling something is going down, something bigger than last night.”
“That would be pretty heavy, Eli. Last night was almost catastrophic. What are you thinking?” Corey asked, not sounding convinced but still worried. Anyone would be after such an epic fucking fail. But with Corey’s assessment, Eli saw how crazed this sounded. Still, he would rather look like a fool than have Rory’s blood on his hands.
“Rory’s missing,” he blurted out.
Corey straightened, his attention focused now. “What do you mean, she’s missing?”
“She usually contacts me pretty freq
uently, and she never ignores a message from me. She’s completely disappeared. She isn’t answering any messages. I’ve bene sending texts and leaving voicemails, and now when I call, her phone is off. I wouldn’t think anything of it if the raid hadn’t gone sour, or if we hadn’t had to rescue two other women in the last couple of months. They’ll want to punish us, and her schedule is predictable. She lives alone, so she’s an easy target.”
“We’re on top of the situation, Eli, and I haven’t heard anything. It’s only been a few hours, and we did enough damage that the Ravens are still licking their wounds and cleaning up their bodies. But, I’ll keep an extra eye on it and get in contact with the inside man if necessary. Hang tight. Maybe she forgot to charge her phone, or maybe she just doesn’t want to talk to you and blocked your number,” Corey added, quirking a brow at him.
Eli nodded, wanting to believe it, but he couldn’t knock the sense of doom building in his gut that something was wrong. So, he left the office unsatisfied and went to the bar, grabbing some liquid courage before he decided to call Leigh. That would mean Zeke flipping him shit if this all turned out to be nothing, but that was the least of his concerns right now.
He dialed Zeke’s number, trying not to imagine him curled in bed with Leigh, and hoping they didn’t get too angry for waking them up. But maybe Leigh would know where Rory was and be able to ease his concern. Maybe it was nothing, and she was just avoiding him, which he couldn’t blame her for after all he had put her through.
“Isn’t it a little early after last night’s bust?” Zeke said gruffly into the receiver by way of greeting.
“Yeah, man, it probably is, but I can’t get a hold of Rory. She’s not texting me back, and now her phone is off when I call. I wouldn’t be so worried except for what happened to Leigh. I just thought maybe she’s heard from Rory and can tell me she’s alright.”
“Yeah, bro, hold on.” Eli heard shifting, scratching, shuffling, and muted voices as Zeke woke Leigh and passed on the message. More scratching followed.
“How long has it been since you first tried to contact her?” Leigh’s voice came through the receive, tired but tense and worried.
“Last night. But I haven’t spoken to her in a few days.”
“Neither have I, but I have been spending a lot of time with Zeke I don’t see her as much as I used to.” She was silent for a moment. “I don’t have any messages from her. That’s odd.”
She wasn’t helping at all. If anything, she was feeding into his neurotic concern. “Come on, Leigh. I mean, you don’t think they took her, do you? The way they took you?”
“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” she told him but didn’t deny the possibility. “You worry about club business. There’s a lot going on with you guys, and you need to be focused. I’ll get up and get dressed, and I’ll go to her apartment. I have a key, so if she doesn’t answer, I’ll go in and look for anything out of the ordinary. I’ll let you know what I find, okay?”
Eli was grateful, but he didn’t like that Rory’s best friend didn’t know any more than he did. How was he supposed to sit here and wait, doing nothing?
He slammed his fist on the counter, Rocky eyeing him carefully from behind the bar. He was never this volatile and needed to go, get some fresh air. He’d probably get a verbal lashing for riding alone after last night, but he didn’t care. He just needed to get on the bike and go. To where, he didn’t know. There was no destination in mind. But when he found himself on the highway to El Paso, he knew where he was headed. He was going to make sure the Vipers didn’t have his girl.
* * *
“What the fuck were you thinking, Eli!” He didn’t think he had ever heard Zeke this pissed at him before, but he supposed he deserved it. He had just walked right into enemy territory and practically declared war by accusing the Vipers of kidnapping an innocent woman. Eli couldn’t explain what came over him. It was driving him nuts that he couldn’t reach Rory, and now, Leigh couldn’t find her, either.
But he had screwed up so bad he might not make it home to see her if anyone did find her. It was a miracle the Vipers had allowed him to talk to Zeke. They had him locked in the basement of their clubhouse like a criminal awaiting trial in a third world country, the verdict to be based on speaking to the Devil’s Flames.
“I didn’t know what else to do. I was sure they had her, Zeke, and you said yourself she wasn’t at home. Leigh doesn’t even know where to find her.”
“I get that, bro, I do. I was worried sick when they had Leigh, but I had confirmation, photos. You don’t, and you have to keep it together. Leigh is checking with people at the gym and at Rory’s office. Right now, you need to be on your best fucking behavior until Cory smooths this over so they send you home. He’s playing it off as a big misunderstanding, but don’t give them any reason to doubt that. We can’t afford another war, and we can’t lose the Vipers to the Ravens. Besides, you need your head still attached if you want to see Rory again.”
Eli hung up and waited impatiently, relieved when the Vipers VP finally let him go with a warning. He sped the whole way back, just wanting to be in a safe place. He was starting to feel the weight of having his life threatened more than once in the last 24 hours, and most of all, he wanted to be somewhere Rory could find him when she turned up.
But there was still nothing on Sunday night as he headed to the strip club, cleaned up and doing business again. The sales contract had been presented to the owner, but there were no signatures. The guy was probably holding out for more money he wouldn’t get.
Halfway through the night, he got a call from Zeke. Leigh had finally heard from one of the other women at the gym, who mentioned Rory had talked about a weekend trip out of town but didn’t know anything else. It sounded suspicious, and yet, the Corey still swore they had heard nothing about the Ravens making a move.
Monday afternoon, lying in bed, strung out and hazy from lack of sleep and loads of stress, Eli felt his phone buzz, and he pulled it out from under him, hoping it was finally news about Rory.
His heart skipped a beat as he read the messages, coming from Rory, having to close his eyes for a moment as his anxiety finally eased. She was alive, and she was alright.
I didn’t know you would worry. I went to a spa in Miami. I’m safe. I’m so sorry.
Eli read the message three times to reassure himself and texted her back,
Thank God! Are you headed home?
She replied quickly.
Yes, and we need to talk. In person.
He agreed. He wasn’t sure what she wanted to say, and he didn’t even know if he wanted to hear it, but he had to talk to her about how he felt. It was becoming abundantly clear that, no matter how much he tried to kid himself, he was all kinds of sprung for her. He didn’t know what he wanted to do about it, but he had to tell her. Thinking fast, he responded,
You know where to find me.
15
Aurora wriggled in the car seat, antsy and feeling almost smothered by her intense need to come clean with Eli about her feelings, about how hard and fast she had fallen for him.
She should have expected this to happen. How in the hell did she honestly think she could get involved with him, in the deep passionate trysts they shared, the tenderness that he exuded in private, the hard body and the vulnerability that seemed to rest deep under that facade. All of it added up to create the perfect storm with only one outcome. She’d been in denial, thinking she could remain aloof about it all.
The brief respite of her trip to Miami had brought her the clarification she needed, even if the peace she’d craved had been short lived. Now, her fingers tapped her steering wheel as she waited at the red light, her mind skipping ahead to actually seeing Eli and most certainly distracted. And, as the light switched green, she rolled through the intersection toward the Devil’s Flames clubhouse.
The tires crunched over loose gravel as she pulled into the parking lot, her heart beginning to beat wildly as she put the car in pa
rk and pulled the keys from the ignition. She closed her eyes for a moment, leaning forward to place her head against her steering wheel in a silent meditative prayer for strength and guidance in what she was about to do. Finally, she lifted her head, sucked in a breath, and reached for the door handle.
The metal hinges squeaked slightly, and her sneakers crunched over the ground as she held her head up and started toward the clubhouse door. “Okay, Rory, it’s now or never,” she told herself, as she opened the door and took in the space with a quick gaze over the interior. She strode to the bar and tapped on the counter, surprised to see Corey, the president himself, tending bar.
“Hey, Rory. Here to break another heart, or are you looking for a certain brother?” he asked.
Aurora smiled broadly, shaking her head. Corey usually seemed pretty serious, and his teasing was unexpected.
“As handsome as some of these guys are, I’m looking for Eli. Is he around?” she asked. His text had said she knew where to find him. She had no idea where he lived, so she had to assume the clubhouse was the right answer. So, Corey’s response wasn’t what she expected.
“No, he left a few hours ago. He’s working security tonight up at the strip club.”
Rory frowned and nodded, fishing for her phone in her pocket. Somehow, she’d missed an update from him, and she sighed, a little put out that she had gathered her courage and willpower, just to miss him again. “Damn, I feel like a jackass. Should I go down there?” she asked hesitantly.
Corey held up his hands in surrender. “I’m not the one to ask. Do what you feel is best.”
Rory sighed and turned to leave, glancing over the few patrons inside and nodding toward Guy before she exited. What was she going to do now? She could wait until he was done at the strip club. She didn’t want to overstep her boundaries. But then, this was all about those boundaries and how she didn’t want them anymore.
