Page 70 of Kneeling to Candy

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

BUTCH

As I speed upstairs, I formulate my apology to Candy, reciting it under my breath.

“Baby, I’m an idiot. I said things I knew were untrue to protect you when I should’ve talked with you privately about my disappointment.”

Hopefully, those two sentences will be enough to make her give me the time of day. I’ll apologize further if I get that lucky.

Once I’ve reached our suite, I fling the door open. “Sweetness, I’m sorry.”

I’m five feet into the room when I realize she’s not in here. “Candy?”

My feet carry me toward the bedroom area of the suite. She’s not here either.

I check the bathroom next. Empty.

My throat constricts as I check the last place she may hide—the walk-in closet. Eager to see her, I swing the door harder than necessary, hitting the inside wall of the closet. But she’s not inside.

Fuck. This isn’t looking good. I pull out my phone. As a safety precaution, club members’ cells are tracked by our tech department—MC women, too. Not that I would do it without Candy’s permission first.

It’s tempting, but I’m already in the dog house. Do I need another reason to anger her further?

Instead, I ring her.

A buzz sounds from across the room. Following the noise, I come to a stop at the nightstand. Candy’s cell vibrates across the wood top.

Dammit. She must have left it here when she had her counseling session with Brandon. Tracking her location isn’t an option, even if I was desperate.

She can’t be far. There are only so many places she can be in the compound. Leaving the grounds isn’t an option without tech being alerted of the gates moving. We don’t let the women leave the property without a crew member or two accompanying them for protection. When you’re a member of an MC, you can never be overprotective of your woman.

Publicly claimed or not, the crew knows she’s mine to watch over—I go where she goes. One of the brothers would’ve notified me had she tried to leave. Her leaving unnoticed is highly unlikely, not with how tight security is in headquarters.

Pausing, I contemplate where my woman has tucked herself away. Perhaps she went to her old hiding place?

I hurry out of the suite and take the back staircase to the main level, where the storage closet is located.

“Candy?” I ask, opening the door into the dark storage area.

No Candy.

My pulse quickens, worried about where my woman may have gone. And what’s more alarming is, Candy is hiding from me.

Cursing myself for being an ill-tempered jerk, I sweep the main level, coming up empty. The basement level proves fruitless as well.

Heading back upstairs, I’m pounding on the suite door of Candy’s old room.

Red opens the door, her brown eyes blown wide with shock. “What the heck, Butch?”

“Is Candy in there?” I husk, lifting my chin at the room behind her.

Red’s coppery brows pull together. “No. I thought she stayed with you last night?”

Sonofabitch.

“She did, but she’s MIA at the moment. Any idea where she may have gone?”

She shrugs her slender shoulders, shaking her head. “No clue. Candy goes where she wants.”

---