Page 62 of The Right Woman

“Piper’s gone. What exactly did you say on the phone?”

He snorts awake and there’s a change in his voice. “Uh, she knew you weren’t with me. I’m sorry, you know I’m a shit liar.”

“Fuck.”

“She didn’t seem upset. In fact, she laughed when I confessed. It was more like she knew where you were already. I thought you were meeting her somewhere, and this was part of a game.”

Part of a game…

Yeah, I think it is someone’s game, but whose? I’m not quite sure.

“I think I need you. This could be bad.”

“Of course. Want me to come over?”

“No, I’ll pick you up.”

I throw on a baseball cap backward and grab a hoodie to go over it, too. Then I make sure I’ve got my gun tucked in my waistband before heading to the truck and darting over to Rhodes’s house. He’s waiting in the driveway for me when I pull up.

Out of breath, he hops in and checks behind us. “Where are we going? Piper’s apartment?”

“No, her keys were still on the kitchen counter when I got home. Just her phone and wallet were gone. And not in her regular crochet bag thing she wears every day, which means she was dressed up for somewhere.” Swallowing, I turn onto Eastland Boulevard and head toward the fraternity houses on Northview’s campus.

“Okay, so then where would she be? You think she’s with one of these frat guys?”

“No. But I think I know one who may know exactly where she is.”

When we get to theBetahouse, I pull up right in front of the fancy door and jump out. Rhodes puffs up his chest and follows. We probably look like we’re about to murder a house filled with scrawny college boys, and that’s precisely what I’ll do if I can’t find Piper.

Rapping a fist against the door repeatedly, I finally am greeted by a middle-aged woman in a bathrobe. “Yes? Are you lost?”

“I need to see Sean Harrison now. He’s in big trouble with security.”

“Oh! Wait right here.” She shuts the door, but I slam my foot in it before she can and push inside.

“No. You’ll show me his room.”

“Help!” she yells, but I hurry up to the second floor of the house, scanning the names on the doors.

Several guys pop their heads out, then slam the doors closed, but a few gawk at us walking by. “Sean Harrison. Where is he?” I ask one who I’d seen at the club on New Year’s Eve.

“What do you want with Sean, assholes?” He crosses his arms and darts a glance over to Rhodes, then back to me.

“I want to know where my girlfriend is.”

The guy smirks like I’m some schmuck who lost his girlfriend to pencil-neck Sean Harrison. “Well, she’s not here.”

In one second, I grab the guy by the neck and shove him against the wall outside his room. “Listen, you piece of shit. She’s in trouble. And I think your friend knows where she is. You can either tell me where his room is, or I’ll just break your neck and ask the next guy in line. What will it be?”

“He’s at the end of the hall. Two-thirty.” His voice is strangled under my grip, and I release him. He slumps to the ground, gasping for air.

“Thanks.”

Rhodes gives me a solid head nod, like he’s got our six, then we march to the appointed room. When I turn the knob and push the door, it’s blocked by something. So I stand back and shove it in with my boot. The flimsy fake wood snaps enough so I can hoist it open.

Sean stands against the far wall with a large wooden paddle in his hand. “What the fuck do you want?”

“Where’s Piper Hendricks?”

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