Page 17 of The Devil's Weakness

Ellie: Okay. Is everything alright?

Ellie: Sasha, if you need anything, please don’t hesitate to ask.

Ellie: Okay, now you’re worrying me. Why won’t you message me back???

Ellie: I just got off the phone with Steve. He said that you went to Delaware for diner business??? What’s going on, Sasha? This isn’t like you.

Who thefuckis Steve? A boyfriend? In the past two years, I’ve never seen her with another guy.

Violence that I haven’t felt in quite some time ripples through me at the thought of her being in a relationship. I need to find out who this Steve is and see if he’s lying about her going to Delaware. We network with Clubs all over the country, so if he’snotlying, finding her won’t be an issue. With Stone putting her description out, someone will recognize her pretty damn quick and let us know where she is. When they do, I’ll personally retrieve her and drag her ass back here.

A quick search in the last drawer shows there is nothing else of value to me in the dresser, so I close it and move on. Moving to Sasha’s bed, I pick up the mattress and search for anything hidden between it and the box spring. Nothing is there, so I lower it back down, catching her scent in the breeze.

Unable to stop myself, I take her pillow and hold it up to my nose. Her natural scent relaxes me and takes a bit of the edge off. My eyes close as I inhale smells that remind me of the beach, the sand, and the sun. It brings me back to the night behind the diner instantly. The moment I grabbed her and whipped her around, her scent engulfed me, nearly causing me to forget what I was so pissed off about in the first place.

I give my head a slight shake to clear it and squeeze my eyelids shut. Gripping the pillow tight in both hands, I pull hard on the fabric, ripping it in half out of anger. I watch as the air around me fills up with feathers. I shouldn’t feel relaxed right now. Being in Sasha’s room, surrounded by her things, shouldn’t minimize this situation’s severity.

“Everything alright in here?” Cap checks in on me.

Fuck. I forgot he was here.

“Yeah. I’m just angry that she’s not here. I’m ready to confront her and make her pay for what she did to Iron.”

It’s not a complete lie.

Cap walks to me and claps a hand on my shoulder.

“I know, man. We all are.”

Chapter Five

If there’s onlyone positive thing I can say about this motel, it’s that the curtains do a bang-up job keeping the sun out. When I roll over and look at the clock, I’m stunned to see that it’s nearly eleven in the morning. I can’t remember the last time I slept this late.?

Yesterday’s commotion really took a lot out of me. Pulling the covers back, I get out of bed and grab my toothbrush and toothpaste from my bag. Then I drag my feet to the bathroom, rubbing the sleep from my eyes as I go.?

While brushing my teeth, I curse myself for not thinking of bringing shampoo and conditioner along. A soap-less shower will have to do because there’s no way I’m leaving without rinsing the grime from this motel room off of me.?

I turn on the water and let it heat while I put my toothbrush and toothpaste back. After I get undressed, I take the empty bag out of the trashcan and put my dirty clothes in it. Then, I lay out my clean clothes on the bed and walk back to the bathroom.?

The spray of water isn’t as hot as I would like it to be, but I get in any way. The quicker I can get out of this place, the better. Once I get to where I’m going, I’ll give Steve and Ellie a call and inconspicuously try to get some information out of them.

I scrub my skin and run my fingers through my hair, trying to get as clean as possible. When I feel as though I’ve scrubbed my skin raw, I turn off the water and step out of the bathtub, wrapping the thin, rough towel around my body.

I walk into the bedroom and fish around inside of my backpack for my hairbrush. It’s going to be awful trying to get my knots out without any conditioner. Maybe the gas station down the road has travel-sized toiletries. If not, I can pop into a store along the way to my next stop.

Wherever that may be.

“Where is it?” I question the empty room.

Tucking the corner of the towel into itself around my chest so I can use both hands, I lift my backpack off of the bed and pour out the contents onto the bedspread. Moving my things around, I search for my hairbrush, which is nowhere to be found.

It probably fell from my bag when I took my wallet out last night. I grab my clothes from the pile on the bed and quickly dress. Running my fingers through my hair the best that I can, I unlock the motel room door and squint at the bright sun beyond it.

Blinking some of the sun away, I take one step out of the door before being struck with the realization that my car isn’t where I parked it last night.

“What thefuck!?”

Where’s my car?

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