Page 25 of Clover

“Yeah, well, my nerves are a little frayed at the moment.” He takes another long hit off the joint before passing it to me. I take it and suck in a long drag. Maybe the weed can help steady my shaking hands.

“Anything from Blake and Raven yet?”

Shaking my head, I slowly let out the smoke before answering. “No, nothing yet.”

“As soon as they do, we’re going to get her back and kill that fucker.” Beau takes back the joint and holds it between his fingers gingerly. He’s not looking at me as he speaks. His mind is far away from us, sitting here in my backyard.

“I’m not going to kill him. I’m going to make him suffer in ways he doesn’t even know exist until he’s begging me for death.” The feral beast lurking in my heart stirs and snarls, wanting to be let out of its cage.

“I’ll help.” Is all he says.

“What do you think he’s doing to her?” I don’t really want to know the answer, but I can’t stop the question from coming out of my mouth.

“I try not to think about it. Just think about her safe when we find her.”

“It’s hard not to. I justfeelso much. She makes me feel and care. I never cared before. And now I can’t stop if I tried.” I take the joint back from Beau, unable to process everything. I need to cool down. I take another drag off the shrinking joint. If we keep sucking on it as hard as we are, it’ll be gone in two more drags.

“You love her, don’t you?”

“Yes. I love her, and I have no fucking idea how to handle it. What the fuck do I do now, Beau?” Rubbing my hands over my face and then through my hair, I don’t even try to deny it anymore. Beau’s known from the beginning Clover was special. I’m also pretty sure he knew from the moment we met that she was meant to be mine.

“First, we find her. Then you tell her you love her. Then you love her and are happy.”

“What if she doesn’t love me?” the whispered words almost choke me as I speak. I’ve never been afraid of anything, but her not loving me is terrifying.

“Trust me, she loves you. Just tell her, and you’ll see.”

“What if, after allthis,she wants nothing to do with us? Withme?”

“Clover is tougher than she looks. I don’t think even Braxton Shaw can scare her.”

He has a point. She’s less than half my size, and even the very first time meeting me, she wasn’t afraid of my intimidating size or scowl. She knew nothing about me and what I was capable of, and yet she stood her ground. Not a single hint of fear or apprehension. One edge of my lip quirks slightly. If she is anything like she was when first meeting me with Braxton, she’ll be just fine. For a while. Eventually, Braxton will overpower her with sheer size. My growing smirk dies before it reaches both edges of my mouth and turns into a scowl. That self-righteous asshole better hope I find him before that happens.

A buzz in my pocket pulls me from my thoughts. My phone is ringing. There’s only one person it could be. And I swear to fuck if it’s a telemarketer, I’m going to find them in whatever country they’re in and strangle them with their phone cord.

Reading the caller ID Raven’s name flashes on the screen. I instantly answer and put it on speaker for Beau to hear.

“Did you get the info?”

“Yes. We have the floor plans for his penthouse and the condo below. We also think we know where the entry door is.” Raven tells me from the speaker on my phone.

“And what about hacking into the security door?”

Blake chuckles on the other end. “Oh, he’s serious? Yeah, as soon as I found a way into the system, I can hack the code easily. It just took a few skillful codes.”

“And a call to his uncle,” Raven mumbles just loud enough so we can hear through the line. Blake clears his throat and continues.

“And I was able to breach their system. Just let me know when you’re at the door, and I’ll pop it open for you.”

I may have to put this kid on my payroll. Still not sure if I like him enough to let him date my little sister, but he’s good enough with computers to warrant being on my speed dial.

“Thanks, Blake. Send me everything you have. I’ll let you know when it’s time.” Hanging up, I turn to Beau, and without a word, we stand and head inside. Time to get my girl back.

Chapter 14

Clover

Something in me snapped while I was curled in the fetal position on the white tile of the shower, washing off the blood and cum. The tears had stopped flowing, and the heat in my body wasn’t coming from the hot water spraying down on me. No. It was coming from my burning rage.

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