Page 44 of Hero: Claimed

“Brin in there?” I ask, holding back my intimidation.

He squints at me. “The fuck?”

“Is Brin in there with you? She’s not at home. We had an argument earlier. I went home to make it right and she’s not there.”

“Sorry, brother, ain’t seen her since she railed yer ass at the bar.”

“Okay, I’m sorry to bother you.”

“Gimme a second,” Duke calls out to me as I take off running next door.

“No time,” I yell back. And I do the pounding on Scotch’s door next. He’s even less happy to see me. It looks like I interrupted some middle-of-the-night nookie.

“Giving ya a second to convince me not to kill ya,” he grits out.

“Sorry, man, but is Brinley here? I can’t find her.”

His whole body goes alert. “No. Haven’t seen her for hours.”

“Shit. I got a bad feeling, man,” I admit. “Her coat and shoes are still in the house.”

“Fuck,” Scotch expresses exactly what I’m feeling right now.

“Yeah, so I’m checking in with Hannah. Sorry to bug you.” And I take off running again, not bothering to listen to his parting words. The party is still going, wild as ever, and I spy Hannah playing pool with Blood.

“Han—you seen Brin?” The panic rises in my voice. I hate it, but my woman is missing. I made her vulnerable again and now she’s missing.

“Not since she left,” Hannah answers. “Did you check at home?”

“First place I checked. The bed was slept in, but her shoes and jacket are still there. So is her car. Where the fuck would she go without shoes and a jacket?”

“The hell you talking about, brother?” Blood asks.

“Brin’s missing.”

“Does she have her phone? Have you tried to call her?” asks Hannah.

Not yet. I don’t remember seeing her purse or phone, but then again, I wasn’t really looking for it, either. I pull the phone from my pocket and press her contact. It rings. One… two… three times and then the voicemail picks up:Clearly, you caught me at a busy time. Leave a message and I’ll get back to you. Have a great day.

I don’t normally leave messages, but I do this time. “Brin… bird, baby. I’m sorry I was an ass. Call me back. Let me know you’re okay. I need to see you… I need to make it right.”

Too uptight to give her the chance to listen to the stupid message, I call four more times, hoping to annoy her enough to answer, which she never does. Then I remember I put that find my friend app on her phone. I click on the icon and click on Brin’s name. It pings on a hit, but it can’t be right. The ping puts her going north. The biggest city closest to her is Ashland, though the ping puts her still south of the city.

“Anything?” Blood asks.

“It’s putting her north of here, heading toward Ashland. Can you rally the brothers?” I ask Blood. “My gut tells me this is bad.”

“On it,” he says at the same time Hannah gasps out a cry. Blood can comfort her. I don’t have time.

“Blue?” I yell.

“Over here,” he yells back and I scan the room until I see him sitting with a couple of pieces on the gross, old sofa.

“Need you, brother,” I call back and at my words, he shoves up from the women, slamming his drink down on the coffee table, and jogs over to me.

“What’s up?”

“Brin’s gone and I got a bad feeling. Seen Blaze? I need you guys with me.”

---