Page 45 of Hero: Claimed

“Haven’t seen him for probably a half hour.” Half hour? That was about the time I ended the talk with him about the drugs. I run back to his room. His bed’s empty. I run outside to the blacktop and his truck is gone.

Blue reaches my back. “He’s gone,” I say, really beginning to panic, but the pissed kind of panic not the scared kind. “He’s gone and Brin’s gone. I never thought he’d—”

“Hey now,” Blue says, cutting in. “Why would Blaze take off with Brin? Don’t be irrational now.”

“I’m not fucking irrational. I confronted him about drugs tonight. Brin told me she caught him using. The hard stuff. And I confronted him, wanting to get him help.”

“What?” Blue asks and he looks like I socked him in the gut. “Drugs?”

“Yeah, man, I didn’t notice it, either. But Brin did and now they’re both gone.Fuck!This is my fault. What if he hurts her for ratting him out?”

Instead of answering, he plucks the phone from my hand and runs to my truck, waiting for me inside the cab on the passenger side. I slide in, start the engine, and back out. Griff opens the gate for us and I speed down the mountain, making the trip to town in half the normal time it takes. But once we reach town, we turn onto Tobacco Road to merge onto the highway going north.

“Hit Blaze’s number,” I order Blue and Blue does it right away, handing it over. I hear it ringing. One the third ring, he answers.

“Hero, s’up, brother?” he asks.

“Where are you?” I ask.

“Why?”

“Blaze, you got Brin with you?”

He sounds off—tweaked. Guilty, when he says, “Naw, brother. I ain’t seen her in hours.”

I know he’s lying. “She’s missing. I need you.”

“Fuck, sorry. I decided to head to Nashville for a few days. Chaos okayed the vacation time.” While he’s telling me his story, I tap the find my friend app again and tap on his name. It pings on the same spot Brinley’s avatar pings.

“Sure,” I say into the line, showing Blue the screen of my phone. “I get it. Have fun in Nashville.”

“You need me to come home?”

“I’ll call if I need you,” I say, then hang up.

“Nashville?” asks Blue.

“He told me he cleared a couple of vacation days with Chaos and he’s heading south toward Nashville.”

“Then he took the wrong highway because his avatar is right next to Brin’s.”

In a rare moment of emotion, I glance at my friend and ask, “What if he hurts her? What am I supposed to do? I promised her she’d be safe with me—fucking promised.”

“He’s not thinking clearly, but we’re getting to her. She’s not going to be hurt by his hands and if he tries, I’ll kill him myself. We do not hurt women. We especially don’t hurt an old lady. So when that old lady belongs to one of your best friends, there’s no coming back from that. But we don’t have to worry because we’re getting to her in time.”

I have to believe that. We will. We’re getting to her.

Both Blue and I keep silent as I speed toward the pings of Brin’s phone, though. With each passing mile, the closer we get to one ping, the next shows up on the screen, never getting me closer to her.

I press down harder on the accelerator.

19.

Brinley

When my eyes begin to open, I almost don’t know they’re open from the unending blackness surrounding us. It’s not until I see the lights of the dash and the interior of the Blazer that I know I’m actually awake.

I blink several times, pressing my hand to my face.Ugh!My head aches something fierce. I think he might have broken my nose. Wiping above my lip, a rust-colored crust rubs off on my finger and blood stains my robe.

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