Page 58 of Cassie
Someone has her
Cassie
The phone she’d laid on her nightstand rang, and she lifted her head from the pillow and eyed it suspiciously. This wasn’t the first time Hoss’ phone had rung since she’d found it buried in her couch days ago, but this was the only early morning call.
She leaned over and picked it up, studying the screen. It announced Faynez as the caller, and her stomach dipped. Without hesitation, Cassie quickly accepted the call. “Hello?”
Silence, then a man’s gruff voice asked, “Who the fuck is this?”
“Whom were you calling?” Her polite genes kicked in and Cassie rolled her eyes at what the man must think.
“Callin’ Hoss. He there? You his woman?” Such a charged question and Cassie’s stomach dipped alarmingly at the idea of not being able to confidently answer it. Before she could pull herself together to respond, the man continued. “Give him a message for me. Tell him we got his girl, and if he’s a good boy, he might get her back in one piece. I’ll call again in thirty minutes, and he better have the right answers for my boss.”
“What?” Cassie’s voice was shrill, echoing off the walls of her bedroom, folding back on top of her in a smothering wave. “You’ve got Faith? You’vegother? What does that mean?”
“Thirty minutes, bitch. He better be there.”
“He’s not here!” Her shouted response sounded flat, distant to her own ears. The call had already disconnected. Frantically, she pressed the button to reconnect with the caller, but it clicked once, and the call went directly to voice mail. She tried again and screamed when a girl’s sweetly lilting voice sounded through the phone’s speakers. “Not here right now, leave me a message.”
Cassie rolled out of bed, grabbed her phone and called Hoss. Her muscles went rigid and she screamed when his phone rang, rattling on the nightstand while the caller ID showed her listed as My Cassie. “Jesus fucking shit. Stupid.” She tried Tugboat and got voice mail. Deke was the same, and that was the extent of her contacts for Hoss’ friends in the Rebels. The business phone for his agent sent her to voice mail too, and she looked at the clock on her phone, realizing it was barely 5:00 a.m., much earlier than she’d thought when first awoken.
“Someone’s always at the clubhouse.” The shop would be closed, but the club’s command center was a large house they’d converted to communal housing and use, and there were always men hanging around there. Even if they were all asleep, at least there she’d be able to pound on a door until someone woke up, not like the phones, where technology shifted her around until she couldn’t reach anyone she needed to. She glanced at the clock again and stifled another scream as she realized another three minutes had rolled past. “Thirty minutes.”
She yanked jeans up her legs, not caring for the burning scrapes left behind in her haste. Boots in hand, she raced down the stairs and slid to a stop in the kitchen, threw herself to the floor, forced her bare feet into her boots, jerking at the zippers and ignored the pinch as metal teeth raked her skin. Phones shoved deep into her pockets, she was up again, grabbed her keys, and barreled through the back door, slamming the door open wide on her way into the garage. She had the bike started before the overhead finished seating in place, and roared out of the enclosure, not bothering to close or lock anything behind her.
Once on the streets, she angled her way through intersections, cutting seconds from her trip every chance she had. Minutes later, she rolled up in front of the clubhouse, sliding to a stop in front of the closed gate. Without a word or signal, it groaned and then eased open at an agonizing pace. Once there was enough room to scrape through, she cracked her throttle, roaring into the parking lot. As soon as she had the kickstand down and bike killed, she jumped off, running to the door. Fist raised, she pounded hard against the wood, calling out for Hoss.
She lurched forwards, falling inside off balance when the door opened, and a man’s hand caught at her arm, shoving her roughly back outside. “The fuck you want, bitch?”
It was not a face she knew, so she looked beyond him at the dark hallway. “Hoss!” Cassie shouted, arms rigid at her sides, his phone locked in the grip of one hand. “Hoss, I need you.”
“Fuck, bitch, you don’t need anything here.” The man put a hand on her belly and shoved her back. He wasn’t rough, but his touch was firm as he forced her to put three steps between her and the doorway. He pulled it shut behind him and leaned against the jam, arms folded across his chest. “Get.”
“Hoss. I had a call and Hoss needs to know about it.” Shaking, she fought against the terror bubbling up through her throat. This stranger had touched her, twice, and she felt the heat from those connections like a sunburn, fear bleeding into her from that chance contact. Cassie tried to lift her gaze from his chest, losing the battle as her panic swelled through her like a flood.God, no. Please. Not now. “Hoss. He needs…” She swallowed and held up the phone. “A man called.”
“Pretty as you are, I bet you get a lotta that. Don’t mean shit, woman.” He bent forwards at the waist and told her firmly. “Now get. Go on.” Unfolding his arms, he made a shooing motion with his hands. “Get outta here.”
“Hoss needs to know.” She drew the tattered edges of her courage around her like a cloak, throat clicking as she tried to swallow. Her tongue felt two sizes too large for her mouth, dry as a desert, and Cassie felt her chin tremble. “The man said something important.”
“Don’t do that. Don’t cry. Just go, honey. If Hoss wants you, he’ll call.”
She held the phone up and felt the first tears slide down her cheeks. “He can’t.” She glanced at the clock on the screen and realized twenty minutes had passed since the call. “He’s going to call in ten minutes.”
“You aren’t making any sense.” The man’s voice had softened from his first angry reaction, and Cassie felt his pity like a blow. “Hoss’ll call if he wants you.” He shook his head. “Go on, get off Rebel property. Go home. Go home and wait. He wants you, he’ll let you know. You don’t belong here.”
She whirled and ran to her bike. In a moment, she was headed out of the parking lot and back onto the streets.You don’t belong here. She might not know where Hoss lived, but Tug had shown her his house more than once on their rides, so she aimed her front wheel in that direction. She wouldn’t stop just because some stranger passed judgment on her based on nothing more than a two-minute encounter.Oh yes, I do.
***
Hoss
Arms over his head, he stretched until his shoulders and back popped, the cracking of tendon and muscle sounding like gravel bouncing off a tin roof. Hoss yawned and rolled to one side, peeling one eyeball open to check the time.Six in the morning after a late-evening blowout with the club is way too early to be up and cogitating. But today was the day he would get Cassie back, earning his way back into the core of her.Gonna make it so she’s never alone again.
“House, start the coffee.” He waited for the robotic verbal response and sprawled back across the mattress.
Long ago, Myron had hooked up a smart network in the home of any member who wanted it, and Hoss had been one of the first to jump on board. Using the system now was second nature to him and his kids, even if both Sammy and Faith had tried to get up to some hijinks through the years. He’d been forced to stifle his laughter one night as he listened to Sammy and some of his teammates as they’d tried to teach the system dirty limericks.
He reached over his head again, pushing his muscles to their limit. The ride back from Texas had been fast and brutal on old bones, but everyone in the column had their own reasons to push through fatigue and pain. Back in Fort Wayne, Hoss had intended to just do a stop and go at his house, but he’d completely forgotten about the picnic. When he’d started back out the door with the sketch in hand, Faith’s face had fallen in disappointment, and he didn’t have it in him to leave his little girl hanging. Not after she’d worked so hard to get everything set-up and ready, and the club had already been scheduled to descend on their home within only a couple of hours.
