“Where the hell is she?” I pulled my phone and hit redial. This time she answered on the third ring. “Where are you?” I could hear the sounds of a busy street in the background.
“On my way home, why? Hold on…” She took the phone away from her ear, putting me on hold. Just then Tony sat up in his seat, his eyes focused to the left.
“Oh shit!” His exclamation made me look in the same direction and I felt all the blood drain from my head. Some kid had his hands on her, around her shoulders to be exact.
I didn’t think, just acted. I slammed out of the car with Tony calling after me. I’d dropped my phone on the car seat and watched now as she put hers back to her ear.
I wasn’t fast enough and the kid walked away before I reached them. “Hey!” She jumped at my approach, her mouth falling open in surprise when I crowded her against the wall of the building behind her.
Calm down Max, let her explain. My little pep talk didn’t work worth shit. I’m going to wring her
fucking neck. Here I am, stressing over her ass and she had some kid sniffing around her and doing more than that if the way he had his hands on her was anything to go by.
“Who is he?” I grabbed her by the front of her sweater and lifted her off her feet. Never put my hands on a female in my life, but swear to fuck I wanted to shake the fuck out of her.
She had the nerve to look me dead in my eyes defiantly. Damn girl has no fear. I need this shit.
“I don’t see how that’s any of your business.” She tilted her damn chin at me, seemingly unaware of the danger she was in.
“Oh you wanna waltz? Wrong fucking guy.” Pull back Max, this is wrong. I heard my inner warning but somehow couldn’t make myself comply.
I heard running feet coming up behind me, but didn’t bother to look. I’m sure Tony had my back covered.
“Hey, get your hands off my sister before I kick your ass.” I looked around to see the kid making his way back to us. That’s no kid, he might be young but he was built.
‘Travis, shush.” Sister huh, I put her back on her feet, but didn’t release her as he reached us. I could see the resemblance now that he was standing in front of me.
He couldn’t be more than sixteen or seventeen, but he looked at me like he thought he could take me. “Who’s this fool?” He tried pushing his way between us.
“He’s the…he’s the person I work for.” He glared at me pretty much the way she does before I saw recognition enter his eyes. His mouth dropped open before he broke into a grin.
“Get out, Max Carrington. No way! You work for The Kid with The Golden Arm? Why didn’t you tell me?” I heard Tony snicker as he walked away. He’d been there the whole time.
The kid forgot his anger quick enough as he studied me up and down with a boyish grin on his face. He had a sports drink in his hand and a travel bag on his shoulder.
I took the hand he reached out to me after releasing my hold on his sister. He started throwing questions at me until misery piped in.
“If you two don’t mind, it’s a bit chilly out here.” She pulled her ugly jacket closed and zipped it up. “Let’s go.” I took her hand and walked the few feet to her apartment building.
The kid never stopped talking the whole way up. A real football fanatic. “You play?” I looked back at him as he followed us up the stairs.
“Yes sir. I’m starting quarterback at my high school.”
“Where is that?”
“Pickering Central. That’s in Ohio.”
“Number twenty in the standing this year.”
Now his eyes were open wide in surprise. “You know about my school?”
“A little bit, I keep up with the stats for the top one hundred.” I’ll have to look into it farther. If the kid was a fan, and more importantly was himself a player, I can use that.
I was also thinking that I now knew where she came from. That should make it easier for my guys to hunt down any information on her. The kid had already helped me and he didn’t even know it.
Where his sister was quiet and reserved, he talked a mile a minute. Something that would usually make me want to run an electric drill through my eardrums. But I was all ears.
Once in the apartment I didn’t waste any time. It was obvious that he was here to spend some time with her, but I wasn’t going to let that stop me. He can have one of the other guest rooms for the weekend, which is what I thought he was here for.