Trek
“What do we know?”
“That he’s pissed as fuck. He’s mad as hell his little operation was taken down,” Demon says. I smirk, happy as hell we handled that part of the operation.
“Good. Let that motherfucker burn for what he did to those girls,” I add.
“As nice as that would be, we still need to get our hands on him.” I nod my head in agreeance. I want that motherfucker in the basement or at least in the shed out back since the girls are still here.
“It’s been a week. Those girls are gonna recover slowly, but they need to know that motherfucker isn’t out there anymore. They need to know they are safe from him.”
“Heard that. Heidi has nightmares about that bastard,” I confide to them. Drake shakes his head, pissed about the whole situation. I can understand. I’m still pissed about it too. I want that motherfucker dead.
“We need to find him. He’s gotta be settin’ up shop somewhere close,” Drake says.
“I agree. He won’t go far.” Griz throws his opinion into the mix. I agree with them both. Victor wouldn’t go far. He probably has another set up not far from his original place. That’s how most of them operate. They have more than one location. Now, all we need to do is find his ass.
“We set up surveillance in that neighborhood. Where there’s one house, there’s more. He isn’t too worried about losin’ one, right?” Rage asks.
“You’re right. They usually operate more than one. If Victor has another house close by, we can find it,” Badger adds his two cents.
“Then we do it. We set up surveillance around that neighborhood. I’ll talk to the girls. See if they heard anything or anyone talkin’ about a second spot. Maybe they’ve even been there themselves,” I tell the room. The guys nod their heads, agreeing with me.
“Let’s do that then. Trek, go talk to the girls. From what he can see, Doc says they are all in pretty good shape. A few things need to be treated, but overall, they’re healthy and will suffer from withdrawals. Find out if anyone is ready to leave here.” I nod my head as I bring my beer to my lips and take a long pull.
“On it,” I tell him before he slams the gavel on the table and ends our meeting. I shove out of my chair and head for the door, making sure to grab my cell as I go. That’s when I see Heidi standing across the room alone, which pisses me off slightly. She’s acting withdrawn, and I’m not sure why.
Ignoring that for now, when she looks up at sees me, I motion for her to come to me. She walks over, and I immediately throw my arms around her and pull her into me.
“We need to talk to the girls,” I tell her.
“Okay. You want me to come with you?”
“I need you there.” She smiles up at me, her eyes beaming with light.
“Okay.” With that, we turn and head for the basement. I pull the door open and usher her down after motioning the few girls upstairs to follow us. Once we’re in the basement, the light laughter stops, and they look over at us.
“I just needed to talk to you girls. Doc said everyone is lookin’ good. If anyone is ready to go, just let us know. We have arrangements made and can get you anywhere in the world you wanna go. We plan on helpin’ you out a little with cash to get you started and help you find a place to stay.”
“Why are you doing this for us?” One of the girls asks.
“Because you didn’t deserve that shit. You didn’t ask for it,” I reply.
“They’re serious. The guys will do what they can to help you girls. They’ve helped me more than they could ever know,” Heidi reassures the girls, causing my heart to leap in my chest.
“My next question is this. There has to be another house. Do any of you remember leavin’ the main house and travelin’ a short distance?” I ask, looking between them. A few share a glance before one nods her head.
“It couldn’t have been far. I remember a short ride,” she says. Heidi walks over, the pillar of strength, and stands next to her.
“Do you remember anything about it? The color, street, anything?”
“There we plants. A lot of plants out front. I remember thinking it looked like my grandma’s house,” she giggles a little before looking sad.
“That’s good. That’s real good,” I tell her as she looks up at me.
“Is it?”
“It is. We can look around for a place with that description. We can use that.”
“I’m glad.” I nod my head at her when another girl raises her hand.
“Yeah?”
“I want to go home. I think I’m ready to go home.” She isn’t the only one. A few other girls speak up now and say the same thing. It makes me happy that they’re doing so well and are ready to go. They want to get back to their lives, and I want them to.
“We can arrange that. I’ll take you upstairs, and we’ll start to figure out all the logistics of it.”
“Thank you. I mean it. You guys have been amazing to us.” Her words make me smile.
“I’m glad we could help.”
“You have. More than you could know,” another girl chimes in.
“We do what we can. Those who are wantin’ to go home, come with me. We’ll get shit started.” A lot of the girls follow us upstairs, but as soon as we get up there, Heidi walks off by herself again. It pisses me off more than she could know. I don’t know why she’s acting the way she is, but as soon as I get these girls sorted out, I plan to find out.
“Hey, Drake. These girls are wantin’ to get home,” I inform him. A smile tugs across his face as he nods his head.
“Let’s do this. I’m glad you’re ready to go,” he says, looking between them.
“You got this handled?” I ask him, glancing over at Heidi before looking back at him. He nods before ushering the girls away from me and toward one of the other offices. I turn toward Heidi and walk over, resting my hand on her back.
“What’s goin’ on?”
“Nothing. What’s up?”
“Don’t try that shit with me. What’s goin’ on? You’re actin’ different.”
“No, I’m not,” she says defensively.
“Yeah, you are, and I wanna know what the hell is goin’ on, Heidi.” It’s a demand and one she should listen to. I move to stand in front of her when she blows out a breath.
“Nothing is going on, Trek.”
“You wanna survive the storm you better be ready to the wind,” I tell her. Her eyes widen slightly as she looks up at me.
“You won’t hurt me.”
“No, I wouldn’t hurt you, but I can make you wish I did.”
“What the hell, Trek?”
“This, this shit between us? There’s somethin’ there, Heidi and I plan on keepin’ you around. Whatever the fuck you have goin’ on in that head of yours, you need to spit it out,” I tell her. I’m done. I’m done playing games, done skirting around all of this and what I’m feeling.
“How do you know what I want?” I lean down, getting right in her face.
“Tell me you don’t want me, baby. Go ahead,” I dare her.