“Apparently, someone has been threatening him for a long time. But he never told us. And now he’s gone. Left his phone here and everything.”
“Okay,” Nave said. “Where’s your mind at?”
“Florida. Maybe. Florida crew that may have moved up this way? But, then again, it might be any crew on the east coast. Or, you know, Voss and I are completely off and it is someone in the midwest, for all we know.”
“Hence Junior sitting in the living room, tapping away.”
“Yeah,” I agreed. “Does he seem like he’s found anything?”
“Figure, if he did, he would be done with all the typing. How’s someone threatening him?”
“Text.”
To that, Nave’s brow lifted.
“Text,” he repeated. “And you haven’t acted on that yet?”
“Acted on it how?” I asked, shaking my head.
To that, Nave sighed as he reached in his pocket for his phone. Not, I will say, his fancy, brand new smartphone. Oh, no. This was a cheap-ass burner. I had no idea why he would even need to have one of those. But it wasn’t the time to ask.
“Remember the number?” he asked, glancing up at me from under those appealing thick lashes of his.
I came up blank.
But it was Voss who came in for the save, rattling off the number easily.
“Hey, baby,” Valen said as he was typing. “I have you saved in my phone as the best fuck of my life. Care to give me a name so I can change that? Winky face. Kissy face. And send.”
“How the fuck did we not think of that?” I asked, looking over at Voss who looked equally as dumbfounded.
“Your hearts are in it. Clouds your judgment,” Nave said, shrugging. “Shit. That fucker is horny, huh?” he asked when his phone dinged just a minute later. “Curtis, babe. Now why don’t you send me a picture to refresh my memory?” he read. “Alright. Muss up your hair and give the camera a pout,” Nave said.
“What? No way. What if he’s been keeping an eye on the club?”
“That’s a good point. Alright. Let’s see what I got…” he said, pulling out his normal phone and scrolling through his camera files. “Curtis. Does that sound like someone who likes blondes? Brunettes? What about a redhead.”
“Everyone likes a redhead,” Voss piped in.
“Fair enough,” Nave said, sending the picture to his other phone, then shooting it off to Curtis. “When can we have a repeat? Water splashes. Eggplant. Too much?” he asked, genuinely waiting for an answer for us.
“Don’t ask me,” I said, shaking my head.
“Take off the eggplant,” Voss suggested.
“Yeah, sounds about right. Okay. So, we have a name. Curtis. Not an uncommon one, but how many crew leaders could possibly have that name?”
I didn’t even pause as I rushed into the living room.
There was Junior, an absolute giant of a guy with blond hair and icy blue eyes, looking a lot like his father Brian who went by the name “Breaker.”
I don’t know what I expected from him. I guess to be an enforcer like his dad. Not to take after his mom with the computer thing.
“Curtis,” I said, voice louder than I intended, making everyone in the room jolt.
“What?” Fallon asked, rubbing his tired eyes.
“Curtis. That’s the name. Nave texted him, playing a former hook-up.”