He reached for Naomi’s hand and held it, rubbing small circles like he was lost in thought.
I was about to say something else when my cell phone began vibrating my pocket. It was always located inside the inner pocket of my cut. When I saw who it was, my heartbeat picked up and kicked hard against my ribcage.
Trish.
After all these years, I still wanted to jump into action as soon as she needed me. Swiping across the screen as I left the room, I stepped out into the clean, empty hall of the hospital floor where Naomi was staying for the next few days.
“Trish?”
“Grim!” she yelled, sounding frantic.
“What’s the matter?”
“They took her,” she sobbed into the phone. “They took Stef.”
“Who?”
“Stef is my cousin. She’s only seventeen!”
I already knew who Stef was, but Trish didn’t remember, probably because she was freaking out. I only met the girl one time, but I didn’t forget. “Alright, calm down, baby.” I could kick myself for calling her that. “Where are you?”
“I can’t say.”
What the fuck? I hated when she did this shit to me.
“Trish, I need to come to you. Tell me where you are,” I ordered sternly.
“I can’t, Grim. They’ll do something to Stef. I have to stay put.”
I was beginning to lose my patience. “Trish, this is important. Tell me where you are. I can keep a safe distance.”
She started to reply when all I heard was a bunch of static like the line was trying to connect.
“Trish!”
Nothing but dial tone. She was gone.
Fuck!
I dialed Xenon, pissed off and worried at the same time. A terrible combination for my Reaper.
“What ya need, pres?”
“Trace the call that just came through on my cell.”
“Sure, right away. You good?”
“I will be,” I answered with a growl. “Once you tell me what location Trish is at.”
“Fuck,” he whispered. “Alright. I’ll be as fast as I can.”
He hung up and I began to pace, my agitation growing with every step.
Tricia Holloway was the only woman who could make me give up any and everything for just five minutes of her attention. It was fuckin’ pathetic.
I was the president of the RBMC Tonopah chapter. Wasn’t supposed to be so pussy whipped that I couldn’t dig my head out of my ass. Didn’t seem to matter. She’d been the cause of a lot of my problems and that hadn’t stopped since the moment she spotted and teased my Reaper.
That was exactly how this all began.