She shouted into the phone again. “She was angry and hurt and at a bar! What do you think that means?”
“OK,” I said. “We’re headed there now.”
“If you don’t find her,” she said, “ask for a guy named Michael. He’s the manager.”
“OK.”
“And he’s also her ex-boyfriend.”
“Damn. Why didn’t she call us when she saw Axel with his sister? We could have cleared this up on the spot.”
“Well, you guys haven’t been exactly great communicators either!” Holly spat back.
“You’re right,” I said. “We’re driving there, now. We should be there in about an hour.”
“Forty-five minutes,” Santiago interjected.
“Will you keep trying to reach her?” I asked.
“Yes.” She sighed. “I’ve got to go, now. Good luck.”
Even though it was almost midnight, traffic was a mess when we hit Los Angeles. It took us over an hour to get to Tree Top. Fortunately, the place had valet parking. Unfortunately, the place also had bouncers who weren’t too keen on letting in nine guys dressed like they’d thrown on whatever was at hand and who looked like they were ready to crack skulls.
There were nine of us and only two bouncers. We could take them, and based on the look on both Santiago’s and Nolan’s faces, I wasn’t the only one making that calculation.
“I’ll talk to them,” said Axel.
He and Travis talked to the bouncer, who looked at them with a suspicious expression on his face but also looked like he was listening.
The rest of the group took a few steps back and watched from a few paces away.
The bouncer kept shifting his eyes from Axel to us. Finally, he frowned, nodded and opened the door.
Axel turned to us and said, “We’re going in. Wait here.”
“What?” Nolan objected. He took a step toward the door, but I grabbed his arm and pulled him back.
“Let’s not cause a scene,” I said. “Axel will sort it out.”
We waited five minutes, pacing and standing and huffing. We waited five more minutes then Santiago went up to the bouncer and asked him to let the rest of us in.
The bouncer shook his head no, and I rushed over to take Santiago by the arm and lead him away. “Five minutes,” I said to Santiago.
“We’ve already waited ten!”
“Five more minutes,” I said calmly. I eyed the bouncer with a look I hoped he’d understand: ‘In five minutes, if our friends aren’t back, I won’t be restraining Santiago again.’
A minute later, I got a call from Holly.
“Taylor, I don’t want to make you panic but—”
“Too late,” I interrupted.
“I just got a call from Gwen, a butt dial. It didn’t sound good.”
I walked back to the bouncer. “Explain.”
“There was shouting. I think she’s with Michael. I think…”
She dropped off. “What? What is it?”
“I think she might be in trouble.”
“We’re on it,” I said. I hung up and squared the bouncer. “Look,” I said to him. “We’re not here to cause trouble, but if you think you’re going to stop nine marines from getting in, trouble is definitely what you’ll get.”
The rest of the squad had walked up behind me. The bouncer glanced at me then to the squad then he opened the door.
“Thank you,” I said, and we walked in, calmly but focused and determined.
We ran into Axel and Travis on the way to the bar. “No sign of her,” said Axel.
I didn’t break stride. I walked up to the bartender. “I need to see Michael.”
“He left about an hour ago.”
“It’s an emergency.”
He looked at me then at the eight other Marines standing behind me. “Is there a problem?” he asked timidly.
I nodded slowly.
The bartender took out his phone and stepped away. He returned a moment later. “He’s not answering.”
I took in a deep breath. “Look,” I said, “our friend’s in trouble.”
“Gwen?” he asked.
I cocked my head to the side and furrowed my brow. How quickly he jumped to that conclusion. “You know Gwen?” I asked.
He nodded. “She was here a while ago. They left together.”
I put my hands flat on the bar and leaned in. “Where does he live?”
“Hold on a sec.” he walked away, slowly.
“It’s an emergency,” I shouted after him.
The bartender opened the register then he took a pad and a pen, wrote something down and came back to me. He handed me a slip of paper. “I knew something wasn’t right,” he said.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
He pointed to the slip of paper. “That’s his address,” he said very seriously and he stepped away from the bar.
When we were in the SUV, Santiago entered the address in the GPS. “It’s not far,” he said. “We’ll be there in fifteen minutes.”
I told the guys about the phone call I’d received from Holly.
We were there in five.
19
Gwen
I just needed to clear my head. Elijah had said he only had one night off before they were shipped out and he needed to see his family; Santiago and Nolan both told me they had a lot of work at the moment; Travis hadn’t answered my texts. It seemed like a distance was growing between us, and they hadn’t even gone overseas yet. I took a walk along the beach. Fresh air, a cool breeze, waves crashing onto the sand, that was supposed to calm me down and help me to think straight.