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Ballad of Rioting Hearts

Page 42

by Misti Murphy

“There was an event. Everyone got separated in the chaos. I couldn’t get to her.”

The bottom drops out of my stomach as I shrug into my jacket. What kind of event? Is she hurt?

“She’s missing,” he says.

“Watch it, man,” someone barks in the background.

Fuck. This is worse. “If anything happens to her...”

“Willa?” Micah is on his phone as he follows me out of the suite. His own leather gripped in his hand. “Thank God. Are you girls okay? Is Kelsey with you?”

“I won’t just fire your ass. You’re head of security for a reason. I trusted you with her.” I watch the numbers count down to the sub level.

“I’m going to find her.” His voice is strangled, like she’s more than his job. Like she’s family... the exact reason I thought she would be safest with him. “I promise you that.”

I hang up on him. It’s only been fucking days since she was almost abducted. Am I the only one who remembers that? What it felt like to almost lose her.

“Willa and Dizzy made it out alright,” Micah tells me as the doors open and we run through the parking garage. “They’re together and looking for Kelsey.”

I toss him a set of keys, and he unlocks the trailer while I speed dial Kelsey. “Come on, Little Vandal.”

She picks up before it can even ring.

Her voice trembles. “Kodiak.”

“Where are you?” There’s no time to be disappointed that she asks for him. Or to unload the bikes properly. Climbing into the trailer, I shove my head into my helmet and get on my bike. The Bluetooth on my phone connects with the interior speaker.

“Riot?” She’s so quiet, but it sounds like she’s right here... inside my head.

“Yeah, Little Vandal.” I try to keep the fear out of my voice. She needs me to stay calm for her. I need her to be able to think as clearly as possible, considering she’s been drinking. Being pushy won’t do that.

“I-I called Kodiak.”

Of course she would want to call him, but she must have answered my call while trying to. “That’s okay. But you got me. Can you tell me where you are?”

The engine roars and I twist the throttle until it howls. The bike launches forward the few feet of the trailer and into the air. It hits the concrete hard, and I keep going.

“I don’t know.” She whimpers. “We were at Pepperoni Rock and then the sirens went off. I lost the girls and Rook. I didn’t mean to.”

“I know you didn’t.” I leave the parking garage. Leaning forward, I accelerate. “You’re smart. You wouldn’t treat your safety recklessly.”

“We got separated.” Her voice drops lower. “I’m scared.”

There’s not really any noise around her. Not like there was when Rook called. There’s no sirens or traffic or anything. Behind me, another of our bike’s roars. Micah trying to catch up with me.

“Someone is following me,” she whispers.

“Marco?”

“M-maybe. I’m not sure... if he orchestrated the evacuation... if he got me alone again...”

He’s already tried to take her twice. From the club where she was working at when Bronx found her. And from us. He wouldn’t be following her. He would have taken her as soon as she was separated from the others. Giving her a chance at getting away a third time seems unlikely.

Someone else then? Someone like my stalker? Some idiot trying to scare her? A creep who sees a woman alone and... Fuck. I need to get to her.

“Do you remember what Rook trained us to do?” It feels like a whole other lifetime ago. Please remember.

She takes a deep breath. “Head somewhere public. With lots of people.”