They drove in silence as the dark sky began to show hints of reds, oranges, and yellows. By the time they reached their destination, there was enough light for Jase to get a better sense of the environment, and he was far from happy with what he saw.
“This is it?” Brie asked in disbelief, clearly not impressed with the area her sister had been living in either.
“Yeah, unfortunately. What the hell were your sister and Amy thinking renting in this dump?”
He hadn’t expected an answer to his rhetorical question and didn’t get one. The dilapidated building was in an equally run-down part of the capital city of Castries. It was one of the lesser tourist-oriented areas on the island and was home to many lower income households. Turning off the engine, he again silently cursed the fact he’d had to leave his weapons behind in Caicos. Before unlocking the doors, he took careful inventory of the surrounding area. The only person in sight was a drunk sleeping it off in the doorway of a building half a block away on the opposite side of the street, which was in desperate need of a repaving. Reaching up, Jase turned off the overhead light so it wouldn’t come on when the doors opened; there was no point in announcing their arrival to anyone who might think they’d make good robbery targets. “Stay there until I come around.”
When Brie nodded, her eyes narrowed in confusion, he pulled on the handle, opened the door, and climbed out. His sharp eyes and ears took in everything. Aside from a few dogs barking somewhere in the distance, the only other sound he heard was faint calypso music coming from a block or two away. Circling the rear of the SUV, he made sure their bags weren’t visible under the retractable cover in the cargo area before approaching the passenger door and opening it for Brie. She took his proffered left hand. “And here I thought they were living in this cute cottage they’d found to rent,” she scoffed softly. “Why the hell did Nadine lie to me?”
“You can ask her when we find her. But first, that’s what we have to do. C’mon.”
Not letting go of her hand, he escorted her to the front door of the apartment building—the one with the peeling, blue paint. As he’d expected, it wasn’t locked and swung open easily when he turned the knob, squeaking loudly enough to be heard by the residents living in any of the apartments–—if they were awake. It was a three-story walk-up, and, of course, the apartment he and Brie wanted was on the third floor. The stench of urine and pot assaulted his nose, and a faint “eew” came from Brie walking in after him. Completely shutting the door behind them, so he could hear if it was opened again, Jase started for the stairs in front of Brie in case they met any unsavory characters on the way up.
They reached the top floor without running into anyone, and Jase knocked softly on door #9. When no one answered, he knocked again, this time a little louder. He was relieved when he heard the shuffling of feet followed by a faint, “Who is it?” At least Amy was smart enough to ask before opening the door.
“Amy, it’s Jase and Brie. Open up.”
A deadbolt being turned sounded seconds before the door swung wide. The brown-haired, hazel-eyed twenty-five-year-old looked like they’d interrupted her sleep, rubbing her eyes as they walked in and closed the door. Glancing around, Jase couldn’t believe the two young women had been living there. It was a tiny studio apartment, and it appeared they’d both been sleeping on the one pull-out couch since he didn’t see anything else that could pass as a bed. The kitchenette and small bath were so decrepit, he was expecting to see cockroaches or a mouse any second, especially with the amount of trash in the garbage can next to the ancient refrigerator.
Brie gaped at Amy. “You two have been living in this—this dump all this time? Are you crazy?”
The younger woman shrugged her shoulders as she sat atop the thin mattress on the bed. “It was all we could afford.”
When it appeared Brie was going to light into her sister’s childhood friend, Jase stopped her with a gentle hand on her shoulder. “Later,” he said before turning to Amy. “Where’s Nadine’s cell phone?” She pointed to a small, scratched, wooden table next to a ripped and faded upholstered chair. Snatching the phone, he shoved it in his pocket. He’d check her calls and messages later. “Start packing what you need for a few days. You’re coming with us and don’t even think of arguing with me. Take anything important, and we’ll come back for the rest when we can.” There was no way he was leaving her here; he couldn’t. He’d be too worried about her and so would Brie. Amy had been Nadine’s best friend since the fourth grade, and Brie considered her to be another kid sister. “Where’s her purse?”
Standing, Amy obediently began to gather her things. “Over there on the chair.”
Grabbing it from the back of one of two wooden chairs pushed under the table near the kitchenette, he handed it to Brie. “I’ll go through that later.”
He glanced around the room again, looking for anything that would give him a clue about Nadine’s disappearance, but nothing stood out—well, almost nothing. His brow furrowed as he stalked across the room to a dresser and picked up a glass object. Spinning around, he held up the offensive pot pipe. “Are you fucking kidding me? Which one of you is smoking weed?”
Amy’s guilty expression told him all he needed to know and his blood began to boil. Illegal drugs were something he despised for many reasons—the main one being they’d gotten his family killed. “Both of you, huh? Where is it?”
Fear spread across her face at his low tone, but she pointed to a shoe box next to the small TV sitting atop the dresser. Flipping the lid off, he pulled out a plastic baggie filled with the equivalent of $30 in US currency of marijuana. While Brie began yelling at Amy, Jase strode to the bathroom and emptied the bag into the toilet and flushed. He then returned to where Amy was silently packing as Brie was trying to get her anger under control. Grabbing the younger woman’s arms, he inspected them for track marks. “What else have you been doing beside that crap?” he spat. “Is that why you can’t afford any place better than this?”
Amy’s eyes went wide, and she pulled against his grip, her own ire rising to the surface. “Let me go, Jase! You think I’ve been shooting? I hate needles. And before you ask, I don’t do blow either—neither does Nadine. Just the occasional joint, I swear. It’s no big deal.”
Scowling, he released her arms and raised his voice, ignoring the male voice coming from a neighboring apartment, ordering him to “shut the fuck up.” “It is a big fucking deal! People die over that shit! I’ll have your hide if I ever catch you with drugs again. You and Nadine need fucking keepers.” Both Amy and Brie gaped at his heated ranting. Realizing he’d let his past control his emotions, he ran his fingers through his hair, and forced a level of calmness to fall across his features and mellow his tone. “Christ. Finish getting your stuff together and let’s get the hell out of here.”
Turning toward the door, he’d only taken a step when Brie’s hand touched his forearm. He lifted his gaze to hers, and the concern he saw there felt like a kick in the gut.
“Jase, are you okay?”
Taking a deep breath, he let it out slowly, then nodded. “Yeah. I’m fine. Drugs are just a major hot button for me.” There was a lot more to it than that, but there and then was not the time to talk about it.
Amy approaching with a filled duffel bag ended any further conversation on the subject, and he was grateful. Taking the bag from her, he hung it on his left shoulder, keeping his right hand free in case of trouble. Opening the door, he checked the hallway and stairwell, finding them empty. “Let’s go.”
Within minutes, they were back in the SUV, heading toward the Crystal Cove Resort. He’d made a reservation at their hotel while waiting for the plane earlier, and hopefully they’d be able to give him an attached room for Amy who already appeared to be asleep in the back seat. He wanted her where she’d be relatively safe until they could find Nadine and get them both back to Caicos.
Jase glanced at Brie and repeated her earlier question to him. “Are you okay?”
&n
bsp; Nodding, she replied, “What if we don’t find her? I’m so angry right now—I mean, drugs, working as a stripper. Our parents have to be rolling over in their graves right now. I’m mad and yet terrified something’s happened to her.”
So was Jase, but he didn’t tell her that. She needed him to be strong and supportive right now, but if a time came when he had to give her the worst news possible, he’d help her through that too. “We’ll find her.” He wished he could add the words “I promise,” but he didn’t know if he’d have to renege on the vow at some point.
Pulling into the resort, he stopped at the valet and reached back to tap Amy’s knee, waking her. “We’re here. Let’s get you into a room so you can get some sleep.” He and Brie needed a few hours of shut-eye as well. It was too early in the morning to go looking for Nadine, even if Jase knew where to start. Hopefully her cell phone would give him a clue along with the grilling he was going to give Amy after they all slept for a bit.
It didn’t take long to check in—he used the same alias he’d rented the vehicle with—and the desk clerk was able to accommodate his request for an adjoining room. They rode an elevator to the second floor, and Jase took notice of where their rooms were in relation to both sets of stairs at either end of the hallway and the elevators. It was a habit that was ingrained in him—always know where all the escape routes were in case there was trouble.
Stopping outside their two rooms, he handed one of the key cards to Amy and instructed her to unlock the adjoining door.
She nodded, then stuck the card into the slot and pushed her door open when the light turned green. Jase followed Brie into their room with its king-sized bed, then flipped the deadbolt on the door separating the two rooms and swung it open. Amy was already waiting for him, and her pale face and sleep-filled eyes told him his interrogation would definitely have to wait a few hours. “Climb into bed and get some sleep, but keep this door unlocked.”
“Okay. Brie? I really am sorry. I never should’ve talked Nadine into coming here.” Tears filled her eyes and she choked back a sob. “Wh—What if something terrible happened to her? It’s all my fault.”
Brie stepped around Jase and pulled the younger woman into a sisterly embrace. “We’ll find her. And Nadine has a mind of her own. I’m sure she didn’t need any persuasion from you to come here. I just wish you both had told me you needed money instead of . . .” She didn’t finish her sentence. While Daddy-O’s was a popular bar in Caicos, tourism, the cost of living, and the economy fluctuated from year to year, and there wasn’t a heck of a lot of money left over each month—if any. And God-forbid they get hit dead-on by a hurricane—the recovery expenses could run into the thousands, even with insurance. Despite all that, Brie would’ve taken some money out of their emergencies-only savings if Nadine had called and told her how desperate their situation had become.
Brie gave Amy a final squeeze before releasing her. “Now, do what Jase said and get some sleep.”
Biting her bottom lip, Amy wiped her eyes. “Okay.”
When she turned away, Jase pulled her door shut, then closed the one in their room, keeping both unlocked. When he pivoted toward Brie, he found her pacing distractedly and moved into her path. She stopped short in front of him, and he reached up to cup her chin. “You look exhausted too, baby. Climb into bed . . . I’ll join you in a few minutes.” He hadn’t given getting a room with a single, king-sized bed a second thought. They’d slept together many times over the past few months, literally, and he had a feeling she’d sleep better if he held her close. Brie hadn’t questioned him and didn’t appear to have a problem with it.
“What are you going to do?”
He pulled out Nadine’s phone. “Check her messages and voicemails to see if I can figure out where to start looking for her. Then later, after it opens, I’m going to head over to Sandy Bottoms, take a look around, and ask a few questions.” He was also going to call a few contacts to find a dealer where he could get at least one handgun for the duration of their stay. For some reason, he had a feeling he’d need one.
“I’ll go with you.”
He shook his head before she’d finished speaking those four words. “No. You stay here with Amy. I don’t know what kind of a place it is, but a strip joint is not somewhere I want you going. I can’t do my job if I’m worried about you.” When she opened her mouth to argue with him, he cut her off. “It’s not up for discussion or a vote, Brie. You’ll stay here. I promise I’ll tell you everything I find out. This is what I do. Now get some sleep.”
Letting out an exasperated sigh, she must have decided this was a battle she wasn’t going to win, because she kicked off her sneakers and unsnapped her jeans before peeling them off. And just like that, Jase felt himself growing hard and had to tell his little head to chill. Apparently, his cock had gotten used to getting some action anytime Brie started undressing. Without taking off her blue T-shirt, Brie undid her bra and somehow got the straps off her shoulders before pulling it out one of the sleeves. As she tossed the white, lacy garment on top of her discarded jeans, Jase pulled back the blanket and sheets on the side of the bed she usually slept on, then covered her when she laid down. Leaning over, he kissed her forehead. “I’ll join you in a few minutes, but don’t wait for me. Close your eyes and get some sleep.”
When he straightened to move away from the bed, Brie reached out and grabbed his arm. “Jase? I don’t think I said ‘thank you’ yet, so . . . thank you. It means a lot that you’re here to help me. I wouldn’t know where to begin looking for her.”
Jase gave her a tender smile. “I’m glad I was around to help, sweetheart. Now go to sleep. That’s an order.”
When she closed her eyes and let her hand drop, he strode across the room, taking a seat on the loveseat by the sliding glass door to their balcony. He brought Nadine’s smart phone out of sleep mode and held down the “1” button until the screen indicated it was dialing the voicemail. “Brie,” he said softly. “What’s Nadine’s date of birth?”
Without opening her eyes, she responded, “September fourteenth, why?”
“Trying to figure out what her PIN is for her voicemail.”
“Oh, then put in eleven twenty-six, our parents’ anniversary.”
Punching in the numbers, he brought the phone to his ear in time to hear, “You have no new messages.” Frowning, he hit the “4” button and this time the recorded voice said, “You have no saved messages.”
“Brie, I thought you told me her voicemail box was full.”
Her eyes opened and found his gaze. “It was.”
“Well, it isn’t now.” Hitting the text message icon, he groaned when a cleared screen came up. Fuck! A check of her call history yielded the same results. Someone had erased everything. Standing, he strode to the adjoining doors and knocked on Amy’s before pushing it open. “Did you clear the voicemails and messages from Nadine’s phone, Amy?”
Lying in bed under the covers, she shook her head on the pillow. “No. I didn’t touch it after I called Brie. Why?”
“Just curious.” He closed the door again, then retrieved his own phone from the pocket of his pants and sat back down on the loveseat. On Nadine’s cell, he brought up the device’s information, then entered her phone number into a new text message on his own. He added an “ASAP” request for Egghead to do what he did best and see if he could recover the lost call history, texts, and voicemail. Pressing “Send,” he knew the geek would probably get back to him in a few hours, at the least.
Grabbing Nadine’s purse from where Brie had set it on the nearby coffee table, he began to shift through the contents. Nothing stood out as being a clue, but just before he was about to start putting the items back in, it struck him that one thing was missing. Her passport. Figuring Amy had it among her things or it was back in the apartment, he made a mental note to ask her about it after grabbing a few winks. It was 5:47 a.m. according to the bedside clock, and he suddenly felt exhausted. He’d had no sleep since yesterday
morning when he’d awoken in Brie’s bed, and before that, he’d only had a few hours of slumber. The rest of that night, he’d been enjoying pleasuring Brie.
He got to his feet and kicked off his sneakers, then undressed down to his navy boxer briefs. Placing both his and Nadine’s phones on the nightstand, he climbed under the covers next to Brie, who was nearly asleep. Her back was to him, and he wrapped his arm around her waist, pulling her flush against his torso. The corners of his mouth ticked upward, and his semi-hard cock twitched as she shifted her hips, her ass pushing into his groin, before she settled down again. Her body fit perfectly against his, and, not for the first time, he wondered how long he’d have with her before she decided she wanted something more—something he couldn’t give her—and then moved on to someone who could give it to her. He hoped it wasn’t soon, because he still hadn’t had his fill of her yet.
C
HAPTER 4
J ase glowered at Brie as she stood between him and their hotel room door. After a four-hour nap, she was still tired, but finding her sister trumped everything else. She crossed her arms and glared back at him. “I’m going with you,” she declared for the second time.
He mirrored her stance. “We discussed this already; you’re not going.”
“No, we didn’t discuss anything. You ordered me to stay here with Amy, and I chose not to argue with you until I had some sleep. Now that I’m awake and re-energized, I’m putting my foot down.
Salvaging His Soul: Trident Security Book 8 Page 4