After two train journeys later, we’re in Tooting, and I spot a Greggs and even though I’m on the other side of the road, my mouth waters. I need one of their sausage rolls, they are amazing. Gloria brought Addi and I to the shop and told us we had to try them; I think I had one of their sausage rolls every day I was here they were that good. I make my way across the street and as Ryder has no idea where we are so he’s following behind me. I don’t look at him when I walk into the shop and order four of those bad boys. I pay the woman and continue on my way acting as though I haven’t already eaten a full breakfast.
“What the hell is that?” The disgusted tone has me looking up at him, a mouth full of sausage roll.
“What’s what?” I ask as I take another bite of the delicious sausage filled pastry.
“That thing you’re eating. You do realize that you’re moaning as you’re eating it and they’re similar to the moans you make when you cum.”
“Jealous?” I take another bite and moan even louder. Stick that in your pipe and smoke it asshole!
He splutters, hmm I managed to shock him. Good! “Jealous, of what exactly?”
“That this sausage is bigger than….” I trail off as my eyes fall down to his groin area, “And you're jealous because this piece of deliciousness can make me moan.” I’m poking the bear and loving it.
“What the fuck?!?” Passersby look on as Ryder looks as though he’s about to blow a gasket.
“What?” Damn, this is easy. Although, that saccharine smile hurts like a motherfucker.
“Don’t act innocent. You’re fucking trying you know that?” He bites out, looking at me as if I’ve lost my damn mind.
“Why the hell am I trying?” I’m getting mad now, why the hell am I trying? I turn the corner onto Church Lane, and I start to get worried, what if there is blood outside the house? What if someone’s watching me again?
“I’m trying to be a gentleman; I want you to know that I do actually want you. Don’t push me Skye because you’ll only end up getting fucked.” Motherfuck!
“Yeah, and I know why you want me all of a sudden. It’s not going to happen; I’d rather be single and co-parenting than being in a one-sided relationship.” I quicken my pace wanting to put a bit of distance between us.
I come to a halt when I see the police tape around the outside of one of the houses and my heart rate quickens as coldness falls over me. I just stare at the tape wondering what the hell happened in that house, and I rub my hands together hoping to warm my hands up. I feel hands on my shoulders, and I almost jump out of my skin until I realize that it’s Ryder, I think I’m panicking.
“Hey, it’s okay.” I’m shocked by the softness in his voice; I can’t reply to him as my mouth is dry and I don’t think I’ll be able to speak without breaking. I need to compose myself; I hate that I’m so vulnerable at the moment. “Deep breath Skye.” He takes a deep breath in, and I copy him, looking into his eyes as I mimic his breathing and it doesn’t take long to calm me down. “That’s it, keep breathing and look at me… There you go.” His smile is utterly disarming, and he must sense that I’m better as he pulls me into his arms and I wrap my arms around him, grateful that he’s here with me.
“Skye before we go talk to the neighbors I need to talk.” He pulls away from me but keeps his arms on my shoulders, caressing them with his thumb. He may want to talk but him doing that isn’t going to get me to listen.
“Mmmmhmm.” I’m so distracted by the rhythm of his thumbs on my shoulders.
He must know that I’m not listening as he takes his hands away leaving me feeling the loss. “Let’s get one thing straight; I want you baby or no baby. I married you because you’re the only woman I have ever loved. Fuck, ever will love. You are mine and have been since the moment I laid eyes on you, it’s taken me this long to stop thinking of what could happen and start thinking about what is happening.” He reaches for my chin and tilts my head up, “You are my wife because you are my everything. I was going to fix things before I found out you were pregnant.” He leans down and gently places the softest kiss against my lips.
Tears spring to my eyes, wow, who knew Ryder could be romantic? “Ry…” What the hell do I say to that?
“You don’t need to say anything. I can wait until we find your sister.” God, can he be much sweeter?
I nod as I really don’t know what to say to him and it seems trashy to kiss the hell out of him when he poured his heart out to me. God, I didn’t think it would be possible, but I’ve just fallen even harder for him.
Chapter Eleven
Ryder
Watching her struggle was one of the hardest things I’ve ever witnessed, as soon as she saw the police tape cordoning off the house she panicked, and I think she thought the worst about her sister. Every moment that passes with Addison gone has her rate of survival diminishing although I would never say that out loud because if Addison is anything like her sister, she’ll be strong and stubborn. She’ll be fighting like there’s no tomorrow, and that is what Skye will need to think. She looks dumbfounded when I told her that I loved her. Hopefully, she’ll believe me, and I can finally relax a little.
Skye finally regains her composure, and I see my strong wife standing in front of me, I really hope that the neighbors give us something we can work with because if we leave empty handed Skye will be crushed. We reach the first house, and Skye knocks on the door, I can hear movement from within the house and by the sounds of things whoever it is they’re strolling.
An elderly man opens the door and takes one look at Skye and smiles, “Hello, can I help you.” Even though he’s all smiles for Skye, he gives me a not so happy look, one that I’m well accustomed too. People see my six-foot-four muscular frame with some tats on my body, and they instantly presume I’m a convict or I’m up to no good.
“Hi, I really do hope so…”
She doesn’t get a chance to finish her sentence as the elderly man cuts her off, “Are you related to the girl that was staying next door?”
“Yes sir, I’m her sister, and this is my husband. We are wondering if we could ask you a few questions?” She called me her husband, that’s a good sign she could have called me her colleague.
“Of course, I’m Norman McKenzie; you must be Skye. Please do come in.” He waves us into his house, and as soon as I cross the threshold, he’s ushering us into his sitting room. “Patsy, that lovely American from next door’s sister is here; she wants to ask us some questions.” He points for us to sit as he takes the armchair beside his wife.
“Sit down; we don’t bite. Norman here says you have some questions, what would you like to know?” The elderly woman sits a bit forward as she waits for us to ask her some questions, almost as if she’s getting some gossip.
“Thank you, Mrs. McKenzie, I’m trying to locate my sister, and the last known location that we have of her is next door. Did you hear anything three nights ago that may help me find her?” Skye looks hopeful as she stares at the elderly couple sitting across from us.
“Well I heard something, but my Norman told me not to mention it to the police.” Mrs. McKenzie eyes keep darting to her husband; she’s nervous about something.
“I did tell her not to if she heard and saw something that may get someone into trouble and they find out she was the one that reported it they may hurt her.” He’s worried about her, and I get that, I’m the same way about Skye although I’d want her to tell the truth as I’d have her back one hundred percent.
“Mr. and Mrs. McKenzie, I’m not the police, and when I do catch up to these people, I won’t be discussing anything that was said today,” Skye says, and I see the relief in both McKenzie’s faces. “What did you hear Mrs. McKenzie?”
She glances again at Norman, but this time its worry that I see, “I heard loud music, and I was cursing up a storm to my Norman. I was telling him that I much preferred it when the O'Donnell's lived next door, there was none of that loud music and c
omings and goings at all times of the night. So, I looked out the window…”
“I told her to stop being such a nosey parker, but she wouldn’t listen.” Norman interrupts her just as she was about to tell us what she saw.
“You did, but do I ever listen? No.” She waves her hand dismissively at him and continues with her story. “So, I had a look out the window, I made sure that they couldn’t see that I was watching. I had the lights off and was peeping behind the curtains. That boyfriend of Gloria’s showed up, I do not like that man, and I never have. He was here about thirty minutes when I heard an almighty shriek; I thought the banshee was coming it was that bad.” Mrs. McKenzie places her hand on her heart, almost as if she’s reliving the fright she received that night.
“She’s not wrong, even I heard it, and we called the police. We had to; we didn’t tell them that we saw anything, just that we heard the screams.” Mr. McKenzie is really frightened of whatever the hell happened here, and I want to hurt the motherfucker that made an old man and his wife petrified.
“Um, what is a Banshee?” Skye asks confused as I feel, I’ve never heard of it before.
“It’s an old Irish myth if you hear the wail of the Banshee it heralds the death of a family member. So, you can imagine when we heard the shrieking we got very anxious.” Mr. McKenzie tells us, and he too is remembering the shock that they went through three nights ago.
“I heard a car pull up outside and I thought it was the police, but it wasn’t. It was the boyfriend's friends. I know it was, I’ve seen that yellow Jeep here before, and I watched as the boyfriend, and someone from the Jeep brings the girls outside and into the Jeep. They were gone by the time the police got here.” Mrs. McKenzie tells us and for the first time since finding out that my sister-in-law has gone missing a spark of hope ignites, and I glance at Skye and see that she too has hope, a lot more than she had before we came into the house.
“Thank you so much for telling us and for letting us take up your time.” Skye is as polite as ever, and it’s one of the reasons I haven’t spoken, I come across gruff and sometimes it’s a disadvantage when we need information from elderly people or young children. The rest of the time it works a treat as I either scare the shit out of them that they can’t shut up or the woman wants to try and ‘tame’ me so they’ll tell me everything.
“I hope you find your sister and when you do we’d love to see her before you take her back home with you.” Mrs. McKenzie tells Skye as she gets up from the armchair and gives Skye a hug one in which Skye doesn’t waste time in reciprocating.
“I will do, thank you both for your wonderful hospitality.” Skye walks over to Mr. McKenzie and hugs him too; she’s expressing how grateful she is to them for telling her when they are so frightened of what could happen to them.
“Anytime my dear and you,” He looks at me, and I wonder what the hell I’ve done? “I don’t have to tell you to look after her; I can tell by the way that you look at her that you worship her. Just help her sister.” He looks as though he’s about to cry and I don’t deal well with emotions, hell I run from my own most of the time.
“That is something you don’t need to ask; it’s why I’m here. We won’t be going home without Addison. I really appreciate you taking the time to talk to us. I hope you have a good day.” I start to edge out of the room toward the front door with Skye not that far behind along with both McKenzie’s hot on her heels.
“Thank you and I really hope that you find her soon.” I nod as we leave the house, the McKenzie’s stand at the door and wave goodbye to us.
“Do you think we should talk to any of the other neighbors?” Skye asks as soon as the McKenzie’s close the door.
I feel eyes on me, and I know that whoever’s watching us is behind me and now I don’t want to give away the fact that I know they are there. “Yeah, I do, fuck; someone has got to have information! I don’t want to sit and have tea again when it leads us nowhere.” I say it loud enough so that if anyone is listening, they get the fucking message that the McKenzie’s didn’t tell us anything.
“Ry…” Skye sounds so confused, but I can’t have her say anything right now.
“Come on; let’s see if any of the other neighbors can give us anything.” I take her by her hand as I start to pull her toward the house on the other side of Gloria’s.
Nothing, not one house on this street answered the door; I managed to take a picture of the car, and its license plate that has been watching us since we left the McKenzie’s house. We start walking back to the train station, we have an hour before the conference call, and I need to eat, and I hope that Skye won’t eat those nasty ass sausage rolls ever again. They looked greasy as hell and the moans she made while we were in the middle of the street! People heard her and probably thought she was having a goddamn orgasm.
“Okay, want to tell me what the hell that was back there?” She asks me as soon as we reach a busy street.
“We were being watched, I clocked them as soon as we left the McKenzie’s and if they were listening, and they’d think we got nothing from them.” She looks pissed right now, and I don’t know if it’s because she didn’t know we were being watched or because someone was watching us, either way, she’s rattled and there’s nothing I can do about it. “I managed to get a picture of the license plate, and it has been sent to Oscar and Henry, so they can hopefully get us a name. I’m sick of these bastards being one step ahead of us.”
“Nothing will happen to the McKenzie’s will it?” She’s worried about a couple she only met fifteen minutes ago.
“I hope not; we’ll get someone to check on them regularly,” I reassure her and the worry she had starts to fade.
My cell starts to ring, and I see Nathan’s name on the screen, “Hello?” I think I know what this is about. Smithy’s.
“Hey, are you free to talk?” Nathan asks, and I know that I’m right.
“Yeah man what’s up?”
“So, I spoke to Soph about your proposal, and she’s all for it, as long as it’s alright with the rest of your team then it’s a go.” He sounds excited about this merger.
“Okay, I’ll call Oscar and Sam although I have no doubt that they will be all for it.” It’s true; the extra manpower along with an additional computer geek is a significant selling point.
“Excellent, how’s Skye holding up? I know we have a conference call later, but Soph’s been on my ass to see how she is.” Yep, sounds about right, the man lost his balls the moment he met Sophia.
“She’s holding up a hell of a lot better than most would in this position. Tell Soph that she’s fine. I’ll call once I’ve spoken to the guys.” I don’t need to look at Skye to know that she’s beaming at my half-assed compliment.
“Right man, that sounds good. I’ll talk to you later.” He hangs up, and I know that I have to explain that call to Skye.
“I think that’s the nicest compliment that you have ever given me.” She tells me shocking the shit out of me.
Am I that bad? “So, I need to talk to you about something before I call Sam and Oscar.”
Her eyes dart to me and then to the floor, she’s worried about what I’m going to say, “You’ve got me intrigued.”
“Nathan and I had a meeting about a proposed merger; we have worked well together and ever since Connor died, Nathan’s hated working in their office especially as he and Connor built P.I.G.S from the ground up.” God, that day was fucking shit, I got shot, and Connor died, and we still couldn’t save Winter from being kidnapped and hurt.
“I like that idea; will we have to move premises? Who will be in charge, because as much as I like Nathan, I’d rather not have to answer to two bosses?” Good, she’s on side.
“No, we won’t have to move we’ll be expanding into the next building and as for who’ll be in charge. I will be, and Nathan will be second in command.”
“Sounds good, why don’t you call Sam now and see if he’s with Oscar whil
e I run in here.” She nods her head at a shop called Primark; it looks like a clothes shop. Why the hell does she need clothes right now? “I need new clothes because my damn jeans broke, now stop looking at me with that disapproving look and call Sam.”
I forgot about her breaking her jeans. I call Sam and wait for him to answer, God; I hope that he’s not busy with Winter. I don’t want to interrupt those two again. “Hey boss, how’s Skye?” He’s chirpy, so I don’t think I interrupted him.
“She’s okay, where are you?” Yeah, I’m still a gruff bastard.
“I’m at work, why what’s up?” He’s on guard now, worried about what’s to come. I rarely bring good news.
“Is Oscar there? I need to talk to the two of you.” That’s not going to put him at ease, but it will get him to hurry the hell up.
“Sure, thing boss, hold on, and I’ll get him.” I look through the shop window to see if I can see Skye, but the shop is so big and full of people that I can’t see where she is.
“Hey boss, Oscar’s here now. What’s going on?” Sam asks, and he’s desperate to know what the hell is happening.
“A merger has been proposed, merging P.I.G.S and Smithy’s. As we are all co-owners, we need to make a unanimous decision.”
“Damn boss, I thought it was something serious. So, I’m all for the merger, Soph let it slip to Winter who told me.” The fucker sounds smug, and it’s annoying as hell.
“Yeah same here, I think it’s a clever idea, but they had better get their own offices, I’m not sharing.” Why do they have to be like damn kids?
I finally see Skye, and she’s walking toward the exit. “Okay then, I’ll let Nathan know, and for the love of God, you had better have some information for us.” I hang up just as Skye exits the shop with a smile on her face, who would have thought that shopping would make her so happy? I send a text to Nathan letting him know that everyone agrees, and we’ll discuss it further once I’m home.
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