“Why do you think Rachel?” She said giving me the ‘duh’ face.
My brother’s doing drugs, I thought, wanting to throw up, and maybe slap Liz until I could get my hands on Jace. God help that little shit when I got a hold of him I was going to beat the hell out of him.
“I’m worried about him Rachel.” Liz whispered causing my anger to slip and fear for my brother to take root.
Searching for a missing person was not my strong area. Dad would know what to do but I promised Liz I wouldn’t tell him. Damn I should know better than to promise someone something before I knew what I was promising about. Ok plan, if I couldn’t find Jace by the end of the day, I would call Dad.
Stepping away from the door, wanting to hurry now that I had a plan, I pointed to Liz. “I need you to go home and call everyone you and Jace know to see if anyone has seen him. I’m going to go search for him. If you hear anything, call me.”
Without another word, Liz left to go make calls, and I hurried to get dressed, dreading the place I was going to go to first. I had no idea who J was, but I knew someone that might know. The question was would he help me after I left him alone in his bed?
****
After knocking on the door and waiting only a couple of seconds, the door flung open and a very pissed off man glared at me. If it wasn’t for the pissed off look on his face, I would have probably taken a step closer because the man looked amazing. Golden blonde hair fell into his unusually green and yellow eyes and all the piercings and tattoos, which looked dangerous on Denny, looked welcoming on him.
Clearing my throat and praying my face wasn’t as red as I feared it was, I spoke softly to the man, “I’m looking for Denny, is he here?”
The man’s green and yellow eyes ran over my body taking in my blue jeans and black turtle neck before finally stopping on my face, which was being covered by the wind whipping my blonde hair all over the place. I let out the breath I’d been holding because the guy didn’t look like he was going to slam the door in my face anymore. I immediately regretted it when I saw the tip of a gun behind the man’s back as he turned and yelled for Denny.
My father being a cop meant guns around the house was nothing unusual, but answering the front door with a gun in the middle of the morning was kind of weird and a little suspicious.
“He’s at the club.” I heard Denny yell.
The gun forgotten I glared at the man standing in the door as the pissed off look turned into a big old smirk.
“I’m pretty sure she heard that brother.” The man said laughter clear in his voice.
Glad I could be a mood picker upper for the guy, but he had about five more seconds before the bitch inside me broke loose.
“I’ll let you know when I care.” Denny yelled back again.
Oh yeah that brought the bitch out.
“Denny Garcia get your ass out here!” I screamed causing the man in front of me to lose the smirk pretty damn fast.
“Rachel.” Denny whispered walking up behind the guy who was back to being pissed off.
The guy looked between Denny and I then without a word turned and walked away.
“I’m sorry I walked out of you last Saturday, but seeing how you were being the World’s biggest asshole a minute ago, I figure we’re even. So I’m sorry again, but I really need your help.” I blurted out in a rush.
Denny stared at me for several minutes with every kind of emotion a person could have flashing across his face before he settled on a blank expression. Stepping aside, Denny motioned for me to come in.
I followed Denny into the kitchen, where he leaned his hip into the counter and folded his muscular arms across his chest. I felt the breath catch in my throat as I got my first real look at Denny in the light. Last Saturday Denny had been extremely sexy in a black suit, but now in the light of day dressed in blue jeans falling off his narrow hips, a black t-shirt clinging to big toned muscles, unruly dark black hair curling at the tips and dark blue eyes that were so dark they were one shade away from being black had me realizing just how beautiful Denny truly was.
Not just beautiful, dangerously beautiful.
“What do you need my help with Rachel?” Denny asked making me realize that my mouth was hanging open.
Shaking it off I looked Denny in the eye. “My brother Jace went to see a guy named J at your club about buying drugs.” Denny’s body stiffened, and anger flashed across his face. In a split second Denny went from being dangerously beautiful to downright terrifying, causing me to finish my sentence in a shaky rush, “I was wondering if you knew someone called J?”
“Jonah!” Denny screamed causing me to jump about ten feet in the air.
The pissed off guy, who’s name I guess was Jonah, appeared in the kitchen door within seconds.
“What’s wrong?” He said staring at Denny, worry clear on his stunning face.
“Rachel’s brother went to Risk last night to see someone named J about buying drugs.” Denny hissed through clenched teeth.
Jonah’s face went impressively blank giving nothing away, so if he knew the guy or not I had no idea.
“What’s his name?” Jonah asked calmly looking between Denny and me.
“His name is Jace, but look he never came home last night after meeting with this J guy so if you know him can you tell me so I can go see him.”
Denny and Jonah stared at each other nodding and shaking their heads, but not speaking a word out loud.
Cussing under his breath Denny smacked the counter. “Give me your cell number and address then go home and wait for me to call.”
“Excuse me?”
“Go home so Jonah and I can go find your stupid brother.”
Yes he was stupid for buying freaking drugs, but only I got to call him stupid.
Squaring my shoulders and standing to my full height I stared Denny straight in the eyes. “If you don’t want to help me Denny just tell me to get lost, and I will find this J guy on my own.”
Stepping into my space Denny pointed towards his front door. “Go home, I said I would find your brother so that is what I’m going to fucking do.”
“You obviously don’t want to help so why bother?” I snapped pushing into his space. If he thought he was going to intimidate me with his big body, he had another thing coming.
“This isn’t worth another lay.” Denny mumbled pushing a hand through his dark curls.
He did not just say that.
“You think by helping me you’re going to get laid?” Shaking my head I laughed out loud. “Once was enough thanks.” Lie, lie, lie. I wanted Denny right here right now. Who knew arguing could be such a turn on.
“Fine, leave.” Denny snarled.
“Fine.” I yelled.
Before I could turn to leave Denny grabbed the back of my neck and slammed our mouths together.
Ripping his clothes away and having hot messy sex on the kitchen floor was so close I could taste it.
“Ah fuck no.” Jonah yelled. “Are you two going to get it on like rabbits or are we going to find her fucking brother?”
His words were ice-cold water on my sex drive. Pulling apart I wanted to die, I could not believe Jonah had been witness to Denny and I going at it like horny teenagers.
Taking a deep breath Denny stepped away from me slowly. “We should go find your brother.”
“Yes.” Was all I could say.
“Number, address?” Jonah snapped.
Yes, number, address. Quickly writing both down on a piece of paper Jonah shoved at me, I mumbled thanks and ran from the house without looking at either of them.
Once in my car I slammed my head down on to my steering wheel. What the fuck was that? Sexy as all hell? Yes. Out of control? Yes. So, so bad? Oh hell yes. I was the World’s worst sister. My brother was missing after going to buy drugs from a random guy and here I was thinking about nothing but sex and Denny. Hell here I come.
Starting the car I drove home.
Once home I’d cooled down enou
gh to think. I’d give Denny and Jonah the day to find J which would hopefully lead to them finding Jace. If they didn’t find either, I’d call Dad.
****
I waited until Rachel’s car was out of site before I turned and ran back into the house.
“Talk.” I said pointing to a frowning Jonah.
“Me talk? How about you talk. What the fuck was that?”
“That could have been some hot floor sex but no you had to fucking talk.”
“Arguing with her turned you on?” Jonah asked disbelief all over his face.
Fuck yeah. “I’ve never felt so turned on in my life. Which is why you need to tell me what the hell you were doing calling her brother in, so I can find this little prick then go have floor sex.”
Rolling his eyes Jonah started talking. “Vinnie sent Kay to collect money for him a couple of weeks ago. When Kay got there he found one of Adam’s runners also collecting money.”
“Jace was buying from Adam and Vinnie?” I asked wondering how stupid Rachel’s brother was. Buying from two rival drug businesses was asking for all kinds of trouble.
“That’s what Kay thought. He did a little digging found out Jace is a dealer for Adam.” Oh fuck that was worse. “Which is why I had Kay tell Jace I wanted to see him at Risk last night. He comes to see me, I keep it to myself and don’t tell Adam he is buying from Vinnie, but the little shit never showed.”
Goddamnit that was not good. Did someone else find out Jace was working for Adam and buying from Vinnie? If so Jace was either very hurt or very dead. Something I did not want to have to tell Rachel. Which was odd because I didn’t care about anyone but Jonah and Mason. So why the hell did I care what happened to some chick’s brother? Because bad news would mean no sex. Yeah that’s all it was. Bad news no sex.
“What you thinking so hard about Denny? It looks like your head is about to explode.” Jonah said pulling me from my mental freak out.
Rubbing a hand over my face I shook my head. “Why the fuck do I care what happens to her brother?”
Chuckling Jonah gave me a rare smile. “Because you’re not Vinnie. You try to be like him but you’re not.”
“I’m an asshole Jonah, end of story.”
“You think you are but you’re not. You care Denny and I’ll put my car on it that you really like this girl.”
“I like her body.” I snapped.
“You like more than her body brother.”
“Shut up and get your shit. We’ve got a boy to find.”
“Avoiding it won’t change the fact that asshole to women Denny might actually like a girl for something other than just sex.”
Going to get my gun I refused to let what Jonah said enter my mind. My father supposedly loved my mother but he had never been anything but an abusive son of a bitch. His blood ran through my veins. If I let Rachel become anything more than just sex she would become a broken woman, just like my mother.
I was an asshole, end of story.
****
When looking for someone in the Denver underground, there was only one person to go to, Shark.
Shark knew everything there was to know about the Denver underground, he was an enforcer, a con-artist, carried messages between the gangs and businesses and had gotten into the scene by killing someone.
Shark was everyone’s go to person. Jonah and I were hush friends with him. In front of others we weren’t friends, Jonah and I bullied Shark for information nothing more. Hell we worked for Vinnie, which meant we bullied everyone. However unlike others when Shark was by himself there was no bullying between us, Shark was a good guy and a good friend.
Jonah pulled into the parking lot of what could only be described as the world’s shittiest bar. Parking close to the alley that ran along the backside of the bar, the place we always met with Shark.
Getting out of the car the smell of rotting trash hit me like a punch, turning my stomach painfully.
“We have to find a new meeting place.” Jonah grumbled shooting me a dirty look like it was my fault the alley smelled.
Pushing my gun into the waistband of my jeans at the small of my back, I followed moody Jonah into the alley.
Shark was already there, with the boy with the long hair. I would have commented on his hair needing a cut, but I liked my face way too much to have it smashed in. The guy was like a ghost, a very scary quiet ghost. I’d only ever seen him with Shark, he never talked, and we had no idea what his name was. No matter, Shark trusted him, so we did too.
Jerking his chin up and running his left hand through his wavy blonde hair, Shark gave us the code that no one else was around to hear or see. Thank god, I thought as I let out a relieved breath, the less people who knew about Jace, the safer it was for Rachel.
There I went again. I didn’t care about Rachel’s safety. I needed to start remembering that.
Stopping a couple feet away from Shark, I skipped over the greeting and got right to business. “I’m looking for a guy named Jace?”
“I need more than just a name D.” Shark said his sea blue eyes on alert darting around the alley looking for anything out of place.
“New dealer for Adam.”
“I got you, he’s not new, and he is not going by the name Jace. Adam gave him a trial run the kid brought in the money, but his old man is a cop. The kid had to go D.”
Goddamnit all to hell Rachel’s father was a freaking cop, which meant Jace was in more trouble than I could probably fix. “How did Adam take the cop thing?”
“Word on the street, not well at all.”
“Fuck.” Jonah hissed.
Nodding at Jonah Shark winced. “Adam beat the shit out of him, and threatened to go after his father’s career if he breathed a word about Adam or his business to anyone.”
“When did Adam do this?”
“Last night.”
Well that explained why no one had seen him this morning. “Did Adam leave him breathing?”
“Messed up but breathing, even Adam’s not stupid enough to kill a cop’s son.”
Well that was something, now I just had to figure out where the hell Jace had gone to lay low. “Any idea where he would go?”
Shark never let any emotion show unless it was him being a smartass, so when he gave me a look that said he thought I was extremely stupid, I was too surprised to be pissed.
“Tell me something D, your friend Mason where does he work?” There was the smartass. With a cheeky smirk Shark flick two fingers out, then disappeared down the back of the alley with his longhaired friend.
Staring after Shark and feeling very stupid I missed Jonah’s movement, but felt the smack up side my head.
“You’re a dipshit.” Jonah growled walking back to the car.
Jonah was right I was a dipshit. Mason our roommate and best friend worked for a private investigator and had tracked cell numbers for us before. Rachel had me so off balance I wasn’t thinking straight.
After calling Rachel and getting Jace’s number, Jonah called Mason. It took Mason ten minutes to get us a location, another ten minutes to drive to the seedy motel Jace was hiding out in, and then fifty bucks and a death threat to get the room number.
To start we just knocked on the door, but from what Shark told us Adam had worked Jace over good, so if the kid was smart he wouldn’t open the door to just anyone. Knocking again I yelled through the closed door that I was a friend of his sister. This got us the sound of movement coming from inside the room and the door to open just a crack. I couldn’t see much of Jace, as the door wasn’t open wide enough but what I did see had me shuddering. I knew Adam had beat Jace, and knowing Adam for as long as I’d worked for Vinnie I knew it would be bad, but it was nothing compared to what Jonah and I were seeing. Adam had used Jace as an example to show his crew and the underground scene what would happen if anyone ever messed with his business again. It was sad that I knew this but example beatings were the worst, not an inch of skin would be left without a bruise or cut.
Clearing my throat I put my hands up showing Jace I meant no harm. “Rachel came to me this morning asking if I could help find you. I found you, now I need you to let my brother and I in so I can help you some more. I see three cuts on your face that need at the very least butterfly clips, probably could do with some stitches, but I’m guessing you don’t want to explain to the cops why a drug boss beat the shit out of you.”
A strangled sound pushed through Jace’s split and swollen lips and the eye that wasn’t swollen shut widened in horror. “Are you here to hurt me?”
My heart squeezed painfully, the reason I came to be here in the first place dropped to the back of my mind as I stared into the eyes of a boy who’d just lost his innocence. Yesterday the World was full of light and good, today it was dark and bad. I knew what the kid was feeling as it was the same feeling I got the day I started working for Vinnie.
“I’m not going to hurt you Jace but I would really like to help you.” I said in the kindest voice I had.
Nodding Jace stepped back, and opened the door for Jonah and I to come in.
Stopping Jonah with my hand to his chest I jerked my chin towards the bed, “Sit back down Jace I’ll be right with you I just need to talk to Jonah first.” I waited until Jace was sitting on the bed and out of earshot before I slipped my gun out of the back of my jeans. Turning to Jonah I handed him the gun taking extra care to make sure Jace didn’t see it. Jonah took it without question, shoving it into his waistband at his hip. “Get the medic kit from the car and run across the street and get water and food.”
“Be gentle Denny I’m not sure this kid can handle your badass big brother thing.” Jonah whispered turning on his heels and walking down the hall.
“Don’t worry I’ll save that just for you smartass.” I yelled to his departing back, getting his middle finger before he turned the corner.
Chuckling I went into the room and shut the door, putting on a blank expression to deal with Jace.
The kid was at breaking point so I kept quiet while cleaning up the cuts with a wet washcloth. But damn was I dying to know why the fuck a cop’s son would want to work in the drug scene. He looked like a good kid, almost the same as Rachel actually. He had the same light blonde hair as Rachel, hazel eyes a couple of shades darker, but tall and lanky, just like her. He was the picture of an innocent boy.
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