by L. P. Dover
Up ahead, Tyler was by the front door flirting with a couple of women, but when he saw us approaching he left them to come to us. “Don’t tell me you two are leaving already? It’s only,” he drawled, glancing down at his phone, “one o’clock in the morning. It’s early.”
Rolling my eyes, I shook my head and chuckled, “Maybe for you, Ty, but for me I’m used to getting my sleep. Anyway, did you happen to see Wade leave by any chance?”
“Oh, yeah,” he responded, “I saw him leave with his agent. I think he had some kind of promotional party he had to go to or something. I never know anymore these days. Wade’s kind of gone off doing his own thing now. Once he landed his agent he’s been spending more time away and working out at one of the high end gyms. It’s all good, though. Someone in our circle needs to make a name for themselves.”
“Like what? What do you mean doing his own thing and making a name for himself?” I asked. Mason stood by my side, listening intently, but I could already tell he knew what Tyler was going to say. I didn’t like the feeling I had gnawing away at my stomach at all.
Tyler gazed at me incredulously. “Didn’t Wade tell you when you spoke to him? Surely, he wasn’t trying to be modest.”
“No, he didn’t have time since he had to leave shortly after the show. Tell me,” I demanded.
“All right, let’s see,” Tyler began, “It all started when Jake brought up the idea of having in house fights. We all wanted to train so we could be in them. Wade was one of the best ones in the cage and eventually he got noticed.” He glanced over at Mason. “I’m sure you’ll know who the sponsor is since you were a part of it before. They’re one of the top UFC sponsorships any fighter would die to be a part of. You were one of the lucky ones.”
I held in my gasp and glanced nervously over at Mason who stood frozen, his eyes growing wide in shock. I couldn’t begin to fathom what he must’ve felt, learning that something he used to be a part of could actually be a part of what was happening now. Mason swallowed hard before speaking. “So you’re saying—”
Mason couldn’t even finish the sentence before Tyler cut in, “Yep, your old sponsor, MMA Pride, picked up Wade ‘The Destroyer’ Mitchell, or at least it’s in the works. I don’t think it’s officially finalized. What a lucky bastard, huh? I wasn’t good enough for them.”
Tyler’s smile faded when he noticed Mason clenching his hands into tight fists. “Dude, are you okay?” He glanced over at me, lifting a hesitant brow.
I waved him off and smiled, putting a reassuring arm around Mason’s waist. “Oh, he’s fine,” I explained. “He’s just mad that Wade kissed me on the cheek, but I told him that was just how Wade was. He liked to flirt with anyone and everything, right?”
“You got that right,” he agreed a little hesitantly. “Well, anyway, I’m going to get back to work. You two have a good rest of the night.” He went back to his spot at the door while Mason and I headed for the truck. I could tell he was worried about me by the strange reaction he got from Mason. Glancing back at him, I nodded so he’d know I was okay and that everything was fine. Actually, everything was far from fine. I was even still in my costume.
When we got in the truck, he started it up and finally spoke, “I can’t believe this shit. MMA Pride is one of the best and sought out sponsors. Surely, they wouldn’t be involved in something like this.”
“Do you still have your old agent’s contact information? Maybe you could call him and just catch up.”
I didn’t know if that was a long shot, but if he left on good terms I didn’t see where there would be an issue for that. Mason closed his eyes and lowered his head. “I can’t do that, Claire. My agent died two years ago from a heart attack. His wife called to tell me. You know, when that guy stared at me in the theater, he looked at me like he knew me. Now I know why. I just hope I run into him again.”
I wonder if he’ll be at Wade’s party. The only way to find out was to go. I just feared of what Mason would do to Wade when we got there. He looked really pissed at us when he was on the phone. Taking a deep breath, I turned to face him, biting my lip. “I know of a way you might be able to see him again … tomorrow,” I told him.
Mason’s eyes narrowed. “And how is that might I ask?”
“Well … before Wade had to leave he told me about a party he’s having tomorrow night at his house. I don’t know if that guy is going to be there, but it’s worth a shot. We could always go and find out.” I paused to weigh in his reaction, but all he did was turn and stare out into the parking lot.
Mason’s hands were gripped so tight on the steering wheel that I was afraid he’d rip it off. Reaching over, I placed my hand on top of his and squeezed. “Mason, talk to me. I need to know what you’re thinking,” I pleaded.
Closing his eyes, he sighed and leaned his forehead down on my hand. “Claire, there’s something I need to say and you’re not going to like it.” He lifted his head and gazed at me with his sorrowful green eyes.
“What is it?” I asked. Why is he looking at me like that?
Taking my hand, he rubbed his thumb soothingly across my skin before explaining, “Okay, first off, I’m not saying this is the case, but if Wade is hanging out with a man we suspect to have involvement in these recent deaths then there might be a good chance Wade knows about it or is involved himself.”
I had no clue what he was going to say to me, but I definitely wasn’t expecting that. There was no way in hell Wade would ever be involved in that mess. “No,” I argued, shaking my head briskly. “There’s no way Wade would have anything to do with this. I know him, Mason. I may not have seen him in a while, but I’ve kept in touch with him over the years. Well, maybe not so much this past year since I’ve been busy, but that’s not the point. People aren’t always like the company they keep. That would be like saying I’m going to turn into a greedy psychopath like my brother and start kidnapping people.”
Lifting my brows, I crossed my arms over my chest, daring him to contradict me. I wasn’t going to back down from sticking up for him. Wade was my friend and I knew he was a good person. People can change, a nagging voice in my head said. Whatever was going on, I had to believe Wade was still the same person I knew all those years ago.
Still glaring at Mason, I watched him clench his teeth and mumble something under his breath before lifting his hands in the air … giving in. “Okay,” he grumbled. “We will go to the party tomorrow night and I’ll play nice with your friend. I just don’t want to see you get hurt by people you think you can trust. This isn’t a game, Claire, and you’ve seen firsthand what desperation and greed can make a person do.”
I nodded. “I know, but I always try to see the good in people.”
Mason scoffed and put the truck in gear, pulling out of The Labyrinth parking lot. “See that’s what makes us different,” he uttered, glancing over at me before looking back at the road. “I only get to see the bad.”
When we were almost to the hotel, Mason drove past it and kept going. “Where are we going?” I asked. It was closing in on two in the morning and I was exhausted.
Mason ran a hand through his hair and pointed to the hospital that slowly came into view. “We’re going to the hospital,” he remarked warily.
“Umm … why?”
“You know that phone call I got while at the club? Well, it happened to be the Chief of Police. He told me they found Summer.”
Gasping, I cupped a hand over my mouth and cried, “Oh my God, is she okay? What did he tell you?”
Mason found us a parking place and shut off the truck. “They found her in an alley off the main strip. She’s not talking and Ryan was hoping that if she saw someone she knows then she’d snap out of it. I guess we will see.”
Mason opened the door and got out so I followed suit and did the same. I was still in my costume from the club, but I didn’t care. Summer was alive. That was all that mattered.
By the time we got off the elevator, a man I could only assume was Ryan
Griffin charged toward us with a scowl on his face. He was around six foot tall, average build, with red hair and gray, beady eyes that looked too close together.
“It’s about time you got here,” Ryan snapped, looking down at his watch. “I called you over two hours ago.” When he spotted Claire following behind me, dressed in her little toga, he turned those too close eyes to me and glared.
“Well, I see now what the hell you’ve been doing,” he hissed, instantly making my hackles rise. He pulled out his wallet and took out a wad of money, thrusting it at Claire. “Look, I’m sorry he brought you here, but you need to leave. The money I gave you should get you a cab ride home or to wherever you need to go.”
The way he looked at me and her with disdain pissed me the fuck off. Before I could say or do something that would probably land me in jail myself, Claire beat me to it. The look in her furious gaze along with the firm set of her lips, I could definitely say I’d felt the wrath of that look before. She was enraged, but nothing would ever take away the priceless vision of the surprised look on his face when she threw the money back at him.
“Excuse me, Mr. Griffin, but I’m not going anywhere. If it wasn’t for me you wouldn’t know half the shit Mason has been telling you. You need to show a little respect, especially when you’re speaking to a woman. I’m trying to help you,” she warned. I had to give it to her, she had balls.
“What is she talking about?” Ryan hissed, glaring at us both.
“Claire used to work at The Labyrinth and got us in there. She’s been introducing me to people and while we were there I found the guy with the dragon tattoo,” I informed him through clenched teeth.
Ryan sighed and shook his head. “Mason, you should know better than to get someone else involved with this. It’s not a good idea no matter how good her connections are.” He turned to Claire and asked, “What’s your full name? Who are you and what do you do?”
Claire crossed her arms over her chest with a smug expression on her face. “My name is Claire O’Briene and I’m from Sonoma County, California. I own the O’Briene Vineyards and Winery. I’m here to help Mason and I think I’ve done a pretty damn good job of it, too.”
“All right, enough questions to Claire,” I cut in, glaring at Ryan. “She’s not some hooker I picked off the street as you can see now. Let’s get on to more important things.”
Ryan blew out a frustrated breath and closed his eyes. “Fine, tell me about the man with the tattoo. Do you have his name … anything?”
“No, I didn’t get his name, but I did get a tidbit of other information.” Ryan lifted an impatient brow and beckoned for me to continue with a wave of his hand. I was going to break that hand if he waved it in my face one more time. “It looks like the guy we’re looking for is an agent for a well-known company who sponsors MMA fighters.”
“Interesting,” Ryan responded curiously. “Well, I guess we need to start looking into that. You probably know of—”
“There’s no need,” I cut in dryly. “I already know who he’s with … because it happens to be the same sponsor I had when I fought.”
Ryan’s eyes grew wide. “Are you serious? Do you have any connections with them still?”
Warily, I shook my head and explained, “I don’t. My agent died a couple of years ago. He was the last tie I had to them. I’ll look on their website and see if there are any pictures of the listed agents. Anyway, Claire and I are going to a party tomorrow night and there’s a pretty good chance our man will be there. I’ll figure it all out when the time comes, but right now I came here to see Summer. We can discuss things in detail later when I know more.”
Ryan nodded and pointed to the room across the hall. “I understand. Her room is right there. We’ll talk about everything later.”
Turning away from Ryan, I faced the closed door to Summer’s room. Taking a deep breath, I reached for the handle and opened it slowly, quietly. Claire came up beside and whispered, “Do you want me to go in there with you?”
Not knowing what happened to Summer or what she looked like, I didn’t want Claire to have to see it. Instead, I gazed down at her and said softly, “As much as I want you with me, I don’t think it’s a good idea.”
“Okay,” she murmured gently. Squeezing my hand, she nodded sadly and took a seat out in the hallway.
The room was dim, the only light coming from a small lamp in the corner of the room, and silent other than the light beeping sounds of the machines Summer was hooked up to. The second she came into view I could barely recognize her. Her skin was ghostly pale and there were tubes going in and out of her body everywhere. She was sound asleep, so I lifted her chart out of the bin and took a seat in the chair beside her bed. She didn’t appear to have been physically beaten or abused which was definitely a good thing. However, it looked like she hadn’t eaten anything in the past two weeks she’d been missing. Her once full face, which was always so glowing and bright, was now sunken in and skeletal.
What the hell happened to her?
Opening up her chart, I glanced through all the different findings and according to her condition when she came in she was dehydrated, malnourished, and suffering from severe emotional distress. No one had been able to get her to talk and even though she hadn’t seen me in a while I hoped she would at least recognize me. I needed to know what happened.
Lightly, I laid my hand on top of hers; it was cold and dry. Her fingers jerked and slowly she pulled her hand out from under mine and placed hers on top, weakly trying to squeeze.
Leaning over the bed, I watched her eyes flutter a few times before she slowly opened them. “Summer,” I murmured, “it’s me, Mason.”
Confused, she blinked and narrowed her gaze at me, scared. She let go of my hand and pulled it away, staring at me like I was a complete stranger. “Summer, can you talk to me? Do you recognize me at all?” I asked her. “I was one of your friends, remember?”
Tears fell down her cheeks, but she kept her gaze on me and never once opened her mouth to speak. Ryan caught my eye in the doorway, but I shook my head so he’d know I hadn’t made any progress. I had no clue what to do to get her to talk to me. Whatever she went through when Austin died completely messed her up. Her once bright blue eyes even looked dull and devoid of life.
“Please snap out of this soon, Summer. I hate seeing you like this,” I whispered. Austin would hate to see you like this, I wanted to say. “I’m going to be here until you get better, you hear me? I know you remember me, Summer, and I can promise you this … whatever happened to you I’m going to make sure the people who did it are found. You can count on that.”
I waited for a couple of extra minutes, hoping she would speak, but when it was obvious she wasn’t going to I put her chart back and walked out the door. I had a promise to keep.
When the sun came up the next morning, Mason and I had only been in bed for about three hours. As soon as we got back from the hospital we both laid on the bed and immediately fell asleep. I was still wearing my costume, which wasn’t exactly comfortable to sleep in, but I did it anyway. Mason was still asleep when I got out of the shower so I decided to get dressed and grab some breakfast from one of the restaurants downstairs.
After putting my hair up in a messy ponytail, I threw on a pair of yoga pants and a teal tank top with my sneakers so I could work out in the gym after I ate. Mason needed his rest and the last thing I wanted to do was make noise and wake him up. I wrote him a quick letter to tell him where I was going, placed it on the pillow beside him, and walked quietly out the door.
When I stayed at the Bellagio years ago, I always ate breakfast by myself so it didn’t bother me to sit alone in the restaurants. After being seated at a table, the waitress took my order, which was a gourmet egg and cheese omelet with freshly squeezed orange juice … my favorite. While I waited on my food to come out, I flipped through the pictures on my phone to pass the time. There were many of them with me and Melissa goofing off, and then several of me and Cooper
over the past few months. I hadn’t spoken to him since I left, but I hoped we could find a way to still be friends. We had too much of a history just to let it go.
I kept scrolling until I got to the one picture I secretly stored in my phone. It was of me and Mason at Brett and Melissa’s wedding, with him in his tux and me in my bridesmaid’s dress. After he left me, and even though I hated him, I didn’t have the heart to delete the picture. We were both a little tipsy, and I could still remember the way my heart pounded in my chest when he pulled me close, putting his arm around my shoulders. It was the night that changed everything.
Too busy looking at my phone, I didn’t notice that someone had taken a seat across from me until I heard them speak, “You know, I’ve always appreciated the way a female looks in the mornings. You have a natural beauty to you, Claire.”
Fumbling with my phone, I glanced up quickly to find none other than Wade’s agent and the man Mason desperately wanted to see again leering at me. Instead of wearing the expensive clothes he wore at the club, he now wore a Cincinnati Reds baseball cap, a simple black T-shirt and running shorts as if he just got through working out along. Was he staying in the same hotel?
“Um … thanks, I guess,” I answered dryly.
With a wolfish grin on his face, he extended his hand and introduced himself, “I just wanted to say I’m sorry for being in such a rush last night and taking Wade away from you. I know I must’ve seemed rude. I’m Erick Young by the way.”
Snorting, I shook his hand quickly and let go. “Yeah, you were a little rude,” I blurted out honestly, “but it’s okay. I’m used to being around assholes.”
Tilting his head back, he bellowed out a laugh. “Wow, I can see why Wade likes you so much. I have to say it’s refreshing to hear a woman speak her mind. You know, Wade talked about you almost the entire night. Claire this and Claire that.”