Trusting Gibson (Last Score Book 2)

by K. L. Shandwick

  “Don’t start that, Gib. I was there, I only went to the bathroom for less than two minutes and I’d asked Lennox and Mick to watch out for you while I was gone. If you had controlled your drinking you wouldn’t have passed out.”

  Under normal circumstances anyone working in security that let something like this happen would never have worked again, but this was Jerry and apart from Johnny there was no one more loyal or diligent at taking care of me, I banged the dashboard in frustration but I didn’t say anything else, because that would have just made a bad situation worse and I needed him to get me home as quickly as possible.

  By the time we arrived back at the hotel I’d drunk a liter of water from the cooler we always kept in the car, and was dying to pee but feeling a lot more with it than when I first left the club. My heart was beating wildly against my chest wall with the worry of telling Chloe about my night and the possible hurt she’d feel when I showed her the pictures. But I knew I had to do it before someone else showed her.

  Jerry swiped the key card to the suite and bid me goodnight after I stopped him from taking me inside. Swaying a little, I tried to get my bearings in the dark before staggering toward the bathroom. Turning on the light, my head automatically looked over my shoulder to see Chloe in the bed, but she wasn’t there.

  Fumbling around on the wall, my hand swiping back and forth, I finally found the main switch and the room was bathed in light. Chloe wasn’t there. Panic rose in my chest. Had Chloe already seen the pictures and fled? Knowing how fragile Chloe’s trust of me was, if she had seen what Jerry showed me it would be easy for her to think the worst of me and run before I had the chance to explain. I was fearful if that was the case, I may never find her again.

  CHAPTER 19 - COMMUNICATION

  Gibson

  Where is she? Did she go to Emma’s? Taking out my phone to check, I saw there was a voice message from Emma.

  “Gibson—I was sick as I was about to leave earlier and tried to call Chloe again. As soon as I could I went to your suite, but there was no answer. I called Johnny and got his voicemail. Jerry was at the gig with you and I knew he’d never hear me ring so I texted him, then rang the front desk and asked the concierge to come and let me into the penthouse.

  “When I got there Chloe wasn’t in the room and I just want to check she’s with you. Chloe said she was feeling a bit better this morning, so wondered if she’d changed her mind about going with you. Lois was coming on board today, right? So I’m hoping she’s gone with her. Really, Gibson—the communication needs to be much tighter with this if we are all going to keep Chloe safe.”

  Oh. My. God. Pacing the room unsteadily with panic rising in my chest, I called Johnny and Jerry on speed dial and poured myself some more water, trying desperately to get my body on full alert. Did she leave me? Just up and leave? Was she planning this? Did something happen? Did she see the pictures? I felt as if I was suffocating, my lungs restricting with increasingly shallow breaths as I fought the dreadful feelings that were threatening to make me so fucking irrational that I’d do something crazy.

  Johnny came into the room, tucking the key card he’d just swiped into his pocket. “Okay, don’t panic Gibson. We need to establish the facts.” He was holding his hands placed down toward the floor in his effort to pacify me.

  Staring angrily at Johnny’s worried face, I wanted to smash it. “Don’t fucking panic? Don’t panic? Where the fuck is she? Has she just upped and left me? Lulled me into a false sense of security then fucking run off into the sunset?” Flinging my arms wide I spun unsteadily around to demonstrate that Chloe wasn’t in the room.

  “Gibson, calm down. This isn’t helping. You need to get a grip and sober up.” The door latch clicked and Jerry entered the room. A red mist fell over my eyes when I saw him. Emma had texted him and he’d missed it. Just like he’d missed the girl who was now all over the fucking Internet, gazing adoringly at me. “What the hell have you all been doing? How the fuck did none of you know she was missing? Four of you and you can’t speak to each other? The voicemail from Emma was at 3:00pm this afternoon. I can understand her position, she was being sick like Chloe. Twenty-five minutes after I left her, she rang.” I paced the floor unsteadily. Johnny had made some coffee in the small kitchen and poured a large strong one laying the mug down on the glass coffee table.

  “Drink it. Sober up. This isn’t helping. We are wasting time here, Gib. You can rant all you want, but it’s not going to bring her back. What you need now is our skill set. I suggest you calm the fuck down and let us do our job.”

  “Do your job? I fucking trusted you all to do your job, and she’s gone. How is that you doing your fucking job? You didn’t see her. Chloe looked physically sick. There was nothing to suggest to me that she was capable of going anywhere. I was worrying about those pictures from the club and she had already gone, if Emma’s timeline is right. Where the fuck is Lois? Where’s the security detail here, because I’m at a loss as to what you all think you get paid for.”

  Johnny nodded at Jerry, who turned abruptly and left the suite without saying anything else. “Where is he going? He’s a fucking idiot. He missed Emma’s text. Where has he gone?”

  Cautiously, Johnny came over and pushed me down on the chair. “Trust me. If she’s up and left, we’ll know that in less than an hour. You have to calm the fuck down and let us do our job. Screaming and cussing at us isn’t going to bring her walking through that door, so if I were you I’d get my head in a better place, because you are going to need to be on top of your game when we do find her.”

  Reasoning with me like that made me feel like a child, but he was right. I wasn’t going to do any good by screaming at the people that needed to focus on finding out what had happened.

  “Did you call her? Chloe. Did you call her, Gib?”

  Johnny pulled out his phone, swiped the screen and held the cell to his ear without waiting for me to answer. I hadn’t even thought of that in my drunken state.

  “Harder to Breathe” by Maroon 5 started to play from somewhere in the room. I knew it was Chloe’s favorite non-M3rCy song. Johnny turned swiftly, stalking in the direction of the sound and crouched down near one of the nightstands. Chloe’s bag was half hidden beside the bed and he swiped it out, unzipped it and turned it upside down, emptying the contents on the bed. Rifling through the items he began picking things out, tossing them into a pile and listing them.

  “Passport, cell, credit card holder…” He checked inside and pulled out the cards. “Driver’s license, black visa card, bank card…” Pushing them back inside, he added them to the pile before continuing. “Wallet, keys, body spray, spare panties unused, feminine product unused, pocket book.” Looking over his shoulder as he stuffed everything back in the bag except the phone, he shook his head, staring grimly back at me.

  “Well wherever she is, she hasn’t gone far Gib, she’s taken nothing with her.” Hearing Johnny’s assessment made my heart race and I was even more confused. If she hasn’t taken anything then where is she? Is she with Lois? For fuck sake think, Gibson.

  “Forgive me, I’m drunk. Give me the skinny— you need to spell this out to me. I have no idea what to think right now.”

  “When I know—you’ll know.”

  Johnny made calls and barked various instructions down the line at people. The next hour and half were a blur.

  Jerry let himself back into the suite. Walking nervously toward me with a hurt look on his face, it was clear to see he knew he’d made huge mistakes. Easing down slowly on the bed facing me, he had a pained look on his face.

  “Gib, I’m having the hotel and nearby buildings CCTV checked. Hospitals and police stations have drawn a blank and there have been no withdrawals against her bank account or credit cards nor, car rentals in her name. I’ve got the whole team involved and the private investigators and public relations are working hard so that you can have some privacy while we find her.”

  “Jesus, she can’t just have fallen o
ff the face of the earth. Where is Lois? What the fuck happened to her?”

  “The airports are being checked as we speak, Gib, but apparently there was some altercation on the flight she was on and it was diverted to Boston, the plane is still on the ground and the passengers are still in situ.”

  “What a cluster fuck.” Running my hands nervously through my hair again, I fought against the adrenaline rush and the feeling of sickening panic in my chest. The reality that Chloe was somewhere out there without me, and possibly sick, really hit home.

  Picking up the coffee from the table, I downed it in one. “Right, get me sober now! I need to think.” Johnny went into the bathroom, then I heard him turn the faucet on in the shower, when he came back in the room he stood beside me with his arms folded.

  “Strip, get your ass in the shower. I don’t care how cold it is.”

  Jerry poured another big mug of coffee for me to cool while I was in the shower, then sat at the dressing table talking on his phone to someone from the team. I felt helpless.

  Johnny walked into the bathroom and helped me stagger into the shower. Fast jets of ice cold water hit my skin, making it constrict into millions of goose bumps. My balls almost ran inside my pelvis to get away from the shocking cold rivulets of water that ran down and into my groin.

  “Ah, fuck, it’s freezing.” Shivering against the sudden shock, my body became more alert.

  “Get your head under, Gib. Don’t be a pussy. You want to get sober, you’ll do as you are told.”

  Standing naked under the shower was torturous but it reminded me why I shouldn’t have let myself drink. I’m immune to recognizing when I’ve had enough and I’m a sloppy drunk. I’d just learned that in serious circumstances where I had to think, I was completely useless.

  By the time I had showered and dried I was fully coherent and much more in control of my faculties. Jerry had established that Emma was still sick in her room and was unaware there was a problem at all, because she had done all she could in the circumstances and informed Jerry, who had inadvertently let the buck stop with him.

  Padding barefoot over to the dresser, I pulled out some fresh jeans and my hand landed on the t-shirt that Chloe told me was her favorite. It was a tight white t-shirt with cotton so thin she could see my ink through it. Chloe said it reminded her of the t-shirt that I was wearing during the thunderstorm back at Beltz.

  Pulling it out, I threaded my arms in to the sleeves and pulled it over my head. Johnny’s phone rang as I stepped into my jeans and he headed for the door. Before I could say anything he’d left, the door banging shut behind him.

  Jerry was still sitting at the table working on a laptop and glanced in the direction of the door, then at me.

  “Find out what’s going on. I want information. Fucking inform me.” I gestured my head at the door, I was finding it hard to be in the same room as the guy. I love Jerry like a brother, but Chloe was my life and he’d fucked up big time.

  I grabbed my phone and thought about calling Len but he was in a worse state than I was and I was trying to think who I could vent to. The only person I could think of was Morgan, but I knew that I couldn’t do that to Chloe or to Morgan for that matter, now that I knew she’d been harboring feelings that were more than the friendship I thought we’d had.

  Feeling more alone than at any time in my life, I had a stark and sobering revelation. There was not one person I knew and totally trusted apart from Chloe, that wasn’t employed by me. Chloe was the only person that gained nothing from being around me and in fact, I had caused her more issues than I resolved, by highlighting where she was to Kace.

  “Fuck! That’s it! Fuck!” Stamping angrily toward the door, I flung it open and saw Johnny and Jerry in deep conversation. Johnny’s brow was creased with worry and Jerry was rubbing the back of his neck. “He’s got her, hasn’t he? Kace! He’s got to her! Where is he? I’m telling you, he hurts one hair on her fucking head and he’s dead. I’ll kill him with my bare hands.”

  Johnny moved swiftly toward me and enveloped me in a hug, then began to walk backward with me struggling against him until he’d taken me back into the room. He shoved me hard and I landed on the bed, surprised at how assertive he was being with me. I think he knew he was walking a fine line, and his hand was kinda vibrating on my chest with temper when he pushed me back.

  “Sit down. I need to talk to you and you need to listen. There is CCTV footage of a guy placing something in a blanket into the car trunk in the alleyway. The guy is in a concierge suit, but the management can’t identify him. We’re just waiting for the footage to be streamed to us and we’ll know if it is Kace.”

  When Johnny voiced my fears, my heart almost stopped. Jerry swiped the door key and pushed it open. And when I saw the devastated expression on his face, he didn’t have to say anything. I just knew.

  “Nooooo!” One glance at the look on his face and I felt like someone had taken a pickaxe to my chest. It felt like I was bleeding inside, my heart banging hard and rapidly against my breastbone, struggling for some kind of rhythm. My whole body began to shake violently in shock. Every bone in my body had been telling me not to leave her in the room by herself and I had let Chloe talk me out of the heavy feeling in my gut about that.

  “I want that bastard found today, you hear me? If he harms a hair on my Chloe’s head I’m gonna tear his limbs off one at a time. Do we have any concrete information? Any leads? The car? Did you inform the law? Get everyone together…the team here now. I want to know everything we have. Don’t even think of holding back on me. This is my girl. My girl. My life. Remember that. Cancel the gigs. Sorry, but I can’t function without her. I am not playing another note until she’s back with me, y’all hear me?”

  Crushing feelings both in my belly and my chest made my breathing noisy, rapid and uneven. The shock of knowing that somewhere out there Chloe was dealing with the guy that she’d been so careful to be free from, and that I had lead him right to her, almost killed me. That single thought wrecked me. Strong waves of nausea gripped me and I headed for the bathroom, just making it as far as the sink before I became overwhelmed by the involuntary heaving as I vomited everywhere.

  “Shit, Gib. Come on. Let’s sort you out.”

  Waving his arm off, I shunned him angrily. “Fuck off Johnny, I’m not a child. I’m a grown man and I did this to myself. Stop talking to me like I’m fucking stupid. I was incapacitated by alcohol, that’s all. I didn’t fall and give myself brain issues. So…”

  Distant ringing from the other room made the two of us stop our argument dead. Both turned, in the direction of the bathroom door and headed swiftly for the main suite area. Jerry’s voice trailed away as he disappeared out the door of the penthouse. I began to tell Johnny to get after him when he reappeared again as fast as he had left.

  When he came back he had a grey, tired look on his face and I had a terrible relentless feeling of impending doom registering in my wildly erratic thoughts. Thinking Chloe was somewhere out there at the hands of Kace was devastating, I had never felt so guilty or helpless in my life about anything I had done, as I felt about what Chloe might be going through.

  “The team are on their way, Gib. There are two detectives coming as well. We need their help to find her because the car was found abandoned behind an old warehouse, and there is no trace of them. No CCTV, no witnesses, no store for a mile or more, and it isn’t a ‘foot friendly’ place.”

  Every time Jerry opened his mouth the news seemed to be worse than the last time he spoke.

  “So…we had CCTV of the car and now we have nothing? No clue at all where he’s taken her? What he’s doing with her? Fuck! If anything happens to her…” My voice trailed off because the thoughts were too difficult to say out loud.

  My fists were clenched with frustration. There was nothing I wanted more than to find and squeeze the bullying asshole’s neck, but my first thought was Chloe and how petrified she must be feeling. My heart was cracking open wider with ev
ery single thought that ran through my head and I prayed that Chloe could stay strong in her weakened state and know I was looking for her.

  CHAPTER 20 - OUT OF MY MIND

  Gibson

  Five days. Five fucking days and not a word.

  For the first two days I was holding it together—barely. The last three had made me sick to my stomach. Day three, we met again with the police. Charlotte and the PR team had somehow managed to keep it away from the press. The official line was that I had a virus, and as someone had wind of a doctor visiting Chloe, we had the grace of the media leaving us in private to ‘recover’.

  I felt a total failure that I’d let the ball drop with Chloe’s safety and I had to make a call I was dreading to make. When I found the number for her parents in her phone, I felt sick. They had no idea what had happened and preferred they heard it from someone who knew Chloe, than strangers. When I dialed Chloe’s parents’ number I was shaking with nerves. Swiping her phone open I swallowed hard for the umpteenth time that day and prepared to deliver some news no parent should ever hear.

  When I heard her mom tears stung in my own eyes and I’m not soft. By the time the call was over, I was kicking my ass all over again for the suffering I’d caused everyone by being so selfish. Cathy and George seemed lovely people, but her father was angry with me, and I deserved the venom he unleashed on the phone. Charlotte arranged to bring her parents on the first flight up and I sent Jerry to bring them over to the hotel as soon as they landed.

  Ruby had to be told, but I figured Chloe’s parents telling her had to be better than me having contact with her. As soon as I thought about Ruby I felt sick again. Another hurdle I’d have to overcome in the future when the penny dropped in my mind about why her face registered with me when so many girls hadn’t. Maybe all this was why I never did relationships? I was a walking nightmare with a catalogue of fuck-ups to my name.