Finn paused by the sofa. He sighed before folding the blanket he found there. He had no idea why Julian refused to sleep with them, nor would he ask. When Julian was ready to explain, he would. Until then it would be like beating his head against a brick wall. He would have to be happy with having Dani all to himself during those hours. He got to cuddle her and wake her up. Somehow in the morning, when they were both groggy with sleep, it seemed easy and sensible to be the aggressive one. This morning he’d rolled her over and been deep inside her cunt before either of them were fully awake. He’d rocked into her over and over until he’d come, and then he’d fallen back to sleep beside her.
The door flew open, pulling Finn out of his memory. Sam stood in the doorway, his face set in hard lines Finn didn’t normally associate with the fun-loving cowboy.
“You better go after your girl, and you better go now. She’s gone insane. Do you have any idea what Julian’s going to do to her?” Sam asked, his voice getting louder and more insistent with every word.
Finn dropped the bag. A sick feeling nestled in his gut. “What do you mean go after her?”
Sam pointed out the guesthouse’s doorway toward the long, paved drive. “I mean Dani just took off for God knows where in Julian’s Audi. What the hell is she thinking? I can’t go after her. My kids are holed up in a bedroom. I’m not leaving them, so you have to go after her.”
Finn felt his stomach turn. “Dani wouldn’t leave.”
“Well, she damn sure did. I guess she was more pissed off at Julian than we suspected.”
“No,” Finn replied. If there was one thing in the world Finn was certain of, it was that he knew Danielle Bay. He knew her inside and out. “She wouldn’t leave. She wouldn’t cause trouble when so many lives are at stake. There’s no way she stole Julian’s car because she was mad. Something happened. Something, or someone, made her take off.”
Finn pushed his way past Sam and started to jog toward the house.
“Why? If Julian had called, wouldn’t he have called you, too?” Sam asked, following behind.
“Or Dani would have told me she was leaving. Besides, Julian would never allow her to go alone. He wouldn’t have called her. He would have called me.” Finn stopped when he saw the small, black box on the back porch. Now he was really panicking. He could feel the blood rushing through his veins. He rushed to pick up the phone he recognized as Dani’s.
Sam stared at the phone. “Damn, there’s no way she dropped it. She had that phone in her jeans. It wouldn’t have fallen out.”
“And she left her purse behind. How many women do you know who leave their purse behind unless it’s an emergency? And she doesn’t have Julian’s keys. How the hell did she hot-wire a car?” Nothing added up for Finn. He picked up the phone, hoping to see who might have called. When the screen came on, he saw the last thing she’d done. It was an unsent message. Three characters in stark relief.
<3 U
Love you. Finn felt his heart drop to his feet because that felt like good-bye.
“But this girl was taken from Dallas. I don’t see what that has to do with us here in Willow Fork. Girls don’t go missing in Willow Fork.”
The sheriff was grating on Julian’s every nerve. His laconic speech and lazy manners made Julian want to punch the man who was supposed to protect and serve his people. Apparently women from the big city weren’t his concern. Julian shifted from one foot to the other, unable to stay still. The mid-morning light filtered through the Sheriff’s Department’s windows. Casting a glance outside, he could see that the rest of Willow Fork just moved along as though nothing untoward was happening under their noses.
“We have every reason to believe that this woman was brought here,” Leo was saying. The sheriff simply nodded as Leo continued to talk, as though actually following the conversation.
These people wouldn’t help him. They didn’t have the resources even if they had the will, and Julian doubted they wanted to help him. This town seemed to think anyone who wasn’t born here was an outsider and unworthy of support. Even the ones who had been born here were up for rejection. Danielle and Finn had been miserable in this small town. They had been outsiders looking in.
How long could he keep them? The question flitted through Julian’s mind as Leo argued with the sheriff. He could get them under contract. He could move them to his penthouse. He could control much of their lives, and they would still leave him. Everyone left.
Not everyone. Some he’d pushed away. Some he’d shoved away, and now it was coming back to haunt him. He thought about that night almost four years ago when he tossed Jeremy into the streets. It was the night he’d set everything in motion.
Julian had stared up at the stage. Samuel was lovely in his submission. He had finished his count of twenty, and his body had sagged forward. He was being punished for causing trouble at The Club, but it wasn’t really punishment for someone like Samuel. For someone like Samuel, finally being on a St. Andrew’s Cross was something akin to redemption. Jackson tenderly took his partner off the cross. Julian had handed a robe up to them, though covering Samuel’s magnificence was the last thing he’d wanted to do. Samuel belonged with Jackson. They both belonged with Abigail. Something sad lodged itself in Julian’s chest. They were happy. He would content himself with that.
“Boss.” Leo’s voice had pulled him away. “Have you forgotten about the other situation we have to deal with?”
Julian had sighed. Yes, Jeremy. He had almost forgotten about Jeremy. He should never have taken the young man on, but he’d seemed so eager to please. He’d been a lovely young man with a lanky body and large eyes that seemed to plead for someone to take care of him. He was a sucker for that.
Jeremy had conspired against a guest of The Club. He’d drugged Lucas Cameron’s drink. He’d done it at the behest of someone looking to harm Lucas, but the simple act of bringing the drug into the building was a punishable offense. It was far past time to cut the little fucker loose.
In the end, it had been easy. He’d simply had him carted out. Julian hadn’t listened to offered explanations. He hadn’t listened to pleas. He told the man who had shared his home and bed for almost a year that he was done. Julian struggled to remember the words, and then the night came back in vivid color.
“I am no longer your Master,” he’d said.
No longer. He’d watched as Jeremy struggled with the bouncer at first, and then when he realized it was never going to work, something had died in his eyes. Jeremy had slumped down, and the bouncer had to carry him. Julian had turned back to the drama at hand, his former slave completely forgotten.
There had been weepy voice mails. Each time, Jeremy promised to be good. He’d promised to be a better slave, to give Julian free access to anything and everything he had. Jeremy had offered to take any kind of punishment the Master saw fit. He’d begged and pleaded.
Julian had changed his phone number.
When Jeremy had sat outside the building for two days in the pouring rain, Julian had the police escort him away. He’d delivered the young man a restraining order the following morning.
He had been quiet after that, and Julian had forgotten.
Jeremy had not.
Would Danielle and Finn pay for his mistake?
The sheriff’s voice pulled him from his memory. “Now why would this boy kidnap this particular woman? Is she real good-looking?”
Julian hissed through his teeth, and he saw Leo tense. Leo knew him well. Leo seemed to sense that he was about to explode. “Alexis Moore is Jackson Barnes’s stepdaughter. I expect you to speak of her with some respect.”
The sheriff’s eyes got wide, and he sat up straight in his chair. “Damn, man, why didn’t you say that in the first place?” His hand flew toward the phone on his desk. He dialed a number with more vigor than he’d seemed capable of moments before. “Maudene, I need you to get the Dallas police liaison on the phone for me.” He looked up. “This won’t take but a minute.”