BAD BOY ROMANCE: DIESEL: Contemporary Bad Boy Biker MC Romance (Box Set) (New Adult Sports Romance Short Stories Boxset) (40 page)

The phone went to voice mail. 

Niall shook his head and tried to think.  James had the car. 
Why doesn’t he have his own car
?   He yelled an expletive which Gabriel promptly imitated, and called Angela’s number again. 

Angela traced a line down James’s side hoping her cell phone would stop ringing. 

“Are you going to answer that?”

“Nope.”

He laughed softly and grabbed the phone.  “It might be Sinclair or Niall.”  The phone stopped ringing again. 

“Problem solved.”

James frowned.  The number for the missed call was out of state.  “I think it was them.  Call the number back.” 

Angela sighed, pulling the sheet around her chest.  James pulled it away with a wicked grin and handed her the phone.  Niall answered on the second ring.

“Angela?”

“Yes.  What can I do for you?”  She leaned back against the pillows, beckoning for James to join her. 

“She’s gone!  Someone took her!  There was a lamp turned over and I was asleep and…”

Angela sat up.  “Hold on, Niall.  Slow down.”

“Sinclair…she got up because Gabriel was hungry.  Gabriel and I fell back asleep.  When I woke up she was gone!  A lamp was turned over in the sitting room.” 

“Was the room door open or unlocked?”

“Not open, but the French doors were.  I could have sworn she closed them before we laid down.”  He walked to the room door and tried to open it.  It swung open easily.  “Dammit!  The door to the room is unlocked!  I
always
lock it!”

Angela was out of the bed grabbing her clothes.  “Just stay where you are, Niall.  We’ll be there as soon as we can.”

“We?”

Angela looked at James and swiped a loose piece of hair from her face.  “Yes.  James and I.”

“Oh.  Well, tell that jack ass to bring my car back!  He doesn’t have a damn car?”

“I’ll tell him.”  Angela ended the call and began hurriedly dressing. 

“Someone came into the room and took Sinclair.” 

“Crap.”  He breathed and began dressing too.

“Niall said he wanted his car back, and wants to know why you don’t have one.”

“I do.  I just really wanted to drive the Mustang.”

Angela shook her head, but smiled.  “You’re a bad man.”

“Let’s go find Sinclair, and I’ll show you just how bad I really can be.”

Sinclair’s head rolled on her shoulders.  Pain beat a steady rhythm across her forehead and at the base of her skull.  Her mouth tasted like blood and vomit.  She tried to move her arms and legs but all it accomplished was a scraping noise. 

What is that? 

She opened her eyes slowly and looked around a dingy bedroom.  Her vision was slightly doubled, but she could make out a messy bed with an old fashioned pink chenille bedspread bunched in the center.  The morning light was muted and bled orange into the tiny room as it attempted to get past a yellowed drawn blind.  She looked down and sucked in her breath.  She was tied with her arms behind her back to a chair.  She tried to move her feet, but they were tied as well at the ankles.  She wanted to scream, but realized it wasn’t the smartest thing to do.  She had no idea who was on the other side of that dirty peach colored door.  Tears welled in her eyes.  She knew who wasn’t on the other side: Niall Amrit. 

Niall called room service and ordered Gabriel pancakes and coffee for himself.  The thought of food made him nauseous, but he needed the caffeine.  His skin tingled and burned.  His anger and worry were putting the tiger hidden within him on high alert.  The tiger wanted out.  The tiger wanted blood. 

Gabriel ate his pancakes, humming along with a song on some weird children’s show.  He watched Niall from time to time with a wary kind of worry.  Niall hoped the kid could just trust him long enough to get Sinclair back.  When a knock sounded at the door, he looked up hopefully, and mouthed “mommy”.

Niall opened the door for Angela and James.  James dropped the car keys into his hand, and he clutched them tightly enough for them to dig into his skin. 

“Have you heard anything?”  Angela asked. 

“No.  Don’t you think I would have called you?”

“No need to snap, Niall.”  James chided him quietly.  He went to Gabriel and sat beside him.  “What are you eating?”

“Pancake.”  Gabriel looked up at James worriedly, a drop of syrup dripped from the corner of his mouth.  “Mommy gone.”

Angela looked at Niall with wide eyes.  “He’s talking very well!  When did he start calling Sinclair Mommy?”

“As far as I know, today.” 

“That’s interesting.”  Angela said.

“Interesting?”  Niall took a napkin and wiped at Gabriel’s face.  “Finding Sinclair would be interesting!” 

James glanced at Angela with a frown on his lips.  Neither of them had seen him quite like that.  He had a temper for sure, but he normally was calm, a cool hand so to speak. 

“There’s only one reasonable explanation as to where she’s at.  Joseph or Enrique have her.  They are most likely together anyway.” 

“I have no idea where Joseph is!”

“Neither do we, but I do know where he will be.  The gathering is taking place at Carla’s old house.” 

Niall placed his hands on his hips.  “Do you think she’s already there?”

“Doubtful.  I don’t think he would take her there first.” 

“Why not?”

“Because he will know that he’s the first suspect, and he also knows that Claude is a blabber mouth.  I’m actually worried about Claude in all of this.”  Angela said and looked out of the balcony doors. 

“You think they’re going to kill him?”

“I do.”  Her statement was so blunt, Niall and James’ heads moved backward on their shoulders as if they had been slapped.

“Why?”  Niall pulled at the hair on the sides of his head again.  “I don’t understand any of this!”

Angela looked at him patiently.  She didn’t particularly like Niall simply because of what he was, but she knew she would now have to move past it.  How could she build a relationship with James if she hated what he was half of?  And building a relationship with James was no longer a choice, it was a necessity.  She felt the need coming off of him like fingers reaching for her.  His eyes told it all.  Niall watched the two of them look at each other from across the room. 

“What kind of fresh hell is
this
?”  Niall looked at each of them with his hands back on his hips.  “The two of
you
are
mated
?”

James tore his eyes from Angela to look at Niall with interest.  “How can you tell?”

Niall pursed his lips.  “This was poor, stupid timing!  The two of you will be a liability now!”

“Why?”

“Dammit, James, you’re a shifter!  You know what it’s like the first few weeks after a mating!  A real mating!” 

James and Angela looked at each other.  They both shrugged.  “Is that why you’re so worked up?  Is that why you are basically out of your mind right now?”

“YES!”

James laughed into his fist.  “Well, woo hoo!  We loners both found mates!”

Niall wanted to slap him.  Gabriel looked like he wanted to slap him too.  At the very least they should yank his red ponytail. 

“You’re an idiot.”  Niall muttered. 

Angela crossed her arms readying herself for the backlash of what she was about to say.  “I think we need to just wait until we sneak into the gathering.”

“You can’t be serious.”  Niall whispered. 

“I am.  We could endanger this entire thing if we try to get her beforehand.  I guarantee she will be there.”

Niall felt the threat of tears.  He didn’t want to cry in front of these people, but at the same time, he really didn’t care.  A single tear slipped from an eye and ran down his cheek.  Gabriel walked to him and held his thin arms up.  Niall took the boy into his arms.  Gabriel wiped the wetness from his face. 

“I can’t lose her.”

“I know.”  Angela touched his arm, her light colored eyes troubled as she turned back to James.

Sinclair raised her head and stared blearily at the door.  She had heard voices, they had pulled her out of the troubled sleep she was having with her chin resting on her chest.  Maybe she had dreamed it. 

She jerked her head up as she heard the voices again.  Footsteps were approaching the door.  She held her breath as the door opened.  Joseph’s woman with the braids squeezed through with a glass of water.  Both of her eyes had swelling underneath, and her bottom lip was split.  It reminded Sinclair of Claude Monroe’s condition when he had come to Angela’s.  She looked at Sinclair and shook her head, mumbling in Creole. 

“Please…”  Sinclair whispered.  “Please let me go.”

Latasha shook her head slowly.  “You see my face?  Want to know why I look like this?”

Sinclair wasn’t sure she wanted to know, and opted to not reply.  She definitely didn’t want to know why the girl had bruising on her neck which looked like finger marks.

“I look like this because I tried to leave.”

“That doesn’t sound like Joseph.”

“No?”  Her mouth twisted.  “Did Joseph ever just give you to another man to do with as he pleased?”

Sinclair swallowed and shook her head.

“Then you’re very lucky.”  She handed Sinclair the water, stopping as Sinclair just stared at her.  “Sorry.”  She held the glass of water to Sinclair’s lips. 

Sinclair was so grateful for the water that she didn’t care that it was dribbling down the front of her shirt. 

“Thank you.”  She said quietly after she had finished it all.  The woman seemed to be looking at her with pity. 

“I can’t do anything else for you.  I’ll have another bruise if they catch me in here.” 

“What’s your name?”  Sinclair called after her. 

She turned slightly.  “Latasha.”

“I’m Sinclair.”

“I know.”

Sinclair let out a whoosh of air as the door closed.  She strained to hear, but the only sound was Latasha’s quiet footsteps.  If no one was there, why didn’t she just try and leave again?  Sinclair jumped as a shadow passed on the opposite side of the blinds. 

Because she’s not actually alone.  There’s guards outside
.

Sinclair worked her wrists back and forth.  The rope was tight and rubbed against her skin.  She struggled until she felt the raw pain of skin being rubbed away.  She looked around to see if there was any sharp edge or something she could grab that might fray the rope.  She thought she could work the chair slowly if she found something.  There was nothing. 

The room was getting hotter as the sun rose further in the sky.  Sweat began a slow trickle between her shoulder blades and between her breasts.  She licked her lips and listened. 

Latasha was speaking to someone.  More voices joined in and soon the bedroom door swung open.  Joseph stood in the doorway, his face impassive. 

“Hello, Sinclair.”  He shut the door and came to sit on the edge of the bed, turning her chair so she could see him properly. 

“What do you want?”  She asked hoarsely. 

“Nothing really.  I mean, I
would
like my son back, but…nah…actually you can keep him.”

“Great.  Let’s put it in writing before you send me back to him.”

“Not…quite…yet.”  Joseph said, patting her knee with each word.  “We’re having a get together tonight…a few of us…and I want you to attend.”  He laughed quietly.  “I actually really
need
you to attend.”

“Why?”  Sinclair kept the knowledge of the gathering to herself.  If she told Joseph, or even hinted to him that she knew, it could endanger Niall and the others.  She wouldn’t risk that, and she hoped Niall wouldn’t risk stopping the purpose of the gathering by coming to look for her beforehand.

“I think I may have over looked a thing or two with you, Sinclair.”

“Yeah, you did, but why does it matter now?”

He rubbed his jaw and lowered his head.  When he looked at her he only lifted his eyes.  “I know you know about the stone.  Guess what…it works best on those who already have supernatural abilities.”

“I don’t have anything like that.”

He waggled a finger at her.  “Oh, but I think you just might.  If you don’t, then it’s no big loss.”  His eyes hardened.  “To me anyway.  But if you do…now that’s a whole different story.”

“For you, I guess.”

“Of course.  In my world, no one matters
but
me.” 

“So, your get together…it has to do with the stone?”

“Yes.”

“Won’t Enrique Arrays be a little angry with you for using it?  I mean that’s why Niall came here, to retrieve it and you for him.”

Joseph grinned.  “I rolled the dice, babe.  I took the biggest gamble of my life.  Enrique and I have a new understanding now.”