“She was excited to get back to racing.” Spence puts his hands in the pockets of his jeans, his eyes trained on the road ahead as we wait for the bikes to come back across the finish line. “She even bought a brand new outfit to celebrate the occasion. All purple.” He side-eyes me and chuckles. He knows what’s coming.
“My favorite color. Interesting.” I blow out a deep breath and shake my head. “Oh man, I didn’t realize she has a crush on me. Psycho’s gonna kill me and won’t even pretend that he didn’t. That motherfucker will gladly go back to prison with a smile on his face.”
My ass buzzes, making me really fucking happy. It’s late, Parker should be done with work by now.
“Is that Parker?” Spence asks, his eyes trained on my phone, and the smile in his voice puts my entire world on the right axis.
“Probably.” But when I look at the screen, I see it’s Maribel. “Well, shit. Last time Maribel called we had to clean up dead bodies.” Fuck, what the hell did Parker do now?
“What’s up, Maribel? Did my girl cause trouble again?” Spencer looks horrified by my greeting. After all, he’s the healer and I’m…well, not.
“Hi, Diego. Nah, that girl’s a hoot. I got your number from one of the employees at the club. I hope I’m not bothering you.”
Employeeis a stretch. But I’m not gonna tell her they’re our Khunts because I like my balls right where they are.
“As you can tell from the noise, I’m at a race. What’s goin’ on?” The crowd is suddenly louder, which tells me Psycho and Mac are coming back. I place a hand to my ear and trot away from the thick of it.
“Well, it’s probably nothing, but the salon called looking for Parker. Apparently, she went to get some supplies around noon and never came back.” I stop dead in my tracks, my entire body drowning in adrenaline as it knows it’s going to need the rush in order to get through the rest of the night. I mean, I know Parker can get distracted, but not to this point, right? Still, I don’t want to alarm Mirabel, she has enough going on.
“Ah, I’ll get in touch with her, Mirabel. Thanks for letting me know.” I’m about to hang up when her next words only make my blood drop a dozen degrees.
“I’ve been calling her for the last couple of hours. Figured I’d let you know.” Fuck. I’ve been calling her for the last thirty minutes and have been getting the same results. Nothing. I thought maybe she was doing overtime or taking a shower.
“Okay, thanks. I’ll take care of it.” Maribel doesn’t have time to say goodbye before I’m pressing the red end call button, only to pull up Parker’s name to call her.
It rings as I walk over to Spencer. My vision is like a dark tunnel and he’s the only sight I can see clearly.
It rings again as I grab onto his bicep. Spencer turns, the big grin on his face dying as he takes in my face. I’m guessing I look as panicked as I’m feeling.
It rings a third time, then goes to voicemail.
“It’s me. I can’t pick up, obviously, or else I would’ve. Leave a message.”
Fuck.
“Parker, you better fucking answer my next call or else I will bend you over my knee and spank your ass so hard, you’ll remember how worried you made me for the next week.” My forefinger punches the red icon when Spencer places his hand on my face.
“What’s going on?” He’s turned his back to Psycho and Mac, who are both grinning ear to ear. The club brothers, the prospects, and the women are all hugging and shoulder slapping our runners, but I can’t bring myself to give a shit.
“No one’s seen Parker since noon.” Spencer steps back at my words as if I’ve physically slapped him.
“Where’s the last place she was seen?” It’s like he’s in EMT mode, which I appreciate because I’m in I-don’t-fucking-know-what-to-do mode.
“The salon,” I say through gritted teeth.
“Okay, let’s go retrace her steps.” Whatever the fuck those may be.
“Hold on, let me try calling her again.” I presscalland wait.
One ring.
Two rings.
On the third, the phone picks up and I swear to fuck my knees almost give out from the relief.
“Hello?” That relief dies a fiery death.
“Who the fuck are you and where the fuck is Parker?”