Stone Cold - Ashby Crime Family

“Is it me or is the green just a little bit deeper this time around?” he asked after ordering dinner for the table.

“He’s full of shit,” Jasper said with a laugh. “Only so goddamn cheery because he’s getting laid on the regular.” He punctuated his words by sending a napkin flying at Virgil’s head.

“Don’t be a hater, Jas. You’d get more play if you weren’t such a giant prick all the time. I hear chicks like it when you’re at least a little nice to them.”

His words weren’t directed at me, couldn’t be since Kat was the only person who knew what had gone down between me and Bonnie, but still they stung as if I was their intended target.

I hadn’t been nice to Bonnie, not even from the beginning. I never gave her a chance to prove who she was or who she was meant to be. I laid out a goal with no tips for success and then exploded when she didn’t succeed. Just like my fucking Da.

“You’re quiet, Cal. Still worried about Bonnie?” Jasper’s question surprised me because he rarely gave a fuck about our personal lives unless somehow it impacted the family.

“You could say that.” Spilling my guts to my brothers wasn’t exactly my idea of a good time, so I kept my words vague. Non-committal. “I’m trying to track her down and not having any luck.”

“Shit, really? That can’t be good,” Virgil said, stating the obvious.

“Yeah, thanks for that.”

“What’s the big damn deal?” Virgil asked, “You wanted her gone and now she’s gone. Why track her down?”

I shrugged because why didn’t matter. I needed to find her and make sure she was safe, and I would. “Doesn’t matter. Unless this meeting was called to discuss Bonnie?” My eyes were wide, round, and sarcastic enough that Jasper bristled.

“Obviously not,” he bit out with an angry glare. “We need to come to some kind of fucking solution about Savannah Rhymer. Sadie isn’t being reasonable about this and, I need you guys to have my back.”

“You mean you need us to agree to whatever you agree is best?” Because that was what it always came down to when Sadie and Jasper disagreed: who we sided with.

“Yeah, that’s exactly what I mean. Unless—hang on little brother—you have some gem of information that could change the whole fucking game?” His sarcasm was unwelcome.

I shrugged. “Only if you keep ignoring the possibility that Brendan is still alive, but what the fuck do I know, right?” It was the same old story. “Whatever. You want me on your side, fine.”

I was over this meeting and this meal because my presence or input wasn’t actually required. It felt more like a kid being placated by being included. “Just tell me what to say and when, Boss.”

“Don’t be such a fucking drama queen,” Jasper said, rolling his eyes when I stood, ready to leave.

“Because disagreeing with you is dramatic, right? Not, I don’t know, a valid fucking point! I said it doesn’t matter. Tell me when you need me on your side, otherwise shut the fuck up.”

“Everybody shut the fuck up!” Virgil’s loud growl silenced everyone within hearing distance, making the whole pub fall silent. “Say that again, babe.” He plugged his free ear and leaned forward, listening intently, a move that set me on edge immediately. “Shit. You sure it was her?”

Suddenly Maisie’s voice rang out of the phone’s speaker. “Of course, I’m sure, Virg. She’s my best friend. It’s been weeks, but I still know her voice. And I talked to her.” Maisie’s voice was void of its usual sass, replaced by a bone-deep worry I understood well.

“I told her to come home, to come back to Ashby Manor and she refused. No reason at all, just…no.”

Virgil’s jaw clenched at the unshed tears in his woman’s voice. “We’re on our way, babe.” He flagged down the waiter who’d been serving us and barked out a few orders, which Jasper followed up with more reasonable ones.

By the time my brothers made their way to Virgil’s truck, I was waiting for them with a tablet in my hand, Black Stallion surveillance footage rolling on my screen. They picked up Bonnie, just as Maisie had said. She looked frail and defeated, like she’d lived one hundred lives since leaving the protective bubble of Ashby Manor.

The first footage I spotted was Bonnie cashing out at the cage and exiting the casino, dragging all three of her bags through the parking lot behind her.

“What the hell, Bonnie?”

I watched, angry and helpless as she walked across the dimly lit parking lot in the dark of the night, as if she were completely unaware of all the dangers hidden in the darkness.

I held my breath, certain she would soon stop at her little blue car, only she never did. She walked to the street beyond the parking lot where many Black Stallion employees jumped on the bus that would take them all over Glitz and Vegas. She didn’t even see the van creeping far enough behind her and probably couldn’t hear the engine as it approached.