Storm by Aria Ray

Chapter Sixteen

Zoe

We headed towards Creekbends, a small town in Texas.

The MC had traced the ugly purple car’s owner to a place I’d never heard of, nor thought I would ever turn up in, and it was fifteen hours away from Phoenix.

Storm said the rest of the guys were going to meet us there directly, while we would have to ride there on our own.

“We’re not going to stop anywhere on the way. Maybe we’ll just get lunch somewhere, but that’s it,” he warned as we rushed to get on the bike.

“Okay, I don’t care. I just want to get there. I don’t need to stop anywhere.”

He helped me up on the bike. As I sat there, nerves and excitement rolled in my stomach.

All this time, even while we spoke to the rental company and then the guy at the gas station, I didn’t think we were any closer to finding Alison. Now, for the first time, it felt like a possibility. Like we had actually gotten somewhere.

Things with Storm were awkward and distant, but neither of us had the time to think about that now. We needed to get to Creekbends before nightfall. We had quite a way to go.

As we rode together, with my arms wrapped around his chiseled muscular body, I racked my brain to remember the previous night. What had it been like?

Did we have sex?

Why couldn’t I remember?

Why couldn’t he just give me a clue?

It was like he had decided to torture me on purpose.

Just to get the thoughts of him out of my head, I focused on Alison instead. I shut my eyes against the wind blowing in my face and tried to recall all the happy memories I had with my sister when we were growing up. That was the Alison I wanted to remember and think about, not the tortured girl whose photos were sent to taunt us.

I missed her. I wanted to be able to tell her about the confusing feelings I was experiencing for Storm. I wanted her to be safe.

Several hours later, when Storm parked at a diner on the way, I was relieved to take a break. It wasn’t that I was hungry or thirsty, I just needed some time off from holding onto him. Nobody had ever told me how intimate riding a bike with someone could be.

We walked into the busy diner together, and he chose a booth in the corner, away from the prying eyes at the window.

We ordered some burgers and fries. I wasn’t hungry but I needed to eat. Even though my hangover had mostly faded by now, I didn’t want to make myself weak or sick when I needed to stay strong.

Before the food arrived, Storm and I sat together in silence.

It was because we’d spent the night in bed together. Would things ever be normal between us again? What was normal?

“I think I should call my mom. She’s going to worry about me when she doesn’t hear from me for a few days. We talk every day.”

Storm rubbed a hand on the back of his neck and breathed in deeply. The movement squared his shoulders and outlined every ripple and flex, driving home how damn sexy he looked. How strong and big he was.

“Your phone might be tapped, and your calls may be monitored. If you speak to her, you can’t tell her anything about what’s going on. We don’t want to alert those assholes that we’re on our way.”

If we’re even headed in the right direction, I thought, but kept it to myself.

“Okay, I won’t say anything.” I took my phone with me and stepped outside the diner. Maybe Storm would be grateful for some breathing space from me, too.

Her phone rang for a few moments before I heard Mom’s voice on the other end.

“Hi, sweetie, where have you been? I haven’t heard from you in a while.”

“Hi, Mom, yeah, I’m sorry. I decided to take an impromptu trip out of town.”

“An impromptu trip? What are you talking about?”

I could understand why she was confused. I had no reason to leave town in the middle of my sister going missing.

“Killian…he…invited me. Just to kinda take my mind off things, you know? Just for a few days. I’m still trying to find whatever information I can on Alison.”

Mom was silent for a few moments and then she sighed.

“Of course, sweetie, you deserve a few days off. It’s not like staying here would have made any difference.”

“All we can do right now is wait, Mom. Wait until we have some information.”

“Give my love to Killian,” she remarked. I could picture her smiling. Through some crazy miracle, Mom actually liked Storm. Maybe it was because she didn’t know who he really was.

“I should get back. I’ll talk to you in a few days when I’m back. Just try and stay positive in the meantime, Mom, I’m going to find her, okay?”

“I know that, Zoe. I trust you. You would never let your little sister down.”

I ended the call quickly as another wave of sobs overtook me. My hands shook, as I tried to keep it together. I wasn’t going to let Storm see me crying. Not again. Not when I’d given him a whole speech about how I was going to be strong.

The food had already been served when I went back to our table. Storm was typing something into his phone and finally looked up at me when I sat down.

“All good?”

“I told her I decided to take a road trip with you, just to take my mind off Alison for a few days.”

“And she bought it?” he asked with furrowed brows.

I shrugged. “Maybe she did, but chances are that she didn’t. And if she hasn’t bought this story, she thinks I’m out chasing one of my cases. She knows I disappear sometimes for a few days when I’m researching something.”

“Grit is on a flight to Austin as we speak, so we’re going to see him there,” he informed me.

“And what about the rest?”

“Some other guys will be joining us shortly. We have to come up with a concrete plan of attack first. As for Breaker and Hacker, they’re going to stay put.”

“Why?”

“Because I just realized something. The motherfuckers who have been sending ransom notes to your family are expecting to collect their money on Saturday.”

I was confused at first and stared at him for an explanation, but then it started to become clearer to me.

“They don’t know you refuse to fall for their plan. They think your family is still going to show up on Saturday with the cash. Breaker and Hacker are going to make sure there’s someone there to greet them when they come to collect.”

For the first time in a long time, I could feel the tug of a smile on my lips.

A few hours later, we arrived at Creekbends, a small town near Austin that had a sum total of one motel. It was the only place for us to rent a room, and the same place we were going to find Grit.

We went through the same motions as we did the last time; Storm requested a room and took the key from the woman. This time, he didn’t even bother asking for two separate rooms.

I knew this was because he understood the importance of us sticking together, but I couldn’t help but feel a flutter of desire and excitement at the idea that maybe he wanted us to spend the night in the same bed again.

What was I thinking?

Minutes after we let ourselves in the room, Grit showed up. Storm had texted him.

The two men shook hands and then Grit came over to shake mine, too. Surprisingly enough, I was relieved to see him. A few weeks ago, my perception of every member of an MC was completely different from the way I viewed them now.

Having Grit here increased our chances of finding Alison, and those increased chances were all that mattered to me now.

“We’re going to keep a close eye on the drop-off points on Saturday,” Grit said.

We stood in a semi-circle around the motel bed, talking. I felt strangely like I belonged here. I didn’t feel like an outsider anymore, the way I felt when I was first introduced to these men. Neither did they look at me like I was a stranger.

“What do we have on the men?” Storm asked.

Grit smiled, which told me this was good news.

“Hacker managed to put together an entire file on these two idiots. It was what we suspected. The guys are connected to the drug dealing going on in the schools.”

“Names?” Storm growled.

I watched each man closely; they didn’t look at me now because they knew I had nothing to contribute.

“Hanks and Meat Robinson,” Grit said, like the two names meant something. I obviously didn’t know who these men were but, from the way Storm sighed and shook his head, I was worried again.

“Hanks and Meat? There’s no fuckin’ way these two have managed to pull off a whole human trafficking scene all by themselves.” Storm didn’t look happy. “There has to be someone else at the top, someone pulling their strings.”

Grit nodded in agreement. “As of now, this is all we have. Hopefully, once we get to these guys, they’ll be able to lead us to the guy at the top.”

“Tomorrow, we find them,” Storm said. It was more like a command.

I had always been aware that he was president of the club, but the tone of his voice reinforced that. I could see the way Grit looked at him—with dedication and respect. Storm was a team player and treated his men with respect, too, but they all knew when it was time to take their orders and follow through.

“Hopefully, Hacker will be able to trace them to an address. The address the car is registered to is an abandoned apartment. They’re obviously hiding out somewhere else,” Grit continued.

“Then we’ll have to hit the streets and find them. This fuckin’ place isn’t that big. There can’t be many places to hide.”

Grit nodded and a sense of warmth filled me. Now that I was listening to the two men talk, I understood the way their minds worked. It was fascinating. They were fearless. They didn’t care what kind of danger or consequences they were going to encounter tomorrow.

I looked at Storm with admiration. I could feel the stirrings of desire inside me again. I had spent too much time looking down on men like him, because I didn’t understand them. Now I could clearly see the code they lived by—we’ll leave you alone as long as you don’t fuck with what belongs to us.

Grit turned to me, interrupting my thoughts by looking at me squarely with narrowed and darkened eyes. He had something important to tell me.

“I’m personally going to do everything I can to make sure we find your sister,” he said. I was a little taken aback by the determination in his eyes. “Nobody deserves to be treated the way they’re treating her. Especially not an innocent young woman.”

The photos I had shown him of Alison, which her kidnappers had sent us, seemed to have affected him deeply.

“Thank you,” I replied.

I was so thankful to have these men on my side.