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The little blonde had ditched the party.
Kyan slagged off on Salena.
Chloe was still out of sorts.
Every single one of them had lost their bloody mind.
Hours later, the sky was lightening outside with the rise of the sun, not that Taylor could see it. The party had long since ended, but he was still inside the club, trapped between Bo and Brendan, in their usual booth on the main floor. Apparently Bo had witnessed Linnea take off running from the club while a friend of his, who was also her neighbor, chased after her.
While Taylor didn’t really know this Kodiak fellow, he had seen him with Bo once or twice over the summer. He seemed like an all right chap. Nothing about him stood out anyway. So what if he was from the same little podunk town as Linnea? He didn’t understand what all the fuss was about. What must’ve happened seemed obvious enough to him.
Kyan was beside himself. He looked like he could implode at any moment. Now that, Taylor could understand. If Chloe left him like that he’d be out of sorts too. His little bird sniffled across the booth from him, hunkered under Jesse’s arm, her eyes red and swollen from crying. He tried to reach over and comfort her, but she pulled her hand away.
If Salena was still there he’d have throttled her.
He’d be sure to deal with her later. Right now the only thing Taylor wanted to be able to do was lay his head on his pillow with Jesse and Chloe tucked in beside him. That wasn’t going to happen any time soon though. Jesse and Chloe were taking Kyan, Dillon, and Bo on a road trip to Crossfield, some three hours away from the city, to try to find Linnea or Kodiak. He and Brendan would continue the search for her here.
Splendid.
He was tired. Everyone was tired. Taylor just wanted to find out what had upset Chloe, sort it out, have some incredible make-up sex, and go to sleep.
Brendan interrupted his thoughts. “What time is it?”
“Almost six.”
In the fucking morning and I’m too old for this up-all-night shite.
“Everyone go home…” Brendan surveyed Chloe in her sexy purple dress. “…get changed, and we’ll meet back here in an hour.”
“We need to go now, Bren,” Kyan objected.
“Ky, listen to me.” Perhaps his brother could make him see reason. “We can’t traipse around a town like Crossfield in party clothes, not if you want those folks to talk to us.” Kyan nodded, but Taylor noticed his hands were balled into fists at his sides. “We’ll all be ready to leave at seven—that gives us plenty of time to go there, find out what we can, and get back to the city before dark. Okay?”
“Okay.”
Taylor didn’t go home with them. He asked Jesse to bring him back a change of clothes and stayed behind at the club with Brendan. He could shower here just as easily. If he got anywhere near his bed he’d be too tempted to flop into it and if that happened he probably wouldn’t wake up until tomorrow.
Brendan came down the stairs from his office freshly showered, if Taylor were to guess. He’d ditched the suit for jeans and a button-down, rolling the sleeves to the elbows as he went behind the bar and made coffee.
“Sorry, there’s no tea back here. Coffee okay for now, bro?”
The thought of the vile brew made his empty stomach turn, but he needed caffeine in any form he could get it. “Sure. Thanks, mate.”
He brought over a caddy of sugar packets and a carton of half-and-half. Taylor chuckled. They knew each other far too well. Brendan put a mug of steaming coffee in front of him. It smelled good, but he’d never been able to acquire a taste for it, in spite of living here longer than he’d lived in England. Coffee was never served in his household and since his parents had a preference for tea, so did he.
“So, what’s the gen, mate?” He could ask Brendan what the fuck was really going on here without getting the death glare. “I don’t understand why everyone’s got their knickers in a knot. The girl left with some bloke she knows. It’s not like she was abducted.”
Brendan chewed on the inside corner of his lip, as if debating with himself. “Chloe hasn’t told you about fuckboy then.”
“Chloe’s barely spoken to me since she ran into that twat you insist on having around in the bathroom.” Taylor started dumping packets of sugar into his mug.
“Hm.” Brendan rubbed the scruff on his chin. “Well, I’ll talk to Sal. The Linn situation isn’t as cut and dry as it appears to be on the surface. This Kodiak might be her neighbor, but she doesn’t know him, at least Kyan and Chloe don’t think so.”
“Why do they think that?”
“A few months ago, someone started leaving anonymous notes and flowers at Linn’s door—kind of like a secret admirer thing. Chloe nicknamed him fuckboy.” Brendan took a long swig of coffee. “Harmless enough, even if a bit creepy, right?”
Taylor shrugged. He still didn’t see the cause for alarm here.
