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I wince. “Fuck, I thought Dot, or someone, would have gone to her place and dragged her back. I thought they were friends.”

“You can only be friends with someone if they let you. I get it. You hurt her, son. And to free herself from you, she had to cut us all out. Not that it stopped Dot from trying. But the last time he went around, she was gone.”

“She has a life. She might have just been busy,” I huff.

He shakes his head. “No. When I say she’s gone, I mean, she’s gone. The landlord said she left, and nobody has heard from her.”

I stare at him for a beat, trying to understand what the fuck he’s talking about, before I turn on my heel and run. “Rain check on the whisky,” I yell. I might need it after this. I borrow the club’s truck and haul my ass over to the block of flats Emma lives in. I take the stairs faster than I should, feeling my back pull, but it has nothing on my racing heart.

When I reach the door to her flat, I thunder on it with my fist, calling her name, not believing for a second she’d leave.

“Do I need to call the police?”

I turn around and find a weaselly-looking man with a pencil-thin black moustache and a friar-tuck haircut. He glares at me until his eyes land on my cut. Then his face pales.

“Where is Emma?”

“I don’t know. She left and never came back. She owes me rent money, so if you find her, tell her I want that back.”

I stalk towards him and grab him by the scruff of his neck. “Where did she go?”

“I told you, I don’t know,” he yells as I throw him to the ground.

He might not know, but I bet I know someone who does. I leave him on the floor as I head for the steps and make my way down to the truck, hoping that her friend Stacey is working tonight.

I pull into the car park of the pub, thankful to find an empty space, and jump out, not even bothering to lock it. I curse when I realize I forgot to take my cut off, breaking one of the club rules, but I don’t have time to worry about that now. I shove the door open and make my way to the bar, pushing past people until I reach one of the bartenders.

“I’m looking for Emma.”

He eyes me up and down before he crosses his arms. “Emma isn’t working here anymore.”

“Fuck. What about Stacey? Is she around?”

I can tell the second he opens his mouth, he’s going to lie to me. Before he can speak, a familiar woman steps up beside me with a tray of empty glasses in her hand.

“You!”

“Stacey.” I breathe a sigh of relief.

She slams the tray down on the bar, making the empty glasses wobble. “What the hell are you doing here?”

“I’m looking for Emma. I went by her flat, but the landlord said she was gone.”

“Yeah, do not get me started on that cockwomble. What are you looking for Emma for anyway? Did you want to kick her while she’s down?” She pauses, then frowns, looking me up and down. “You’re walking.”

“Yeah, it’s a new development. Look, I get that I’m likely your least favourite person right now. I pushed Emma away because I didn’t want to be one more thing in her life she was responsible for looking after. I staged a scene, one I knew would make her walk away…I fucked up, I know, but I swear I had the best of intentions.”

“So, you didn’t cheat on Em?”

“I kissed another woman. It was not part of the plan, but I couldn’t pull away without giving the game away. So yeah, I cheated.”

She smacks me around the head, clearly not bothered about the MC patch I’m wearing. “You do not deserve her.”

“I know.”

“Then give me one fucking reason why I should tell you anything?”

“I love her.”