SWNOVELS Ryan Reign: Chapter 22
Paul picked me up outside my hotel eight hours ago and since that time we have been scouring the streets of Belfast looking for Sean O’Connor. We have finally found him at one of his many girlfriends’ houses.
It is Paul who goes inside and pulls him out of bed. He drags him naked into the street and throws him at my feet. I look down at him. He was fast asleep in bed with a woman. He crawled away like an injured animal to lick his wounds after our meeting yesterday morning. He didn’t take Jessie.
Paul kicks him in the stomach and Sean retches onto the pavement.
“Enough.” I put my hand on his arm and he scowls at me. I hate Sean O’Connor as much as anyone, but he won’t be able to talk if he’s too busy puking.
I crouch down on the floor and glare at him. “Have you seen Jessie?”
“Who?” he blinks at me in what appears to be genuine confusion.
“Jessie. My girl?” I snarl. “The one you couldn’t keep your filthy hands off the other day.”
“Of course I haven’t,” he spits.
I grab his head by his hair and tip it back so I can look into his eyes. “Are you fucking lying to me?”
“What would I want with your whore?” he hisses.
I take his head and smash it onto the pavement and he cries out in pain. When I look up, Paul has pulled out a gun and has it aimed at Sean’s head.
“What the fuck are you doing, Pol?” I frown at him. “We’re in the middle of the fucking street. Kids live around here.”
“He took your girl,” he snarls at me, “and then he called her a whore.”
I put my hand on his forearm, forcing it down so he lowers his weapon. “He didn’t take her.”
“Then who did?”
“It’s a long story. Come on. Let’s go.”
I walk toward the car and he follows me. The sun is coming up and I feel completely lost and hopeless. My brothers’ plane will be landing soon and I only hope that their arrival will spark something in me that gives us a new lead to chase.
The hotel’s security has been entirely useless and nobody seems to have saw or heard anything. How a grown woman can just disappear from a hotel suite without a trace is beyond me.
“We will find your Jessica,” Paul says as he falls into step beside me.
The name slices through me like ice, sending a shiver down my spine. For once in my life I am grateful to my cold hearted bastard of a father, whose cruelty taught me nerves of steel. Despite my insides churning and my heart racing, I don’t miss a beat.
“Yeah.”
We stop next to the car and Paul pulls at his collar as he steps closer to me. It’s then that I see the scratch on his neck. I’ve been so distracted looking for Sean, I forgot to look for the Wolf. “You been fighting with some cats, Pol?” I grind the words out with a smile while my insides boil with rage.
He runs his finger over it and the hint of a smile plays on his lips. “Not exactly,” he murmurs.
My fists clench at my sides as my heart races in my chest. My cell phone vibrating in my pocket is a welcome interruption. Glancing at the screen, I see it’s Conor calling.
“I have to take this,” I say to Paul as I step away from the car and speak to my brother.