Total pages in book: 143
Estimated words: 135321 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 677(@200wpm)___ 541(@250wpm)___ 451(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 135321 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 677(@200wpm)___ 541(@250wpm)___ 451(@300wpm)
“What about his phone? Does he have one? Did you check it?”
“He gave me a false PIN that wiped the cell phone clean. I can’t even make it switch back on. I withdrew his SIM card and put it in another phone, but it was blank.”
“Did his friend hurt you during the struggle you were talking about?” The question was loaded with a promise of vengeance. “Don’t lie to me, baby.”
“Don’t call me baby. He punched me. I kicked him in the bladder and clawed him. That’s pretty much the extent of it.” She sighed. “I should have seen it coming anyway.”
He frowned. “What?”
“I heard the song Tranquilizer play twice yesterday—once on my car stereo, and once in the coffeehouse. Coincidence? I think not.”
Tate just stared at her for a moment. “When you very first mentioned you believed in ‘signs,’ I didn’t think you were being serious.”
Her brow creased. “Why wouldn’t I be serious? You don’t believe that the universe occasionally gives us clues to help us along the way?”
“No, babe, I don’t.”
She shook her head, like he was hopeless. “Well, that’s on you. I can’t help you with that. Now I want to go speak to the cougar, so we need to wrap things up here.”
“Where are you keeping him?”
“The basement of the rec center.”
“I’ll come with you. With any luck, I’ll know who he is. Either way, I’ll help you get his name out of him and anything else he knows.”
“All right. There’s a good chance he’ll be pretty talkative.”
Tate frowned. “Why do you say that?”
“Just a little feeling I have.”
CHAPTER FOUR
Crossing to the entrance of the rec center, Havana smiled at Corbin, hoping that he wouldn’t notice just how brittle that smile was. Sexual frustration plucked at her composure, and her body was still tingling in all sorts of places. More annoyingly, the source of said frustration was walking beside her with his bodyguards trailing behind him.
She’d considered fighting Tate on coming along, but he was right; he might be able to identify Hyman. The quicker she found out who this cougar was and what he wanted with her, the better she and her stressed-out devil would feel.
“Morning, Corbin,” Havana greeted.
“It really is a fine one, isn’t it?” Bailey smiled brightly. “Tate and his cats are here to meet our guest and help us work out what’s going on.”
Corbin tipped his chin at Tate. “Devereaux,” he greeted politely, having met him through their mutual contacts from the local homeless shelter for loners.
Tate gave him a nod. “Good seeing you again, Corbin.”
Once the grizzly had exchanged greetings with the others, Havana asked him, “Have you spoken to Hyman this morning?”
“Yes,” replied Corbin, pushing open the center’s front door. “His dignity was all over the basement floor, along with his vomit and shit and piss. It wasn’t a pleasant sight. I have a feeling he’ll be more cooperative today.”
Tate frowned. “Vomit, shit, and piss?”
“My venom causes diarrhea and puking and lots of other wonderful stuff,” Bailey explained as they all filed inside the building.
“Wait, you bit him?” Luke asked the mamba.
She nodded, sliding him an odd look—she often watched him warily, believing the Beta had a dark side. “We stripped him naked, tied him up, and then left him to suffer the effects of the venom all by his lonesome.”
“After spending hours sitting in his own waste and finally escaping the pain, it’s unlikely that he’s going to want to go through it all over again,” Aspen added.
Tate squinted. “And whose idea was it to go at him that way?”
“Havana’s,” Bailey told him.
Havana ignored the curious glance Tate cast her. This was another reason she hadn’t wanted him to come. He was bound to notice that she was no stranger to interrogating people, and he might wonder why. Well, he’d just have to wonder.
As they walked through the center, Corbin spoke to Havana, “Keeping him tied to the chair, I dragged him out of the puddle of waste and then washed both our guest and the floor with the portable hose, but it still reeks down there. Just thought I’d warn you.”
“No worries,” said Havana. “Thanks for cleaning him up. Couldn’t have been a fun job.”
“He whined like a bitch the whole time, like I was washing him with acid,” Corbin grumbled.
Havana led the way as they descended the basement steps. Sure enough, the scents of bile, ammonia, shit, and pure shame laced the air. It took everything she had not to balk. Her devil shook her head as if to shake off the potency of the smells.
Havana gave their captive a winning smile. Pale, tremoring, and clearly dehydrated, he was looking more than a little worse for wear. “Morning, Hyman. I heard you made quite a mess of yourself during the night.” She flapped her hand. “Don’t worry, there’s no need for you to go through all that again. Unless, of course, it’s what you want.”