Time to Bounce (Carter Brothers #6)

Chapter 9

Wake up, you gorgeous badass. ( Positive vibes only)

— Text from Athena to Gable

GABLE

I looked for her when I knew she should be home.

For three nights in a row.

Each night she didn’t show, a sick feeling in my gut started to take root. It was growing.

And festering.

On the fourth day, I went by her house to find a For Sale sign in the yard, along with a realtor’s lock on the door.

I leaned into the door and looked through the parted curtains.

Everything was cleaned up, but her belongings were still there, just more presentable.

When had that happened?

With nothing left to do, I called Maven .

“ Hello ?” Maven answered, sounding flustered.

“ Hey ,” I said. “ Where’s Athena ?”

There was a pause, and then, “ Japan .”

I felt my eyelid twitch. “ How long is she staying? She was supposed to be back three days ago.”

Again , with that long pause before she said, “ You know you hurt her, right?”

I closed my eyes and rolled my neck on my shoulders, trying to relieve the tension that never seemed to leave. Once again, I kicked myself in the ass for reacting out of fear, and saying things I didn’t mean.

Oh , and not going with her.

“ She came to a biker bar where they were abducting women and using them as prostitutes,” I told her bluntly. “ When I told her not to come back, she did. On the day we were conducting a raid that would arrest the sick fucks. I can’t say that I handled the situation well, but she scared the hell out of me, Maven . If she’d walked in during the middle of that, every last member of that club would’ve used her by any means necessary. And even worse, one of them, who is utterly obsessed with her, got away. Now that we have him in custody, I can admit that I was scared, and worried about her. Now , when is she supposed to come home?”

Maven sighed. “ I don’t know that she has any immediate plans to come home.”

“ So she’s selling her house?” I asked.

“ It’s Gavrel’s house,” she murmured. “ That’s what this trip was about. Letting him go.”

“ That didn’t answer my question,” I said.

“ She’s just experimenting,” Maven explained. “ She wants to know what kind of interest it would get.”

I looked back at that stupid sign. “ When is she coming home, Maven ?”

Maven grumbled something under her breath before replying.

“ If you hurt her, Gable , so help me God ,” Maven replied fiercely. “ She’s already lost a lot. Her dad. Her sister. Her brother. Her mom wants nothing to do with her. Literally , she only has me, Gable . If you hurt her, and she feels like she has to leave, she’s going to pull away from me because of Auden’s relation to you.”

I looked at the ground between my boots. “ I’m not going to hurt her on purpose, Maven .”

“ I don’t think I believe you,” she said. “ But I truly don’t know the answer to when she’s coming home. Maybe in a few more days like she said, but she sounded like she loved it there.”

Meaning , Maven wasn’t discouraging her from staying.

“ Call me if she shows?” I asked. “ I need to see that she’s all right.”

“ I thought you said Madman was arrested?” she asked.

“ He was,” I confirmed.

It was a day and a half before Darryl was arrested.

And I used the excuse of needing to work to not get an emergency passport right then and head her way.

In fact, I never got the passport even though I told myself I would… just in case.

I was acting like a wishy-washy little bitch. A hormonal one at that.

“ Thanks ,” I said to Maven when she refused to say more—or give me a promise of calling.

Maven grumbled something before saying more clearly, “ Bye .”

I shoved my phone back in my pocket, then got back on the bike.

I hadn’t solved very much, though at least now I knew that she was okay.

As I started heading toward town, I didn’t find myself going home, or to the station.

I went to the post office to get a passport.

Just in case I had to force a stubborn someone to come home.