Chapter Thirty-Two

Wrath

My phone call from Flame has me worried. What the hell could have happened in the few hours I was with Cam? Walking into my office, I see Flame sitting behind my desk with his head in his hands. What the hell have I missed? Whatever has happened, Flame"s obviously affected by it.

"What"s going on, babe?"I ask as I go and take a seat on the sofa.

Flame gets up, comes, and sits next to me.

"Did you know Blade and Jasmine were getting close?"He asks.

I"m taken back by the start of the conversation. Of course, I knew; I"d seen them together talking and getting to know each other. I just nod my head, yes.

There"s something I"m missing here.

"Earlier, I found them arguing, and babe, I"ve never seen Blade look like he did when he walked away from her. He was broken. I brought him in here to find out what was going on because I"d only heard the end of the argument. He got in here and started crying. Blade doesn"t cry; we know this."He stops talking and takes some deep breaths; he"s getting angry, remembering what was said.

I agree something isn"t right; Blade isn"t one to cry or show emotions like that over nothing. I"ve known him long enough to know Jasmine had to have seriously hurt him for him to react in such a way.

"What did he tell you, Flame?"I ask; I need to know what has happened.

Blade normally shows no emotion, not even when he"s cutting someone to shreds. He"s crazy good at controlling what he lets people see; has been since we were younger. Knowing whatever happened between him and Jasmine ended up with him crying has me extremely fucking worried.

"Last night Blade was meant to be hanging out with Jasmine, but he got called in to cover at Inferno"s as they were a bouncer down. As far as he was aware, everything was okay between them. Until he came down this morning and she cornered him, accusing him of lying about working last night and saying that she knew he"d been with a bunny. I don"t know who told her that; I didn"t bother to ask after Blade told me what else she said."He says angrily.

What the hell else has been said?

"There"s more to it; I can tell by how angry you are. Tell me,"I demand.

He shakes his head before he starts speaking again. "He'd told her a little bit about his past. When they were arguing, she accused him of lying about it to just gain her sympathy and trust."

Now I get why he"s so angry. Blade"s past is horrific, and for him to even tell Jasmine a bit of it—she meant a lot to him—and then for her to accuse him of lying. Yeah, that"s not good at all. This also doesn"t sound like the Jasmine we"ve all come to know while she"s been staying here, and that"s worrying.

"Where is he now?"I ask; my own heart hurts for him.

"I sent him out for a ride; he needed to clear his head. I spoke to Jasmine as well; not like that went over well. She has a hell of an attitude when she wants to."

"What happened when you spoke to her?"

Now I"m really interested in what happened; she"s only ever been sweet in front of me.

"I told her for now she needs to stay the hell away from Blade; no contact at all. Yeah, she didn"t much like me telling her that. Asked how I could sit here and try to tell her who she could interact with. Obviously, I told her how I could do it, and yeah, I was fucking angry with her too. She then got on her high horse and called me a liar when I told her that, in fact, Blade was working last night and she was in the wrong. She says we"d all cover for each other anyway. She wants us to deal with Claire so she can go home."

"Fuck, that is not good. I agree with you telling her to stay away from Blade. We're probably going to have to keep an eye on them both. I don"t want her to cause Blade to go off the deep end, and she"s going to have to accept the consequences of her actions too."I say with a hint of anger.

We"ve all been nothing but good to Jasmine, and her accusing us of shit won"t go over well if people hear about it. I also don"t like this sudden change in her attitude; something doesn"t sit right with that.

"Come here,"I say as I open my arms.

He looks like he needs a hug after that.

God, I do hope Blade"s okay, and going for a ride will help him clear his head. As we're sitting in each other"s arms, there's a knock on my office door before it bursts open without me speaking, and Tech runs in.

∞∞∞

Tech

I have her. I"ve finally managed to hack into Claire"s secret bank account, and it shows she"s been using it. I have a fucking location she"s been frequenting. I don"t even think twice about it; I just run from my cave and bang on Wrath"s door.

I don"t wait for him to speak; I just barge in.

"Sorry, Prez,"I immediately start speaking, "but I"ve got her. I got in; I know where she"s been." I nearly yell the last part but just manage not to.

"Where?"He asks, his face showing how serious he is.

"You're not going to like this; she"s here. She"s in Devil"s Point."I tell him, and hold my breath.

"Do you know where in town?"Flame asks me.

"No, but I know where she"s been, so all we need to do is have someone there to watch for her, and they can tail her back to wherever she"s hiding out,"I explain to them quickly.

"Good job, Tech. Send me the information, and I"ll set up a rotation. Make sure you have a break now; you"ve been working nonstop for weeks."Wrath says.

"Thanks, Prez. I"ll go and send it to you now. Then I"m going to catch up on some sleep. I"m fucking shattered."

I turn to leave but stop when I remember the message I got just before I ran in here. "Oh, before I forget, Blade sent me a message that he won"t be back today; he doesn"t want anyone to worry about him being gone with everything that"s been happening lately."

Quickly making my way back to my cave, I send all the information I"ve gathered to Wrath. While I"m doing that, I set all my systems up to send anything they find to my phone so I can leave without missing anything important. I"ve been working on nearly no sleep and energy drinks for weeks now, and I"m fucked. Hopefully, I can catch up on some sleep before shit hits the fan again, and I"m needed.

I really do hope this is what we need to finally get our hands on Claire; she needs dealing with so that we can all move on with our lives. I know Cam"s also worried about what she might do next, and until she"s dealt with, he"s going to keep on worrying. He shouldn"t need to be worried about her, but I don"t blame him after all that she"s done to him.