A Wild Ride (Thompson & Sons Book 4) (24 page)

Nicole could barely believe how damn happy she was, even if everything wasn’t perfect. Her family…needed more time.

Laurel poked her in the arm, and Nicole pulled her attention back to her friend. “Are you done? They’re going to wipe down the table and sweep us away with the crumbs.”

Nicole blinked hard, focusing on the pale blonde across the table from her at the café. “Sorry. Daydreaming.”

“Really? I never noticed,” Laurel deadpanned. “Let me just remove these spider webs from where they’ve sprung up to forever connect you to the café.”

“Shut up,” Nicole mumbled, but she rose and left the restaurant, walking back to work with Laurel at her side. “Are you finally going to join us for dancing tonight at Traders?”

“That’s a definite positive maybe.”

“
Laurel
,” Nicole wheedled. “I’ll introduce you to Chase…”

“Sure. Now that you’ve found your match in Troy, you’ve tossed aside your leftovers like so much discarded candy.”

God
. “He’s not my leftovers. Stop that.”

Laurel flashed a grin. “I promise I’ll come with you sometime, but not tonight.”

“I wish you’d get yourself a hot date,” Nicole said seriously.

“I wish I would too, but alas, pyrotechnic humanoids are not yet savvy to the joys of earth prime.”

Nicole looked her over with concern. “Were you drinking during lunch, and I didn’t notice?”

“Never mind. I obviously read a broader range of material than you do.”

“That’s for sure.” Nicole gave her a quick hug then headed into work, diving into her tasks to distract herself from whatever Troy had planned for the evening.

Time dragged like never before.

Draaaaaaaagggggggged.

She checked her phone a dozen times between lunch and getting home, but there were no more messages. She resisted texting him—the man would only tease her for being impatient, and he’d be right.

It wasn’t
her
fault she was in the parking lot at six forty-five, trying to look blasé as she sat on the rustic bench outside the dance-floor door. She waved at friends as they slipped past, chatted with a few, and considered hiding when Mike showed up just after seven.

He paused. Looked around. “Where’s the ball and chain?”

Nicole offered her best annoyed-sister expression. “Meeting me here.”

Mike frowned. “I didn’t see him at the apartment after work. What’s he doing?”

“That’s for me to find out and then tell you,” Nicole said.

He snorted, waving as he headed inside. “See you when he shows up, then.”

“Sure.” She leaned back on the bench, turning her face toward the sun as she kicked her feet lazily. Every now and then she checked her watch, trying not to let her curiosity send her impatience rising too fast.

Still, when she checked the time and it was seven thirty, she couldn’t resist sending a text.

No answer.

And no answer to her phone call, either. It went to voice mail, and Nicole stared down the road in confusion. She even went back and read through the texts he’d sent earlier in the day, in case she’d made a mistake.

When eight o’clock rolled around with no sign of Troy, she was past worried. With one final glance over her shoulder, she made her way inside and found Mike.

Her brother was on the dance floor and not too pleased to discover her tugging on his shoulder. “What?”

“Troy’s late.”

“He’s an asshole,” Mike shouted over the music. “Thanks for telling me.”

When he would have gone back to dancing, she tugged harder, offering his dance partner an apologetic glance. “
Mike
.”

He looked totally hard done by before dipping his head toward the other woman. “Sorry, sweets, my sister’s boyfriend needs me to track him down and run him over with my truck.”

She laughed and blew him a kiss.

Mike was still pouting when they hit the front door. Nicole scoured the parking lot in the hopes Troy had shown up while she’d been gone, but no luck. She hauled out her phone and checked it again.

“What the heck is going on?” Mike demanded.

“Troy said he’d be here at seven, and it’s way later than that. And I can’t get hold of him, either.”

“So he forgot. He’s being a jerk. What do you want me to do?”

Nicole growled at her twin. “He’s not a jerk. He said he’d be here, and he’s over an hour late.”

Mike hauled out his phone and made a call. He waited then shrugged. “He’s not answering, but I’m sure he’s fine. Hell, his phone is probably dead or something stupid.”

That made sense. A dead phone was a completely plausible explanation for everything—except why Troy wasn’t here. Her sick sensation of worry was growing by the second. “You’re coming with me,” Nicole ordered.

“What? No way.” Mike shook his head. “I’m going back into Traders and—

She caught him by the shirtfront and got into his face. “You’re coming with me until we damn well find out what’s
wrong
.”

Her twin sighed, but he marched into the parking lot with Nicole hard on his heels. “Sure. Whatever. But when we find him at the apartment with his feet up on the coffee table, eating pizza and drinking rootbeer, you owe me big time.”

“Deal.” By now the sense of foreboding was so strong she hoped she’d have to pay the forfeit.

But the lights were out at the apartment, and there was no sign Troy had come home after work, his truck nowhere to be seen.

Mike tried to look relaxed, but he was fighting a losing battle as well. “He must have gotten held up at work. I’ll call the shop.”

His expression tightened only a minute later.

“Answering machine?” Nicole asked.

“Yeah. Closed for the day. You got the numbers for any of the Thompson gang?” When she nodded, he pulled her toward the door. “Let’s hit the garage. You can call the Thompsons on the way. I’m sure it’s nothing.”

But he didn’t sound as nonchalant as before, the two of them rushing down the stairs back to his truck. Mike drove in silence as Nicole phoned Katy and Janey, getting confused negative responses from both of them.

Katy offered to make more calls. “I’ll check with Clay and Mitch, and call you back the instant I know anything, but I’m looking out the window now at the shop, and I don’t see Troy’s truck where he usually parks it.”

“Thanks. I’m sorry for calling out of the blue—”

“Nicole Adams, stop that. I’d lose my shit if Gage were this late for no reason. We’ll figure it out.”

Nicole wanted to hug Katy hard. “Thanks.”

Mike waited until she’d given him an update. “Okay—what exactly did Troy tell you?”

“That he had a surprise for me and would meet me at Traders.”

“Okay, long shot. Call Mom and the girls, just in case his surprise somehow involved them, and he got waylaid.”

Nicole bent over her phone, fingers flying over the screen. She took the time to shoot a text at Laurel first.

Nic:
favour

Laurel:
yo

Nic:
Troy’s AWOL. Supposed 2 meet me @ Traders. Worried. Tracking him down. Can you go wait there in case he shows up?

Laurel:
of course

Laurel:
praying, if you’re not offended by that idea

At that moment? Nothing could offend her.

At least that’s what Nicole thought until she got negative responses from all her family. Including Jodie, who had the
bullshit
idea of using the moment to make a smart-ass comment.

“Get used to being treated like this,” she warned.

Nicole stiffened. “What does
that
mean?”

“He’d obviously taken off and forgot to tell you. Probably went out drinking. It’s no big deal to him, because he’s not responsible—”

Nicole hung up, really wishing she had an app that would have amplified the sound and volume of her displeasure. Something equivalent to a door slamming in her sister’s stupid face.

Mike was white knuckling the steering wheel. “Anything?”

“Nothing, except Jodie needs an ass kicking.”

The lights were out at the Thompson and Sons garage. Nicole raced up the back stairs and banged on the door to the bachelor apartment over the shop.

Mr. Thompson opened the door, his smile growing as he noticed Mike standing behind her. “Hey, it’s the trouble twins. Good to see—”

“Do you know where Troy is?” Nicole blurted out.

Keith shrugged. “No. Why?”

“He’s missing,”

“Ha. Hiding on you, is he?”

She shook her head, annoyed at having to proclaim this all over. “No. He was supposed to meet me over an hour and a half ago, and we can’t get hold of him.”

Keith paused. “We can check the appointment book if you’d like. Maybe he got called on an emergency? Is the tow truck in the yard? He’s supposed to—”

Nicole ignored whatever Keith had to say, whirling on the spot. Mike was already taking the stairs two at a time to the ground level, sprinting around the side of the building where the tow trucks were stored.

He jerked to a halt in plain sight, shaking his head at her. “Both trucks are here,” he shouted.

By the time she got down to his level, more vehicles were pulling into the yard as the Thompsons descended en masse. Troy’s oldest brother was the first to reach her, asking the same questions all over regarding his message.

She was getting desperate to
do
something. “I know it doesn’t seem like a long time, but I swear—Troy’s not goofing around. Something’s wrong or he would have been there. Or he’d have gotten in touch with me. I
know
it.”

Clay nodded slowly.

Anger flared. “He’s not slacking off somewhere,” she all but shouted. “If Maggie called Troy to say
you
were this late, he’d already be out looking for you. No questions asked.”

“Hey, it’s going to be okay.” Clay caught her in a bear hug and squeezed her tight. “I’m not doubting you, I’m trying to plan the best thing to do first.”

She gave in for a moment, accepting the comfort of a strong embrace. But once she got moving, she didn’t expect to stop until she found the missing piece of her heart.

Clay gestured his family closer as he spoke to Nicole. “Sounds like he went to pick up something for you. He must have gotten stuck somewhere along the way—even mechanics can break down, and if his phone was dead, he’d wait with his truck for us to find him.” He patted her arm reassuringly then turned to his brothers. “I didn’t notice. When did Troy leave work?”

“He took off early. Said he had to hit the bank.” Len frowned. “Which means he’s been gone since three.”

Oh my God.
Nicole’s stomach plummeted even further.

Mitch stepped forward. “I just called Anna. She said he’s not in the lockup at the station”—he held a hand toward Nicole to stop her defensive retort—“not that I expected him to be. She says we need to check the hospital, medi-centres, and all his usual hangouts before she can do anything official police-like.”

Hospital
. Nicole felt the blood draining from her head, and the yard started to spin.

Clay caught hold of her arm. “Hey. We’ll find him.”

Janey had her phone out now. “I’ll text my friend Shannon. She’s on shift at the hospital. She’ll check intake records for us.”

Clay nodded. “Let’s make a list and divide it up. The sooner we find him, the better.”

The guys went to work while Nicole strengthened her resolve. Somewhere out there, Troy needed help. He was damn well going to get it. Every bit of help she could muster, even if it meant knocking sense into some family with less than stellar attitudes.

She called Kevin and Cyndi’s first.

Her sister answered without even a hello. “Jeez, Nic. What the heck did you do to Jodie? She’s flipping out about how rude—”

“Let me talk to Kevin,” Nicole ordered.

“What am I? Chopped—?”

“Now, Cyndi, or you’ll regret it.”

“Fine.”

The next voice on the line was her brother-in-law’s. “Nic?”

“Troy is missing. We’re organizing search parties, and I need you and Dale ready to go as soon as we have an area for you to check out. Don’t ask anything more than ‘what can I do to help’, or I swear I’ll disown the lot of you in a fucking second.”

She had to give him credit for taking her threat seriously. “I’m grabbing my keys. I’ll call Dale and Brian. You want me to phone anyone else?”

Sheer relief made her head spin. “I’ll let you know.”

“You okay, sugar? You need Cyndi to come give you a hand?”

“I’m going looking with the crews. Tell her to stay home with the babies.”

“We love you, Nic. It’s going to be okay.”

His confident statement went a long way to easing the frustrations of having to threaten her family in the first place. Right now, she didn’t care what it took. All she wanted was wheels on the ground looking for Troy.

No…all she wanted was
Troy
, found, and in one healthy piece.

Maybe Laurel was rubbing off on her because she found herself damn near praying as everyone headed in different directions.

Katy caught her by the arm before she and Mike hit the truck. “If Troy took money out from the bank, I might be able to find out something to help us. He gave me all his passwords and banking information last year. Said he wanted someone to be a backup.”

Nicole nodded even as tears threatened. Trust Troy to give his information to the one family member who most needed to know he trusted them, in spite of Katy’s issues with numbers. “If you find anything—”

“I’ll call right away,” Katy promised.

Gage and Katy stayed behind with Mr. Thompson as a base for everyone to check in with. A sleepy Tanner lay curled up against his daddy’s chest as Gage leaned over a table covered with maps.

Mike drove, and Nicole stared out the window at the darkening sky. Lights shone from behind the tall garage doors, the building lit up with an unnatural-looking brilliance for the time of night. It was just shy of nine o’clock, and the sun had already gone behind the mountains, streaks of colour reaching toward the heavens.

On any other night it would have been beautiful. Now the beauty was washed away by the knowledge it was going to be pitch-black within the hour.