All is Lost (All Series, Book 2) (27 page)

“
You do know me,” She demands.
Leaning in closer, the corner of her mouth quirks up and
recognition settles into her eyes. Hesitantly, she asks,
“Marcus?”

“
Yes, Miller,” I sigh. “I didn't
recognize you before. Otherwise I wouldn't have allowed you to drag
out the whole seduction scene. If you don't mind Raithe and I have
some things to discuss.” I narrow my eyes when she doesn’t retreat.
“It's private.” Hopeful she's satisfied with my response, I turn
facing him giving her my shoulder. Maybe I can use her knowing I am
back to my advantage at a later date, but for now I do not want
Breesan seeing her anywhere near me.

“
Sure, um,” she pauses, “I'll see
you later.” She states softly from behind me, her words sound
hopeful, but I take them as a threat.

“
Damn man, she's still got it bad
for you. But I'm guessing that she doesn't stand a chance against
the little hellion you're shacking up with huh?” Grinning, he
stares behind me watching Miller walk away. Hearing how he
belittles what is between me and Breesan spurs my hardening
attitude.

“
Shut up,” I growl
angrily.

Twisting my head around to glance over my
shoulder, I smile seeing that she actually granted my request and
surprisingly left without an argument. Miller is a ghost from my
past that will remain there. Refusing to discuss my relationship
status with Raithe, I change the subject.

“
What updates do you have on the
case? Other than spotting Rhys and Kole when I arrived I haven't
spoken with them today,” I ask drawing his attention away from the
busy dance floor in front of us.

“
The department is running around
crazy with two major incidents in one weekend. They have one
investigator working the shooting and decided to turn over the
abduction case to the county. I scrounged through the evidence
locker and found Breesan's cell phone.” He hands it over and I
slide it into my back pocket.

“
Thanks.”

“
I checked it out and made sure
it's still working. It’s busted up pretty badly so you'll want to
get her a new one.”

I already picked up her new phone. All that's
left is putting her old chip in it and giving it to her. Thinking
about her reading that text that made her faint scares the hell out
of me, but I won't betray her trust or make her feel weak by
deleting it. She'll have to face it at some point; I'll just make
sure I'm there when she does. “Thanks Raithe. If you find out
anything else...” He cuts me off before I can finish.

“
There is something else. While I
was at the hospital I spoke with your Granddad and he's concerned.
Have you talked with your brother recently?” He stares, seriousness
owning his expression.

Suddenly apprehensive, I shake my head and
scan the room for any signs of Breesan. Not locating her among the
large crowd, I glance back at him, annoyingly awaiting my
response.

“
Marcus, he's been gone since the
night of Tristan's shooting and no one has spoken with him. I
talked to Sam about it and she remembers seeing him at the docks
that night.” Raithe takes a beer from the waitress. “Thanks Lizzy.”
He says to her. Apparently he is a regular here.

“
Sam and I did a little
investigating,” He continues. “It appears that he flew off to
Vegas, but now he's gone, like completely off the grid. I contacted
a guy that I graduated academy with who works at Clark County
Sheriff's office. I asked him to drop by his suite at the MGM.” I
nod. “All of his shit is there, but they've checked the room twice
and it's like he's disappeared.”

Letting the information settle in I try to
control my anger with Morgan for being such a little shit and
disrupting the family even more.
Shit
. Disappearing is not
Morgan’s style. If anything he's all about recognition, but more
importantly he wouldn't discard his responsibilities to WC on a
whim just to be an ass. Something tingles in the back of my head,
but I continue earnestly listening to Raithe without
interrupting.

“
Sam has tried contacting Tac about
helping us locate him, but he's still deep undercover in some third
world country. I'm telling you all of this for Breesan's sake.” I
freeze at the mention of her name. “Tristan told me that they got
really close. You should probably tell her Morgan is missing before
someone else breaks it to her.”

I haven't considered Breesan's feelings for my
brother. With him suddenly vanishing she may feel some
responsibility, since he disappeared soon after kissing her. I’ll
tell her tomorrow.

“
Fucking Morgan,” I growl silently,
disgusted by him being in the center of my relationship once
again.

Chapter
Nineteen

Breesan

I spent the first few hours of my first night
at Club Toxic learning the menu from the cook and familiarizing
myself with the serving chart. I've been to the club a hundred
times, but working it is something totally different. Ensley took
me on a tour of the VIP area that I will be responsible for while
working here. The club goers are a mix of teens and mid-twenties,
and I know most everyone here. Luckily the upper area is reserved
for those who are willing to pay for seclusion away from the
rambunctious behavior expected downstairs, leaving this area less
busy and me less likely to be recognized. The bartender is a guy
named Tyle. He's very handsome and I've seen him here before, but
I'm not familiar with the waitress working alongside me
tonight.

“
If you want to take the front
stations I'll stay back here near the bar.” Tracelyn says sweetly,
handing me an apron and a ticket book. “Just let me know if you get
any alcohol orders so I can deliver them for you since it's our
policy that no one under twenty-one handles them.” She glances over
her shoulder before adding, “Besides, now that Tyle is single I'm
hoping that he'll finally pay me some attention. He has the
dreamiest eyes and I want them on me all night.”

A wicked smile breaks across her face as she
stares off in his direction. Tracelyn is cute with short brown
hair. She stands just an inch or two taller than me and her figure
is extremely curvaceous. Without all of her Goth garb on she could
probably pull of the girl-next-door look easily.

“
Thank you.” I manage to get out
through a soft chuckle. “He's single huh? Well, I wish you luck
with him then.”

“
Yeah,” Her smile drops slightly.
“It's kind of sad, but works out best for me. I hope.”

Preferring not to know why his breakup is sad,
I turn slightly noticing a completely gothed-out guy at the very
front table grinning and waving me over. “Oh look, my first
customer.” I say relieved. Slipping away I take the guys simple
beer order and Tracelyn delivers it.

The night progresses just as similarly as it
began, steady with orders while I search every face for recognition
of one of the abductors. Since it's a Tuesday night there's not a
very large crowd, but the local Goth band Beginning Monday is
playing and they bring out more than the typical Tuesday night's
usual suspects. The band is really good–one of my favorites–and the
lead singer, Miller Adams, is amazing. Her voice is sultry when she
purrs out the lyrics. We actually went to high school together. She
isn’t one of my favorite people and we absolutely never hang
out.

I've heard she's changed since joining this
band, but I still hope she doesn’t recognize me if we happen to
bump into each other. I've given her no reason, but she's been
hateful to me for years. After finding out that Marcus dated Miller
years ago and told him horrible–albeit truthful–things about me, I
was a little disappointed in his choice of girlfriends. With the
bitter rivalry wedged between us already, I think Miller would like
me even less if she found out that Marcus is with me now. No
matter, I never did care about what that gossiping, mean-girl
thought.

“
Hey.” A deep male voice calls from
behind me.

Turning my head to glance over my shoulder, I
see the bartender waving me over. Placing my empty tray down, I
pluck a cherry from the garnishment tray and prop on the high-back
barstool.

“
What's up?” I ask, staring at the
sweet treat dangling from the stem.

“
Your front table guy left without
paying his tab.” Tyle says smiling at me while digging through the
cooler for a beer. “It comes out of your wages and tips, but since
it's your first night I've covered for you.”

“
No, don't do that.” I sigh after
glancing back at the abandoned seat. “I can't believe he stiffed
me, he was so nice.”

Laughing loudly, Tyle slams the beer on the
counter in front of a middle-aged punk rocker with his Mohawk
spiked in every direction before coming back over to me.

“
Sorry, but that guy is not nice.”
He says, still chuckling as he rests his arms across the edge of
the bar, leaning in closer to me. “He’s an asshole and does that
shit all the time.”

“
What?” I gasp. “Why in the hell do
you keep letting him back in the club?” I shout disturbed by the
fact that he knew this jerk did this shit all the time. I wobble on
my stool, nearly falling but Tyle's hand darts out fast grabbing my
arm to help stabilize me.

“
Easy there. You okay?” He asks
dropping his eyes to my chest. Staring extra-pervy at my cleavage,
he grins wickedly. Pulling up my corset I push away from the bar
rail, lean back on the stool, and cross my arms over my chest
effectively blocking his view.

“
Fine,” I mumble perturbed at his
blatant leering. Jeez, you'd think in a place like this where women
dress this way all the time he'd be sick of looking at
boobs.

“
Hey,” He says. Slowly glancing up
to look in my face, he shrugs guiltily.” I'm just fucking with you.
We don't have a choice in letting the jerk back in
here.”

The corners of his mouth turn up displaying
two huge dimples on either side. Tyle is devastatingly handsome,
but there's something off about his eyes. Flustered with his
gawking and twisted answers, I quirk an eyebrow at him, awaiting
his reason. Wiggling a finger for me to lean forward, I shake my
head defiantly, unwilling to give him another flash of my abundant
cleavage.

“
Bea, come here,” He challenges
softly.

Staring confused by the sudden softness of his
features, I casually lift my hands snaking them around my neck,
completely covering my cleavage with my arms and tilting toward him
as he instructs. Thankfully, he continues to stare only at my
eyes.

“
He's my brother,” He states
matter-of-factly, like he expects me to accept that the guy being
his brother excuses his bad behavior. Perplexed, I stare unable to
come up with a logical explanation and disbelieving that he really
continues allowing his brother to skip out on the waitresses pay.
“And he's not gone. He's working.”

“
What do you mean he's working?” I
glare disbelievingly. “He works here?”

Smoldering eyes soften now to a smirk as his
grin deepens the dimples in his cheeks. “Yeah cuz, he works here
while you're here.”

Completely thrown by him calling me the
shorten version of cousin, I shift around looking at the nearly
packed bar seeing that no one is paying us any attention, but it's
too late. Fear begins a wicked dance across my skin, crawling deep
inside to the pit of my stomach, and I suddenly feel exposed, even
more than my damn overwhelming boobs.

Clamping down on my arm again, Tyle shushes me
while dragging me off my stool, and behind the back of the bar. I
struggle against his hold as he leads me into the florescent lit
storage room and then shuts the door behind us.

“
Sorry, I didn't mean to frighten
you.” He says. “I should have explained it better. Damn, I'm sorry
Breesan. If you'll sit down I'll tell you the truth.”

Shocked in breathless anticipation, my body
quivers as I stare nervously chewing on the inside of my cheek.
How the hell does he know my real name
?

“
Who are you?” I ask pleadingly,
finally finding the ability to speak through the lump of paranoia
in my throat. A threatening tingle begins to stalk the perimeter of
my brain and I don't think a quick mediation session will pull me
away from the flip I'm about to take.

“
Sit down.” He orders, but his tone
is kind. Fear warns me that he may be one of the bad guys. How
could he know my real name and does he know why I'm really working
here? “Shit I'm sorry, calm down.” He holds his hands up, gesturing
surrender. “Breesan, I'm Tyle Bentley.” He says flatly. As if that
means shit to me. Nodding anxiously I await further explanation. He
huffs, “As in, kid brother of Rhys Bentley.”

Relief instantly floods me. “Hang on a second.
That guy at the front table was Rhys?” Chuckling at my rushed
question, he nods and I mumble as I look toward the door, “I can’t
believe I didn’t recognize him.”

“
That is kind of the point of being
“under cover”, right?” Tyle jokes.

“
Yeah,” I sigh. “Dammit.” Blowing
out a heavy breath, I drop my ass into an empty seat and cover my
face with my hands. “Why didn't you just tell me and save all the
theatrics? With the craziness that has been happening, you scared
the hell out of me.” I scold him, piercing him with a disappointed
look and add, “What did he tell you about me?”