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Dice jumped from his chair and stalked to the door of the diner with his cell phone plastered to his ear. Romeo dropped the last bite of hamburger on the plate in front of him and slid out of the booth to follow Timber's dad.
Across the booth, Creamer looked up. "Where's the fire?"
He shook his head at the old man. "That's what I'd like to know."
Dice no longer acted like a Killere member. He was Timber's dad, and that concerned him. Anything to do with her, he wanted to know about.
Outside, Dice looked around, unaware Romeo followed him. He stayed behind Dice, straining to hear the conversation, but there was an eighteen-wheeler idling fifty feet away, buffering Dice's voice.
Dice shoved the cell in his pocket and took off walking in the direction of the clubhouse. Romeo surged forward, matching Dice step for step.
"Problem?" he asked.
"Nothing I can't handle."
"You're known to have trouble surrounding you. What's different this time?"
"Timber's missing," said Dice.
Romeo slapped Dice in the chest, stopping him from walking. "What the fuck are you talking about?"
"I'll handle it."
"I swear on the patch, man. If she's hurt, I will come after you." Romeo cocked his head, challenging him. "Where is she?"
"The men I hired caught her on the wrong side of town and were bringing her back when she pulled a knife on them and took off. They lost her," grumbled Dice.
"Jesus Christ." He grabbed Dice by the front of his vest. "Did they hurt her?"
"They were doing their job." Dice pushed away. "They were bringing her back to the tattoo shop and going to call me to pick her up, but she jumped them and took off. She's used a knife before. Hell, I gave her that knife."
His jaw cramped. "Where is she now?"
"I don't know. I'm going to go look for her."
Shoving away from Dice, he grabbed his phone out of his pocket to call in a few more riders and noticed he had several texts.
"Fuck. Dice. Stay here." He turned off airplane mode and quickly scanned the messages from Timber and then more texts from his brothers, all getting the same sense of emergency from her. "Jesus...she's called everyone for help."
"Not me," said Dice.
Romeo gave up trying to text his brothers back because his fingers were shaking. He should've turned on the phone immediately after the club meeting earlier. His mistake cost valuable time in finding Timber.
He called Timber until the call went to voice mail. "She's not answering."
"I know she's not. Don't you think I already called her."
While Dice paced in front of him, he called Brody. "Where are you?"
"Home."
"Timber's not there?"
"No. I've got everyone out there looking for her. I stayed here in case she showed up."
He gritted his teeth. "I'm leaving the clubhouse now, coming in from the east side. Call if you find her."
"Risk level?" asked Brody.
"High. Fucking high," he muttered, disconnecting the call.
Since they were teenagers, trying to survive, they'd had code words for situations they found themselves in. A low-risk level involved one of the brothers watching the back of another brother. But a high-risk level meant anything could happen, including killing someone.
If anyone were with Timber, regardless of Dice hiring them, he and his brothers would kill to protect Timber.
"Hey, where are you going?" shouted Dice.
Halfway to his motorcycle, Romeo flipped Dice off. He had it with the man.
"Come on, brother. I'm going to go look for her." Dice cut across the line of bikes and threw his leg over his motorcycle. "We'll find her faster if we work together."
"I'll find her myself." He glared at Dice. "If anything happens to her, this is on your back. I will dog your every step and make you pay for the rest of your pathetic life because killing you would be too easy."
"You don't understand Timber. She's fine. She knows how to protect herself. Once we get her back, she'll settle down and forget about it all."
"You're fucked, man. She's not going to forget about it."
"Time after time, she gets over it, brother. It no longer bothers her that she has to keep running." Dice sighed heavily, putting on his helmet. "I've told you, she's broken. I've broken her."
"She's not fucking broken. She's young. She's a damn baby compared to us. Have you ever once taken care of her?" Before Dice could start flapping his tongue, Romeo continued. "She's young, and while everyone needs to learn how to survive and be responsible for their actions, she's fucking taken care of herself since she was too young to know any better. Just once, let her be your daughter and fucking take care of her like you're supposed to be doing."
"This keeps her safe from Sparrows," said Dice.
"Bullshit." Romeo faced him. "It keeps her scared. It keeps her hurt. It keeps her alone. You've let your fear dictate how she lives. When does she get to start living her life?"
Romeo shook his head in disgust and started his Harley. Ripping out of the parking lot, he left Dice behind.
He would find Timber.
And when she was back in his arms, he wouldn't let Dice, or any of the fucking men her dad had hired, touch her.