It was two in the morning before he returned to his room, no farther along than he had been before he left.
* * *
Cash searched for a week before he had to admit to himself he wasn’t going to find her. She hadn’t made any contact with any of her friends or the few clients he knew of in Kentucky. Furthermore, he’d found out from Knox she hadn’t been in touch with her family or clients from out of state.
On the way back to the clubhouse from Lexington, he had a faint hope she would go to Lily’s old boyfriend, Charles, for a place to work, but it was another dead end.
He was about to pass Rosie’s when he saw a familiar truck parked outside. Quickly turning into the lot, he parked his bike.
The inside was busy as Cash went to the bar, ordering himself a beer. He searched through the room, looking for a particular face. Finding him at the back of the bar at a table to himself, Cash walked across the floor and took a seat.
Tate glanced up from his drink. “Get the fuck away from me.”
“We can talk in here or outside, but we are going to talk.”
Tate began to rise from the table.
Cash leaned back in his chair. “You having any luck finding Rachel?” Cash already knew the answer; his haggard face said it all.
Tate sat back down “No, if you know—”
“I don’t,” Cash cut him off; the last thing he wanted to do was raise his hopes when he didn’t have any leads.
“Then we have nothing to say.” Again, Tate started to get up from the table.
“We can both keep running around, trying to find her and not coming up with crap, or we can work together to bring her home.”
“It’s because of you she ran off.”
“Was it me or something you said after you dumb-fucks left the party?”
Tate remained silent.
“We all fucked up,” Cash admitted. “We can work together or never see her again, which do you want?”
“I want you to stay away from my sister, but I also want to find her, and if it takes your help, then I’ll take it. You’re the best tracker in the state,” Tate gave him the reluctant compliment.
“Where have you searched so far?”
“Everywhere we can think off. Holly has called all her clients in and out of state. We’ve talked to all her friends, who weren't many—Lily and Willa were basically it. Dustin is watching her bank and credit cards, and they haven’t been touched.”
How was she surviving without money? Cash had hoped for another avenue to pursue with Tate’s help, but he had even less than Cash.
“Any ideas?”
“No.” Cash took a drink of his beer. “Email me the client list. I’ll go back over it again.”
Tate hesitated then nodded.
“If I find anything, I’ll let you know.” He stood up.
“Cash, when I find my sister, I plan to settle my score with you.”
Cash’s lips quirked. “I’m surprised you haven’t been knocking down my door already.”
“Right now, Rachel is more important, and I can’t find her when I’m locked up in jail for killing you,” Tate warned.
“I deserve an ass-whipping for opening my big mouth at that party, but anything else is between Rachel and me.”#p#分页标题#e#
“There is nothing and won’t ever be anything between you and my sister. I had to watch your father sniff around my mother my whole life, and I’m not going to repeat it with you and my sister.
“I saw how she watched you when she thought no one was looking. Every time your dad would come visiting and bring you, she would sneak and look out the window. I used to tan her hide after they died to get her to quit sneaking off; searching the mountains because she was convinced you were hiding out there. She cried for three days when she found out you fucked her best friend from high school, and she never talked to her again.
“If you want to help find Rachel to alleviate your conscience, you go right ahead. I’d bargain with the devil to get Rachel back, but don’t think I’m going to let her become another one of your whores.”
Cash jerked Tate up from the table. “Don’t ever use the word ‘whore’ and her name in the same sentence again.” Cash had never wanted to hit someone so badly in his entire life.
Choosing to shrug it off, he threw Tate back down onto his chair.
“Send me that list.” He reached into his jean pocket, pulling out a card and throwing it down on the table. “My email is on the card.”
He slammed out of the bar, his boots crunching on the gravel as he got on his bike, pulling out of the parking lot.
Whenever he had been around Rachel, she had never shown by even a blink of her eye that she was interested in him, while he had basically ignored her existence and fucked his way through the town of women. Regret filled him at the wasted opportunity to get to know the woman he was beginning to learn had been a hidden pearl in their town, from not only Lily’s words to Shade, but the other people he had talked to. She had slipped beneath his notice, and now he might not be given a chance to make amends and learn more about the special woman he had fought so hard being attracted to.