Especially if they were having a young together…
The sound of a vacuum off in the distance drew his attention.
“Come with me,” he told the queen. “If there’s one person in this place who’ll know? He’s down the hall with a Dyson.”
Sure enough, Fritz was working in the second-floor sitting room, and as Blay walked in, he got slapped in the face with all the memories of him and Qhuinn doing it up but good on the rug by the couch.
Great. Just fabulous.
“Fritz?” the queen called out.
The doggen stopped the back-and-forth and killed the machine. “Well, hello, Your Majesty. Sire.”
Lots of bowing.
“Listen, Fritz,” Blay said, “have you seen Layla?”
Instantly, the butler’s face became downcast. “Oh. Yes. Indeed.”
When he didn’t fill anything else in, Blay prompted him with an, “Annnnnd?”
“She took the car. The Mercedes. It was about two hours ago.”
What the hell, Blay thought. Unless…“So Qhuinn was with her.”
“No, she was alone.” As a boatload of uh-oh hit Blay’s stomach, the butler shook his head. “I tried to insist that I take her, but she would not let me.”
“Where was she going?” Beth asked.
“She said she had no destination. I knew that Master Qhuinn had taught her to drive, and when she ordered me to tender upon her palm the keys, I knew not what to do.”
The queen spoke up. “You are not at fault here, Fritz. Not at all. We’re just worried about her.”
Blay took out his phone. “And there’s GPS on the vehicle, so this is going to be fine. I’ll just hit up V and he’ll be able to locate her for us.”
After he sent the text, the queen reassured the butler some more, and Blay hung around, waiting for a response.
Ten minutes later? Nada. Which meant the Brother with the IT skills was in the middle of some business downtown.
Fifteen minutes.
Twenty.
He even called, and didn’t get an answer. So he could only assume that someone was bleeding—or that V’s phone had gotten shanked during fighting.
“Qhuinn’s not in the gym?” he said, even though that question had already been answered.
Beth shrugged. “Not when I checked.”
Blay put in a quick call, got Ehlena, and a moment later was informed that the workout room was empty, Luchas was asleep, and there was no one in the pool or on the basketball court.
The guy wasn’t in the house. And not in the field, because he was off rotation. That left only one other conceivable place.
“I know where he is,” Blay said gruffly. “I’ll go get him while we wait for V to check in.”
After all, that female was carrying his young—so if she went AWOL into the big world by herself, he had a right to be involved in locating her. And sure, maybe Qhuinn knew where she was, but Blay had a feeling he didn’t: hard to believe he would have left his phone in his room if he was aware that she was going out in the car. He’d want some way for her to get in touch with him.
On that note, why had he left his cell behind at all? Not like him.
Unless he thought Layla was doing okay…and he didn’t want to be interrupted.
Great.
Looping back to his room, Blay picked up a gun—because you never knew when you might need one—and a coat that was only to cover his hardware. Then he jogged down the stairs and went out the vestibule…and dematerialized into the night.
He resumed form in the back parking lot of the Iron Mask, and when he got to the club’s rear door, he hit the bell and showed his face to the security camera. Xhex opened the way in.
“Hey,” she said, giving him a quick hug. “How you been? Long time no see around here.”
“I’m looking for—”
“Yeah, he’s at the bar.”
Of course he was. “Thanks.”
Blay nodded to the bouncers, Big Rob and Silent Tom, and pushed out of the staff area into the club proper. As he emerged on the far side, the bass drum of the music went right into his sternum—or maybe that was his heartbeat.
Annnnd there he was: Even though there were a hundred people crowded around the bar, Qhuinn was a neon sign to him, standing out from the rest. The fighter was sitting at the far end, his back to Blay, his elbows splayed on the black varnished wood, his head hanging low.
Blay exhaled a curse as he thought, here they were, back at the beginning. And yup, before he could even make it over, a woman closed in, her body sliding up to Qhuinn, her hand lingering on his arm, his head turning so he could get a good look at her.
Blay knew what was next. A quick up-and-down with that mismatched stare, a slow smile, a couple of drawled words—and the pair would go off to the bathrooms—