“Danvers,” he called out again. He repeated her name in his pathetically weakened voice. I turned to watch him.
“Shut up,” Chase said, punching him in his mouth.
“Danvers,” he insisted with his eyes trained on me. There was no fight in his eyes, no false panic, and certainly no more cocky defiance.
“Guys, whoa. Hold on.” I stepped up and put hands on their arms, holding them back.
“Danvers.” Dimitri closed his eyes and slumped over in the chair.
“Is he…?” Juarez asked.
“No, but you’ve done a number on him,” I told them. I watched him breathe while we talked just to make sure he wasn’t going to try to check out on us.
“He wants your girl,” Chase told me.
“I see that, but there’s just one problem,” I told him.
“What’s that?”
“He ran her off, talking shit.”
“Oh, man, I think we need to find her and get her back down here,” Juarez said.
“Yeah, it sounds like he wants to talk to her,” Chase added.
“Danvers.” Dimitri’s voice was weak.
I put a hand on the Russian’s shoulder, and he opened his eyes to look at me. I nodded, letting him know we were going to get her for him. I just didn’t know where the hell she was.
“Alright guys, we need to find Julia and get her back here to let Dimitri talk,” I told them.
Chapter 19
“You guys stay here. Make sure no one else comes in to see Dimitri. If Julia shows back up, call me. I’ve got my cell phone on me,” I told the guys at the steel door to the interrogation room in the basement.
“What are you going to do?” Juarez asked.
“I’m going to track her down,” I told him.
“By yourself?” Chase chimed in.
“Yes, guys, I’m tracking her down by myself. I certainly don’t expect either of you to know her well enough to know how to find her. I know the places where she might have gone. Now, stay here and keep an eye on your boy back there.” I turned and left.
I didn’t want them to know how worried I was. Nothing was supposed to get under my skin, least of all a girl. They had already seen too much, anyway, after they walked in on me as I took out my frustrations on Dimitri. They could only have assumed it was because Julia had left.
The fact was my reaction had as much to do with Julia as it did with Lisa. What happened with Lisa had been my fault. I had allowed my emotions to cloud my judgment. I learned my lesson with her. I had to keep my personal life separate from what I did for the MC. I had no business letting my old lady get mixed up in the business side of things.
My guilt over what happened to Lisa became a reluctance to find Julia. I hopped on the back of my bike and gunned the engine, but I didn’t drive off right away. I sat at the curb and listened to the engine as it purred beneath me. I contemplated killing the engine and going back inside. If I brought Julia back here, I risked putting her in the same position Lisa had been put in when I lost her. I didn’t want to lose Julia the same way.
“Then, don’t,” I told myself as I walked the bike back from the curb.
When I pulled up in front of Julia’s apartment building, I wasn’t sure of what I was going to say, or if she was even home for that matter. I walked up to the door and buzzed her from the intercom downstairs. I was surprised when she let me in.
That didn’t mean she was completely comfortable talking to me yet. She cracked her apartment door, and I could see the chain pulled tight. I wanted to tell her that it wouldn’t have helped. Anyone could still enter her apartment, even with that chain in place. I decided to use a little more tact and work my way in.
“Why are you here?” she asked flatly from the other side of the door. “I thought I made myself clear earlier. I don’t want any part in what you’re doing.”
“Listen, Julia, I really need your help.” I leaned into the door and added in a low tone, “If you come back, I will pay you today. He’s ready to talk.”
She closed the door, pushing me back from it, and I could hear her sliding the chain across to release it. A moment later the door opened and Julia stood there, ushering me in. She’d switched out of her jeans and tank top and into a pair of slacks with a long-sleeved blouse.
“Are you heading up to the university?” I asked her.
“Yeah, I’ve got to account for where I’ve been the last few days,” she said. “See, I’m accountable, Gage. When I tell someone I’m going to do something, I have to show them that I’m doing it or that I’ve done it. I can’t say that I’m going to do research and then go sit on the beach somewhere or torture someone in my basement.”