“What’s happening?” Corbin asks, his voice low and deep as we head down the stairs. Seconds later, Brian is coming through the garage gate and taking the nearest parking spot.
He spots us making our way to Heather’s car and meets up with us as she’s clicking the remote to unlock the doors of a white Lexus.
“Guess we’re gonna cuddle, boys,” Seth says, pulling his backpack off, hopping in the back seat, and sliding to the middle. Brian and Corbin take the seats beside him as I fold into the front passenger side, and Heather takes the wheel. Without even waiting for a signal or for one of us to speak, she backs out of the space and whips around to the gate to exit the parking garage.
“Fuck a job at Club Alias, Doc. She needs to be our new getaway driver,” Seth says through a cackle, and I don’t tell him off for his inappropriate timing for jokes, since I know for a fact that it’s his defense mechanism whenever he’s scared to death. It’s not just me he’s worried for, or even himself, because he adores Astrid. I know he’s thinking of his wife, Twyla, and how she would react if something were to happen to her only sister. After what she’d been through to keep Astrid safe, she would be beyond devasted for something to hurt her now, when she’s finally getting her life in order.
“Okay, spill. What. Is. Happening?” Corbin repeats, and I start talking, able to form words now that we’re speeding toward the love of my life.
“Backstory. Twenty-four years ago, the girl I was going to marry, Shelly, was raped at a party. The fucker got off with probation, the judge deciding he was too young to be sent to jail for the crime. Long story short, she ended her own life, setting the course for the rest of mine.” I feel a hand on my shoulder and turn my head to the left to see it’s Brian’s. Everyone in the car murmurs their condolences, but I continue on. “Astrid now has this makeup artist job at the strip club Brian had under surveillance. Before he even knew what was going on there, he had suspicions about it. It turns out it’s a modern-day brothel. And the owner of the fucking place is none other than Elias Randolph—aka Randy these days, apparently—who raped Shelly all those years ago.”
“Fuuuck,” Corbin growls, and I snort.
“You don’t know the half of it. The body of a missing woman, the former makeup artist at A Secret who had supposedly been found safe in another state, was discovered in the woods earlier today. Heather here bravely came to tell us the entire story. It is suspected that Randy killed her during their night together. He’s known for forcing the women to sleep with him and calls it square because he pays them. Seth says the field coroner reported the cause of death was most likely strangulation, which goes along with what Heather said. She told us the woman’s lifeless body was carried out the back door naked but with something around her throat,” I explain.
“Which they must’ve removed before dumping her, because there wasn’t anything in the report about a weapon used,” Seth adds.
“Your text said we have to go get Astrid 911,” Brian finally speaks, ever the quiet one who takes in all the information before making a statement.
I quickly explain all the details about the levels of the strip club, Crystal, the referral contest, her recognizing Astrid from their barre class, and how she was going to talk her into dancing for the extra cash. “And then Astrid sent me texts earlier when my phone was dead saying she was going to dance for one hour in the nightclub section. Heather says Crystal will have to prove she won the referral money by showing Randy that Astrid is in fact dancing in the club. We can’t let that happen. The fucker is a goddamn rapist for sure, and a suspected murderer who is known for ‘disappearing’ women who tell him no. I don’t want him to even lay eyes on my woman. I will not let him take another woman I love away from me. Never again. Even if I have to kill him myself with my bare hands,” I growl, my hands shaking as my control starts to slip.
A hand grips my shoulder again, and then one on the back of my neck. “That’s not going to happen, Doc. We’ve got you. And we’re not going to let anyone hurt Astrid. None of us will. We all love her, and there’s no fucking way we’ll let anything get in the way of you finally finding your happiness,” Corbin says adamantly, and I feel choked up as the hands let me go.