I nod. “You take that side of the club,” I point Dom in the direction of the entrance to the club. “Izz, you take the dance floor and I’ll work my way round this side and over to the bar.” I lean down to speak to Owen. “If Ev comes back here, can you keep her here until I get back?”
Owen nods. “I’m sure she’s fine, G. She’s probably bumped into someone she knows.”
I nod and take off. I hope he is right, but it isn’t like her to just go off on her own and not let anyone know where she is. I prowl the booths and the edge of the club right around to the bar, but my girl is nowhere to be seen. Okay, now I’m worried. I head back over to the booth and both Dom and Izzy are back and she isn’t with them.
“Nothing?”
Dom shakes his head. “No. She isn’t here, Gray. Have you tried ringing her?”
I sigh. “Why hadn’t I thought of that?” I pull out my phone and dial her number, but it goes straight to voicemail, which deepens my worry. She always has her phone on, even at night when she was asleep. “It’s switched off.”
Izzy chews on her lip. “This isn’t like her. She wouldn’t go off on her own. What if she’s been roofied?”
‘Stay here,” I order. “I’m going to speak with one of the bouncers.”
I head off through the club and make my way to the entrance. I ask the two door men manning the front if they’ve seen a girl meeting her description leaving, but they both shake their heads. Who am I kidding? People were coming and going out of here all night as if they are going to notice one girl.
I head back to the booth. Where the fuck was my girl?
“Nothing?” Dom asks me and I shake my head.
Jakes phone rings and he pulls it out of his pocket and answers it. “Hello.Grayson? Yeah sure, hold on.” Looking up with a deep frown, he holds out the phone to me.
“Yeah, who is this?” I ask, not recognising the voice.
“It’s Tyler. Grayson, you need to get back here, something’s happened.”
The panic in his voice stills my heart. “What’s going on Tyler?” I demand.
“They have Taylor. The people I owe money to, they’ve taken her.”
“Fuck!” I exclaim, clenching my fists and wanting to wreak havoc on something, anything.
“You better pray they don’t harm a hair on her head. I’m on my way.”
Fuck, fuck, fuck!
“We need to go,” I announce. “Doyle’s got Everly. He’s made contact with Tyler.”
“Shit,” Dom swears, looking pale.
“Oh crap,” Courtney adds, her face ashen.
WE ARRIVE BACK AT THE house and I storm in there and find Tyler pacing up and down the living room. I don’t give him a chance to open his mouth before I have him pinned up against the wall.
“Where the fuck is she?” I hiss. I am raging mad. This is all his fault. I said he was bringing trouble to her door.
Dom comes up beside me and with his hands on my shoulders he tries to pull me away from Tyler.
“You better start talking now,” I bark. I am done being civil. I will kill him if they harm one hair on her head.
Tyler to be fair looks worried sick. “Danny Doyle called me about half an hour ago. Said he had something important to me and then he put her on the phone. They have Taylor. They must have taken her from the club.”
‘We need to ring the police,’ Emily insists, and both Tyler and I say no at the same time.
I shake my head. ‘If we involve the police, we only put her in more danger.” I turn my attention back to the scumbag before me. “What did he say?”
Tyler swallows. “They want the money before morning, in cash or Everly will pay.”
“Pay,” Izzy repeats. “What do you mean, pay?” Her voice is pitched with hysteria and worry.
Tyler shrugs. “They might knock her around a bit.”
Dom sees that I’m about to explode and he steers me out of the room into the kitchen.
“I want to fucking kill him,” I seethe. I was so fucking mad.
‘I know mate, me too, but right now we need to concentrate on getting Ev back to us, safe and sound.”
I nod. “I can get the money. I still have some left over from the sale of my car. Shit.” I groan as I realise a slight snag in my plan. “I can’t get that amount though until the bank opens though.”
Dom rubs a hand across his face. “Let’s see if we can club enough together if we all empty our accounts.”
I’m glad he is here thinking rationally because I am not able to right now.
I follow him back into the living room and I listen to him tell the others what we need to do.
“I have about five hundred in my account,” Izzy announces.
Courtney winces. “I wish I had that kind of money. I have about sixty quid.”
“Owen?” I ask, feeling deflated.
“I have a grand in my current account.”
Izzy gawps at him, open-mouthed.
“What? I’ve been saving up for something.” He turns his attention back to me. “You can have all of that.”
I squeeze his shoulder. “Thanks, man. I’ll transfer it back to you as soon as I can.”
“I have roughly eight hundred,” Ems tells me. “You know dad always liked to make sure I had plenty in case I needed anything.”
Courtney blows out a breath. “So we have enough?”
I nod. “We have enough. We’ll have to call a taxi. We’ve all been drinking.” I tell. Of all the nights for us all to have a drink. This will just delay me getting my girl back even longer.
Courtney is on the phone no sooner have I spoken. The taxi company says they’ll be with us in about
