Page 3 of More Bite than Bark

In the room she fought the urge to fall flat across the bed and pass out.Instead, she stripped out of her dress, and all the undergarments she stood naked for a moment before pulling her slip back on.She couldn’t walk around the room in nothing, even if she was the only one there.

She grabbed her phone and headed for the bathroom.She’d asked for something with a large tub so she could run it full of hot water and soak for a bit.After starting the water running in the tub she pulled up the app for the big box store just down the road and ordered clothes to last her a couple of days, along with hygiene stuff and anything else she could think of, ordering it to be left at her door in the next hour and a half.

The tub was more than half full now, so she sank down in the water, letting the heat absorb into her bones.When the water was almost to the rim of the tub, she turned it off and leaned back to relax.She didn’t know how long she’d been there when her stomach rumbled.

She tried to remember the last time she’d eaten more than a bite or two.Not in the last two days, at least.She let her head fall back to hit the wall.No wonder she felt so bad.She picked up her phone again to see what kind of food she could have delivered.Sure, she could wait until the clothes were delivered and go out herself, but she didn’t want to.She wanted to stay here and wallow, at least for tonight.In the morning she’d pull herself together and figure out what she could do about putting together the life she’d just imploded.

Chapter Three

Hexsatinthefifth row from the front, close enough to see Elle saying something to her groom, but not close enough to hear what.She turned to Pastor Winterborn and said something, then she turned to face the guests.Her eyes came straight to him or at least he thought they did.She met his gaze as she spoke.

“I can’t do this,” she said before picking up her dress and leaving.She didn’t look back at him.She didn’t say anything to him, but he needed to find her.He needed to make sure she was okay.

“Well,” Mother sounded incensed.

Several voices rose around them, speculating and wondering what had driven her to call things off now.Hex had no clue, but since Elle wasn’t married and that she’d been looking right at him when she’d declared that she couldn’t do it, he felt lighter than he had since he’d found out about the wedding.

“I need to check on Sandy.”Mother moved toward the front of the room, toward Elle’s mother.

“You do that.I’m getting out of here,” Hex said.He didn’t wait for an answer, just turned down the aisle as soon as his mother had stepped out of the row and left.

He went straight to his truck and headed for the compound.On the way he used the Bluetooth in the truck and dialed Cypher.

“Yo,” the Savage Warriors tech sergeant said in answer.

“I need you to do a trace for me.”Hex didn’t bother to identify himself.The other man had his number and should know who it was already.

“What kind of trace?”

“Location mainly, but you should check for credit card activity too, I need to know if she’s stopped anywhere.”

“All right.Who?”

“Elizabeth Williamson.”He gave the other man all her details, phone number and all the vital information he knew, which, since he’d known her for her entire life, was pretty much everything.

“What about her social security number?”Cypher asked.

Hex scowled, why the hell would they need that?“I don’t know, why do you need it?”

“I don’t.I just wanted to see if you had it.You had everything else.”

“Fucker.”

“There’s the sunshine of a president we all know and love.How soon you need this?”

“Yesterday.”

“Not sure I can manage that, but I’ll get back to you as soon as I know something.”

“Hey, Cypher?”Hex spoke quickly because the Warrior’s hacker was about to hang up.

“What?”

“If she stops at a hotel somewhere, find what room she’s in if you can.”

“Boss!”he sounded appalled.“I can’t believe you would doubt my skills!”

“I don’t know what their system might be like, or how you get the information you get.Just that you do.”