Hey, updates may be a little bit infrequent due to my work schedule becoming more hectic, i.e. longer hours and sometimes split shifts. Anyway, thank you for your continued interest and support. I appreciate it.

I do not own Glee or the characters, neither do I own Reaper's Legacy.

MERCEDES CONT'D

"God, I love dancing," Marley said, sucking on a cigarette. It was just shy of midnight on Friday, and we stood on the sidewalk outside a club in downtown Spokane.

I had a nice buzz going...

"My feet are gonna hurt so bad, but totally worth it," I agreed, swaying a little.

I felt my cheeks flush, which was funny, so I started laughing. And Marley shook her head at me.

"I can't take you anywhere," she said gravely. "Lightweight. Where the hell did Mel go? I want to check out this guy of hers. I thought the deal was, we'd look him over and decide whether he's worth her time. She's cheating."

"No shit! Bitch! I hate her!"

"Yeah, me, too," Marley replied, stabbing the air with her smoke for emphasis. "How am I supposed to live the single life vicariously if I don't get any details?"

I shook my head and shrugged mournfully.

"I'm doing my part. I tell you everything."

"And don't think I don't appreciate it," she said, tearing up slightly. Then we gave each other a drunken hug.

We'd hit the first bar around ten, and by ten thirty Mel had disappeared to meet her online hottie, Brad.

She was supposed to bring him inside to meet us, but they snuck off to a bar down the street instead...

I would've suspected kidnapping and murder by eleven thirty when we'd moved on to the next club, but she'd been sending us regular text messages that made it clear she was enjoying her evening.

Long story short...Brad was gorgeous...in her words...and we'd get to meet him in a while.

She was definitely going to sleep with him and she was pretty sure he could handle her dad... Apparently Brad was her perfect man.

However, she promised not to leave the other bar without us, so we called it good.

"Hopefully they're in some corner booth making out," I said glumly.

"Not too much," Marley said darkly. "If she screws him before I give my approval, she's losing her margarita privileges."

Talking about making out reminded me of Sam...

And thinking of Sam made me want to drink more.

I still couldn't believe I'd had sex him...

Again.

I just couldn't shake the man.

Thank God we didn't need to be back home until noon, because I had a lot more alcohol to drink.

Marley's husband was definitely taking one for the team tonight, watching both kids. I needed to bake him cookies or something...

"Is it creepy that I want to bake for your husband?" I asked her. She burst out laughing and I started laughing, too, and then my phone buzzed.

MEL: I want to go back to the hotel. He's definitely THE ONE.

I read it and squealed, handing the phone over to Marley. And she started thumb-typing furiously...

MARLEY: Don't you dare! We have to check him out first. You're not following the plan.

MEL: You'll meet him in a minute. Come down to Rick's and we can head from there. We'll wait outside.

I yanked my phone back and glared at Marley.

"That's mine! I get to yell at her first."

"We can't yell at her in front of Internet Hottie!" she told me. "That's a cockblock. We'll yell at her tomorrow."

I considered this...

"Okay," I said. "But I still call dibs on yelling first once we ditch his ass."

She sighed and rolled her eyes.

"Whatever."

We didn't see Mel and her guy outside Rick's...which was a tiny hole-in-the-wall place we almost missed, because it was next to a good-sized club with a long line.

I texted her and got no response.

"She's probably just peeing or something," Marley said, eyeing a group of college-looking guys standing in a clump on the sidewalk.

They eyed her back and she smiled.

"Hey!" I hissed. "Married, remember?"

She laughed.

"I'm just looking, don't be so uptight. I promise not to touch, okay?"

My phone buzzed...

MEL: Heading out.

We stood on the sidewalk for another five minutes...

Nothing...

And I started getting a little nervous.

I texted again.

No reply.

Another ten minutes passed and I'd had enough. This didn't feel right.

"I'm gonna go check on her," I told Marley. She'd lost interest in the college boys when they'd come over and tried to pick us up.

They'd been pretty to look at, but not exactly brilliant conversationalists.

She nodded, concern on her face.

"I'll wait out here," she said, looking up and down the street. "Just in case they show up."

"I don't want you outside by yourself," I replied. But she jerked her chin towards the bouncer at the club next door.

"I'll be fine," she said. "Anything happens, I'll scream for him. Go find our girl."

"All right," I said, my voice grim. "But when I find her, we're kicking her ass. This isn't cool."

The place was small and dark...just a tiny, narrow little bar and way rougher than I'd expected.

No wonder the college boys stayed outside. Because the men in here would crumple them up and throw them away like used...whatever.

I shook my head which was foggy from the booze... I needed to focus.

There were more men than women I realized but most kept their eyes on their drinks. And my quickly sinking opinion of Brad went down another notch.

What kind of guy took a girl to a place like this?

We shouldn't have let Mel out of our sight, I realized...

I didn't find her in the main bar so I wandered to the back, where a long hallway led past some grotty-looking bathrooms and an office.

It ended with a fire door that had been propped open with a brick.

I texted Marley...

ME: Any sign of them?

MARLEY: No this is bullshit.

ME: They're not in the bar. I'll look in the ally then come back.

With that, I stepped up to the fire door cautiously...

Would Mel really go out there with a guy she didn't know?

Except, she probably felt like she did know him. They'd been calling each other for a while now... Hell, I'd gone on dates with guys I'd only met a few times.

Still...

I pushed the door open and peeked outside to find a tall, dark-haired man in faded jeans and motorcycle boots leaning against the side of a battered cargo van.

He smiled at me like a shark and winked.

Oh my God!

I recognized him...

It was one of the guys from that other club...the Black Devils. The ones who'd come to my apartment in Seattle...

Seeker.

What was he doing here?

Holy shit!

Could it be a coincidence?

Or was Seeker and Brad the same person?

I opened my mouth to...

What?

To scream?

Whatever it was I didn't get the chance to, because someone shoved me from behind, knocking me out into the alley.

I stumbled and nearly fell. Then Seeker's arms caught me, swooping me up and carrying me towards the back of the van...

I shrieked as loud as I could...kicking and fighting as he tossed me in. But the pounding music from the club next door...guaranteed nobody heard me...

Inside, I saw Mel laying on the floor, her arms cuffed behind her back and a bandana gagging her mouth.

Her legs were tied tight with what looked like white clothesline...

Seeker climbed in after me, wrestling me down and wrenching away my phone. And within seconds, my own mouth was gagged and he'd closed another set of cuffs around my wrists.

I lay facedown on the floor, my eyes wide and staring at Mel, who stared right back at me...

Then I felt someone else climb in and heard a door slam...and the engine roared to life.

Next, Seeker spoke, his voice cool and detached.

"Sorry, girls. Hopefully this won't get too ugly and you'll get to go home soon."

Then the van started moving...

SAM

My beer had gotten warm...

For once, there wasn't a party at the clubhouse or a barbecue or anything happening...which was a fucking shame, because all I could think about was Mercedes out dancing in Spokane with her slut of a best friend.

I should be focusing on his trip to Portland tomorrow... But I really couldn't bring myself to give a damn.

Jesus, I'd nearly shit my pants when I realized who she was going out with tonight.

Marley's stage name had been Tornado... And the bitch was famous for having a mouth like a vacuum.

Even I had taken her home one night...

It'd been okay, but not worth breaking my no-repeats rule.

Now, I wondered if she'd been filling Mercy's head with stories about me all along. Which would also explain why Mercedes been interested in working at Top Shot...

Marley had made a goddamned fortune there, seeing as she one of their most popular dancers.

And she'd been an even bigger hit in the VIP rooms...

I had considered simply physically stopping Mercedes from going to Spokane, but figured it would do me more harm than good in the long run.

She'd been dodging me since our night in the hayloft and I'd let it go. Because I knew the first week of a new job was stressful, so I'd given her a break.

But this ladies' night thing had caught me off guard... And I only found out because Bray had a big mouth.

My kid was full of all kinds of useful information...

Plank walked into the main lounge with a girl trailing him. She looked about sixteen, although I knew she had to be older.

There was to be no jailbait in the Armory... That was trouble we really didn't need.

Plank wore the look of man who'd gotten well laid... And the old bat sent his conquest on her way with a smack on the ass.

Then he walked over to me...

"What's with you?" he asked, dropping into one of the mismatched chairs across from the couch.

"I'm bored," I said, rubbing the back of my neck. "And apparently I'm getting old, because my neck hurts from sitting at my bench today, taking care of that special order."

"You're fuckin' pathetic," he said.

"That's the truth."

"I hear your girl moved out."

"Yeah. We can talk about something else now."

Plank laughed shortly.

"First Stud and now you," he said. "Whole damned place is turning up pussy-whipped."

"Fuck off, asshole!" I replied. "The only reason I'm sitting here right now instead of at home waiting on her, is because I'm not willing to hand her my dick on a leash. And you're one talk... Screwing kids younger than your daughter? It creeps me out, thinkin' of your old ass doing a chick like that."

"At least I got laid tonight," Plank answered mildly. "Unlike some..."

His phone rang... He pulled it out and looked at the ID.

"It's Mel," he said shortly, standing and ambling across the room. Then he froze, his body language screaming tension...

Thirty seconds later, my phone rang...

Mercedes...

"You better not be..." I started, but she cut me off.

"Shut up and listen!" she said, her voice tight. So I sat up. "Those guys you met in Seattle? The Black Devils? They've got me and Mel. We're in Spokane and they..."

I heard her scream as someone grabbed the phone. And adrenaline slammed through me, taking me from relaxed to ready for action in a heartbeat.

But instead of acting on it, I forced myself to stay calm and listen with everything I had.

We'd need every clue we could to find Mercedes...and Mel?

What the fuck?

Jesus, Mel should know better than to go out without giving her dad a heads-up. How had she gotten mixed up in this?

"Wringer," a man said. "This is Crash. From Seattle. We got a bit of a problem..."

"You're dead," I replied, my voice flat. And I meant it.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Plank grab a bar stool and smash it against the wall. Then Stud was on his feet, pushing a trio of girls out the door, even as Sketcher grabbed a sawed-off shotgun from behind the bar.

Suddenly, Slash wandered in from the bathroom and glanced around, brows rising.

"Yeah, we'll talk about my death later," Crash said, sounding bored. "But listen up. Your boy in Portland...Torque...he went ape-shit on two of our brothers a couple hours ago. He just broke into the damned house and started shooting. There're cops everywhere and a couple of girls who saw it all go down. It's a total clusterfuck. The girls are talkin' to the cops, too, just to make things perfect. Doctors are working on one guy right now... No idea if he'll make it. And Torque dragged the other off."

"You're full of shit," I said. Torque might be a wild card but he wouldn't ignore a vote by the full club.

"Process later," Crash snapped. "It's time for you to get your boy under control and our man back to us. Safe. Until then, we'll take good care of...what's her name again? Mercedes? We'll take good care of sweet little Mercedes for you. She'll be just fine once we clear this up. But if our boy goes down? Her prospects won't look so good. Hmm...she's got a real nice ass. Might tap it before I shoot her. Got me?"

He hung up.

"Fuck!" I yelled, kicking over the coffee table as I stood up. Plank yelled too, and Sledge held him back...

But I ignored the drama, striding down the hall, past the office, and into the large workshop where I did my special projects.

I flipped open my laptop and pulled up the tracker, narrowing my search...

There they were...

Mercedes' and Mel's phones were near the river, in downtown Spokane. They'd be in the water soon...

And by the time I get there, the Devils would be in the wind...

Along with their girls.

Goddamnit!

I turned and punched the wall, smashing through the sheetrock.

Sharp pain hit, helping me focus...

I pulled an unregistered .38 semi-automatic out of my bench drawer and shoved it into my ankle holster... Then I grabbed extra clips.

Next, I turned and went back down the hall, only to find Plank and the others arguing over what they should do.

Plank wanted to ride now...

Stud, Sledge Hammer and Deck all wanted to take the time to make a plan, which I knew needed to happen. We couldn't do shit in Spokane until we had more info.

Torque had lost the vote but he'd won the battle...

The Collectors and the Black Devils were going to war.

Stay safe!