Flame (Ruin Outlaws MC #4) Read Online Free Page A

I pace down the stairs and look for Damian, but he's not at his usual post by the front door. His laptop screen is open and I sit down in the chair.
    On the screen, a window is open with a map showing directions leading out of the town into the desert between here and Santa Ana. Did he just leave? I don't even know if he has a car...
    "Damian?" I call out into the house. My voice is dead against the carpet and there's no answer. I shout again and stand up and start searching around. There must be a garage or something attached to the opposite wall of this place, right? I stalk down the hall beside the stairs and find a thick door with a lock. I jiggle the handle and open it, revealing a deserted garage with an oil stain glistening in the center of the cement floor. "Great," I say. A toolbox is near the door in the garage, and I figure that's something that I might need. I grab it and take it back inside, mulling over the whole map mystery.
    What's Damian doing out in the desert? Thinking about what Logan told me... I can only think of drugs. But that wouldn't really make sense. Just him? By himself?
    Or did he go with Logan to solve our ammo issue? I thought Logan said Damian would be here to keep me safe. I sigh in frustration. What can I fucking do if no one tells me anything?
    I go back to the computer and drop into the chair with as much dead weight as possible. I find a webpage detailing handgun cleaning, so I drag the laptop to the kitchen with me. I pull out the handgun and start following the instructions. The tools from the toolbox are more helpful than I thought they would be, but not for... their designed purposes. Mostly using them to help pry things apart and such.
    After a long while where it feels like time has stopped, I'm done. I put the final polish on the gun with my shirt and admire it. It looks real good. Logan might even be proud. I take the laptop back where I found it and leave it on the desk. I don't want Damian to come home and think I was snooping around on his computer.
    But I've already looked and I saw the map... So what else might I find? I pocket the revolver and sit in the chair and pull up Damian's browser history. Lots of porn... more and more porn... but then a couple of chat room web pages. Weird. They have names I can't decipher, and I feel a chill run up my spine when I see them. Not because I'm so embarrassed to not know Spanish, but because it just seems fishy.
    Especially the timestamps. He was on those pages last night after Logan and I had gone to sleep.
    Who was he talking to?
    Probably no one, I assure myself. If anything, they're just like all the porn sites. Just dating hook ups or something. Maybe that's where he went. Just cybering with strangers seems like his ballgame, considering everything else.
    I still wish that I didn't have to hang out here alone, though. I climb the stairs and find the duffel bag splayed open on the bed. I flip open the chamber and reload the gun with the last four rounds and click it closed. It's satisfying, knowing I can actually wield this thing. But at the same time, a little scary to think my life has come to a point where I need to use a gun.
    Maybe to take my mind off things and be a little useful, I could go shopping for food? There's plenty of money still in the bag for me to use, and Logan should be back in time to actually enjoy it. I feel silly, like I'm playing housewife with a convict.
    I want to bring the gun. I might need it. Too bad I can't carry it with these shorts. I change into something a bit looser to hide the gun. I pocket some cash before zipping the bag closed and pushing it under the bed. I go to the bedroom door. With my hand still on the knob, I survey the room and try to note how disheveled it is. I can take care of that later. I shut the door and descend the stairs quickly.
    I'm sure there's a store nearby somewhere. Maybe a market?
    Outside the apartment isn't any cooler than inside. Once I make it to the sidewalk the