Chapter Twenty-six
Andrés
I t’s been over thirty-six hours since we reported Dani as missing. Over thirty-six hours since I’ve seen her gorgeous face or heard her voice.
She never showed up at Jason and Victor’s. She never went back to Maya’s or her apartment.
It’s like she just disappeared off the face of the earth.
As of now, the cops have no leads—just different areas her phone pinged that night, and it pinged all over the damn place.
They have no idea whether she was driving around aimlessly or if her stalker took her phone on a joyride.
They’re apparently combing through traffic footage in the areas it pinged in, but it will take a while before they even find a hint of her.
And we’re supposed to just sit back and wait for the police to do their jobs.
As if we have a choice to do anything but that. I don’t have a clue where to begin looking for her stalker, and neither do the others.
At least that’s what we thought until a friend of Dani and Maya’s called an hour ago looking for Dani. She was able to recover the data on Dani’s laptop and tablet—including all of her passwords.
Should our first thought have been to bring everything straight to the police? Probably, but we absolutely didn’t.
Currently, I’m pacing across Victor and Jason’s living room floor while Jason and I wait for Maya and Victor to make it back. They went to pick up everything from their friend, who was more than happy to pass it along once she realized Dani was missing.
“Does pacing make you feel better?” Jason asks conversationally.
I scoff, shooting him a droll look. “No, it doesn’t make me feel better, but I need to keep moving.
At least when I’m pacing, my mind settles slightly.
I’m just so fucking worried about Dani, and there’s not a damn thing we can do about it.
It’s driving me crazy. I feel like I’m going insane just sitting here. ”
“Hey.” I blink as Jason’s hands cup my face. “Take a deep breath for me.”
I stare at him like he’s crazy, but it becomes apparent he’s not moving until I do what he wants. I suck in a deep breath and wonder how I didn’t know I was holding my breath. That’s not something we just stop doing.
I really am losing my mind, aren’t I?
“That’s good. Now let it out.”
He leads me through a few more breaths, and by the time he steps back, the room is no longer spinning.
“You good now?” he asks, tilting his head as he assesses me.
“This isn’t the time to lose your head, Andrés.
You may not think you’re doing anything, but I can assure you that you are.
You’re helping hold us all together. We’re all leaning on each other to get through this.
If something happens to you, that’s one less person to lean on.
That could be disastrous. Imagine how pissed off Dani will be when she comes back and finds out we let each other fall apart. ”
“If she comes back,” I mutter, kicking the floor angrily before Jason’s fist slams into my stomach. “What the fuck, Jason?”
He looks pissed. “What the fuck, indeed. I never want to hear you say anything that sounds like you doubt Dani will come back to us. She will be back, and if you don’t think she will, then you can get the hell out. I won’t have that kind of negativity around us.”
I bend over at the waist, sucking in breaths as I wait for the pain to subside before answering him.
“I’m sorry,” I say gently, once I’m able to mostly stand upright again. “You’re right. She will be back. I know that. You know that. We all know that. Sometimes, it’s just hard to push away the intrusive thoughts attempting to overwhelm me.”
Jason’s face softens. “Okay, I can understand that. But let’s still not try to say them out loud, okay?”
“I’ll agree to anything if it means you won’t punch me again,” I say with a laugh. “Who knew you packed such a punch?”
“You act as if we haven’t worked out together.” He gives me a crooked grin, looking like he has more to say, but we’re both distracted by the sound of the front door opening.
We both hurry over, scaring Victor and Maya when we appear out of nowhere.
“Uh, hi.” Maya frowns as she looks between us, kicking off her shoes before sliding by us.
“Did she get it?” I ask Victor, my eyes following Maya as she grabs her laptop.
Victor grunts. “She did. That’s why she’s grabbing her laptop now. She’s going to get everything uploaded to a separate profile so we can go through it.”
“Good. Hopefully, we can find something she might have passed off as normal.” I shake my head, already heading for Maya, but a hand on my arm pulls me to a stop.
“Give her some space, Andrés. She’s really beating herself up for how she spoke to Dani. She needs to be the one who finds something,” Victor says, only loud enough for me and Jason to hear.
My eyes find her once more as she settles onto the couch, and I nod. “Yeah, okay. But what the hell are we supposed to do in the meantime?”
He shrugs. “I have no idea. I’m terrible at this shit. I hate sitting around doing nothing.”
Laughter spills out of me at the lost look on his face—not because I think it’s funny, but because it’s exactly how I feel.
“I have an idea,” Jason says, his lips quirking up at the corners. “Why don’t the two of you go make us some food? I’d offer to help—“
“But then it wouldn’t be edible?” I offer with a laugh. “Yeah, I remember. What do you say, Vic? I’m not sure if I can force down any food, but we need to eat. Plus, it’ll keep us busy.”
Victor nods slowly. “Yeah, that’s a good idea. Jason, you’ll keep Maya company while we cook?”
“Of course I will.” He bobs his head, and Victor presses a kiss to his forehead before jerking his head toward the kitchen.
Jason grabs my hand, stopping me from following immediately. “It’s going to be okay, Andrés. Even if we don’t find anything in the data from her computer, she’s going to be okay.”
“Yeah, she is. I know that, but thank you for the reminder.” I hesitate before leaning over to brush my lips against him. “Feel free to remind me anytime it looks like I’m forgetting.”
I shoot him a wink, leaving him standing in the entryway as he brings his hand to his lips.
Making food will be a much-needed distraction. Let’s just hope neither Victor nor I end up cutting off any appendages in the process.