Chapter 9 #2
Ava chuckled as she settled next to him, allowing him to wrap his arm around her. “You can say that again. He’s got a thing for her.”
“Wow, that’s messed up. I’m super glad I don’t have a son who is vying for my wife’s attention.”
Ava remained quiet for a moment before she craned her neck to study him. “You don’t have any secret kids right?”
“No,” he answered with a scoff. “Ava, seriously?”
“Sorry, I just…don’t want to suddenly be faced with your son showing up.”
“I’m not Grant Harrington.”
“Thankfully,” she answered with a laugh as she patted his chest.
“Really?” he prodded.
“Really. I’m glad Julia is happy, but he’s a little intense.”
Alex took solace in the words, pleased that one alpha male hadn’t impressed his wife. Now, he just had to worry about all the other frat boys running around who would try to steal her.
“Well, I should make some travel arrangements here,” he said.
“For our trip to…Alaska?”
He sighed. “I told you that I’m not telling you.”
“Even now when we’re about to go?”
He pulled his arm away from her, tapping on his phone. “Even now. That reminds me. I need a blindfold.”
“This is getting a little ridiculous, isn’t it? What happened to open and honest? Now, we’re at secrets and blindfolds.”
“Very cute, Sparky, but you’re not going to change my mind. I want you to be surprised.”
“I’ll be surprised right now. I’m surprised this very second.”
“I want you to be surprised when you see it,” he answered with a shake of his head, unable to stop the smile from spreading across his face at the thought.
Before he could send a message to the pilot to refuel his forehead crinkled.
“What is it? Problems with the flight plan to Antarctica?”
“Stop guessing. And no. I just…why was Julia so upset?”
“I guess she’s worried. It seemed like Grant and Kyle didn’t get along so well.”
Alex sent the message off to his pilot, asking him to refuel the plane for another trip. He received a response that they’d be ready to go in a few hours. With that settled, he leaned forward, staring at the map frozen on his screen showing the last known location of the cell phone.
“He’s at the hospital,” Alex noted, trying to use the information to convince himself that everything was fine.
“Well, that makes sense. Maybe he’s avoiding everyone after Luke showed up at that dinner party.”
“Sulking?” Alex posed.
“Could be. So…what should I pack?”
Alex raised his eyes to the ceiling. “You are tenacious.”
“You know it. And…I know that you’re ticklish. I could tickle this information out of you.”
Alex leapt from his seat, backing a few steps away. “No.”
“Ohh, someone’s worried,” she said with a playful smile. “I’m faster than you, and I can easily take you down. And then tickle you.”
“Don’t,” he warned, half-serious and half-joking.
She climbed to her feet, wiggling her eyebrows at him. “Tell me what I want to know.”
“Ava,” he pleaded. “Come on, don’t. I’m trying to be romantic and you’re ruining it with all your karate moves and knowledge of my weaknesses.”
“I have to use everything in my arsenal to win this.”
He tried to dart away from her as she lunged at him, but she was too quick, catching his hand and pulling him closer. “How are you this fast?”
She offered him a haughty glance as she pulled him closer, planting a kiss on his lips. “It’s a talent. But I’ll let you off the hook this time, okay? Just tell me what to pack.”
“Couple of track suits.”
“Track suits? That’s it?”
“I told you I’d buy anything else you need.” He grinned as he thought of her in one of her pink sweatsuits as she stared at the location.
“Okay. I’ll throw some stuff in a bag. How long do I have?”
“Couple of hours,” Alex answered as she let go of him, backing away.
“I wonder if I can hack your phone in that time to see what message you sent to the pilot.”
He wagged his finger at her. “Don’t try it.”
“All right,” she answered, holding her hands up in defeat. “I’ll let you surprise me.”
He lingered in the living room for a moment after she left, his heart still hammering over pulling off the coup before he climbed the stairs to toss a few things into his own suitcase.
While he packed, he imagined Ava’s reaction to the location, picturing the grin that would spread across her face, hoping it would be followed by her throwing her arms around him and a long kiss, one that cemented their relationship.
He tossed a few things in his bag before he checked his phone for an update from the pilot. None existed, but he spotted the last message from Julia.
His curiosity got the better of him, and he pressed the call icon next to her name.
The line trilled a few times before she answered. “Alex, hi.”
“Hey, Sunshine. Did you manage to locate little G’s phone?”
Julia sighed. “Yeah. But no Kyle.”
His suspicions were confirmed. He hadn’t thought Julia would have missed her own stepson at the hospital nor would she have not checked there. “The plot thickens. G-junior is missing?”
“Yes,” she answered, “I’ve looked everywhere, and I’m really worried.”
He didn’t like the tone of her voice nor the sudden disappearance of the uptight doctor. With the trouble he’d just helped them through, he wondered if Grant’s original wife had struck again.
Already on the move, he hurried from his room to his laptop downstairs. “Hmm, give me a quick sec here. I’ll see if there’s anything intriguing on the hospital security cameras.”
“Hospital security camera?” Grant’s voice filled his ear.
“Big G,” Alex answered, “I didn’t know you were on the line.”
“Yeah, sorry, I put you on speaker. Grant and I were checking a few places for Kyle,” Julia said.
He reached his laptop, balancing the phone against his shoulder as he typed to gain access to the hospital and its security. “You say you last saw him last night?”
“Right,” Julia said.
He brought up the cameras, rolling them all back to the previous evening before he used a custom program to feed in an image of Kyle to search each one for his face. “Okay, give me a second here, I’m just reviewing the footage.”
“How are you accessing the hospital security footage?” Grant asked.
“Uhhh, are you serious?” Was the man actually asking him for technique or whether he’d gained legal access to the footage?
“Yeah,” Grant answered.
“Let’s just say my approach was…less than legal. But desperate times, right, G-man?” Before anyone could answer him, his program found a hit. “Oh, just a second, just a second. I may have something for you.”
He grabbed the footage showing Kyle climbing into his car along with a shadowy figure, their face obscured. It looked like he’d gone of his own free will, but something seemed off. Alex sent the footage over to Julia’s phone, waiting on the line as she reviewed it and playing it over and over.
“That is the Junior G, right?” Alex asked.
“Yeah,” she said, her voice breathy. “Yeah, that’s Kyle. Who is the guy he’s with?”
“No idea,” he answered. “His face is never on the camera. At least not that one.”
Something was off. His senses screamed at him to continue investigating, but that would mean postponing his trip with Ava. His heart shattered at the idea, but he had to help Julia. Someone’s life may be at stake. Hey, kid, mind if I call you back?”
“Not at all. Thank you, Alex, for sending this. You’ve been very helpful.”
“Anytime, kid. Anytime.”
He tapped on his keyboard, restarting his facial recognition program and leaving it running as he left it behind in search of his wife.
He found her in her closet, deciding between a pink tracksuit with sparkles or a pale blue one with silver unicorns in the hood. “Which one do you think is better for this location? Sparkles or unicorns?”
Alex winced at her, his nose wrinkling.
“What’s wrong?”
He sucked in a breath. “I’m not sure we can go right now.”
“Why not? Did Raven strike again?”
He shook his head as he ran his hand through his hair. “Kyle’s missing.”
He chewed the inside of his cheek after uttering the two simple words, hoping his commitment to helping his old friend wouldn’t kill their relationship.