Chapter 3
CHAPTER 3
JAMISON
My chest burns from the shame that fills me, knowing I messed up. It’s clear I made a mistake, but Dori has to know there’s more to why I didn’t mention having a son.
Hunter’s smug attitude travels through the line. “As far as I know, Jamison, she took her vacation a week early. She’ll be back in the office in the New Year. There isn’t much to do these next two weeks, so the time off could be good for her. She has been stressed lately.”
Hunter must know where Dori is. His steady voice is enough to give it away. He’d be going out of his mind if he didn’t know where she was.
A helpless puff of air escapes my lungs. “Well, if you speak to her, will you let her know that I have some items she needs?”
“What things are these? Maybe she doesn’t need them.”
I place my hand on top of the bag of her belongings. “She does. One of the things she left was her phone. If her brother tries to reach out and can’t get a hold of her for two weeks, he’ll have the entire FBI searching for her.”
“Very well. I’ll have Hailey send her a message to let her know. ”
My heart lurches. “Does Hailey know where she is?”
He sighs out his annoyance. “No, Jamison. Hailey would merely produce an email from me explaining you have her phone. Now if there’s nothing more, I have an important appointment I need to attend to.”
Yeah, I bet you do.
We end the call, and I throw a pen across my office. I stand and run my hand over my stubbly beard as I pace in a circle.
Nothing about last night went according to plan. It was disastrous—everything I feared would happen coming to fruition. I knew if Lauren and Dori came face-to-face, it would end in blows.
My stomach spits out acid. I can’t imagine how Dori must be feeling. If I could find her and explain, she would see why I kept Lauren and Aricin to myself and understand that it wasn’t out of malice.
Why didn’t I listen to Chuck when he told me I needed to improve my communication skills?
This is the same situation as the time she saw me in the club, except a thousand times worse.
My phone rings and my heartbeat kicks up a notch. I rush over to my desk. It’s Aiden.
Shit!
I was going to talk to him about my feelings for Dori, but now… No, I need to find out if he knows where she is.
I steady my voice. “Aiden, thanks for calling me.”
“You knew I would.” He sounds as if he just woke up.
“That I did. Hey, I was wondering if you’ve heard from Dori?”
“What’s this about? I can hear in your voice something’s wrong.” And now he is wide awake.
He always picks up on shit when I don’t want him to. I take a deep breath and try to come across as calm, even though I’m anything but that .
“Nothing’s wrong, but she took vacation leave early and I have a question about work. I can’t get a hold of her. Do you know how to reach her?”
He hesitates for a moment, then sighs. “No, but I didn’t know she was taking vacation either. She told me she wasn’t coming home this year for Christmas because work has been too hectic. I guess she missed some deadlines and is trying to make up for her mistakes.”
“Yeah, she did, but work has slowed down due to the holidays. Half the staff are out of the building. They pushed all pressing issues to January.”
“Well, then I’m going to assume she’s taking the time off to recuperate. She likes to do that when she can.”
“Yeah, I guess my question can wait.” I can’t tell him she’s disappeared without going into why, so I give up. “If you hear from her, will you tell her I have a semi-urgent issue to discuss? I’d like to get an answer before the holidays are over.”
“Sure thing. Give her some time, though. Knowing her, she’s probably taking some exercise classes and then doing spa treatments until she feels refreshed. It’s what she does the first few days of every vacation.”
I squeeze my eyes shut and run my hand down my face. “You’re probably right.”
“How about you? Are you coming home for the holidays?”
“I was thinking about it, but I don’t think it’ll work out now. I still have a lot to do on the app. My team isn’t a skeleton crew until next week, so I want to take advantage of it.”
The small talk is going to kill me. I need to find her. But if I jump off the call, I’ll definitely alert him to the problems—time to suck it up and settle in for some bonding with my best friend.
After we discuss a few minor topics, he tells me he’s going back undercover on New Year’s Day. By the time I get off the phone, my blood is racing .
With each minute that passes, the muscles in my neck grow tenser. I shift around, unable to concentrate, check my emails, and stare at my phone. Nothing from her comes in.
She’s out there somewhere without shoes, a coat, or a phone. I’m sure she’s replaced the first two items, but she needs her phone.
Where the fuck could she be?
She wouldn’t have gone to Hunter’s, would she?
I shake off the thought. She was too upset to go to him. She wouldn’t want him to know I had hurt her so badly because she’d have to explain too much to him if she did.
And even though she’s angry with me, my personal life isn’t something she’d share with him. She knows Hunter and I are at war.
He says he won’t badmouth me to her, but I don’t trust him. Seeing him won’t help her right now. Even she has to know that.
I take the bag of her belongings and go to Melanie’s cubicle. “Hey, Mel. Any word?”
She pushes her rolling chair away from her desk and spins my way. “Sorry, Jamison. I haven’t heard a thing. Now, would you please tell me what you did to my best friend that put her in hiding?”
I shake my head and swallow. My stomach knots, causing bile to crawl up my throat. I turn around and march back to my office, too upset to discuss it.
“Jami, wait.” Mel comes rushing to my side.
“Mel, I can’t talk about this right now. I have to find her.”
“I understand, but I can’t help you if you don’t tell me what happened. When you called me last night, you said she wouldn’t run to Hunter with what was bothering her. So throw me a bone or I’ll be useless to you.”
She may have a point, but fuck… She’s going to lay into me so hard that Dori will be an afterthought.
“If I give you some context, will that suffice? ”
Mel follows me into my office. I wait for her to pass before I shut the door. We need all the privacy in the world for this discussion.
Once we’re alone, she rests her butt against the desk and folds her arms across her chest. “Spill it, Stone.”
Great.
I’ve got Melanie, the bad cop, in my office.
This should be fun.
My heart thuds against my rib cage in despair. “Dori stopped by unexpectedly last night and things didn’t go as planned.”
“I already know that part. What happened?”
“We were talking about our relationship and putting things in place so we could give it a real go, but she left suddenly.” I drag my feet to the window.
Big snowflakes fall from the sky and another wave of dread cloaks me. She left without shoes last night.
Mel huffs. “Yeah, I got that.”
I twist back to face her. “We went through this last night. Will you please help me find her?”
“It’s simple.” She shrugs. “Tell me what made her leave and then I’ll know where she is.”
I have to give Mel something to go on, so I give her the lesser of two evils.
“I got a call from Jonah. He needed help with an issue. While I was talking to him, someone came to the door. Long story short, Dori and my ex came face-to-face.
“There was a big brawl and it wasn’t pretty. During the scuffle, I had a hold of my ex as she was crying in my arms. I’m not sure of the exact moment Dori left, but she snuck out of the kitchen with nothing.”
Mel’s arms fall dramatically to her side. “You have an ex who lives here in town and you never told Dori about her?”
I cringe. “Yes.”
“Oh, Jami. What were you thinking? Keeping that from Dori…” Melanie presses the heel of her hand against her forehead and shakes her head like I’m hurting her brain somehow.
“I know, Mel.” My eyes fill with remorse.
She folds her arms. “You can’t be holding your ex and consoling her while Dori watches it happen. For a smart guy, that was the dumbest thing you could’ve done. You know she wants you to put her first, and you slapped her in the face by doing that.”
It’s worse than that and I know it. Mel will find out the truth sooner or later, so I give it to her.
I fold my arms across my chest. “It wasn’t me who hit Dori in the face. It was my ex.”
“What? Your ex smacked Dori? And you thought it was a good idea to hold her and not take care of Dori?” Mel glares hard across the room. “I can’t believe you thought any of that was acceptable. I’m angry at you for her.”
My heart shrinks. Melanie’s this upset, and she doesn’t even know half of it.
“I’m sorry, Mel. I’m so fucking sorry. The situation unfolded so fast. I got punched in the face and went to hold my ex’s arms so she wouldn’t get to Dori. She fell into my chest before I knew what was happening. The next thing I knew, Dori was gone.”
Mel pushes off the desk and trudges toward me. I brace myself for whatever she has in store. I swear she’s going to backhand me, but she doesn’t.
“Jamison Stone, you’re your own worst enemy. You know that, right? Dori discovering that you have an ex who is emotionally connected to you and you responding to her in a way that suggests you’re just as attached is likely the worst action you could’ve taken. Aside from cheating on her.”
Pretty sure what actually happened would tie for first place.
I let my head fall forward in shame. This is such a bad situation. I’m desperate now .
I find Mel’s gaze. “Where is she?”
“I don’t know, but I don’t think she’d go to Hunter’s with that. He’d say, ‘I told you so,’ and that’s as bad as not prioritizing her. She won’t give him that power.”
“Do you have any idea where she could be?” My tone is full of desperation.
“She’s probably in a ball on her bed. She’ll need time to process last night.” Mel’s eyes widen. “That gives me a thought.”
“What?”
“Maybe she’s in a therapy session.”
I growl under my breath. “You can’t really believe she went to a therapy session from my apartment last night without a phone, shoes, or coat. Come on, Mel, think.”
“Do not get that way with me. This is your fuck up.”
My stance softens. “I’m sorry. I’m just concerned and not in my right mind.”
She gives me a sideways glare. “Fine. Apology accepted. Now let’s find my friend.”
“How are we going to do that?”
“First things first, I need to talk to Jonah to verify Dori’s been heard from. Otherwise, I’m going to panic and think she was abducted.”
Adrenaline shoots through my veins. “Melanie, I can’t hear that right now. Please don’t even consider that.”
She nods and pulls out her phone. She taps the screen and lifts it to her ear.
“Good morning, Hailey. It’s Melanie. Is Jonah available? Yes, please tell him it’s regarding the Sacks Commodities social media campaign.” She listens and then covers her speaker. “She’s putting me through.”
I don’t know what good this is doing, but I’m at a loss.
“Hi, Jonah. I know I told Hailey I needed you for a different reason, but I didn’t want to sound the alarms.”
Mel lifts her crossed fingers. “Thanks. I was wondering if you’ve heard from Dori. She’s not answering her phone and isn’t in her office. I even tried to email her, but nothing. I’m getting concerned. This is so unlike her.”
She pauses for a minute, then her brows crease. “You said she texted you? When?”
I pace before Mel.
She pauses again. “Jonah, how is that possible? I know Dor?—”
I stop and wave my hands, mouthing, “No, no, no. He can’t know we have her phone. I don’t want him to know what happened.”
She fakes a coughing attack. “Thanks, Jonah. If you hear from her, please tell her to call her worried best friend.”
She hangs up and resolve floats over her face. “Dori’s hiding and I’ve got bad news for you.”
My stomach drops. “What’s that?”
“She’s communicating with Jonah through what I can only assume is a new phone number. For her to go to this level of extremes, you must have done something worse than what you copped up to. I’m no longer helping you until you tell me.”
I am not going to tell Melanie about my son before I talk to Dori, so this conversation may as well be over. But I need Mel on my side, so I once again give her the lesser of two evils.
Dread wraps its brutal arms around me and squeezes. “Jesus Christ, Mel. It’s so bad. I don’t even want to tell you.”
“What did you do to Dori? What did your barbarian ex do to Dori? And don’t lie to me this time or I’ll have no choice but to quit helping you.”
“Okay. Let me find the words.” I trek to my desk and throw myself into my chair, burying my face in my hands.
There’s no way around this. I raise my head to find Melanie leaning over my desk, glowering.
I swallow hard. “The woman who hit Dori wasn’t just an ex-girlfriend. ”
Mel pulls back and her face contorts. “What the hell does that mean?”
“It means as the entire fucked up situation unfolded, my ex shoved her left hand in Dori’s face and showed her the ring on her finger. It was my mom’s ring, so I’m sure Dori recognized it.”
Mel’s mouth falls open. “You’re fucking engaged?”
“No.”
“Then how does your ex have your mom’s ring?” She pushes off my desk.
“I gave it to her, but we broke up. She won’t give it back.”
Mel shakes her head. “You know what? That doesn’t matter. You’ve obviously lied to my face for months. If I’m this hurt, then I can only imagine how Dori feels.”
Mel storms out of my office. And again, she doesn’t even know the half of it. Clearly, I’m in this fight alone.
I want to say Dori and I will be able to work through this, but I’m doubting that now. She’s never going to forgive me. I’m certain of it.
The world sucks me into darkness.
I’ve lost her. My heart’s broken into pieces. I don’t know how I’ll ever get through this horrific pain, and I only have myself to blame.