8. Schizo
CHAPTER EIGHT
SCHIZO
S toney was so fucking gorgeous. She had the type of beauty that stopped time whenever she was in the room. I tried my best to ignore the feelings that threatened to seep from me whenever I was ’round her. It wasn’t right for me to yearn to be near her the way I did, and I was in a fully committed relationship. I was ’bout to marry my best friend, but why it always seemed as if I was closer to Stoney than I was Kaylan?
Kaylan was supposed to be my best friend, the love of my life, but I didn’t fully feel like myself whenever I was in her presence. Sure, I was able to vent to her, but really be my full authentic self? Hell no. With Stoney, I could be me. She understood me.
The closer it got to my wedding day, the more I was conflicted. I had been questioning myself if I was making the right decision and could never quite figure it out.
I gazed into her black eyes. Piercings were never my thang, but Stoney made the shit look sexy as fuck. Her narrow nose had a single stud in the right side and the medusa piercing she had made me wanna grab her by the face and kiss her full lips every single time I was ’round her.
“You were leaving your phone.”
The chemistry I felt igniting off of us was stronger than it’s ever been in the last three years. Right before I got with Kaylan, I thought ’bout asking her out but found out that she was dating this bitch ass nigga Wade. Maybe it just wasn’t the right timing.
“Oh… OK.”
She took her phone from my clutches and peeled away from me.
“I’ll see you in the morning,” she told me and exited the pool area.
I grabbed my towel and phone and sauntered back up to my suite. Since I had been gone well over a couple hours, Kaylan should be done with her meeting and we could have some alone time. I tried to spend as much time with her as possible since we arrived, but everyone seemed to want her attention. If it wasn’t them, then it was her needy ass job. I wasn’t tryna rush us getting married, but I knew once we were on our honeymoon, I’d have her all to myself.
Using my key, I entered the suite and heard the television playing in the bedroom. That let me know that Kaylan was no longer on her call. A Kool-Aid smile overtook my face. I tread into the bedroom just to find it empty. Kaylan’s MacBook and cell phone rested against the unmade bed. I stepped into the bathroom and she wasn’t in there either.
“Kaylan!” I called out her name as if we were in some huge house or something and got no answer. I searched every room in our suite and couldn’t find her. It wasn’t like her to leave without her phone. That shit was always glued to her.
Pulling my phone from my pocket, I dialed Scar to see had he seen her ’round the resort or something. Shit just wasn’t sitting right with me and if I didn’t lay eyes on her ass soon, I was gon’ panic and that shit wasn’t good for nobody.
“You seen Kaylan?” I asked soon as he answered the phone.
“Why the fuck would I have seen Kaylan?”
“She’s not in the room and she left her phone.”
“Maybe she went to grab something to eat or something.”
“Nah. I can feel it in my chest that some wrong. You’ll help me look for her?”
“Nigga, you serious?”
“Don’t I sound fucking serious?”
Opening the nightstand, I grabbed my piece out of there and trotted to the door before Scar was even able to answer my question. “Hit my line if you find her anywhere. You know we out the country and people really be kidnapping folks from they rooms and shit. What if somebody took her?”
“Nigga, you sound in over yo’ head right now. I’ll make a round and see if I see her,” he said and disconnected the call. Scar thought I was joking, but I was dead serious. Shit like this was the exact reason why I asked her not to wander ’round the resort alone. Human trafficking was very much real and people didn’t give a fuck ’bout who they took.
My heart banged against my rib cage as I entered the elevator and took it down to the lobby. “Have you seen Kaylan?” I asked Janet when I spotted her exiting the main restaurant.
“Uh-uh. Have you tried calling her phone?”
“She left it in the room. That’s not like her. You mind letting me know if you see her?”
“Should I be alarmed? Do we need to call the police?” From her facial expression, I couldn’t tell if she was being serious or sarcastic.
“I haven’t thought that far ahead yet. I’ll call ’em if I don’t find her. Hopefully, it’s nothing.”
Nodding, she trekked toward the elevator, and I entered the restaurant. I searched every corner of that mufucka and didn’t see her anywhere. Shit was really starting to get to me. We didn’t have any activities lined up for the night and she wasn’t really the clubbing type, but that still didn’t stop me from going in there to see if she was there. I even tried every pool area there was just in case she got the urge to go find me once she was out her meeting.
After spending what felt like hours searching for Kaylan, I went back to the lobby and saw Scar. He shook his head, letting me know that he hadn’t seen her either.
“I’m calling the police,” I told him and pulled out my phone.
He stood there with me for emotional support as I talked on the phone to the operator. “My fiancée Kaylan Wells is missing. I’m not sure how long she’s been missing, but I’ve searched all over Urban Garden Resort for her and can’t find her anywhere.”
“I’m sending someone out there to you now. May I ask what your name is?”
“Liam Millionaire.”
“OK, Mr. Millionaire. Someone should arrive there shortly. May you wait for them in the lobby?”
“Alright.” The call ended and I found my way over to one of the chairs in the waiting area. “I can’t believe this shit happened.”
“It’s probably nothing. I’m sure she’s fine,” Scar tried to reassure me.
It took the police about thirty minutes to make it to the resort. If they hadn’t shown up when they did, I was ’bout to take my ass to the station and flip that bitch upside down.
“Is any one of you Liam Millionaire?” the cop asked us.
“I am,” I quickly answered and rose to my feet.
“You mind telling me what’s going on?”
“My fiancée had a Zoom meeting earlier tonight for her job. She asked me for privacy, so I went to the pool for a swim. When I came back, she wasn’t in the room, but left all her belongings in there. I think something has happened to her. I searched the entire resort and can’t find her anywhere.”
“Did you two get into a fight or something prior to her disappearance?”
“No. What does that have to do with anything?” Them asking me dumb ass questions was the exact reason why I didn’t fuck with them in the first place. If I knew this place like the back of my hand, I would have handled her disappearance without ’em.
“I’m just trying to cover all of my bases. Have you tried calling her job and asking if anything happened while she was on the call?”
“I didn’t think ’bout that.”
“Maybe you should do that once I leave here. Do you remember what she was wearing?”
“She had on this polka dot shirt and black slacks. Her hair was pulled back in a bun at the nape of her neck. Her hair is black. Her eyes are chestnut brown, and she’s light skinned. She has a flower tattoo that goes down her left side.”
“I’ll get the report typed up and turned in. If we hear anything, I’ll give you a call and let you know.” Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a card and handed it to me. “Don’t hesitate to call if you have any more questions or find anything.”
The cop left and Scar escorted me out the door. He knew my head was all over the place and I probably needed to smoke to calm myself down. We took a seat at one of the tables out back where the outside bar was located and he reached into his pocket, pulling out a Ziploc bag of weed. I sat there, gazing out at the dark ocean as it crashed against the sand while he rolled us a blunt. I had to find Kaylan. I had to.