Chapter 19
“Lacey? Everything okay?” Travis asked as he took her call. He pulled into the underground parking lot of Raptor Inc and parked by the elevator. “Is there something wrong with Caren?”
It was Tuesday morning and three days since he’d heard from her.
He fucking hated it.
There had been a number of times that he’d picked up his phone to check on her and put it back down. He’d also driven past her apartment multiple times. He’d even gone to Whip It on Saturday night to see if he could get her out of his brain.
It hadn’t really worked.
He’d attempted to play with a couple of subs, but in the end his heart hadn’t been in it. And instead, he’d just ended up moving around, monitoring other people’s play.
It had all felt pointless.
Fuck. He was being completely ridiculous.
Today, he was going to message her. This silence had gone on too long. They were friends. And he was . . . concerned about her.
There. That sounded good.
They just both had to get past that kiss . . .
Although it was the rest that was harder to forget. Hearing her pant and moan, the way she’d clenched down on his fingers as she’d come.
Yeah, those parts were impossible to forget.
However, he knew he had to push those memories down deep if he wanted to continue a friendship with her.
“Why would anything be wrong with Caren?” Lacey asked, sounding alarmed.
“No reason,” he said quickly. “I just thought that was why you might be calling.”
Idiot.
“I can’t just call you?”
“Considering that you’re still on your honeymoon, I’d be surprised if you were just calling me.”
“Right, yeah.” She let out a deep breath. “Gray’s mother just rang. Rory’s missing.”
“Missing? For how long? Any clues as to where she went? She leave a note? Do they suspect foul play?” he fired out questions at her.
“Yeah, there’s a note. You know that she’s been living in the basement of their mom’s house.
His mom went down this morning because she hadn’t seen her in a couple of days and found a note.
It said that she was tired of living this way and had decided to go back to the beginning .
. . Travis, I’m really scared about what that means.
Gray is going out of his mind. We’re trying to arrange flights back to the states, but everything is fully booked. ”
“Okay, listen. Deep breath in. Let it out slowly. And again. Good. I’m going to take care of this. You stay where you are.”
“What do you mean? You can’t take care of it!”
“Of course I can. I can do anything. Listen, I’m going into the elevator so we’ll lose reception. But I’ll have my team find her. You’ve only got four nights left. Stay. Have fun. Don’t stress.” He ended the call before she could say anything more.
Then he stepped into the elevator.
When he got out again, his phone started ringing. Lacey. Really, she should learn that when he said he would take care of something, he meant it. Finally, she stopped calling and a message came through.
Lacey: Gray said co-ordinate with Hunter.
Awesome.
He strode into the main room. Only Rusty was there already since it was still early.
“Rusty, get everyone here,” he ordered. “We need a meeting, now.”
“What’s wrong? Caren missing again?” Rusty asked.
He shot his quietest brother a look. “No, Rory. And did you spend last night here?”
Rusty looked rough. His hair was standing up on end and there were dark marks under his eyes.
“Course not.”
Hmm. He couldn’t tell if he was lying or not.
Twenty minutes later, everyone rushed into the meeting room. Jace was one of the last ones to arrive, but he looked the most alarmed. “What do you mean Rory is missing?” he yelled.
The room went quiet and Travis raised his eyebrows as he put his laptop on silent. On the projector screen was an image of Hunter Black and his wife Cady, who were on video call.
“Jace? You good?” Clay asked.
“How can she be fucking missing?” he snarled. “Isn’t someone supposed to be watching her?”
“Well, she is a grown woman,” Alexa said. “I get why peeps are worried about her, but she’s also free to go wherever she wants. And it’s not like she just disappeared. She left a note.”
Hunter said something through the screen, frowning. Probably demanding to be taken off mute. Travis shut the screen. He had to check on Jace before he did anything.
“She can’t go anywhere she wants when she can’t make good decisions about her safety. What the fuck did the note say?” Jace snarled.
“It said that she couldn’t live like this anymore and that she needed to go back to the beginning,” Tyler told him quietly.
“Fuck! Fuck!” Jace started to pace. The big guy sounded like an elephant as he moved back and forth. “Where can she be? Does that . . . does that sound like she’s . . . like she’s going to . . .”
“We don’t know what it means,” Travis told him firmly. “Right now, we’re working with Hunter and his team to try and find her. That’s all we can do. Are you going to help?”
“Of course I’m going to fucking help,” Jace snarled. “Someone give me a job.”
Travis let out a sigh as his biggest brother sat. Yeah, all of them were worried about the note. But all they could do was try to find Rory.
And hope for the best.
Her pantry was overflowing.
Shit.
Caren stared down at the bag of food in her hand. Why had she gone to the grocery store? She hadn’t actually needed anything. The terrible part was that she couldn’t even remember going to the store and buying these groceries. It had been on autopilot.
Bollocks.
She was falling apart. Taking a deep breath in, she let it out slowly.
She needed to contact her therapist in Dallas and see if she could do a video call with her.
Or maybe find a therapist here. But it had taken her a long time to feel comfortable enough with Glenda to tell her everything.
To trust in what she had to say in return.
And she didn’t have the time to find someone else.
Opening up a free drawer, she stared down at it in shock.
How the heck had she already filled that with food? When did she do that? She had a vague recollection of a food order arriving when she’d gotten back from Travis’s apartment.
Shit.
This wasn’t good. There were gaps in her memory.
Setting the bag of food down, she ran into her bedroom and opened the bedside drawer.
Okay, there was no food there.
She looked under the bed and in the closet. Relief filled her and she sat on the floor and forced herself to take slow, even breaths until the panic subsided.
This was a problem.
It wasn’t just what happened with her mother, or with Travis. It was the thought of leaving the states. Of going out there on her own . . . or with River. Shit.
Oliver might think that the River made a suitable bodyguard/assistant, but she really had her doubts. She had a feeling that she might end up taking care of him.
And that he wouldn’t stand a chance against Aadan.
A shudder ran through her as memories of Aadan threatened to overwhelm her.
Yep. That was her main worry at the moment.
And she had to find a way to get past it.
Because she missed taking photos. She missed getting that perfect shot.
The one that would make people stop and think.
That could tell a whole story and unravel a truth so poignant and terrifying that it would make people weep.
Yeah, she missed making people cry.
So she had to figure out a way to do that again.
Without losing who she was.