17. Konnor
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
konnor
Their words are barely audible, voices unfamiliar, but I hear talking. A girl and a guy.
I groan.
My fucking brain. My angry, throbbing, pulsing brain. Why didn’t I chase some painkillers with a litre of water before going to sleep?
Rookie mistake, Slater.
I sigh into the covers. Soft and warm. As conscious thoughts slowly seep back in, the uninvited light hits my eyelids. I squeeze them together harder.
Searching for the time, my dry eyes land on my jackarse of an alarm clock: 6:30 a.m. Which means I have an hour left to sleep. Sleep is good... I roll over.
I’m drifting off when a woman’s voice hits my ears. I jolt up. Blesk!
Gripping my forehead, I stumble to my feet as fast as I can, almost tripping over the rug on my floor. When I peer down, I’m confused to see I’m fully dressed.
What happened last—
Oh, fuck!
I skid from my bedroom to face the terrible world that has seen me inebriated for so long. I trip over something and fall to my knees, pain radiating through them. I groan.
My brain struggles to engage, my muscles wrestle to react, my better judgement swims through thick fog.
I stay on all fours, not able to move just yet.
Squinting through the wreckage of my apartment, the edges of my vision crinkling, I’m inundated with memories of last night.
Blesk; her face fills my mind. How she smiled.
How she pushed to her toes to kiss me. The blush on her cheeks.
The feel of her rapid pulse against my skin. Her hands…
Then she ran.
She ran because…
She ran because… I shudder, hungover and in shock and unable to finish that sentence.
I need her here, need to touch her, to know the truth, need to know she’s alright. Need to see her heart-shaped lips, her long hair, those big innocent brown eyes.
Two hands grab me, and I squint up at Jax as he pulls me to my feet, muttering, “Fucksake, Slater.” He drags my drunken arse over to the couch and tries to lower me down, but I shake him off.
I shoot up, swaying. “Where is she?”
“Mate, she’s with Erik. She’s fine.” He puts both hands on my shoulders, pushing me back down until I’m sitting.
I frown and squint up at him. “I heard her! She’s here.”
Elise appears in front of me. “No, Konnor, you heard me. We brought you back here.”
I shake my head for a moment. I blink at her. Then at Jax. Then back at her. Yesterday, yesterday, yesterday, it keeps punching me in the chest. Her fingertips. Her yellow hair against the grey of the prison cell. She knows something.
The look on her face…
My heart hammers. “So, you know where she is? You spoke to her then?”
“Yes, she’s fine.” Elise smiles softly, as if talking to a preschooler. Can’t blame her. “She’ll be home tomorrow.”
I massage my jaw with my palm and wince. It feels like it took a punch last night. “No.” I stand again. “I need to find her now. Today.”
Jax puts a hand on my shoulder again. “Konnor, you’re not thinking straight—“
“I don’t expect you guys to understand!” I snap, feeling that barrier. The one that separates me from everyone who was never stolen, never kept in darkness, never handed a new name and told to start again. It snarls to life inside me. “But I need to find her. Now!”
They stare at each other.
Elise looks at me. “She said—“
“I don’t care what she fucking said!” I yell.
Elise’s smile drops.
Jax narrows his eyes on me. “Seriously, dude? Don’t talk to Elise like that, man. She is just helping.”
Fuck. I sink onto the couch and stare at the floor between my feet for a moment before I look at her again. Shaking my head, I say, “I’m sorry, Elise.”
She feigns indifference with a shrug. “Don’t be silly; it’s fine. I’m glad you care so much about her. I’m sure it is the whole beating you with your own leg threat, so... I’m going to take complete credit.” She laughs again, and Jax chuckles.
I press the heel of my palm into my eye socket, kneading an ache I can’t reach. I try to shake the noise away, but it just vibrates louder between my ears.
“Elise.” There is desperation in my tone, and I don’t try to hide it. “What happened? Did she tell you? Was it something that I did? I—"
“She didn’t tell me.” She cuts in, then pauses. I watch her reach for words, careful and considered. “But… she sounded concerned about you. So I don’t think it was something you did.”
I turn to Jax. My head is splitting open, and I can feel the sweat on the back of my neck, but I hold his gaze. “I need to look for her, mate. I’m going with or without you.”
Jax opens his arms. “What? You don’t even know where she is, Slater. Are you just gonna run around the campus again? We did that last night.”
Fuck.
He’s right.
And yes, that’s exactly what I’ll do. I’ll run around the campus. I’ll catch every bus. I’ll hunt down everyone who could have seen her. I’ll search until I physically can’t and—
“Well…” Elise crosses my apartment to the kitchen bench and reaches into her bag.
She pulls out her phone, turning it over once in her hand before looking up at us with an expression caught somewhere between reluctant and pleased with herself.
“As long as she keeps her phone on… I may know exactly where she is.”