Chapter 16
MICAH
“ T hanks again for driving me, man,” Dakota said as he buckled up in the passenger seat. “Apparently my car is way more fucked than they expected.”
He droned on about dealing with the never-ending passive-aggressive tennis match with his ex, but it was too early to be listening about their drama. Ada was still off-grid, and I tossed and turned all night, unable to shake off how she was out there and unable to get a hold of me.
Not hearing from her was torture, and the moment we were sitting at a stoplight, I snatched my phone and started a playlist that was heavy on the guitar and drums, hoping it would somehow drown out the banging in my head.
I kept my eyes focused on the sluggish morning traffic, tapping my thumbs against the steering wheel to the aggressive beat. Why couldn’t Ada manage to keep in touch? My biggest nightmare was that I’d get a call from an anonymous number, and it’d be someone telling me that Ada was gone.
It made my stomach churn just to think about it.
I hiked the volume up and didn’t stop, despite Dakota’s protests. After a few ear bleeding measures, Dakota hit the Mute button, cutting off the music and leaving me with ringing ears and horrible morning traffic. I was too caught up in my head to not notice someone was crossing into my lane, and I slammed on my brakes. Dakota’s hand flew up to the oh-shit handle, whispering a string of curses as I blared my horn at the asshole who almost made me rear end them.
Dakota placed a hand over his heart, his breathing harsh. “Okay, what the fuck?”
I sputtered and pointed at the car weaving into the lanes impatiently. “What are you talking about? That guy was cutting into the lane like he owns the road.”
“I’m not talking about dickbag over there,” Dakota said, pointing to the general vicinity of where the car was, and then turned it to me. “I’m talking about you.”
“What about me?”
The sigh I got in return let me know that Dakota was rolling his eyes. Hard. “Something’s got you wound up this morning, and we’ve not even had coffee yet.”
The barbed wire of worry and anger toward Ada twisted deeply in my gut, but I trusted Dakota more than anyone right now.
“When I got home after Astral Motion, my apartment had been broken into. It was probably one of the people Ada runs around with, and yes, I already got my lock changed, and no, I haven’t been able to get a hold of her,” I said, my voice strained.
Knowing that Ada had someone come into my apartment just to find exactly what she was looking for—money or something of value—made my lungs clench like I was choking on my last breath.
A sharp movement caught the corner of my eye as Dakota shifted in the seat so he was facing me. “Jesus fucking Christ, Micah, why didn’t you call me?”
I swallowed past the burning tightness in my throat, allowing my anger to take control. It was sure as fuck better than getting teary. “I would’ve, I swear, but Nik was with me and helped me clean the place up.”
Dakota drummed his fingers on his thigh. He was in assessment mode. I could practically see the mental math scribbled above his head.
Eventually he said, “Something else happened.”
My eyes fell shut briefly, and I exhaled a shaky breath. “Nik told me about how he helps out at the Collective with some people who are working at recovery and how he has resources.” I kicked up the AC and inhaled the frosty blast of air on my hot skin. “I think he may be how I can get Ada better.”
Dakota’s fingers stilled. “You sure about that?”
As traffic picked up speed, I shot Dakota a narrowed stare before refocusing on the road. “Yeah, I do. If there’s anyone who’s able to help, it’s someone who’s got experience in it. I’m running out of options here, Dakota, so please save your judgements for another time.”
“C’mon, dude, I literally saw Nik get offered drugs from some random chick, and he shot her down so hard it was impressive. Give me a little more credit,” Dakota said with a little bite in his tone. He adjusted so he was facing the road again and twisted his arms across his chest, lifting one hand to rub over his face. “You know I’m the last person to judge anyone about that.”
It was true. Dakota was there with me when we’d found out that Ada had failed out of her program for an entire semester. I’d naively thought that it was because she drowned herself in penance for being the only one who walked away alive the night of that car accident. What I didn’t know was that she’d started hanging with a new crowd and was already far into the abyss of addiction.
That was the moment I knew I’d lost her, and I was determined to get her back.
I rubbed a hand over my face, wishing I could just go home and crawl back into bed with Nik and sleep the day away. “Sorry. That was a dick move.”
“It was, but I forgive you because I love you,” Dakota said, nudging my arm with his elbow. “God, I can’t believe Ada broke into your apartment, though. She must be in a bad place to get that desperate.”
She was desperate, and that meant that I was losing more of her day by day. I pulled in the parking lot of the warehouse and parked. It took a moment for me to realize my hands were shaking. “It’s why I gotta find out more about what resources Nik was talking about. There has to be some kind of program or something that’ll work.”
The sounds of trucks that were already beeping in the background, the shake of metal on metal. It wasn’t until we were halfway toward the warehouse that Dakota spoke. “I wanna tell you something, and I want you to try to give it some consideration.”
“All right, I’m listening.”
“Whatever Nik knows or resources he has, you have to prepare yourself that Ada may want nothing to do with it. Micah, look at me, please,” Dakota said, shaking my arm. I slowed down to a stop and turned toward him. “The only person who can help Ada is herself. If she doesn’t want it, nothing we do will change that.”
There was something desperate in Dakota’s words, and I had to swallow down the nerves assaulting my stomach. Off in the distance, I saw the shift supervisor hanging around in the bay, keeping an eye on the trucks. “C’mon, we need get going before we’re late.”
I was a couple steps ahead of Dakota, and we were about halfway to the warehouse when he murmured, “You’re different around Nik than you’ve been with other hookups.”
Something about that shook me from the inside and left me rolling to a quick stop. “What?”
Dakota shrugged. “Just an observation. I like the guy, and I think he may be good for you. I just don’t want you to miss a good opportunity.”
He headed toward the bay, and it took me several seconds to get feeling back in my feet to get moving, my heart aching.