On the way to my car, I felt my phone vibrate and quickly yanked it from my coat, hoping to see Nina’s name. It was only Daryl, though. Sliding my finger across the screen, I answered it and prayed he had some good news. “Tell me you found something,” I said as I opened the driver’s side door.
“Nothing yet,” Daryl said in a somber voice. “Do you have any idea why she left? Varo said you went to see her sister.”
I started the car and breathed a sigh of disgust, not only at Kim but at myself too. “Yeah. She found out about Melissa. Kim told her.”
Daryl said nothing for a long time, and then in his indomitable way, summarized my current problem succinctly. “Well, that was pretty stupid of you not to tell her, especially since you did nothing wrong.”
“Thanks. Just what I need. I know it was stupid, Daryl, but since I still think I was to blame, I just never found a way to tell her.”
“Water under the bridge now. We need to find your lady ASAP. So where would she go?”
Places raced through my mind, but none stuck out as the place I thought she’d go when she was upset. “I have no idea.”
Daryl made that clucking noise with his tongue he made when he was thinking and then said, “I’d suggest getting the word out to your hotels. She might go to one of them. I already checked the penthouse and no one has seen her there tonight.”
I headed out of Kim’s development toward home, wondering how much time I had. “What do we know about Karl?”
“What do you mean? I thought the Washington guys had him.”
“I have no idea if he’ll be held. If he’s not, how do I know he won’t find Nina before we do? And do you have any idea where the hell West is? Varo didn’t know where he was, and I’m worried he has something to do with Nina’s disappearance.”
“Whoa! I don’t think she’s disappeared, and what the fuck would West have to do with that?”
Putting my foot to the floor, I gassed it and began weaving through traffic. “I have no idea, Daryl. It just seems suspicious that Nina’s gone and West is nowhere to be found. I don’t care where he is if he isn’t with Nina, but if he is, he better fucking hope I don’t find him when I finally get to her, or I’m going to fucking kill him.”
“Alright, alright. Let’s not get crazy here. I’m heading out to the house now. Maybe Varo found something there or Jensen remembered something about the ride home that can help us. I’ll see you there in a little while, right?”
“Yeah. If you find out anything before I get there, call me. Do you understand?”
“I get it. Don’t worry. We’ll find her safe and sound.”
Chapter Twenty
Tristan
I drove like a demon over the roads and highways that led to the house I shared with Nina, my mind drifting back to the events that now made her run from me. Even though they’d occurred seven years before, the memory of them still ached like a fresh wound.
A haze of smoke hung heavy over the spacious room, a telltale sign of how long we’d been ignoring the outside world. Melissa giggled as she lay sprawled out across the bed while Sam smacked her on the bare ass. I guessed I should have been jealous since I was sleeping with her, but it wasn’t anything exclusive between us and I didn’t care if she liked to fuck him too.
Sex wasn’t what kept us together. Coke was.
Well, coke was what kept me there. Melissa didn’t like what coke did to her, preferring the more mellow high of pot or pills. But she was always good for what I wanted, knowing I liked it and eager to please me, no matter the cost.
I had no idea what the fuck Sam saw in any of this. True, he liked to smoke every so often, but nothing like how often Melissa did. I wasn’t even sure I’d ever seen her straight. Not that I cared.
“Tristan, come over here. I’m all alone and Sam won’t talk to me,” she whined in a voice that I found cute at times other than this. She knew it and used it anytime she wanted something from me.
Sam stood from the bed and pushed her away. “I won’t talk to her because she doesn’t make any fucking sense. Maybe if you’d get your head out of the clouds one in a while, Lissa, I’d be able to understand what the fuck you’re talking about.”
This was their usual routine when Sam felt like a third wheel. To everyone but Melissa, it was obvious he was in love with her. I had a feeling he hated me and wished I’d just disappear so he could walk off into the sunset with her, happy and high as a fucking kite. I would have been okay with that, as long as it didn’t interfere with what she and I had.