“Cobra!” Taz called.
“I’m on vacation, Taz!” He stressed. “I’m on vacation and if I’m going to work, I need something to go on. She knows nothing. It’s almost as if she lived on a different planet from her parents. What the hell am I supposed to do with that?”
Taz frowned. “Sometimes we have nothing.” He was staring down at his phone as his frown deepened. “You know how it goes. That’s the nature of the beast.”
“Yes. And usually I would work it—but I don’t have the patient or the will to care.”
“Cobra, do this as a favour to me.” Taz pleaded.
Tarek grunted his annoyance. “That’s not fair. You using our friendship as a weapon is so not fair.” “Shit.” Taz muttered as he stared down at this phone that had vibrated on the counter. “Can I leave you two alone? Montana has an assignment for me.”
“We’ll be fine.” Tarek leveled his green gaze to me. “Miss Sargentand I need to talk.”
I swallowed the lump in my throat and fell into one of the chairs someone had vacated but hadn’t pushed back under the table.
“Oh, Jesus.” Taz muttered, rising from his seat. “Please—I’m begging you. No bloodshed.”
Tarek didn’t speak, but I offered Taz a small smile. I didn’t want Taz to leave me alone with Tarek. But I’d caused the storm between myself and Tarek. I couldn’t escape the destruction of it anymore. Karma had finally gotten around to me.
From the look in Tarek’s eyes, there would be hell to pay.
I stood—maybe if I made my escape now, the fallout wouldn’t be as bad as I thought—no, as Iknew—it would be.
“Sit.” He told me.
My back went up at his command. Ever since I was a little girl, I hated being told what to do, especially in that tone of voice. I wanted to tell him off—to tell him to go to hell. But found myself slipping into my chair while clamping my thighs together. He pulled another, turned it around and sat with the back to his chest. The position drew the material of his jeans tightly against his muscular thighs—I chewed into my bottom lip.
What is wrong with me?
“I need you to think back. Has Laura or Jeff mentioned anything about Colombia? Anything at all, no matter how small could be helpful.”
I stared at his handsome face, the rugged slopes of it. His jawlines were perfect, a flat nose and plump lips I would love to sit on. It took some doing, but I managed to shake the thoughts from my head and went through my memory to give him something—anything. As I was about to shake my head, something struck me. “Demons.”
“What did you say?” Tarek asked.
“Someone came to the house and kept knocking at the door.” I explained. “I was going to open it, but mom stopped me. Eventually, whoever it was, went away. When I asked mom what it was about, she said it was demons my father brought back from Colombia. It was weird, but I just thought she meant a woman. A year and a half before that, he was in Mexico and brought back some woman who didn’t even know he was married.”
“So, he brings women back often.”
“I don’t know.” I shrugged. “Maybe, maybe not. I mean, the only reason I knew about the woman from Mexico was because she called the house.”
“Anything else?”
I shook my head. “Mom was a little mad at me.”
“Do you know where they found your father’s car?”
“No.” My voice cracked. “I didn’t think he was really missing.”
Tarek tilted his head. “Why not?”
“My father wasn’t really a good husband.” I swallowed. “If cheating on your wife was an Olympic sport, he’d win gold every time.”
“Ellie.” His impatience was clear as day in his voice. “Relevance?”
“He was rarely ever home. When he’s not jetting off to some other country for work, he would often go missing for days with one of his little sluts. Then he’d pop up again as if nothing was wrong.” I explained. “The first time he went missing, we called the cops. Three days later, they found him hold up in a hotel room with a twenty-year-old.”
“I see.” He pulled out his cell, scrolled then tapped. The phone must have been on speaker for I could ear it ring, and he hadn’t bother lifting it to his ear.
