“I had the night off, and I thought with everything, it’d be a nice distraction for you. For both of us. What I did not think was I’d come back to find out you were kidnapped, managed to get out on your own, and that you’re intrigued by the asshole who kidnapped you. I thought we had something special.”
She grinned and playfully swatted at him when he said that last part, causing a smirk to tug at his lips. “Shut up,” she hissed out. “It’s… it’s not like that. Not really.”
“Okay, well, tell me about this guy,” he said. “Do we know who we’re looking for? If we can find him before he tries to make another move on you, maybe we can get ahead of this whole thing and beat Tessa at her own game.”
Laina blushed somewhat as she began to relay the man’s description: “He’s older. A full head of gray hair. Dark eyes. He’s pretty tall, too, at least six foot. Oh, and he’s covered in tattoos. His right arm is a sleeve of all these different designs, but his left and his neck are all black. I’ve never seen a tattoo like that. I can’t imagine how long that took.”
The more she described the man, the more Kieran’s face changed. Yes, he started out jealous, but as the seconds ticked by, some other emotion took its place, only I couldn’t discern what that emotion was.
“His name is Jason, but we don’t have a last name yet,” she continued to rattle off. “He acted like he was some kind of fixer, a problem-solver, and he wanted to know the whole picture.” She paused, clearly remembering something. “You know, it was kind of weird. Tessa must have coached him or something, because he asked me how I lured you away from her. I don’t see why a random fixer would give a crap—”
Kieran stood. “I have to go.”
Laina gave him a weird look. “What? But you just got here.”
He hurried to the door, muttering, “I’m sorry. I—I just have to go. There’s something I need to do.” He did not wait for her to say anything more; he was out the door right after that.
Mike grumbled, “What the hell was up with him?”
Laina leaned back and pulled the sheets up to her chest. “That was weird. It was almost like…”
I said what she was thinking: “Almost like he knew the man who kidnapped you.”
This Jason guy. If Kieran knew him… things were definitely more complicated than they were before. None of us should besurprised at that, but it did surprise me that Kieran simply left without explaining himself or what had him so spooked.
Hmm. Hopefully the man just needed a bit of time and he’d come around soon enough.
Chapter Eleven – Laina
Later that day, when Mike drove me home, I couldn’t get my mind off the way Kieran reacted. Mike and Fang picked up on it, so it wasn’t just me. Like Fang had said, it was almost like Kieran recognized the man from my description of him, but what I didn’t get was, if he knew him, why wouldn’t he say something?
Well, certain areas of my life might’ve been turning to shit, but at least I had Fang and Mike on the same team for a while. That was… that was so nice. A girl could definitely get used to that.
Mike helped me clear the house before he left. Kelly wasn’t there, which I found odd. I didn’t think she had any classes this late in the afternoon, and since it was Monday, it wasn’t like she could be out pre-gaming or anything.
My phone was deader than dead, so I had to plug it in and wait to find out if I had any missed calls from her. When the damn thing finally booted up, I saw multiple missed messages and calls.
I called her, assuming she’d pick up, but the call rang and rang and rang, and eventually went to voicemail.
Huh. That was odd, wasn’t it? I hoped Jason didn’t come back for Kelly while I was off having fun with my guys. If something happened to her, it’d be my fault, one hundred percent. There’d be no other way to look at it.
Eventually, I wound up in the living room, pacing around the couch, while I waited for either her to come back or for her to message or call. I didn’t have her other friends’ numbers, so I couldn’t call any of them to see what was up. The only thing I could do was wait, and it sucked ass.
Six-thirty rolled around, and it was then Kelly came home. She came in through the front door, and I raced over to her, saying, “Kelly. Where were you? I was worried—”
She didn’t look at me. She only slipped off her shoes and went toward the stairs, up to her room. I followed her, because what the hell else was I supposed to do?
“Are you going to talk to me, or keep ignoring me?”
Finally, she met my eyes, and I saw heavy bags beneath them, meaning she didn’t put on makeup today—something she never, ever did. Even if she didn’t leave the house, makeup was the first thing she always did in the morning.
“I can’t do this” was what she said.
That wasn’t enough for me to understand, so I said, “What do you mean? You can’t do what?” We stood near her bed, and I folded my arms over my chest as I waited to hear whatever explanation she had.
“I can’t do this.” As she repeated it again, she gestured around us, at her room. No, wait. She gestured at me. At my left hand. Not at her room.
That was when it hit me, what she meant, what she wasn’t saying. I wasn’t one to back down or accept defeat. Not after everything. So, I stared her square in the eye and demanded, “Just say it, then. Stop dancing around the subject and spit it out.”
