That got a snort out of him.
The younger waitress that had been harassing Dex before made an appearance right then at a table on the opposite side of the diner. So I took the opportunity to make Dex laugh again. I think I enjoyed the sound way too much. “Dex?”
“Yeah, baby?”
“She’s back,” I whispered, and then paused. “I think I’m going to need your keys.”
And as always, he didn’t disappoint me with the loud, loud laugh that burst out of my reserved, broody man.
~ * ~ *
Three days passed and nothing.
No trace of him.
That son of a friggin' gun had disappeared and my irritation had reached a level never before seen courtesy of my short-lived period. That's how pissed off and stressed I was—my period had lasted half the time it normally did.
"We'll find him," Dex had assured me about a dozen times a day.
The problem was that it was incredibly hard to hold out hope of finding a man that excelled at disappearing. We'd met with Luther's friend the day before but the older man hadn't seen him either. Luckily for me and everyone else, the normally moody man that drove us from Delray to Boca to Deerfield Beach, was optimistic enough for the both of us.
There's no way he knew we werein Florida, of that I was certain. Luther's friend had promised us he'd been discreet, so it just had to be a coincidence he'd gone somewhere else.
At least that's what I really hoped.
~ * ~ *
"Never heard of 'im," the older biker drawled from over the rim of his highball glass, drinking something that was all amber and no ice.
I felt like a balloon that had gotten stabbed with a needle. Deflated. Completely deflated.
Dex shot me a look before extending his hand out to the crazy bearded man. "Thanks, brother."
Another bust. Again. How many was that today? Eight different bars in and around Hollywood? Who the hell even knew there was that many kind of bars here?
I shook the man's hand just like Dex had, and followed him back out. The man had been the last of the three we'd made an effort to zero in on at the bar. Follow his lead, he'd said, and I had. But we were coming up with nothing. Four days in my home state and nothing.
This sucked.
The moment I'd climbed into the truck and shut the door, Dex cut me a glance before reaching over to grab my hand. "You feel like doin'somethin’else?"
I was too old to pout and cry about how unfair this crap was, so instead, I threaded my fingers through Dex's and sighed. I want to find my dad. But that wasn't happening. This entire trip had so far been a dead end. No dad. Painful memories. And food from places I'd gone to with Will hundreds of times that suddenly didn't seem anywhere near as delicious astheyhad months before.
All this driving around did was make me miss my mom andyia-yiamore. That was probably what led me to open my mouth and suggest something for the first time since we'd started our search.
It was still early in the day. Only about six, so there should have been an hour of sunlight left...
"Do you mind if we go to the cemetery?" I asked Dex hesitantly.
"Why the hell would I mind, babe?" he asked, already putting the truck into reverse. "Tell me how to get there."
The cemetery was pretty close to where we were at. It seemed like I'd just been there yesterday. I didn't need a map or directions to instruct Dex on where to go. In no time, he was pulling into the long, winding drive through the grounds.
Until he wasn't.
He parked the truck along the ultra familiar drive. I could recognize the slight slope of the grounds even if I were blind. I got out and looked around, watching as Dex climbed out as well, his eyes wary and uncomfortable as they flitted over tombstone and tombstone.
"Are you okay?" I asked him after he'd taken a long gulp. He didn't lookwell.
