He glanced at the paper. “You guys bet on my love life?”
“Absolutely. I had you down for caving two days ago. Kind of mad you held out this long—it cost me five dollars.”
“So sorry for the inconvenience.”
“That’s okay. You can make it up to me by staying here while you call her.” She rested her chin on her fist and batted her eyes at him.
He rolled his eyes and punched in the number she’d given him, earning a big grin in return.
It rang three times. “Hello?” a male voice asked.
“Uh, Braedon?”
“No comment.”
“Wait! It’s Devon,” he said quickly.
“Oh. Hey, man, I didn’t recognize your voice.”
“No problem. Is…Addison there?”
Braedon didn’t answer immediately. “She should be there.”
“What do you mean she should be here? Here as in Charleston, here?”
“Yeah, she left two days ago to drive down there to talk to you.”
Unease rolled through Devon’s stomach. “Have you tried calling her? She’s not answering my calls. I figured she was screening.”
“I haven’t. Hang on—let me try.”
He waited impatiently while Braedon tried to call her. Angie looked up at him, brows furrowed, before turning away to type furiously on her keyboard.
“She’s not answering,” Braedon said. “Shit. I’ve had a bad feeling since yesterday, but I figured it was because you’d been a dick and broke her heart. I tried TLC’s main number, but no one answered.”
He lowered the phone from his mouth. “Did another receptionist quit?”
“Yesterday. Paige is NOT happy. I did win that pool, though.”
Devon shook his head. “Braedon, I’m in love with Addison.”
“Cool. Pretty sure she loves you too, man, but I’ll let her tell you that for sure—once we figure out where she is.”
“Angie, can you—?”
“Her phone last pinged at South of the Border on I-95. Devon…” Angie looked up from her screen, worry filling her gaze. “It hasn’t moved in two days.”
“What’s she saying?” Braedon asked.
“Hang on, I’m going to put you on speaker.” He toggled to speaker and lowered the phone from his face. “Braedon, this is Angie, our IT guru. She said Addison’s phone pinged two days ago at the South of the Border rest stop on I-95.”
“I’m familiar with it. There’s been nothing since then?”
“No,” Angie said. “If she’d kept going, the other towers along I-95 would have picked her up.”
“Fuck,” Braedon said.
“I’m leaving now,” Devon said. “It’s two hours north of here.”
