“Yeah, my nephew was with his dad for a week, and she needed a distraction, so she booked a last-minute Alaskan cruise. She had wanted me to come too but knew she needed the downtime. Things are constant in her life, plus the divorce, so it was good for her to go alone.”
My stomach churned thinking about meeting the amazing woman. She sounded confident, was a great mom, talented, and based on the pictures Langston had shown me on his phone, was also absolutely gorgeous. The way Langston and West both talked about her, it was clear she was a big part of Langston’s life, which meant if she didn’t like me, then all this could crumble, leaving me alone again.
West tightened his fingers around mine, drawing my attention.
“Whatever you’re thinking, stop, sweet cheeks. Not only will she love you, but she’ll see how happy you make her brother, and she’ll love you even more.”
I forced a smile. His words eased some of the worry but doubts still lingered. Because everything good in my life spoiled, and I just knew if it happened this time with them, it would be the one I didn’t survive.
“I now understandpeople’s obsession with online shopping,” West grumbled beside me as we walked side by side down the sidewalk, hands swinging between us.
My cheeks hurt from smiling all day, and it was the best ache. I never wanted it to fade.
“It was two stores and four outfits for you, and the rest were for me. It wasn’t that terrible of an experience to push you into only reclusive shopping.” I bumped my shoulder against his side, making him stagger a little before righting himself.
“You two quit whining. I’m the one who has to carry all the shit.” To emphasize his point, Langston held up the shopping bags in each hand and rolled his eyes, but the smile he fought back told a different story. All day there was that small smile pulling at his lips, and I even heard him laugh a few times when West and I joked around in different stores. Apparently, we turned into mischievous toddlers when shopping together.
“How much farther is this bar?” I asked while looping my arm around West’s, pulling him closer to my side. There was a woman a few feet ahead of us putting something up on a wooden telephone pole, and I didn’t want him to accidentally bump into her. As thin as she looked, one tap would send her flying into the street.
The stranger’s exhausted gaze followed us with a helpless expression as we hurried by. I offered her a tight smile, attention sliding to the paper in her hand that flapped in the strong breeze. A single word, the letters large and bold, written across the top made me slow, coming to a complete stop a couple of feet after we passed her.
Langston and West went into full protection mode, squeezing in tight with their heads on a swivel like we were about to be attacked.
“What is it?” Langston murmured.
Without a word, I squeezed out from between the two men and turned, cautiously walking back to the woman. Short, tight, black pleather skirt, torn tights, high heels, and a top that barely covered her boobs—I had a hunch at what she did for a living, but that didn’t matter, nor was it why I stopped.
I kept my gaze trained on the flyer in her hand, locked on the word in bold print.
MISSING
“Who is she?” I asked, not looking up from the young woman’s blurred picture.
“My friend Sabel,” she rasped. “The cops aren’t doing shit about it, just like the others, and?—”
“Others?” Langston asked at my back. His hand wrapped around my waist almost like he needed the reassurance that I was close and safe.
The woman eyed Langston, then West, who stood at my side. She arched a brow at me. “Both of them?” I snorted and nodded. “Damn, girl, leave some for the rest of us. Don’t be so fucking greedy.”
I shrugged. “They came as a package deal, a two-for-one-special type of thing.”
She smiled for just a second before it faded when she looked down at the flyer she’d clearly made and had taken on the duty of posting around Anchorage.
“Cops said she’s not missing, that it hasn’t been long enough. But Sabel always comes home, always, and last night she didn’t.”
“You said others?” Langston prodded with a gentleness in his tone that I knew was a conscious decision. Such a good guy, my Captain Asshole.
“Yeah, the others. They’re one second doing”—she jerked her gaze to the cracked concrete—“jobs, then boom, gone, never to be seen again. The cops don’t take it seriously, though, because of what we do.” The corner of her lip curled upward. “Some of us even went to this FBI guy, found his information online, and he didn’t give a shit either.”
“How long has this been going on, the women going missing?” I asked. My stomach churned, all the happy and excitement from the day now replaced with worry and dread.
“I don’t know… a year, maybe longer. Though it’s not the first time.”
“What do you mean?” West asked.
“Some of the older girls said there were a bunch of missing women back when they were just starting, but then one day it just stopped.” She rubbed at her arms and glanced up and down the street as if expecting the one responsible to jump out from the shadows. “Now it’s happening again. I just want to find my friend. She’s all I have.”
I carefully slid the paper free from her tight hold. “Can I have this copy? We might know someone who could help.” And maybe tell us why the hell women were turning up missing here in Anchorage too.
