“Fine,” I relent, tapping my phone to check the time. “Why is it taking her so long?”
We look over and see her boss locking up the front, making me frown.She usually does that, right?
“I am going to wait for her in the back,” I announce, opening the car door, but Clay comes with me. When we round the corner, her boss is closing the back door too. “Hey,” I greet, and he nearly jumps out of his skin.
“Officers, don’t tell me she had to go to help with a special police case. I am not doing this shit again and will call my lawyer.”
“Wait, what?” Clay asks, looking at me.
“Why do you say that?” I ask Donny. “She didn’t come in today?”
“Nope, she didn’t even call in sick. Her motivation is seriously lacking lately,” he mutters, but I’ve already turned around, pressing the phone to my ear, calling her.
It rings and rings, but no one picks up. “Clay!” I shout over my shoulder, and he jogs to catch up with me at the police car.
“Where the fuck could she be?” he asks as we get in the car.
“Call Xander,” I tell him. “And Sophia. Fuck, call Chiara.”
“You don’t think—” he starts, phone to his ear.
“I have no fucking clue, but if she is hurt, I am going on a fucking rampage,” I seethe, driving way too fast back to our place.
It’s early morning,but none of us slept.
Clay and Joshua drove through the streets all night, with no clue where to even look for her after they checked her oldapartment, which was empty. Sophia and I stayed awake in the hopes she would come home, but she didn’t. We called all the hospitals in the area, but she wasn’t brought in either. Chiara spent the night at Leo’s and hasn’t heard from Carolina, and I was glad to have her out of the way.
Sophia was so exhausted she fell asleep on the couch. Meanwhile, I am grumpy as fuck.
If I weren’t so anxious about not seeing her come in or missing one of her calls, I would have been down in our gym, hitting the sandbag for a few hours.
Where the fuck are you, Carolina?
The guys bought breakfast bagels for us all when they got home, and now we are sitting at the kitchen island, the bagels in front of us, but no one is eating.
“I won’t be able to live with myself if something has happened to her,” Josh murmurs, pulling at his hair.
“Hey, stop thinking like that. She is okay,” Clay presses, but his voice lacks conviction.
“Someone wants her dead.” Josh looks up at him, eyes brimming with tears.
My phone chimes, and we all look at the screen, but it is not Carolina. I already want to dismiss it when I see it’s Tom calling me.
“Hello?” I answer, finally picking up.
“Hey, X,” he greets, and I can barely hear him because the background noises are so loud on his end. “Listen, man, I picked up your girl yesterday from the street. She was helping some guy and was in a pretty rough shape, so I took her in too. I thought she would have left already, but I just walked down the hallway and saw her still sitting by his bedside. I thought maybe you wanted to know.”
“Which hospital?” I ask, shooting to my feet.
“Harlem. X, man, I am so sorry. If I’d known, I would have called earlier.”
Josh and Clay are standing now too, and I walk over to the entry, putting my jacket and shoes on. “Don’t worry, bro. The rest of your sleeve is on the house,” I tell him. “Which room number?”
“All good. Room 302, third floor.”
“Thanks,” I say, hanging up, and we all pile into the Ford.
Twenty minutes later,we rush into the room Tom said she was in, finding her fast asleep. She’s slouched over the hospital bed, her head resting on her arms.
