I pinch the bridge of my nose. “See, this is what happens when you’re nice to the hot guy… he thinks it’s all about him,” I groan.
“You think I’m hot?” he teases, his smile widening.
He’s totally fishing for compliments, which is why I ignore him. “So… where have you been?”
“I had some personal stuff to take care of,” is all he says.
Curiosity gets the better of me, and a little bit of jealousy too. “That girlfriend of yours?”
Theo huffs out a laugh, a lock of hair dropping down into his face. “No, firefly. No girlfriend. Something happened with James’s girl, and I needed to be there for him.”
“Is she okay?” Now I feel horrible, not only for being jealous, but also for James’s girlfriend.
“She’ll be fine. James… I’m not so sure about.”
“Is there anything I can do to help?”
He smiles gently. “Thank you, but no.”
“Okay.” I can’t think of anything else to say, so I duck my head, grab the nearest book, and try to focus on work and not the way he’s making me feel.
“Okay, so if he’d been watching her for a while, it would stand to reason that he was a friend? She worked at the coffee shop, maybe a customer? Co-worker?” Theo says, sipping on his coffee.
We’ve been at this for hours. It had started quietly, neither of us saying anything, and the only sound was the rustling of paper or a pencil scratching. But eventually, Theo began mumbling under his breath, which led him to talk out loud, which, in turn, led to where we are now—him asking me questions.
I nod. “That’s what I was thinking. She also used to go to a bar called…” I shuffle the papers on the desk, trying to find the name. “Habitat. Isn’t that the bar on Main Street that had a few girls go missing last year?”
Theo perks up. “Yeah, I think it was.” He goes quiet for a moment, his eyes darting around while he thinks.
I’ve always loved this side of him. His ability to see what no one else can was one of the first things that drew me to him… other than his looks, of course.
“Let me check with some of my contacts, but I’m thinking road trip.”
I laugh. “Isn’t that what the police are for, big guy? I don’t remember learning about this in school.”
A strand of hair comes loose and settles across my face. Theo reaches out and softly places it behind my ear. I don’t breathe for a second, my heart pounding at him being so close.
He doesn’t seem to think anything of it, or if he does, he doesn’t show it as he says, “That’s because you’ve never worked with me properly before.” He winks before standing up and stretching. “Meetme in my office in ten minutes. We’ll go down to the bar and see what we can stir up.”
“It’s lunchtime, Theo. Won’t it be shut?” I ask, pulling myself together and pushing away from the desk.
He shrugs. “I’m sure someone will be around. And if not, we’ll go back later when there is.” He walks out of the library as I scratch my head, wondering what trouble he's going to get me into now.
Turning up to a nightclub in broad daylight is weird—it looks like any typical industrial building without its strobe lights and queue of people trying to get in. The brickwork is crumbling, and the black door that grants you entry into something I like to call hell could do with some serious DIY.
I follow behind Theo when he opens the door, and my shoes stick to the floor as I walk.
Ew.
Music blasts my eardrums as Theo opens another door, one that leads directly into the club. A few people wander around, cleaning, restocking fridges, and moving tables. The black walls are peeling, the paint years old. The bar takes up the entire back wall, large and imposing. The DJ booth sits in the far corner, and someone stands behind it holding a headphone to their ear.
Theo marches to the bar, a man clearly on a mission. I follow and stop next to him. A young woman with short, bright pink hair and a nose ring glances up at us.
“You shouldn’t be in here,” she calls over the music, pointing to the door. “The manager will have my ass if you guys don’t leave.”
Theo smiles, and I watch as the girl blushes.
Yeah, he has that effect on most people.
