Then she said something he never thought he’d hear her say. “I booked me a flight to Los Angeles. I’ve got to go and make sure he’s okay.”
Von was floored. “But you hate flying, Neet!”
“I know.” She was distressed. “But what else can I do? His family isn’t going to check on him. I can’t get anybody at his company to go check on him. I even told that assistant that they should do a welfare check on him. I told her I think something might have happened to him. But she just brushed it off. Like girls call all the time claiming something like that. And maybe she’s right. Maybe I’m just . . .” But then Janita scrunched up her face.
But now Von was worried too. But not about Hawk, but about his sister! “Have you considered the possibility that he’s not returning your calls because he doesn’t want to?”
She nodded her head. “Yes, I’ve considered that possibility from jump.”
“And?”
“I’ve still gotta go. If he tells me to fuck off, then fine. I’ll do that. But at least I’ll know he’s okay.”
Von’s heart swelled with emotion. Because that was his sister through and through. He’d never met a better person ever. “When’s your flight?”
“In a couple hours.”
“Then I’d better get dressed because if you’re going to L.A., I’m going too. And before you object, I know we can’t afford it. I know that. But there’s no way I’m letting you go to that hellhole alone.”
Janita smiled.
“Book me a flight too,” he said, and went into the bathroom to dress.
Janita didn’t want her baby brother witnessing her probable humiliation if Hawk told her to leave him alone, but she was too relieved to have him with her. She was terrified of flying. She was terrified that if Hawk told her to get lost, it would devastate her.
She used her already near-maxed credit card and quickly made him a reservation too.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
She thanked God she remembered his address and the Uber driver in Los Angeles drove them straight to his house. Then the driver took off.
But what was strange to Janita was that the electronic gate was wide open after it was apparently repaired from a month ago when Kemberly broke it down, and there were no grounds people working on the lawn and trimming hedges, or maids coming in and out, or supply trucks coming in and out the way it was the morning of the first time she was at that house.
But then again, she though as she and Von made their way to his front door, maybe they had been there earlier and left. She knew that was possible. But it didn’t feel like that. His home, unlike the last time, felt almost deserted to her. There was a heavy sense of emptiness over it.
But it looked perfect to Von. “Now this is what I call a house,” he said as they made their way to the front door. “It’s so modern and sleek compared to his parents’ house.”
“Both are beautiful.”
“I know,” Von said. “But this right here is more my style. And he drives a ‘vet too?” He was looking at the Corvette in the driveway. “Oh yes ma’am. Yes ma’am. Yes ma’am. This is more my style.”
What on earth did his style have to do with anything, Janita wanted to ask him, but she was too concerned about Hawk to get involved in any side nonsense with Von. She rang the doorbell.
But nothing.
She knocked on his door.
Nothing.
And that was when she made the decision to turn the knob. When it was unlocked and the door opened, Janita began to walk inside.
Von was shocked. “What are you doing? They can arrest us for breaking and entering, Janita! Janita?”
But she wasn’t listening. “Hawk?” she yelled out as she entered his home. “Hawk?”
But it wouldn’t be until she turned to her left and looked in his living room. And that was when she saw his body, lying there, in a pool of blood. “Jesus!” she cried out and ran to him.
When she cried out, Von hurried into the house, too, and looked to his left. When he saw Hawk on that floor like that, he ran to his aid too. When he saw how swollen his head was, and how badly beaten he was, he immediately dialed 911.
