“Has she refused them?”
“No, sir. The driver said no one was home. At least, they didn’t come to the door. We couldn’t leave the flowers outside in this heat.”
Had Jannie gone somewhere? If she had, her brothers didn’t know about it because they’d assured him she was home.
“I understand. Thank you.”
“Of course. Anything else we can do for you today?”
“No. Thank you for all your help.”
Nick tappedendand stared at the phone screen. He’d set Jannie’s photo as wallpaper after looking at it so many times and getting tired of having to hunt for it infavorites. Over the past weeks, he tried to lose himself in work and in different women at the club.
But the more partners he tried, the more dissatisfied he became, until he finally had to accept that he was miserable. The remedy he’d tried for his malaise—playing with many women and sampling every flavor—had proved anything but effective. On the contrary, he felt … well, rudderless, drifting from one partner to another, never finding what he pretended not to seek.
He hadn’t fucked a single one. Didn’t want to, with no connection.
And every time he failed yet again, all he could think about was how Jannie looked when she asked him to kiss her, taking his face between her hands and staring into him as if she meant to own his soul. Moreover, he couldn’t shake the feeling that she was in some sort of trouble.
He shouldn’t care.
He shouldn’t worry.
He shouldn’t think of her every damn waking moment, then dream of her at night, and wake up needing to jerk himself off while picturing her deep blue eyes and perfect mouth.
But he did, just as he used to do in high school, and …
Fuck it.
Thumbing through his contacts, Nick found the one he needed. “Hey, Dwight. I need a favor.”
•
Jannie
Her dog was going apeshit.
Jannie jolted awake, her heart pounding at the sound of Rolf’s urgent barking. He never failed to alert, but this time his pitch seemed different, and something about it made the hairs at her nape stand up.
“OK!” she yelled.
That command usually got him to stop, but instead, his bark grew louder and more vicious by the second.
Oh.
Jannie sat up. She’d never heard that tone before.
Something was wrong.
Picking up the phone, she thought about dialing 911 but decided to check the surveillance cameras first. A man stood at the back sliding glass door, cupping his hands as he tried to peek inside. Jannie’seyes widened as she stared at the monitor. Was he trying the lock? She watched him go to the other sliding door that led to the game room and look inside that one, too.
Jannie sprinted to lock her bedroom door, then picked up the phone and dialed.
“911, do you need police, fire, or medical?”
“Police, please.”
“What’s going on?”
