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Were the calls related in some way? It was past midnight, but it couldn't be helped.
He dialed the number and almost had a coronary when Ava's mother answered on the first ring with a string of vitriol aimed directly at his weak side. "You may think you've won but that isn't the case at all. You're sadly mistaken if you think we're going to simply let you corrupt our underage daughter without a fight. The police are coming for you, you pedophile."
And with that, she hung up.
Pedophile. That was new. Ethan's hands began to shake as he realized what her threats really meant: Ava had taken off. And where would she have run? Straight to him, of course.
And he hadn't answered her texts or calls when she'd needed him.
He glanced at the time. One a.m. Where the hell could she be at this time of night? He tried her cell once more, but again it went to voicemail.
Backing out of the parking lot, he drove to campus in record time, jumped from his truck and sprinted across the commons to his dorm.
Out of breath, he flung the door open and the sight that met his eyes was far worse than he'd expected. He'd hoped to see Ava, probably a very upset Ava, maybe a sound asleep Ava, but no such luck.
Cade, the prick, was passed out and snoring from his bed, with that slut Shelly draped on top of him. Both of them were naked, of course, and the covers had slid off the bed.
And on his own bed? That bitch Isabel and another girl he'd never seen before. Both were sound asleep. Evidence of the evening's partying was everywhere. The room was a mess. Empty wine bottles and beer cans were scattered about, and the room reeked of stale alcohol and smoke of various kinds.
Fear for Ava obliterated any remnants of control he had left. He slammed the door and stomped toward his bed. Fueled by rage and unchecked testosterone, he lifted the mattress away from the wall until both girls rolled off and fell to the floor.
The new girl was so passed out that it didn't faze her; she continued sleeping. Isabel let out an affronted yelp, landed on her ass in a sitting position, and blinked until her bloodshot eyes finally found focus.
Walking toward her, he leaned down and got right in her face. "Where is she?" he snarled.
She had the goddamn nerve to roll her eyes. He fisted his hands and repeated the question, speaking slowly in a deadly, controlled voice. "Where. Is. She?"
The bitch scooted back against the wall at the same moment Cade woke up. He raised up on an elbow, his eyes blurry. "What y'all doing on the floor? Oh, hey man," he rasped, still half asleep. Then he looked from Ethan to Isabel and back again. "Wait, what's going on?"
"Ava was here," Ethan snarled. "And now she's not answering her phone. Somebody's going to tell me where the fuck she is."
"You're wrong, dude. Damn, calm down," Cade said, coming to a sitting position as his bedmate slept on. "She hasn't been here."
But as his roommate made the claim, Ethan was looking down at the slut on the floor and saw the satisfaction that gleamed from her eyes. Goddamnnit, he'd never hit a woman before but he was about to start. Right. Fucking. Now. "You got one more chance, bitch. Tell me where she is."
The fucking cunt made a huge production of yawning, then she leaned back on her hands and arched her back, thrusting her tits toward him as she asked in a supremely bored voice, "Oh, you mean that fat, ugly pregnant girl?"
"Damn, Isabel—" Cade sputtered, but it was too late. Ethan completely lost it. He reared back, fisted his hand, and took aim at her face. But at the last possible moment, he caught his shit, swiveled around, looked his roommate in the eye, and punched the motherfucker with everything he had. The impact was so hard that Ethan felt the satisfying moment when skin broke under his knuckles and blood splattered across the covers.
The dude was laid flat-out cold, and when Ethan turned to Isabel again, the blood had drained from her face.
Rage, unlike any emotion he'd ever known, consumed him from the inside out. Hitting Cade hadn't helped a damn bit. "You got two seconds, understand me? Where the fuck is she?"
The girl began babbling in panic. "I don't know where she went. She left and I assumed she would find you."
Bitch wasn't telling him everything. He could see that plainly. "What I don't understand is why she didn't just wait here. You have any idea why she didn't think that was a good idea since, you know, I live here?!"
When the girl flinched but didn't say anything, he had his answer. Wasting no time, only wanting to get rid of the garbage that stank up the area, he fisted his fingers around her upper arm and began dragging her across the room, wiping the floor with her ass, ignoring her yelps of protest. Opening the door, he tossed her into the corridor and then repeated the process with her passed-out friend.
Cade was slowly regaining consciousness. Somewhat relieved that his roommate was at least alive and that he wouldn't wind up in prison for manslaughter, Ethan didn't waste time replacing the mattress on its frame. He stripped the disgusting sheets in three seconds flat, wadded them in a ball, and beamed them at Isabel on his way out the door.
In the familiar confines of his truck, Ethan rested his forehead on the steering wheel and tried to think. Why the hell had Ava left Redwood Falls and come here? Things at home must have taken an even worse turn. He'd told her repeatedly that she needed to stay put, as difficult as that was. So this was his own damn fault. He should have just let her come. They would have figured it all out together. He could only imagine how distraught she must have been when Cade's sluts opened his door. Jesus.
Where the hell was she? And why wasn't she answering her phone?
It was possible she'd gone to a hotel, but he had no way of knowing which one. He knew her funds were limited. It was obvious from his conversation with her mom that they thought Ava was with him. There was no way in hell she'd call her parents now, but maybe she had called someone else for help when she couldn't get hold of him. But who the hell would that have been?
Hannah came to mind, but Ava would have known that her friend wouldn't have been much help from afar. Nobody would have been able to help much from a distance, but in his mind's eye, he could almost hear Ava calling Ty for help and advice.
He didn't waste any time as he punched in his buddy's number. Ty answered, groggily, on the third ring. "Yeah?"
"Dude. It's me."
Ty cleared his throat, obviously trying to shake off sleep. "Yeah?"
"Have you heard from Ava?" Ethan barked, out of patience and wanting answers.
There was a slight pause before Ty slowly replied, "Maybe."
Ethan took the phone from his ear and looked down at it in disbelief, somehow resisting the urge to heave it out the truck window. Taking a deep, shuddering breath, he put the phone to his ear and didn't mince words. "Are you shitting me? What the fuck, man? I'm going crazy here. Where is she?"
Ty was fully awake now and furious. "Who were the goddamn bitches, Ethan? I distinctly remember advising you not to hurt my sister."
A great roaring of white noise rose up in Ethan's head at the question as he lost all patience. "Goddammit, Ty. Now's not the fucking time—"
"You fucking around on my sister?" Ty interrupted, his words clipped and his voice seething with barely restrained fury.
"What??!!??" Ethan rattled harshly. "Are you fucking insane, man? I don't even know how to respond to that."
"Respond with an answer, motherfucker," Ty sneered.
Ethan closed his eyes and shook his head, not comprehending any of this. He took a deep breath and formed an answer, trying to get the information he needed to put his world back together. "You goddamn know I'm not fucking around on her. I love her, you fucking douchebag—not that you'd know what that is or what it means, or how it feels."
There was a moment of silence before Ty asked on a deflated sigh, "Who were the bitches, Ethan?"
"Friends of my roommate's. His fuckbuddies. Groupies, whatever. There's not shit I can do about them. Believe me, I've tried, repeatedly."
Ty took a momen
t before answering. "Where were you then? Why didn't you answer your fucking phone?"
Ethan sighed, clenching his fingers around the steering wheel. "I was at work."
There was a pause. "Work? Didn't know you had a job," Ty answered suspiciously.
"Yeah, well, neither does Ava. I guess I should have told her but she worries about me too damn much as it is."
"Where you working?" Ty questioned shortly.
Ethan took a deep breath and then blew it out. "At a goddamn grocery store, stocking shelves. Does it really matter?"
As if Ty finally believed him, his friend took a deep breath and conceded, "Ava called around ten. You can imagine how upset she was. She had nowhere to go—"
"Fuck. Is she at a hotel?"
