“Keep it.”
I sucked down a cold swallow of corn syrup and carbonation. I was thirsty. I was hungry, and I was scared as shit. All I could think about was the last time. How I’d found Ava the last time.
Stepping out into a bright blue, I squinted at the cloudless sky. It was a perfect spring day. A month from now, everyone would be greedy for AC, but today, the weather was heaven. And I wasn’t sure if Ava was even alive. Again. How many more times would I have to go through this?
I should have let Elise come with me. Just having her by my side would have softened the edges of my fear. Blunted my anger. Even the thought of her made the despair weigh a little less.
I needed her.
Tsunami, the upscale sushi restaurant that also had a decent bar, was just across the street. Would they have been open after midnight? Would Ava have wanted to go there if it had been? The crowd would have been a little old for her.
But then again, Ava had sought out older men before. Anyone who could finance her junk.
I groaned at the thought, and my mind reached for Elise.
I dug out my phone to call her and saw with a jolt I had two missed calls. Both from her.
“Shit.” She’d called while I was in Marley’s. I tapped her contact, ignoring the red dot on my phone telling me she’d left voicemails.
Her line rang. And rang. And went to voicemail.
“Fuck.” I pulled my phone away from my ear and tapped her first message.
“Hey, it’s me. Call me back… It’s about Ava.”
My breath stuck in my throat. What the hell? I played her second message.
“Me again. Sorry. I don’t know where she is or anything, but I… I guess… I mean, maybe I just learned something… Sorry. Sorry. Just call me back.”
Elise knew something. And she sounded worried. The desire to comfort her was both irrational and undeniable. She was worried forAva.She was worried forme.By the sound in her voice, she knew something that should have rattled me.
But the first thing I felt was the urge to reassure her. To go to her.
My car was parked on the other side of Jefferson Street, so I crossed to it and tried her number again. But again, she didn’t answer.
“Babe, I got your message. Where are you? What’s happening? Pick up, okay?”
I got behind the wheel and started the car just as my phone rang. But it wasn’t Elise. It was Flora. I answered, frowning.
“Flora? Is Elise with you?”
“She and Ava both,” Flora said. And at her words, I should have felt relief, but the distress in her voice set my senses on high alert.
“What’s going on?”
“A lot’s going on,” Flora answered. “And I can’t fathom any of it. I got Ava and Elise with me, and neither of them want to talk to you. So, you tell me. What’s going on?”
* * *
I drove— no, sped — trying Elise’s number the entire way. Ava was alive and safe, Flora had reassured me. They were headed to Flora’s apartment. Elise was going, too. Yes, of course I was welcome. No, she couldn’t put either of them on the phone.
Fuck me.
What the hell had happened? What had I done wrong this time?
All I wanted was Ava’s wellbeing and Elise’s love. The red light at Pinhook and South College stopped me. I jabbed the red circle on my dash screen and ended the fruitless call. Resting my elbows on the steering wheel, I squeezed my forehead.
I wanted more than her love.
