Page 82 of Keeping Zita

“I’m so sorry! I got on the first plane out of LA as soon as I heard.”

Obi-Wan reacted instinctively. He shoved her away from him and took a giant step backward. “Don’t,” he spat.

Carmen looked shocked. But she recovered quickly. “I know this is stressful. What can I do to help?”

“Tell me where Zita is,” Obi-Wan barked.

“I wish I could,” Carmen replied, her pout sympathetic. “What I can do is donate money to the search effort. What do you need? Horses? Dogs? More man-power? SUVs? Whatever it is, I’ll make it happen.”

Her words seemed sincere, but there was something…calculating about her gaze that had Obi-Wan’s eyes narrowing.

“That would be great,” Buck said, taking Carmen’s arm and attempting to pull her away from Obi-Wan.

One of her bodyguards stepped between them. “Don’t touch her,” he said in a low tone.

“It’s okay, Joe,” Carmen said, patting the man’s chest affectionately.

Absently, Obi-Wan wondered if she was sleeping with these new men assigned to her as well. Probably.

“Obadiah is an old friend. It’s fine.”

The bodyguard nodded and stepped back, but kept his gaze locked on Buck. Who was doing his own glaring in return. Obi-Wan had a feeling it was taking all of his friend’s control not to take the man out. And he had no doubt Buck could do it too. They’d all been trained in hand-to-hand combat and could hold their own against the biggest, strongest Navy SEAL and Delta Force operatives. This guy was no match for their skills.

“How about we go somewhere quiet to talk about what’s needed. Poor Zita is out there somewhere. I just know it. She’s waiting to be found, and together, I know we can do that. You and me.”

The worthless platitudes were so fucking irritating. As was her assumption that he’d step one foot outside of Anchor Point. Wasn’t he just thinking how grateful he was to Buck for not saying they’d find Zita alive and well? For not making promises no one could keep?

She stepped closer and attempted to put her arms around him again.

Once more, Obi-Wan took a step back, his skin crawling even thinking about this woman touching him. Especially knowing that she’d been with Silas. The man Obi-Wan was certain had set this nightmare in motion.

Undeterred, she leaned forward and said quietly, “I’ve missed you.”

What the fuck?

Obi-Wan was done.

He abruptly turned his back on Carmen and walked toward the bar.

He heard a commotion behind him, Carmen calling his name, one of her bodyguards telling Buck to “fucking let go of Miss St. James,” but Obi-Wan didn’t give a damn.

A couple of police officers passed him on the way to deal with whatever was happening with Carmen. When he reached the bar, he put his elbows on the slick surface and lowered his head into his hands.

He wanted to be alone. No, that wasn’t true. He wanted to be with Zita. Wanted to be sitting in his oversized chair, watching Star Wars, discussing the movies, the plots, and how the new movies and shows connected to the classic ones. Instead, he was dealing with a woman utterly incapable of understanding the word no, who may or may not be involved in whatever had happened to Zita—and was hitting on him while she was missing!

Straightening, he looked around and gestured to the closest police officer.

He briefly explained his suspicions, then said, “She was involved with Silas Graves. Sleeping with him while she was in town filming. Someone needs to question her about why the fuck she just decided to show up out of the blue. Why did she come back? I didn’t ask her to. How did she even hear about Zita’s disappearance? Some fucked-up shit is going on, and she’s up to her eyeballs in it. I know she is.”

“I’ll talk to the detectives,” the officer assured him.

There wasn’t much else Obi-Wan could do. He needed to get out of there. Get some air. He wasn’t brave enough to join one of the search parties, because if he found Zita’s body⁠—

He cut the thought off there. No. She wasn’t dead. She couldn’t be.

He sighed, because now he was doing it…giving himself platitudes.

What he really wanted was half an hour with Silas Graves. He and his teammates could get the details out of him about what he’d done and where he’d taken Zita, of that he was sure.