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“Hello?” I asked with plenty of caution.
“Is Bailey there with you? Please, God, tell me Bailey’s with you.”
Thrown off by the lack of greeting and harried question, I didn’t immediately recognize the voice. “Uh…who is this?”
“It’s Tess,” she screeched, growing more insistent by the second.
Tess?
That would make sense why I hadn’t recognized her voice—the girl rarely talked around me—but I still had no idea why Bailey’s best friend would contact me.
Maybe it was another Tess…not that I knew any other Tess. My brain was still kind of mushy from post-coital satisfaction. I’m not sure anything could really alarm me or make me think completely straight right now.
“The same Tess who’s too shy to talk to me because she thinks I’m hot, Tess?” I asked.
“YES!” She growled. “Now focus. Is Bailey with you or not?”
“Yeah.” I glanced down at the sleeping naked goddess next to me. Oh, yeah…she was definitely with me. “Of course. She’s right here. Sleeping. What’s going on?”
“I have no clue. That’s why I’m talking to you, you idjit. She’s not answering her phone, and no one here knows where she is or what’s going on. All we have is this stupid, vague note she left, saying she was dropping out of college and she’d be back sometime to pack her things and move out.”
It took me a second for all that to really sink in. But that second later, I jerked upright, completely alert now. And utterly alarmed. “Say what?” She hadn’t said anything to me about quitting school.
Though that would explain what had been going on with her when she’d first showed up.
Still, I felt the need to say, “She didn’t drop out of school. Why would she drop out of school? That would be crazy,” even as my gaze moved to her sleeping form, and dread built in my stomach.
What would prompt her to drop out of school?
I had a bad feeling it had something to do with me.
“Well, Crazy’s her middle name,” Tess exploded. “She stood up and walked out of the middle of class today, too. And then…then her boss called, wanting to discuss the incident at work.”
I shook my head, clueless. “What incident at work?”
“I have no clue, Beckett,” she growled. “That’s why I’m talking to you.”
“She wasn’t herself when she got here,” I admitted. “But she hasn’t mentioned school, or work, or classes, or any of that.”
“Oh my God! If she hasn’t told you anything, then what the fuck have you two been doing since she arrived? It’s been hours.”
Hearing Tess say the word fuck was a bit staggering. I knew I didn’t know her well, but I had the feeling she didn’t say it a lot. So I just said, “Uh…” not sure how to properly answer her question.
“Find out what’s going on, for God’s sake,” she demanded. “And then make her call me. Oh, and please inform her she’s also dead for telling you about my stupid shy gene around hot guys. The traitor.”
I started to laugh, but Tess had already hung up on me. I could get used to Bailey’s friend. She was funny. Her angry mode was cute, like a soft furry bunny flashing its fangs at you. You still wanted to pet all its adorableness and only chuckle in amusement when it bit you.
But the reason she was freaking out wasn’t funny at all. Absorbing all the claims she’d made, I turned my attention to my sleeping girlfriend and let out a long sigh.
I didn’t want to wake her. I mean, after the way I’d worn her out, she needed her rest. But there was obviously something going on, and I was going to find out what it was.
Then I was going to fix it.
Chapter 35
BAILEY
I came awake slowly to the soft brush of fingers through my hair, and my lover gently cooing my name. Relaxed and refreshed and warm in my own bed, under my own blankets, I rolled onto my back and opened my eyes to smile up into Beck’s face.
