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And now I had Calax.
Tears burning my eyes, I scrolled up until I found the number that I identified as Tam’s. He seemed to be the sanest, at least in the consecutive texts sent in the last few days. Even Asher’s messages sounded frenzied the more time went on without a response from me.
Wiping the fallen tears from my eyes, I held the phone to my ear as the line rang.
It only took one ring for the phone to pick up, voice breathless over the line.
“Addie? Kitten?” The voice wasn’t Tam’s, but I recognized the raspy tone immediately.
“Hi, Ryder.”
A strangled sound escaped him.
“Shit, Addie...we thought…we thought you were dead.” His voice turned harsher, angrier, as if he was overwhelmed with emotion and couldn’t decide which one to settle on. “Why didn’t you fucking call? You can’t just do shit like this and not call. We thought you were fucking dead! Do you know what that did to us? To Calax and Declan? For the love of...fuck! Kitten, you should’ve called!” There was what sounded like a scuffle on the other end of the line before a gruff voice spoke.
“Adelaide?”
I didn’t recognize this new voice. I was positive that I had never heard him before. He was not one of my new friends.
“Yes?” I began hesitantly. My lip gnawed on my fingernail. It was a very nasty habit that I have been determined to break.
“Give us your location. We’ll be there soon.”
There was a pause. Slightly muffled, as if his hand was over the receiver, the man said, “Calm the fuck down, Ryder. You’ll see her soon. Go grab the others and try to find Calax.”
Deciding quickly, I rattled off the hotel’s address. I didn’t give him my room number, in case he was a psycho murderer.
Or - wait for it - a cat burglar.
I looked down at Mof smugly as I thought of that pun.
“I’m not a murderer or a cat burglar,” he said in exasperation. I didn’t even know him, yet I knew his eyes were rolling.
Squeaking, I quickly mumbled a “bye” before hanging up. I threw the phone against the wall as if it was the phone’s fault I was a fuck up.
Yup. Totally blaming the phone.
I let out a very girly giggle.
They cared about me. They actually cared. And Calax...
I thought about his text message. I didn’t know how I felt about his impromptu confession. Doubt nagged me. Did he mean it, or were those words said in a panic? I didn’t know which one I wanted to be true.
Did I love Calax? Maybe. After Ducky, I wasn’t sure I was even capable of love. Calax was a grouchy bastard on the best of days, but he had always been there for me. Since the first day we’d met, he had never given up on me, despite the awful things I said to him.
I hated him. I told myself that I hated him, yet my heart said something else entirely. I didn’t understand what it meant, but I knew that I would be forever changed with this realization.
And that was why I didn’t do feelings. They sucked.
After a few unsuccessful tries, I was finally able to scoop up Mof and wheel myself to the elevator. I decided to wait in the lobby for the boys.
It was nearly empty when I arrived, minus the front desk clerk I had met earlier. He eyed me with obvious distaste when I entered but seemed to realize I didn’t intend to intrude on his phone time and lost his scowl. He didn’t even reprimand me for having Mof, despite the hotel’s no pets allowed policy.
Placing myself in front of the fireplace, I allowed the dancing flames to warm my frigid hands. It wasn’t cold in the hotel by any means, but I felt as if my body had been plunged into the Arctic Ocean in the middle of winter. Chilled. I felt chilled, if not slightly numb.
At the swish of the door opening, my head snapped up, eager to lay eyes on the guys. I was momentarily disappointed when only a single, unfamiliar male stepped into the lobby. That disappointment morphed into curiosity when his gaze landed on me, and he walked swiftly in my direction.
He was tall, almost as tall as Calax, with clearly defined muscles displayed in a fitted black t-shirt and black sweats. His shoulder-length, brown hair was pulled back into a ponytail, and he had the prettiest brown eyes I had ever seen. Normally, I wouldn’t think brown eyes were pretty. The color reminded me too much of mud. But his eyes were different, almost as if they were infused with gold. They stood out against his tanned skin.
