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“Where did you see her last?” He asks, and surprisingly Zander is the one to answer without prompting. His concern about her missing out outweighs his usual fear of the big guy.
“She was with Trent upstairs about forty minutes ago. Jake wanted her to meet people to get her to want to go to school with us. I was with them for most of it but decided I needed a drink before I beat the shit out of him if he gave her fucking heart eyes one more time.” He says with a pained groan.
Huh, he failed to mention that before.
“He was flirting with her the whole time, and I don’t know if she doesn’t understand that he’s flirting or if she was just being nice. Either way, I only went down and grabbed a beer. I happened to meet Spencer in the kitchen, and we headed back upstairs to get her together because we knew Rick would be done soon.” He starts pacing in front of Kratos as he explains. Kratos doesn’t say anything as he listens, we all know Zan has a need to move around, and that need is stronger the more emotional he is.
“We went back up, but they were nowhere! We asked anyone who had seen her, and nothing. We even checked all the rooms. We just got done checked down here” He gestures wildly to the dance floor and almost smacks me in the face in the process, not that he seems to notice. “We were going toward the back rooms when Rick came out, and you came in a minute later.”
As soon as he stops talking, he stops walking, his shoulders slumping forward.
Kratos reaches his hand out, and for a second, I’m worried he’s about to wring his neck for messing up the mission. It wouldn’t surprise me with the reputation he has.
Instead, he shocks the shit out of me when he rests his hand on his shoulder and squeezes lightly as if to comfort him. He must shock Zander as well because his head snaps up to look at Kratos as if he’s crazy.
“Don’t worry so much about it. We’ll find her. I came tonight when I got word that you guys decided to bring her with you. I know enough about her to know she would find a way to disappear.” He tells us, and I swear it sounds like there’s a hint of amusement in his voice, not that I would fucking know for sure because I’ve never heard him amused with anything, but I don’t know what else it could be.
“What?” I all but yell.
The moment the word leaves my mouth, I wish I could shove it back in because I know better than to question Kratos.
His relaxed demeanor vanishes, and his face is once again serious as he turns toward me.
“You heard me.” He says, and I nod because I’m not sure what else to do besides beg for my life, and I would really rather not look more pathetic than I’m sure I already do.
“Now let's get to looking, I would rather not have Jake be the one who finds her, but I do want her found ASAP.” He looks at each of us to make sure we understand, and we each give a nod.
“We don’t know who’s after her, or why, and until we do, I would rather her not be putting herself in danger.” He sighs, and it almost sounds like he’s concerned for her, not just the mission.
The moment I have the thought, I feel like an asshole. I may not trust Jade, but I also don’t want her dead. Kratos has seen more shit than all of us, and I’m sure he knows better than we do the shit Jade has dealt with.
She’s still a person who didn’t deserve the life she was subjected to.
Kratos turns back towards the sweaty dancing bodies, ready to start his search, apparently done with this conversation.
“You think someone here is a danger to her?” Rick calls after him, picking up on what Kratos didn’t say.
He turns back to us, and a weird look overtakes his face, something I can’t name.
“No.” He says before he schools his features to his usual mask of indifference. “But I’m also not convinced she’s still here, and that is dangerous.” He says before he disappears into the crowd.
Fuck.
Yeah, tonight probably couldn’t get much worse at this point.
Ican feel the music as it pounds around the room. The vibration‘s so intense that it feels like the beat of my heart has no choice but to match it.
Trent showed me around for what felt like forever, I honestly can’t remember a single name or person he introduced me to, and I couldn’t care less.
Trent stands behind me as we sway and hop around to the beat, sweaty and laughing. At some point, he must have placed his hand on my hip because it’s there now, I can’t remember him doing it, but surprisingly, it doesn't bother me.
I’ve never had this much fun or felt as light as I do right now. I didn’t expect to enjoy this, but here I am, enjoying it.
Trent hands me his drink, and I take a sip without really caring what it is. I’m so thirsty that I just need something cold. His beer does the trick, even if I don’t enjoy the taste of it.
I’m not sure where he keeps getting drinks or if it's the same one, but the more I drink it, the lighter I feel, as the liquid warms me even more from the inside out.
A large hand snakes around my bicep, pulling me from the crowd, away from Trent, and down the hall where the air is cooler. Laughter bubbles up and out of my mouth before I can stop it. I throw my head back and enjoy the feeling.
