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My heart hammers against my chest and my stomach churns dangerously before a frantic-sounding, “Em?!” comes over the line.
I swear my entire body collapses in on itself, the tension from a moment ago bleeding out. “Mel?” I question. “Why are you calling me on a private number?”
“Oh, I was a total klutz and dropped my phone down the toilet. I’m using my work phone in the mean—hold on,I’mthe one asking the questions here! Where the hell have you been, bitch?!”
My brows draw together. “Didn’t you get my message? Something’s come up with my mom, and I had to go home.”
She scoffs disbelievingly. “Yeah, I got that weird text, and I called your mom. She said she hasn’t seen you since the summer.”
“Uhhh…” Unsure how to answer, I flick my gaze back to Kai for some direction, but he just shakes his head, his order crystal clear.
“You scared the shit out of me. I thought you’d been kidnapped or something. I was on the verge of calling the cops. Where the hell are you?”
“I’m sorry, Mel. I didn’t mean to scare you. Something’s happened, but I can’t tell you about it yet, I’m sorry.” I continue rambling, not giving her a second to argue with me, “It will hopefully be all cleared up soon, and then I’ll be back and can tell you all about it. But don’t worry, I’m safe. I’ll call you soon. Okay, bye.” I hurriedly hang up the phone, still feeling the adrenaline pumping through my body from the possibility of that being my stalker. I should have known it would be Mel blowing up my phone. She obviously didn’t believe whatever message Hadley sent, and she’s probably been freaking the fuck out over my sudden disappearance.
“She might be able to help, you know,” I tell Kai when I’ve managed to calm my heart rate down a bit.
“No.” That one word is an unarguable order. “The fewer people who know, the better.”
“Yeah, but she was my roommate in college. We went everywhere together. She may have seen something I didn’t or remember something I don’t.” He seems to think about it for a second, and I push my advantage. “You ruled her out, right?”
“Yeah, she’s clean, but by telling her, you could be putting her in danger, Emilia.” That gives me pause. I hadn’t thought about that. “Let’s just see how these few leads pan out. If they are dead ends, then we can discuss bringing Mel into the fold, okay?”
“Yeah, okay.”
“Good, now you better get up. It’s the last Sunday of the month.”
Confused, I question, “Yeah, so?”
“So, Hadley and the guys are coming over for our monthly dinner.”
My mood suddenly brightens at the prospect of seeing Hadley and the others. Not that Kai isn’t good company, but it’s just been him and me and a tension-riddled house all week. Having Hadley and the guys here as a buffer might make it easier to be in the same room as Hawk and Wilder. Besides, it will be great to catch up with them all. In my attempts to avoid Hawk and Wilder, I’ve actually missed hanging out with everyone.
Chapter9
EMILIA
After spending an hour on the phone with my mom and reassuring her that everything was fine while trying to convince her that it had all been a misunderstanding—that I’d lost my phone and Mel had panicked when she couldn’t reach me—all of us are sitting around the table, having stuffed our faces with a delicious roast that Cam and Kai made. It’s been great seeing Mason, Cam, West, and Beck and having some time with Hadley. We’ve remained close over the last four years, but we haven’t had this—hanging out all together the way we did at Pac.
I hadn’t realized how much I needed today, how much the stress of everything and being thrown into Hawk and Wilder’s sphere of existence has been getting to me, but today I’ve laughed harder and smiled more than I have in a long time. It’s almost like the last four years never happened. Except, Hawk and Wilder are noticeably sitting on the opposite side of the table from me. Wilder is more subdued than his usual brash self that I remember from school, only really talking when someone speaks to him.
“It’s great to have you back again, Em,” Cam says. Hadley elbows him in the ribs, and he tacks on, “Oh, uh, other than the whole stalker business. That must suck. I just mean it’s good to see you. How, eh, are you doing with all of that?”
I shrug a shoulder, not really sure how to answer that. Thankfully, it’s Kai who speaks up. “She’s doing as well as can be expected.”
“Do you have any solid leads?” Hadley enquires.
Kai shakes his head. “Nothing definitive. We’ve been working on putting together a list of suspects all week, but I’ve managed to eliminate pretty much everyone.”
“Who’s left?”
“Steven Carmichael. He’s the manager for Death on a Matchstick, and, so far, I haven’t been able to find out where he was the day, uh, Richard’s finger was delivered to Emilia’s apartment.” He throws me an apologetic look, and I swallow back the rush of emotion at the reminder of Richard. It’s not that I miss or even grieve him—which probably makes me a bitch. This suffocation I’m feeling, is guilt. Guilt that he might have died because of me. If I’d known dating him was putting him in danger, I would never have strung him along the way I did.God, I really am a bitch.
“I also found a restraining order that an ex-girlfriend of his filed a couple of years ago. Apparently, he kept showing up at her house and workplace, even after she had made it clear that they were over.”
“That’s not suspicious at all,” Mason states sardonically as Wilder snorts, muttering something under his breath that I can’t hear from the opposite side of the room.
“What was that?” I snipe at him, sick of the mumbled jibes and furious glowers he’s been tossing in my direction all day.
