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“And you think Mel could help?”
“Maybe. She may think of someone you’ve overlooked or who passed my basic check. Like you said before, she might have picked up on cues you missed.”
For the first time in days, a tiny flame of hope builds in my chest. “Yeah, okay. Let’s call her. Wait—” I glance around the room in search of a clock. “What day is it? She might be at work.”
“It’s Friday.”
“Oh.” My shoulders drop. “She doesn’t get home from work until six.” It’s only midday, which means I need to wait six more hours before we can talk to her.That’s fine. Six hours is nothing,I tell myself, trying to remain upbeat. I can totally kill six hours with… something.
“It’s lunchtime,” Kai argues, holding my phone out toward me. “Try her. If she doesn’t answer then we can try again later.”
Nodding, I take the phone from him and pull up her details. I bring the phone to my ear, worrying my lips as it rings, and rings, and rings.
“Hey!” Mel greets happily, sounding a little breathless.
“Hey. Sorry, am I bothering you at work, I can call back later.”
“No, no, you’re good,” she laughs. “It’s a dud day here anyway. I’d literally be on the verge of falling asleep if Cathy didn’t keep walking past my desk every five minutes.”
For the first time in days, I smile, chuckling while I picture the hard roll of her eyes.
“What’s up? Are you coming home yet?”
I flinch at the wordhomebecause Springview and the life I was building there no longer feels like home. Honestly, it never did. Not in the way being back around Hawk, Wilder, Hadley, and her guys has. Despite all the… issues… I can feel my old self coming back to life. The cold, hard shell I’d encased myself in is showing signs of damage. It’s cracking, and with every fissure, I can feel myself reawakening.
“It’s not the same here without you,” she says, making me realize I haven’t answered her.
“Ehh, not yet,” I say vaguely, feeling all twisted up inside as I say it. Although, I’m not sure if it’s because I’m lying to her, or if it’s at the thought of one day going back to that life. Regardless, I push that feeling aside and focus on why I called Mel in the first place.
“I was, uhh, wondering if you remember anyone from Halston hanging around us and maybe seeming a bit weird or anything?”
I cringe as my question is met with silence. I can only imagine she’s staring at the phone with awhat the fuckexpression, wondering if I’m on drugs or some shit.
“Why?” she questions.
“I just…” I trail off, not wanting to explain further and drag her into this mess. I still remember Kai’s warning from before, about how it could put her in danger. “I’ll explain later, but I need to know if you remember anyone.”
“Emmm…” she falls silent as she contemplates the answer, before heaving out a long sigh. “No, sorry. Not that I can think of.”
“Oh.”
She picks up on my disheartened tone, as she tacks on, “But, I’ll give it a good hard think, yeah?”
“Please,” I plead. “It’s important, and I promise I’ll tell you everything later.”
“Yeah, okay… Is everything alright, Em?”
I sigh, dropping my head to rest in my free hand. “Yeah, it’s fine. I’ll let you get back to work. Talk to you later.”
“Talk later.”
Hanging up, I drop the phone on the table, feeling like a burst balloon. I don’t even have the energy to lift my head. It’s not that I’d expected her to have a name on the tip of her tongue, but… well, yeah, I guess I’d put all my hopes on the fact that shemight.
Silence stretches out for a long moment, before a warm hand wraps around mine on the table. “I’m worried about you,” Kai says softly.
His concern is enough to have me lifting my head to meet his troubled gaze. His eyes roam over my face, and I’m certain he’s seeing far deeper than surface level. I feel like he’s always watching me, reading me. It’s probably just ingrained in him from his Marine Corps days and his time working for Hawk, and yet, I feel like there’s more to it than that. Every time I catch him watching me, and our eyes collide, something profound and unidentifiable passes between us.
“Don’t be, I’m fine.”
