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A few minutes later we were on the elevator, both letting out an impatient groan when we stopped on one of the other apartment floors below us. The doors opened to reveal Evan Turner standing in front of us. Standing. Well, with the help of forearm crutches. He looked surprised at first, then a smile spread across his face as he joined us. He turned to press a button and stopped when the one going to Kasey’s floor was already illuminated.
“Hey stranger, where’ve you been hiding?” he asked conversationally as the door closed again.
“Decker’s bed,” Avery said under her breath. I don’t know why she even tried since the small space did nothing to quiet her words.
Evan turned a surprised look on me and I felt my face flush in response. “Well, that’s not what I expected to hear, though I should have known.” I swallowed hard as I studied every detail of the tile floor below my feet. “Does this mean we get to keep you?”
I looked up into his eyes and saw nothing but softness there. “Um, I don’t know,” I responded.
“Yes,” Avery cut in with a shit eating grin. “We all get to keep her! I’m thinking brunch dates are in my future!”
Evan chuckled as the doors opened to Kasey’s floor and the three of us made our way to his office. The room was a total mess, papers scattered along every surface as Fitz sat on the couch in the corner sifting through more papers. Kasey was at his desk and spoke before looking up.
“Turner, we need you back on shift. Fitz needs help going through all of Lake’s known contacts for the past four years.”
“Four years?” The shocked question was out of my mouth before I could stop it and Fitz and Kasey both looked up to finally notice that Evan hadn’t shown up alone. I stormed up to Kasey’s desk and dropped the tote of food in front of him. He didn’t immediately start opening containers and eating, a clear sign he’d been shocked by my arrival.
“Oh. Shit. Uh, hey Lake. How’s it going?” He was trying to play it cool, but Evan and Avery both scoffed as they moved to the couch to see what Fitz was working on.
“I don’t know, Jack. Howisit going?” I narrowed my eyes at him and he chose that moment to finally notice the food.
“Oh God, this is why I love you more than Decker ever could.” He started to unpack the bag, eyes widening with each item of food he removed. “You complete me.”
“You piss me off,” I retorted through clenched teeth. “Why is Decker going to France and why is Fitz going back four years to look for someone. And why my contacts? I thought this all started with Robert!” By the time I finished, I was almost shouting; I could feel myself starting to spiral out and I wanted Decker there, his hand on my lower back, calming me back down.
“See? I told you we should have told her,” Kasey shot to Fitz who just looked at him like he was an idiot.
“No, you actually didn't.”
“Told me what?” Was that really my voice? I could hardly hear it over the pounding of my heart, but what I could hear sounded panicked.
“Here, Lake, have a seat,” Fitz said, standing from his spot and ushering me over.
“No! Just fucking tell me what’s happening.”
The two men exchanged glances, then looked at Avery who raised a challenging brow at them and I immediately saw the same look that Decker used to silently get information. It would have been comical how they both shrank back, but nothing was funny right now. I was pissed to know they kept information from me when they’d been so open before. Either it was bad enough that they didn’t trust my mental state to handle the information or they just didn’t trust me. Both reasons sucked and were completely unacceptable. This was my life!
“Show her,” Fitz said, and when Kasey looked horrified at the suggestion he amended, “Show her the missing women.” That seemed to settle him a little, but I was on edge.
“Is there information on Bailey and Monica?” I felt hope rise in me, even though I’d made myself inwardly repeat that they probably hadn’t lived long after being taken. But the chance that they could be alive was hard to crush completely, and I felt it blooming in my chest all over again.
“They aren’t who he means,” Kasey said before hitting a button and nodding to a wall of screens.
“Oh shit,” Avery said.
“No way,” Evan murmured, standing up and using the crutches to get closer to the screens.
I wasn’t sure what they were so stunned by, but I looked at each woman’s picture. They were all beautiful women with dark hair and intense eyes. The fact that they were all missing sent a wave of sadness through me, but I didn’t know any of them. There had to be about 20 pictures pulled up on the screen and I looked to the room at large for answers. Avery and Evan both looked like they’d seen a ghost and Fitz and Kasey just looked resigned.
“What? Do these women have something to do with Bailey and Monica?”
“In a way,” Kasey said, not touching his food. The only indication that he was too concerned to actually eat.
“You don’t see it?” Avery asked, looking at me like I was missing some big clue.
“See what?”
“They all look like you, Lake.” It was Evan who spoke this time, sounding sick and looking slightly green.
