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“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Jake says, his voice still calm. “But if it’s because I turned you down, that wasn’t anything personal, Nyx.”
Whoa. I missed something because I had no idea there was any proposition or rejection on either side. But then again, I was in my own head right after Andy died, so a lot of things probably happened that I didn’t take any notice of.
“Fine. Whatever.” It sounds like there is some shuffling of papers. “But I want the fucking money today.”
“I can write you a check as soon as your signature is on the dotted line,” Eliza says, and the near joy in her voice is audible even to me.
There is silence, and again, more papers being moved around. I assume she’s signing, and either Cassidy or Eliza is also signing. I don’t know who has to do what in this situation.
I want to high-five somebody. I want to roll down the window and cheer at passing traffic, ‘Ding dong, the witch is dead.’ I’m dying to unmute the phone and tell her to fuck off, but I don’t. My mind shifts to Sloane and why she may have called me three times in a row.
Hanging up on the meeting as soon as possible, I listen to my voicemail and hear Sloane’s voice, very upset and worried.
“Cooper, this is Sloane. Listen, we got news that Penny is the one who tampered with Fiona’s e-mail way back when. But that’s not why I’m calling right now. She’s run away. Give me a call when you get this.”
What the hell? Penny screwed with the e-mail? Why would she do that?
“This is Sloane again. Just trying to reach you. Give me a call when you can.”
“Cooper, please call me.”
Something in her voice in the last message has me extremely worried. And it’s mostly because she’s so concerned. I understand that she is compassionate and feels for Penny in some way, shape, or form, regardless of what she’s done. But something isn’t adding up with this equation.
The idea that she would mess with the emails to get us to argue doesn’t make sense since she has feelings for Ethan, not me. If I thought Penny had a crush on me for one second, I would have tried everything in my power to dissuade that girl from any notion that anything could come of it. I would have done everything I could to make her hate me. And I’m pretty fucking good at making women hate me.
But maybe my radar is off-kilter. Maybe Sloane has completely warped my sense of reality to the point where I can’t tell when a kid is crushing on me. I’m too blind to it. Anything is possible, I guess. I hit the accelerator a little harder to try to make up time. I need to get back, and I need to help find Penny.
I call Sloane back, and when she answers, my stomach ties itself in knots. All thoughts of Nyx, Sloane’s interview, tabloid stories, and wrecked guitars go out the fucking window when I hear the panic in her voice.
“Cooper. Thank God you’re OK. I was so worried about you.” She’s out of breath as if she ran to get the phone, and I picture her in her office, and I instantly want to be there with her. I want to hold her and tell her I’m fine. Everything will be alright. “I don’t know if you listened to my messages, but we have a situation with Penny, and now she’s run away. The police aren’t doing anything because it hasn’t been twenty-four hours yet, but we are working with her mom and her friends and doing everything we can to locate her. Can you help with the search?”
She says all this in a rush, and it’s hard for me to keep up, but I do and wish I hadn’t driven so fucking far away because now I’m unable to help when I’m needed the most.
“Shit. I’m still about an hour away from L.A. right now, but I’m heading back, and I’ll be there as soon as I can. Do you have any idea why any of this has happened or is happening?” Deep down, I want Sloane to have all the answers to this because I can’t figure it out.
“Oh, I didn’t realize you had left town.” She’s quiet for a second, and I can’t tell what she’s feeling from her voice. “I’m still at the Foundation for now. Come here if you can. As for why, I’ll tell you what we know when you get here. Hopefully, we find her before then.”
What the hell has Penny done?
thirty-four
Wish That You Were Here
Sloane
After hanging up with Cooper, my heart settles a bit, knowing he’s aware of the situation. The Foundation has become the epicenter of the search, and Fiona and I are acting as coordinators as friends, family, staff, and even strangers are out in greater Los Angeles looking for her.
As I wait for Cooper to arrive, I go over my last interaction with Penny to see if I can glean anything that would point to the reason she ran away and maybe where she might have gone.
Ethan has been very quiet during all of this, but I can tell he’s obviously upset. Maybe he has feelings for Penny after all. He eventually went alone to look for her even though several people offered to go with him since he seemed so upset. The determination in his demeanor really got everyone wanting to do whatever they could to find her.
Fiona is taking calls from everyone searching and keeping track of where people have looked so efforts aren’t duplicated. From the looks of it, all of L.A. is covered. Hopefully, that means we’ll find her sooner rather than later. Pretty soon, the sun is going to set, and night is going to fall. Even with all these people searching, finding her will be more difficult.
Penny’s mother is nearly beside herself but is driving around to any location Penny has ever been to in her life. I can’t imagine being in her place and having my child purposely alone on the streets of L.A. Not only is the city huge, but parts are highly unsafe, and there are real dangers out there. The idea she would go anywhere outside the city isn’t even being entertained by anyone, but the possibility she caught a bus, train, or plane shouldn’t be completely ruled out. Nobody who knows her thinks that was an option, so we keep the search fairly close to home.
Trying to stop the thoughts of worst-case scenarios from overtaking my mind and trying not to make up scenarios where any of this is my fault, it’s a long hour and a half wait until Cooper shows up. When he walks into the office, it’s as if time stops, and everything moves in slow motion. After not being around him for a few days and only having my memories of him, it’s as though I’m seeing him for the first time.
The red in his hair seems a little deeper, the blue in his eyes looks a little brighter, and he stands taller, just overall more impressive. I know it’s my brain playing tricks on me, but he feels more like himself than he did.
