AllFreeNovel
Share Us
My phone rings in my pocket the instant I’m going to shove it inside, and I pull it back out.
Conner.
Why is he calling me?
The clock on the top of the screen tells me it’s three in the morning. Unless something’s wrong at the company, he never contacts me this late. Or early.
“Hello?” I answer.
Sounds like sobbing or gurgling sound from the other end.
“Conner?” I ask, setting down my whiskey on the bar as I move to the kitchen. “Conner, what’s wrong?”
“I hid it all, Emery. I put her in a car with Wes,” he manages.
Something’s wrong.
Half of me wondering if he’s not chained to a chair, a gun trained on him with Carina’s hand holding the damned thing.
“Okay?” I answer.
“Listen, he’s coming for you. You and anyone who knows. You didn’t do it,” Conner rasps, and my heart speeds in my chest. I hadn’t told him about my appointment yet. I wasn’t sure that he wasn’t a bigger player on the board than I thought. I didn’t want to give him any information.
“Who? Who’s coming for me, Conner?”
“Be careful! Protect her,” he whispers, and then the line goes silent.
“Conner?” I shout a few times, panic ripping a hole through my chest.
Hanging up, I dial 9-1-1 and rattle off Conner’s address before slipping into shoes and a shirt.
Dialing Carina a few times, I finally get an answer.
“Emery? What’s the matter?” Her voice is full of sleep, and I wince at forgetting the hour before I called.
“I’m sorry I woke you. Did you go to Conner’s house? Are you with Conner?” I ask, even though she sounds as if she’s not coherent at all. I just woke her; I know I did. But still, my mind demands that I cover my bases.
“No, why? What’s wrong?” She’s alert, and I hear the bedspread rustle as she sits up, and then the clicking of a lamp.
“Where is he?” I grit, turning the engine over on my car, having raced down to the garage and ran to get into it.
“Who, Emery?”
“Your little pitbull, Carina. Where is Gage?”
“He’s right…Well he was right here when I fell asleep. I don’t know where he went. Emery, tell me what’s going on!”
“I don’t know what’s going on. But I’m betting your murderous other half knows. So, when you see him, why don’t you ask him, hmm?”
I hang up, knowing I’m not conducting myself in a manner befitting how I should, but I can’t help it. Conner has been my best friend since elementary, and me thinking him guilty is likely why he’s lying somewhere injured. I didn’t protect him. I didn’t let him in. Into any of this shit I’ve been working on with Carina.
Slamming the gas to the floor, I race across town, blowing red lights and skidding around corners.
If he’s dead, someone’s going to pay.
CHAPTERTHIRTY
Carina
