AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“The other night…well, the night I dropped her food off, I saw a man standing outside her window and I scared him off.”
Conner’s eyes go big as he takes this information in. “He won’t be back,” he says, waving me off.
“How do you know? What if he has her?” I sit forward, dropping my face into my hands.
Conner laughs. “Em, what kind of world do you think we live in?”
He realizes what kind of fucked up worldwelive in and says no more. He stands up and wraps up his sandwich, grabbing his keys and moving for the door.
“Where are you going?” I ask incredulously.
“Well, she’s different. Right? So, let’s go check on her.”
I rush from my seat; grateful he’s taking me seriously instead of giving me shit like he normally does.
The drive over is quiet, and the air is filled with nervous energy that threatens to swallow me whole.
“That’s the house?” he asks.
I nod. Looking up toward her house, I can see it’s dark inside. The light’s fading in the sky, so any sane person would have the lights on.
Any alive, sane person.
I shake out of the thought’s hold, looking toward her driveway. Her car is there, yet the house seems sullen and empty.
A knock on the car window makes us both jump.
“Jesus on a cracker,” Conner says, grasping his chest.
I laugh at the term he’s heard my mom say so much that he’s now adopted it as his own.
A man stands at the window with dirty blond hair and no shirt on. The house behind him has the garage open, and I can see it’s filled with gym equipment. Which makes sense with all the sweat dripping off him.
Conner rolls down the window.
“You all looking for Carina?” he asks.
I nod. “Yeah, she didn’t come to work today,” I say. “I’m her boss.”
He nods. “Oh, that makes sense. Yeah, she’s home. I saw her earlier taking out the trash, but I don’t know why she would’ve skipped work.”
I look back toward her house, and a light flicks on.
“Go talk to her,” Conner urges, and I look back toward the two men as buff Ken doll leans against Conner’s massively expensive Bentley.
I sigh, pushing out of the car and moving toward her steps. When I ring the doorbell, I hear her call out that she’s on her way to the door.
She opens it and startles at the sight of me. “Emery?”
She’s in a bathrobe and slippers. Her tousled hair tells me she’s fresh from bed.
“What the hell, Carina? You didn’t come to work today. Shit, you didn’t even bother to call in!” I shout. “I was worried half to fucking death!”
Her face pulls tight with confusion marring its features. “Why?”
“Excuse me?”
“Why were you worried? I did call in. I spoke with HR. I told them I wasn’t feeling well, and they said they’d relay the message that I was out.”
