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Still no answer. When I get to her house, I can't see her car. “Can you wait for me? She might not be in.”
“Of course, Sir.”
I step out and go to the front door. Knocking, I shout, “Lily, it's me. Open the door. We need to talk. Everything that Alicia said is a lie. Open the door.”
I keep knocking and call her cell. I don't hear it ringing in the house. “Damn.”
Getting back into the car, I tell the driver where to go next: Jess and Rory's house. The driver is going to wait for me. I have a feeling I am going to do a lot of running around today.
Rory opens the door when I knock on it. “Hey what you doing here? Thought Lily was coming out to you this weekend?”
“Yeah, she was supposed to. She got to my apartment, and Alicia had made herself at home. She must have heard me talking to Sid about getting a key for Lily for when she arrived from the airport.”
“Oh crap, come on in.” He opens the door, and I walk straight through to their kitchen. It's the meeting point in their house, and it makes me feel at home.
Jess is there, and she hugs me when I walk in. “Hey, Ry. What are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be in Vegas this weekend? I'm sure Lily told me she was going to see you.”
“Yeah, she did. She must have got an earlier flight, and when she got to my apartment, Alicia was there and she told her that I would never chase a woman and I would never keep just one woman.” I take the beer that Rory is holding out for me.
“Lily told Sid that I should have taken the trash out and not left it for her to see.” I take a swig. “If I could get hold of her, I would laugh at that.”
“So why are you here?” Jess asks as she hands me a sandwich. “Eat and talk.”
“I can't find her. She left the apartment, went to the coffee shop, and now she won't answer any calls or messages that I'm sending her. I don't know where she is. She's not at her house. So I thought I'd come here to see if either of you heard from her?” I look at my two friends, and they shake their heads.
“No, man. We've not heard from her.” Rory takes a swig of his beer too.
“I haven't heard from her either, though I'm sure she's hurting somewhere. What about Alison who works with her? She might know. She probably spoke to Alicia today.”
“That's a great idea, now how do I find her?”
“We’ve got their business card with their office address on it, she night be there. We were given it just in case we need to get hold of Lily and we can't. I just need to remember where I put it.” Jess moves out of the kitchen looking for the business card.
“You're into Lily for real, aren't you?” Rory says as he tips his bottle to clink mine.
“Yeah, I've fallen in love with her so quickly. I know she's the one, just like you did with Jess. I hate to think of her being so upset and angry at me that she might hate me right now. Even if what Alicia said isn't true. The way I feel about Lily is totally different from the way I've felt about anyone else.”
Jess comes in about ten minutes later. “Wow, that took a while. Here's Alison's card. Maybe call her and find out what she knows.”
“Thanks, Jess.” I take the business card and stand up. “Guy’s I’ve got to…” I give a helpless shrug and they wave me away.
The office isn’t far away, in a nice part of town. Alison is there, but the expression on her face says it all. “What are you doing here?” She’s spitting fire and I stand back in case she decides to slap my face.
“Look, this is all a misunderstanding. The woman in my apartment is not allowed to have my key; I dated her once, and she thought she was going to move in and marry me - which is not going to happen. Since then, she's made it her business to gatecrash any date I bring back to the apartment.”
Alison looks skeptical to say the least. “But she told Lily that you always had more than one woman on the go. Lily is really upset, Ryan.”
“I know that. I've been looking for her. She's not at home...”
“Wait? You're here in LA?” I hear Alison shuffling around. “Damn.”
“What? Alison? What's going on?”
“Lily is still in Las Vegas; she decided that she was going to stay there. She's going out tonight to try and get over you. You know what they say, 'The only way to get over a man is to get under a different one.'“
“That is not funny, Alison. Is she really?” Damn. What can I do now? I'm stuck here. I need to get back to Vegas as quick as I can. “Alison, I know she's your boss and your friend, but you need to tell me where she's staying.”
“I promised her that I wouldn't tell you, Ryan. She thinks you cheated on her and that you were only using her. She believes that everything you said is bullshit.” Alison heads to the white desk and grabs a pen and a small notebook, and scribbles something down. As she comes back to me, she offers me the piece of paper.
