“Only if you go first.”
“You got it.” Tanner went in and then called for me to come in a second later. Thankfully, we were all alone. “So let’s hear it,” said Tanner as he sat down on a bench. “What are you doing on your day off?”
I took a deep breath and sat down next to him. “You promise you’ll give me the day off if I tell you my reasoning?”
“I promise I’ll consider it.”
“May 25this the three-year anniversary of my sister’s disappearance.”
“Wow, I’m so sorry. I can’t believe I forgot about Rosalie.”
“It’s okay. You…” Then something hit me. “I’ve never mentioned her before.”
“Sure you did.”
“When?”
“On our first date?”
“Nope. I definitely didn’t. I would know, because saying her name practically brings me to tears. And that was purely a happy night.” I stared at him. “Seriously. How do you know her name?” My mind was moving a million miles a second. First I hated that he was lying, and then I went somewhere darker. Had Tanner known her? Or been the one to make her disappear? My mind started spiraling. Had Rosalie gotten caught up in the Society? Was this place about more than just freaky sex stuff? Maybe…sex trafficking? God, his guilt was written all over his perfect face! I dug my nails into the wooden bench so I wouldn’t slap him. “If you had something to do with her disappearance…”
“Whoa, what?”
“Don’t play dumb with me. You knew her name. I need to know why.”
Tanner scrunched his face up like I’d caught him in a terrible lie. “Promise not to hate me if I tell you the truth?”
“That depends on what the truth is.”If you murdered her, I’ll take my heels off and gouge your eyes out.
“I might have had my PI do some digging into your past.”
“Excuse me?”
“It’s standard procedure for Society recruiting.”
“Oh my God!” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Tanner wasn’t a murderer. But he was exactly what I’d known him to be all along…a dirty stalker. “I knew it!”
“Knew what?”
“That you were stalking me.”
“I prefer to call it doing my due diligence.”
I shook my head. “Call it whatever you want, but the fact remains that you were stalking me.”
“You wish.”
“I might wish it a little bit.” Actually a lot a bit. “But only if you promise you didn’t kidnap my sister. Otherwise you’re a horrible stalker. I mean…you did get caught, so you’re a horrible stalker either way. But if you kidnapped Rosalie then you’re a horrible person too.”
“Of course I didn’t kidnap your sister.” His eyes softened. “I’m so sorry that happened. If you don’t want to talk about it, I totally understand. But I’m also happy to listen.”
I stared at him. Besides yelling at a bunch of useless cops who weren’t looking for her hard enough and drunk-crying with Chastity, I’d mostly held all my anger and frustration and sadness inside. And it all kind of wanted to come out. But I couldn’t bring myself to do it.
Tanner scooched closer to me and put his sweaty arm around me. I melted into his very naked, very sweaty side. And then I cried. Because talking about her always made me cry. It had nothing to do with how comforting his arms were.Maybe.
We stayed that way for who knows how long.
“I just wish she’d left a note,” I said eventually. “Or anything to give me some closure. There’s nothing worse than it all being a big mystery.”
