“No.” Not that we actually talked, just the two of us. The guys in the band and Jess did all the talking.
“He doesn’t know anything about it either,” Kellan tells whoever is on the other end of the phone. “Shit.…What did Lucas and Garrett say?…Okay.…I’ll head to her place as soon as we get to town.…Thirty minutes.…Call me if you hear anything else before then.”
I frown. “Are you going to tell me what the hell’s going on?”
“Jess hasn’t been seen or heard from since Friday?—”
Kellan’s phone rings again. He answers it.
I’m close to ripping it out of his hand so he can tell me what’s happening. But his hand with the phone is too far from me to grab without getting us all killed.
“Yes, Zara just called…” Kellan tells whoever is on the other end of the line. “I’ll go to Jess’s as soon as we get back into town.…Okay.” He ends the call. “Delores spotted Bailey walking on the street late Friday afternoon, looking distressed. Jess wasn’t with her.”
“Where was she?” A bad feeling settles in my gut.
“That’s the thing. No one knows. Her back door was unlocked and the alarm wasn’t activated. Delores went inside, thinking Jess was hurt. No one was there. She left a note for Jess, saying she had Bailey.”
My hands white-knuckle the wheel. “This was Friday afternoon?”
“Yes. When Jess didn’t get back to Delores by early evening, she called the police.”
“And?”
“Nothing. There was no sign of a struggle, and no one knows where she went.”
“Dammit. The death threats…” I can’t even say the next part.
“It wasn’t him. The man was arrested early Friday afternoon. She hadn’t gone missing yet. Noah saw her.”
“Shit, this feels likedéjà vu,” I mutter.Christ, please tell me she didn’t get into another accident.Except she doesn’t have a vehicle and she didn’t have my truck this time. “Is her bike in the garage?”
“Yes.”
“Maybe she borrowed someone’s car and drove somewhere? Or she took the bus to Eugene.”
“Without her wallet? And without telling the girls she wasn’t going to their movie night as she’d planned?”
Uncertainty and unease slice me open, turn me inside out. I don’t know what to say. All the possible scenarios play out in my head—places she could’ve gone, reasons she would’ve left the alarm off and let Bailey run in the street.
And I don’t like what they’re adding up to.
She might be hiding in her secret room again, but without being there, I can’t explain how to open the door if it’s shut. I also don’t think that’s where she is if she’s been missing for two days.
“What’s wrong?” Jaxon asks from the seat behind Kellan’s. I’d forgotten about the men. The laughter that filled the van a few minutes ago has gone silent. I’m only realizing it now.
Kellan and I exchange a long questioning glance. I nod for him to go ahead and tell them. They sense something’s wrong, and I’m not going to bullshit them by telling them it’s nothing.
Kellan fills them in. I focus on the road without pushing the speed limit. As much as I want to race to Jess’s house, it’s my responsibility to get everyone home in one piece.
Kellan tells them Jess is my girlfriend. I don’t bother to correct him. He also gets them up to speed on Jess’s past. My gut tightens. I’ve heard enough negative comments as it is about her on social media, from the regular media, from people in town, and from other Warriors we’ve taken to the mountains. I don’t want to hear if the six men in the van also have asshole opinions to add to the list, especially since two of them are cops from California.
“I remember hearing her husband was murdered,” Jaxon says, the disgust in his tone setting me on edge. “I was in prison at the time after being framed for stealing drug evidence. Before that, I’d worked for the SDPD.”
This is news to me. “Did you know Jessica’s husband?” I ask, not bothering to sound casual. There’s a hardness to my voice that has to do with her disappearance and the fact Jaxon knew the monster.
“I did. He was a charismatic man. Most people liked him.”
Christ, don’t tell me Jaxon’s another prick who believes Jess killed her husband.
