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He looks at my hand on his arm that’s shaking and then moves his eyes back up to meet mine.

“You owe me,” I say. “You said that I could hit you up because of that shot.” I swallow. “This is me hitting you up.”

He watches me intently and is silent for so long that I’m sure he’s going to push me off him and walk away, but instead he huffs a breath and drops his head. “Fine, but only because I need you to get out of here. Don’t move.”

I nod, complying and watch as he turns the corner, my ears on high alert listening to his footsteps.

I bring my hand to my mouth, biting my nails—something I haven’t done since I was a kid—and start to pace back and forth. It feels like forever before I hear his footsteps again and he appears with a bottle clutched in his hand.

“I really don’t want to give these to you,” he says, lifting the bottle in the air. “But I will on one condition.”

“Anything,” I say, practically salivating at the sight of them.

“You don’t come back here, not to Joel. I know what you did, who you are, and however much I hate what you were trying to do, I still care about you and seeing you do this to yourself...” He looks me up and down. “What happened to you?” he whispers. “How did you become this?”

“What happened to me?” I laugh. “I got shot, at your club.”

He shakes his head, his eyes growing sadder the longer he stares at me but with a hint of anger, the swirls getting more intense as he holds his hand out, extending the bottle to me.

I practically snatch his hand off for the pills. “Thanks.”

“I don’t want to see you here again, Kitty,” he calls after me.

I wave my hand in acknowledgement and jog back to the car, sticking the key in the ignition and pulling away from the sidewalk.

I roll over in bed, stretching my arms and pulling Kitty closer to me but all I come up with is empty space. My eyes squint open and I sit up at the sound of an engine. Tires squealing have me jumping out of bed and racing to the front door, pulling it open and finding my SUV gone.

What the fuck?

I run back into the house, grabbing my cell and calling out for Kitty. I get no response so I go searching for her.

The bathroom light shines bright and as I step in, I see that she must have only just taken a shower because the room is full of the smell of my body wash and the mirror is fogged over.

I frown and spin around; none of this makes sense, why the hell is she taking a shower in the middle of the night and then taking off in my car?

My head spins, I don’t know what to think. My first instinct is to call people, to see if they can find her and then I realize she could just be heading to the store… or… I don’t know.

Where would she be going at this time in the morning?

I stumble through the hallway, my body still trying to wake up. I sit in the armchair in the living room, positioned for me to see into the hallway. I don’t turn any lights on, I sit there in the dark, my thoughts running rampant.

All I can do is wait, but I won’t wait long, I’ll give her an hour and then if she isn’t back I’ll start to make some calls and go and look for her.

My leg bobs up and down, relentless as I watch the clock. My eyes don’t move as the hands tick by slowly. I keep trying to get through to her cell but all I get is her voicemail, my jaw clenching harder the more I hear her voice on the message. I want to scream for her to pick up but that won’t get her to answer my calls.

Ten minutes go by, then twenty, then thirty and still no word from her.

So many things go through my mind as to why she would be gone in the middle of the night.

Was dinner with Ma and

Dad too much for her? Maybe it was too much too soon. She could be undercover, or Ty could have called her in. But Ty would have messaged me, at least to say what was going on, he wouldn’t just let Kitty disappear in the middle of the night.

Maybe she’s found someone else?

No, she couldn’t have, I would have felt it if she was pulling away and she definitely isn’t pulling away.

My eyes move back to the clock, fifty minutes, only ten minutes before I call the cavalry in and go searching for her.