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WORM

H ours later, they are no closer to finding Allison than they were the moment they’d gotten the call from Wallace. Allison’s phone continues going straight to voicemail, and any texts aren’t showing as being delivered.

Worm’s concern is growing by the second. He can’t sit still. If he allows himself to focus on his worry, he’ll be tearing the place apart. As it stands, he’s been pacing around Hawk and Charlotte’s dining room since the moment they arrived, unable to contain his anxiety.

“Would you sit your ass down?” Straw demands, grumpily. “You’re driving us all crazy with your pacing. What’s gotten into you?”

Worm glares at Straw, but doesn’t answer, nor does he pause his pacing. As he is making another pass around the room, Tank steps in front of him.

“Talk.” A single word, but full of command. Worm eyes his large friend. Can he out maneuver Tank or should he just confess his feelings for Allison? “Worm, you can trust us, you know that. So spill. What’s gotten you so worked up over Allison’s disappearance? Does it remind you too much of your sisters?”

Worm resigns himself to disclosing his relationship…or whatever you’d call what they shared over the time they’d been together, with the group that is gathered in Hawk’s dining room. “No, it’s not just about my sisters…Allison and I…”

“Oh. My. God!” Charlotte exclaims, running over to him. “You slept with her?” Worm’s face heats. It’s ridiculous. He’s a grown-ass man. He has nothing to be embarrassed or ashamed of, but hearing it out loud affects him.

“Yes,” he answers simply. “It was just the weekend, Charlotte. Don’t be marrying us off just yet.” He tries to joke, but the words fall flat, burning like acid in his mouth. He begins to pace again.

“She’s going to be okay, Russel,” Charlotte replies softly, trailing along behind him. “I just know we will find her.” He nods, but doesn’t find comfort in her words.

“Her phone is off,” Hack informs the room. “I was able to follow the cell phone tower connections to Grand Ave, but then it stopped. I’ve got a program running, looking for CCTV footage in the area. Maybe that will give us more to go on.”

“Please, take a seat, just for a little while?” Lisa urges, stepping in front of him. Worm is still anxious, but he finally relents and takes a seat at the table. He feels badly about making everyone crazy with his pacing, but it’s the only thing keeping him reasonably calm.

Taking out his phone again, even though it’s futile, he can’t keep from checking to see if she has texted him. He’s left her multiple messages over the last few hours. Realistically, he knows Allison isn’t going to respond to his text or give him a return call. She would if she could, but something, or most likely someone, is keeping her from responding.

Lisa places food and drink in front of him. A glass of lemonade and a thick sandwich piled high with ham, tomato, lettuce, onion, and cheese. A large serving of French fries and cole slaw fill out the plate. He drinks about half of the lemonade, because he hasn’t eaten or drank anything since they’d stopped for gas on the way back.

He isn’t hungry, but he needs to fuel his body. He picks up the sandwich and takes a bite. It’s like sawdust in his mouth, but he forces himself to chew and swallow the bite. Unable to stomach another bite, he holds the sandwich, staring at it as if it can give him the answers to where Allison is located.

A minute later, he drops the food in disgust. He is angry. Angry with himself that he can’t keep his emotions in check. Angry they haven’t found Allison or have any idea what has happened to her. Angry there isn’t a damn thing he can do about any of it. He jumps up from his seat to pace again when Hack gets another phone call.

“Hey, I’m trying to find street level CCTV footage—” Hack breaks off abruptly, listening intently to the caller. “Oh, okay, so everything is fine?” He listens again. Worm is frowning. What the hell is going on now? His phone pings with an incoming text.

Allison: I’m fine. I had things to do. No need to keep blowing up my phone.

Worm: We’ve all been worried. Where have you been?

Allison: Like I said, I had things to do.

Worm: I thought we shared something last night?

Allison: It was just a fling. Stop being so possessive. I’ll text you in a few days.

Shock, hurt, and anger war for purchase in his head. He can’t believe she’s reacting this way. Sure, they’ve bantered back and forth, but she’s never been rude and indifferent. Something is off with these texts. Allison’s been MIA for hours. She wouldn’t dismiss his concern like that. Then Hack’s conversation catches his attention again.

“Emma, I’m going to put you on speaker phone.” Hack touches his phone’s screen before placing it on the table in front of him. “Please say all that again so everyone else can hear it.”

“Okay, so maybe I’m just freaking out for nothing, but I got a text from Allison,” Emma starts. “It said, ‘I’m sorry you were worried. I’ve been busy unpacking and didn’t realize you’d been texting and calling. I’m fine, but I’m really tired after the weekend. I’ll check in with you in a couple of days after some sleep.’ I want to be relieved, but I just have the feeling, Allison didn’t send that text.”

“Okay,” Hack says, drawing the word out. “I’m not disputing your gut feeling, but what makes you think she didn’t send it?” It’s a valid question. One Worm would like to hear her response to, because even though he hasn’t known Allison all that long, he’d had the same feeling.

“Well, for starters, Allison has never been known to unpack the minute she gets home,” Emma answers. “She is known for packing early for a trip, but once it’s over and she’s back home, she can live out of her suitcase for days. She always has a story she’s working on, chasing down leads, interviewing witnesses, or writing and editing her drafts. There’s no way she’s going to take a couple of days to recover from her trip. And another thing, she sent it all in one long text. She rarely sends a long text. It’s usually one sentence at a time. Normally, I find it annoying, especially when she’s excited about something and sends me ten texts in a row while I’m at work, but today I’d give anything to have her send me one sentence texts.”

“Hey, Emma, it’s Worm,” he interjects. “I just got some texts from Allison, too, and I agree. Something isn’t right with what and how she sent them.”

“See!” Emma exclaims, her voice softer as if she’s turned away from the phone, likely talking to Wallace. “I told you I’m not overreacting!”

“I’m sorry, sweetheart, if I made you feel that way,” Wallace says, joining the conversation. “I just meant that since you’d been so worried, that your fear might still be clouding your judgement on her text, which would be totally understandable under the circumstances.”

“What did your text say, Worm?” Hack asks, in an apparent attempt to get the conversation back on track and keep the newlyweds from arguing, not that Wallace and Emma would actually have an argument. Those two were like two peas in a pod, always on the same page.

“Um, well,” Worm mumbles, not really wanting to share the note with the class, but Allison’s life could depend on it. “She said she was fine, to stop blowing up her phone, and she’d text me in a few days.” He chose to leave out the ‘it was just a fling’ bit. His friends don’t need that detail.

“You were blowing up her phone?” Wallace asks, anger clear in his voice. “Maybe that’s why she’s acting all weird. What’s wrong with you, Worm? She’s Emma’s family. I told you already to not be making her uncomfortable. What happened? Did you put the moves on her? Is that why she took off early?”

Anger and embarrassment rise up in Worm. Wallace has been a good friend for a long time, but the accusation and tone of his voice triggers Worm’s annoyance. How can Wallace just assume that Worm has done something inappropriate to upset Allison? He should know I wouldn’t hurt her on purpose. Even if he had upset her, Wallace should know Worm would do whatever it took to fix it.

“I didn’t upset her,” Worm denies, vehemently. He did hit on her, but she liked it. She was definitely on board for everything that went on between them. “I mean, yeah, I didn’t hide the fact I found her attractive, but it was a two-way street. I didn’t do anything she wasn’t in agreement with.”

A loud groan comes over the phone. This from Wallace, but before he can light into Worm again, Emma defends him.

“Allison was definitely into Russell, honey,” Emma informs them. “She confided in me that she felt a connection to him. She wanted to explore it, but was worried how he’d feel about a long-distance relationship.”

Whoa! She’d talked to Emma about him? Knowing how close the two women are makes Worm feel ten-feet tall. Allison had felt something for him, too.

Deep affection wells up inside him. Somewhere along the way over the last few days, he has begun to care for Allison. He’s been freaked out by how quickly those feelings have grown, but hearing she’d been thinking about more than just the week, makes his feelings grow bigger and deeper.

“Did something happen between the two of you?” Emma asks, softly. Worm clenches his teeth with indecision. He doesn’t want to violate Allison’s privacy by sharing their special moment, but he needs their help in figuring out what’s going on with Allison. Besides, Emma, Wallace and the rest of the team are as much his family as his mom and sisters so he can’t lie to them.

“Yes,” he admits, but doesn’t elaborate. What they’d done was between them, no one else.

“Was she upset when she left?” This coming from Hawk, who’d been uncharacteristically silent all afternoon while the rest of the team had been searching for clues as to what had happened to Allison.

“No,” Worm replies. “I woke up and she was gone, but she’d left a note with her number so we could stay in touch. I texted her when I got the note and she responded. Later she called me from the airport in Nashville. We talked for a bit, until it was time for her to board her flight.”

“She wouldn’t have given you her number if she was upset with you,” Emma assures him. “She doesn’t give it out to someone…you know, who she’s only going to see the one time.” Worm doesn’t have time to process this comment, before another question is thrown at him.

“Did she say why she left so suddenly?” Hack asks, a thoughtful look on his face.

“Yeah, she’d gotten a lead on a story,” Worm answers, more thoughts coming to him in a rush. “Why? What are you thinking?”

“Well, I’ve finally gotten into Allison’s phone records,” Hack informs them. “She received a phone call in the early morning hours. It didn’t last long, less than five minutes. Security footage at the hotel shows her leaving within thirty minutes of getting that phone call. I’m just wondering what was so important that she would need to change her flight arrangements. It was only a few hours difference. What was so important that she needed to get back immediately?”

“That explains it,” Emma offers. “Allison takes her work very seriously. If she got a lead, she’d definitely drop everything to follow it.”

“Do you know what she’s currently working on?” Hawk asks.

“Not exactly,” Emma murmurs, sounding thoughtful, “She mentioned she is still looking into the missing kids. You know the story she’d been working on when we were in California?”

“Oh, yeah, I remember,” Tank adds, “she was looking into a possible sex trafficking ring, right?”

“Yes,” Emma answers. Worm can hear the worry and fear in her voice. It mirrors his own concerns. Why hadn’t she told him that she was working on something so dangerous?

He nearly snorts, thinking to himself, she didn’t tell you because you’d have gone all caveman on her and demanded she give up such a dangerous story.

“Oh my God!” Emma exclaims. “Do you think someone has abducted her and they are pretending to be her? Is that why she texted both of us, but didn’t call?”

“I don’t know, Emma,” Hack answers, “It is possible, but we won’t know without more information. Worm why don’t you text her again. See if you can get more from her.” Worm picks up his phone and types out a message.