Page 14

Greyson

I was fucking livid. Not only was the order I placed from our alcohol supplier wrong, and I had to order more on a rush, but everything that could go wrong did. Our regular DJ called in sick, so I scrambled to get another. The lights wouldn’t lower to the dim setting, and I had a call in to the electrician as to why we were either as bright as the sun or nothing at all. Two toilets in the men’s bathroom backed up, and the floor had to be scrubbed clean. Three glasses were smashed, making the floor sticky, and then a pair of assholes got in a drunken fight over a girl who was cheating on them both.

“Thanks, Marty,” I said to the cop as he left with the two idiots in handcuffs. They could kill each other all they wanted. Who was I to tell them not to? But you didn’t smash our bar stools. Fuckers. We kicked everyone out at eleven, even though there was a line down the street. It was like something was telling us to shut down for the night. Lennox was already gone when I got out of the shower and decided to find Alora.

The bakery and diner were both closed, and there was no meeting at the rec center tonight. The schedule didn’t have another late one until tomorrow, so I aimed for the shelter. Driving past the front door, I growled at the sight of so many sitting and standing around outside. It would be far too tricky to break in when there were still so many people awake. Parking, I cut the engine and walked down the street to the front entrance. This was a dumb idea. Showing my face was risky, but I needed to see her, smell her, and touch her skin.

No one was manning the counter when I stepped inside, so I took advantage and looked around, but the cot Alora had used the other night was empty. My eyes searched every corner of the place, but there was no flash of her pretty blue hair. Fuck, where was she?

Stepping outside, a man leaned against the wall, smoking. He eyed me, and I eyed him back. He was the type who would be in the know.

“Excuse me, have you seen Alora?”

“Who’s asking?” He sucked in a long draw of his smoke and blew it in the air before doing something few had the balls to do and stared directly into my eyes. He was the type of man I could torture for days, and he’d go to his grave smiling at me. I already liked and hated him for that. It also meant he was going to see through me if I wasn’t very fucking careful.

“Name’s Greyson.”

“That’s nice, Greyson. I really don’t give a fuck what your name is. Why are you looking for Alora?”

I smirked. What the hell did you say when it was past midnight? “I’m from the meetings at the rec center and…well, we’re not really supposed to talk about what happens, and I don’t want to break Alora’s trust, but I’m concerned. I didn’t see her at work when I went in like normal to say hi, and now she’s not here.” I shrugged. There was just enough truth in that statement to make it believable for him. I didn’t see her at work when I went by the bakery, but she could’ve been in the back, and the last time I spoke to her, she was upset, so that wasn’t a lie.

It felt like the guy was assessing me and my words as he finished his smoke before crushing it under his boot. He would’ve played the part of a cowboy outside of a saloon very well. All he needed was a hat and a gun strapped to his waist.

“I don’t know where she is. But I can tell you that she left this morning and hasn’t been back.”

Anger filled me first and then anxiousness. Did she take off? I didn’t think she would, but I’d make sure she regretted it if she did. I rubbed my lip, my brow pulling low as I thought.

“Thanks. That doesn’t make me feel any better, but thanks…sorry, what was your name?”

The man lit another cigarette and pushed away from the wall with a very distinct limp. “Name’s Rex.” He stepped up to my side and searched my face. I kept it as neutral as possible, but something told me he didn’t fully believe my story. There was a moment of hesitation, and I thought he was going to say something more, but he just limped off.

There was only one other place I thought she might’ve gone. I got in my car and left for the cemetery. Parking at the church, I jumped out and ran down the path that led to Alora’s sister’s tomb. No one was in front of the grave, but a glint of something caught my eye, and I jogged the rest of the way and kneeled. Picking up the empty vodka bottle, I swore and looked around. Shit. There was a picture, and when I picked it up, I saw two girls’ smiling faces. Flipping it over, a thread of panic gripped me when I saw the message scribbled on the back.

I’ll see you soon.

There was a trail of droplets leading from the stone. I touched one and sniffed it—alcohol and still fresh. Taking off at a run, I followed the intermittent drops all the way out of the cemetery. For someone who had just consumed twenty-four ounces of alcohol, she was still moving quickly. Where the hell was she going?

As I raced out onto the sidewalk, the drops became less, and they would disappear entirely as the bottle was emptied. What was out this way? I ran through everything I knew about Alora and her past. The only thing that came to me was the car accident that killed her sister. It happened outside of the city, but it was the only thing I could think of. She was moving way too fast to be walking, fucking runners. Was she planning on sprinting to her death?

Picking up speed, I ran along the sidewalk, thankful for the cover of night as I didn’t bother trying to remain hidden. The blare of a car horn caught my attention, and I spotted someone up ahead as they swerved back and forth between the lanes. It had to be her. Luckily, there were only a couple of cars at this hour, and they easily avoided her.

“Fuckers! Hit me,” she yelled, holding her bottle up in the air. “Fine, fuck all of you,” she slurred, and I knew exactly what she planned to do as she stopped running and turned at the mouth of Harrison Avenue Bridge. Like fucking hell you’re jumping.

I kept my eyes trained on Alora as she lifted the bottle and drank the rest down. With a scream, she threw it over the edge. The barriers slowed her down, but she was determined. Sprinting around the corner toward Alora, she was already straddling the concrete and inching her way toward the black fence.

I pushed faster as she swung her other leg over and gripped the edge. Standing on the other side, she began to shuffle sideways. She was going to try to make it to the middle from the outside. She looked my way, and it took a second for her eyes to register me.

“No, you can’t have me. I need to go,” she spit out and let go of the edge. With a final lunge, I reached out and wrapped my arm around her waist and clamped a hand over her mouth as I dragged her back. She squirmed and thrashed weakly, but as soon as she was back on my side of the barrier, I wrapped my arm around her throat and cut off her air supply. It didn’t take long before she passed out in my arms.

All I could hear was the loud thumping of my heart as I picked her up and started the walk back. “You don’t get to check out on me, Alora. If you want to die, I can arrange that, but I promise you’ll taste heaven before you walk with the dead.”

There was a large park nearby, and I walked in and sat down on a bench. To the outside world, we would look like two lovers out for a romantic evening or maybe two drug addicts looking to score. Either way, we blended. Pulling out my phone, I hit Lennox’s number.

He picked up on the third ring.

“Yo.”

“I need a ride. I’ll shoot you the address and bring my truck,” I said, hanging up before he could ask me why. Not that I thought he would give a shit, but I didn’t want to explain. I smoothed back the blue hair from her face and stared at my doll.

“I have big plans for us, Doll. Very big plans.”