Page 122 of Kept in the Dark

Fuck this. One fight cannot ruin what we have. I will not allow it.

Wesley is correct—we were both afraid. She is scared, but not of me, asIfeared. She is scared of… truths, and pain that she cannot heal herself, with stitches and bandages. In fact, the more I consider this, the more obvious it seems. She told me of her nomadic lifestyle, of her search for home and belonging. I should have expected that running is her preferred method of dealing with issues—she avoids them instead of facing them.

I was too wounded by her rejection to think rationally. I allowed my pride to dictate my response. Never again.

When it comes to her… I must have no pride.

I am nearly in the doorway leading out to the back entrance and the van when the swish of my tactical pants and the weight of the knives in my palms remind me of where I am.

Fuck!

After. I will find her… after. If she follows my advice, she will be untraceable until she makes contact, but once she does, I will find her. I will remind her that she is mine and that sometimes, taking care of her means forcing her to confront her own fears. I can help. It will be easier to do together.

I nearly jump at the sound of James in my ear again.“Hey darlin’. You get what you needed from… whoa, whoa, whoa, slow down. Eleanor, slow down…”

In an instant, my blood turns to ice, and I know. It is Nicole.

“Wes, I’m switching the line, patch her through?”

There is a dial tone in my ear on James’s side, then I can hear Eleanor’s panicked voice, “—just closed her right in and I didn’t know what to do, but I—”

“What happened?” I growl. Kyle found her, somehow.

“Dimitri? Oh my God,”Eleanor sobs.“I’m so sorry! Before I knew what was happening, they were driving away… this is all my fault.”

“Breathe, darlin’,”James coaches, and I want to wring his neck for suggesting it. She does not need to breathe; she needs to tell us where to find Nicole!

“We were stopping for five minutes at her place to get something from the U-Haul before we went back home—”

“Home?” I repeat. Surely that was a misspoken word… still, hope weaves around my heart, winding through the confusion and panic. “You mean to the bus station?”

“No, I… fuck it, that promise is so unimportant now. Nicole was coming home with me, Dimitri. She decided not to leave.”

Something unnamed slams into my chest, stealing all the oxygen from my lungs.

“They must have been there watching, waiting for her to show. She was only in the back of the van for three minutes; I timed it. Some guy with his hood up snuck right up to the truck and locked her in the back, then got into the driver’s seat and drove away! She’s still in the back!”

I mute myself to scream my rage. It burns my throat and makes me feel out of control for one brief, sharp moment, but that leeches away with the air in my lungs, leaving only steely resolve. I tuck away my knives and sprint out to the van.

Kyle obviously is not coming here. We need to find him.

Mymed…

Fuck!

We will find him. And we will make him pay.

“Where is she? Where are you?” I growl. The sliding door slams against the end of the track, jolting the entire Bugs-B-Gon van and revealing Wesley, hunched over his laptop and scowling. I throw my bag into the back, and follow it in to watch Wesley’s screens.

“I’m following the truck!”I can hear the rapid, whimpering breaths she is taking in. She is clearly terrified.

“You activate that tracker on your watch?”James asks, his voice calming and gentle—soft for her as ever.

“Shit! I forgot. Okay, hold on, we’re coming to a stop… Okay… there. Sorry! It all happened so quickly!”

“You did good, darlin’, your quick thinking probably saved her life. Now, take a deep breath for me—atta girl—and one more. Areyouall right?”

“Not really,”she laughs, but there is no humor in it as she sniffles.“I just watched my friend get locked into the back of a van, and I’m following the bastards that did it to God knows where. My hands are sh-shaking and I feel like I’m going to throw up.”