Page 92 of Rum & Coke

The toaster popped the waffle up, and Valentina moved back to get the waffle for Colton. “Because he only kills bad men.”

“How do you know?”

She shrugged and then pulled a jar of strawberry jam from a cabinet. “I don’t know, but I hope. He has a good heart.”

“Valentina.” I moved to stand next to her and lowered my voice. “He won’t let me leave. That’s kidnapping.And, he is making me … sleep in his bed tonight. You have to know that’s not okay.”

“It’s not my place, cariño. I do as he says because I can’t go back to my country. It’s not safe.”

“Help me escape.”

She shook her head. “I can’t. He has men who will stop you.”

I rolled my eyes and grabbed a knife from the butcher block to cut Colt’s waffle into triangles. “What drug dealer has all these men working for him?”

“He’s not just any drug dealer, Ms. Tessa. He’s El Diamante Rojo.”

“El Diamante Rojo?”

“Si. The Red Diamond of Colombia. He’s the drug lord between Las Vegas and my country of Colombia.”

I didn’t sleep a wink.How could I?

When I got home, I carried my cell phone with me as I paced around the house. Tessa never called, and that made me even more worried about her as I laid in bed, waiting and staring up at the ceiling. What was Tessa doing at that moment? Was she okay? Scared? How was Colton? I didn’t care that the cop had said she went back to her boss’s house on her own. I knew better. At first, I thought that maybe she was playing me and really liked this guy, but the more I thought about it, she wouldn’t leave her best friend out of the loop and worried too. She wouldn’t have made Sophia concerned either.

As soon as the sun came up, I called in sick to work. There were only a few weeks left of school, and it wasn’t like me to take this much time off, but there was no way I’d be focused enough to interact with my students. I was determined to get to the bottom of why Tessa was at her boss’s house. Determined to save her because I felt as though she needed saving. Nothing was adding up. Nothing.

After I took a shower, I called Melony to see if she’d heard from Tessa. She hadn’t, and since the cops weren’t going to be any help, I needed to find Joss and Seth. So, a little after nine, I went to Gabe’s. I knocked on the door and waited. Finally, it opened. It was Autumn.

“Hey, is Gabe here?”

“Yeah, he’s in the shower.”

I stepped inside the two-story home.

“He told me about Tessa. Have you heard from her?”

I shook my head. “Nothing.”

“I’m sorry. That’s crazy.”

“Yeah.” I sighed. “Nothing makes sense.”

“Want some coffee?”

“I’d love some.” I followed Autumn into the kitchen.

“I didn’t get to talk to Tessa much at the wedding, but she did amazing at the range. I think she’ll be able to take care of herself.”

“She has no gun, and I’m pretty sure she didn’t take her pepper spray with her.”

“Really?” She poured a cup of coffee and slid it to me where I sat at the kitchen table.

“Well, I’m assuming so.”

“Maybe she did?”

“Then why isn’t she home? Her friend checked this morning already.”