Page 93 of Rum & Coke

Autumn sat across from me. “Well, I don’t know much about Tessa, but I have hope she’ll be okay. She’ll call you.”

“Hope so.”

Gabe walked into the kitchen. “Hey, heard from her?”

“Nope.”

“Fuck, man. I’m sorry.” Gabe kissed Autumn and sat next to her at the table.

“Cops were no help.”

“What’d they say?”

“They did a welfare check and reported Tessa said she went on her own.”

“Really?” Autumn questioned.

“I know differently. There’s no way. We had plans.”

“What are you going to do?” Gabe asked.

“I came to get Paul’s address.” I took a sip of the coffee.

“Like I told you when you called, the mission started. We can’t get ahold of them.”

“Just give me the address, and I’ll wait until it’s over.”

“I don’t know when it will be over. Could be a while,” Gabe responded.

“I can’t believe Paul is undercover with the FBI.”

Gabe chuckled. “Me either, but I have faith in him. He saved my ass numerous times in combat.”

“Do you know what the case is about?”

“Nope.”

“What are you going to do now?” Autumn asked. “I don’t think we’ll be much help.”

I sighed and closed my eyes, wanting to go back twenty-four hours so I could go with Tessa to the party. Hell, I wouldn’t even let her go. I would make up an excuse, cook us dinner, hang with her and Colt. I would cancel my date with Shelby.

When I told Shelby I was taking a break from S&R, she was okay with it. She said she’d wanted to try a different guy for a while now, but hadn’t wanted to hurt my feelings. It wasn’t because I sucked, but because it felt as though we were in a relationship. In a sense, we were, but I totally understood. Everything worked out perfectly.

Until it didn’t.

“What can I do? He lives in a gated community, and the cops won’t help since Tessa said she went on her own. Something’s not right.” I knew I was repeating myself, but it was all I had.

“Want to go to Red Diamond and talk to her boss?” Gabe suggested. “Is he there now?” Gabe asked me.

I shrugged. “I don’t know.”

Autumn smiled. “Go find Tessa.”

Fuck, I hoped we did.

On the way to Red Diamond, I told Gabe everything that happened the night before. Even things I’d already told him. He agreed that everything wasn’t making any sense.

“I don’t know man,”he’d said.“Seeing you two together, I was certain she had it bad for you.”