Page 17 of My Turn

She whirled around with wide eyes, then broke into a grin when she saw me. “Jayce. How nice to see you here.”

“Yeah, it’s great. Where’s Alana?”

“Alana?” she repeated, her brow furrowing.

“Yeah, she came to help, right?”

“No, I haven’t seen her. I was going to remind her during school, but she left early.”

“What? When did she leave?”

She scrunched up her face as she thought about it. Her stupid fucking pigtails bobbed as she waved at a student in the distance. When she refocused on me, I raised my brows expectantly.

“She left before her one o’clock class.”

Shit. That was right after our argument. I should’ve stayed, but I didn’t know she was going to bail on the rest of the school day.

If she wasn’t here, where the fuck could she be?

“Oh, since you’re here, maybe you can-”

Before Jane could finish, I started walking back toward my truck. She was annoying with too much energy and quirkiness. The pigtails and polka dots were too much for me to handle for more than a few minutes. I wondered if she knew how many people couldn’t stand her. She was fucking the principal, though, so apparently, someone liked her.

On my way back, I continued to scan the booths just in case she was here and Jane didn’t know. When I still didn’t find her, I got into my Bronco and rushed out of the lot.

Since I had no other choice, I called my friend, Ben. Friend was an extremely loose term. I was going to owe the guy, but no price was too high to make sure that Alana was safe. He really should do it for free, but everything had a cost to him.

“Jayce,” he greeted in his signature cheerful tone. “Haven’t heard from you in, what, eleven months?”

“Yup. I need a favor.”

“What are you offering and what do you need?”

“A location. If I give you the starting point and a timeframe of when this person left, can you figure out where she is now?”

He chuckled. “Cheating girlfriend?”

“Doesn’t matter. Can you do it?”

“Sure, I can do it. What’s the license plate and car?”

“A 2022 Mustang Mach-E. Dark gray. V12HG7. She left from Fern Drive Apartments somewhere between noon and five.”

“Mmkay. I see what has you fucked up right now. What’s this worth to you, pal?”

I clenched my teeth and let out a long breath through my nose. “Whatever you need, man.”

“A favor, then, like you said. I’ll text you when I’ve got it.”

When I ended the call, I returned to her apartment to check if she was back yet. Her car was still gone and it made my stomach feel acidic. I didn’t know why she’d be gone for solong, especially without her phone. If she intended to be out for a while, she would’ve come back for it. Unless she really didn’t want to be contacted, but that was just dangerous. Too many things could happen to her.

God, she wasn’t thinking straight. Again, I cursed myself for leaving her in that classroom. I should’ve attached myself to her like a leech until I was sure that she was okay.

At the very least, I was putting a tracking device in her car. I was still considering one under her skin, but I’d have to figure out the logistics of that. At the moment, I was having a difficult time coming up with any downsides.

Chapter 7

Alana

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