Page 29 of Dangers of Love

Then I waited again, and there was still nothing. She hadn’t seemed angry when she’d left this morning, but maybe I’d just been completely clueless. It wouldn’t be the first time, especially when it came to this woman. But I did know that she wasn’t the sort of woman who kept quiet about things she didn’t agree with. Hell, she’d gotten into my face seconds after meeting me, and I’d been carrying serious firepower. Ghosting me wasn’t her style.

Which was why I felt uneasy after twenty minutes had passed without any response from my text. It’d been more than an hour since my call too. If she’d gone to work, I liked to think that she would’ve at least told me that.

Hell, even afuck offwould’ve been something.

I called again with the same result. Voicemail. This time, though, I realized something I hadn’t noticed the last time. The call wasn’t sent to voicemail right away like it would have been if her phone had been off, and it didn’t only ring once or twice like it would’ve been if she’d been declining my calls.

No, it had rung several times, as if it was going off, but she was ignoring it. The first time, she could’ve just walked away from it for a bit, but she would’ve seen the alert for my call and my voicemail. And then my text. And my second call.

I stood and began to pace, anxiety and tension raising my pulse, tightening my muscles.

Could she have forgotten her phone somewhere? It wasn’t here, but I assumed she’d gone back to the apartment, even if she’d had to go to work. Maybe she’d accidentally left it there.

Except I couldn’t think of many people in their twenties who didn’t have their phones on them at all times.

I called her again.

Voicemail.

My vision started narrowing. Pressure grew in my chest.

Why wasn’t she answering?

I sent another text, this one only two words:call me.

Something had to be wrong. It was the only logical explanation.

An image flashed in my mind.Leo looking up at me with dead eyes.

“No,” I said out loud. “That’s not what happened.”

Bart saying I should have saved him.

“No.” I shook my head.

Doto saying that I hadn’t saved Aline either. That she was dead, and it was all my fault…

“No!” I slammed the palm of my hand down on the table, and the pain shocked me out of the flashback.

I called her again.

When she didn’t answer this time, I knew I had to do something. I couldn’t just stay here and wait for her to call me back when all the signs were pointing me toward something bad keeping her from her phone.

The baby.

It hit me like a punch to the stomach. Aline had told me about her mother’s pregnancy issues, about how she and her mother had both almost died.

I had to get to her.

For several terrifying seconds, I couldn’t think, and then I knew where I needed to go.

It was all I could do to walk to my car and not run. The entire way to the boutique, I reminded myself that speeding wouldn’t be in my best interest. If I got pulled over, it would just make things worse.

I was torn between going to the boutique and going straight to the apartment, but I knew, logically, which was the best route to take. If Aline was at work, going to the apartment wouldn’t give me any answers, just make me more worried that something had happened inside, and I’d have no way in. If I went to the boutique and Aline wasn’t there, Martina could tell me where Aline was. And if something was wrong at the apartment, Martina could get us inside.

Logic, however, didn’t make the drive any easier.

Martina was near the door when I opened it, and she gave me a puzzled look. “Afternoon. Wasn’t expecting to see you.”

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