Page 21 of Bourbon & Blood

I closed my eyes, the sun lighting the world on fire with the blood coursing through my eyelids as I turned my face up into the punishing warmth.

The same copper fire of her hair that’d felt like silk between my fingers, a sensation that’d chased the rage and pain away for a time and made me damn near calm.

I’d never met anyone or anything like my little Alina Bouchard… I didn’t think anything other than a long ride by myself would ever work to make me calm.

I always figured I would be a lonely soul. That it was probably all that I deserved… but she made me want more.

I just didn’t know how to go about it.

CHAPTERELEVEN

Alina…

I sat on our living room couch and fretted over my missing friend. Dorian and Marcus were here, Dorian pacing back and forth in front of the television while Marcus, who was one of the sweetest, most compassionate men I’d ever met, sat beside me on the couch, rubbing comforting circles on my back through my thin, oversized tee.

“Well fine! She’s been missing for twenty-four hours, then!” Dorian cried into his phone.

He made an exasperated noise and swiped a hand over his face.

He shook his head, and I felt crestfallen, a creeping tendril of dread seizing around my heart and squeezing.

“Yeah, well, thanks for nothing, then.”

He hung up and gripped his phone in such a way, shaking it as though he was ready to throw it. He looked over at me and his boyfriend and sighed.

“No dice,” he said.

“I gathered that,” I said glumly.

“What do we do now?” Marcus asked.

“According to the police? We wait,” Dorian said and didn’t look at all happy about it.

I had told them everything I could remember, and now that Dorian was off worrying about Maya, which we could apparently do nothing about for the time being, he focused his energy onto me.

“I think you should come stay with us for a night or two. Call off work tonight. I can hustle and maybe call in Jonathan if he’ll come in.”

I was already shaking my head.

“No,” I said. “No, no, no. I can’t sit, cooped up somewhere with nothing to do – I’ll just go crazy. And like I said, nothing but the clothes I was wearing last night is missing. Which is creepy, and weird, I know,” I said, holding up a hand to stave off his protests. “But I don’tfeellike I’m in any trouble or danger and—”

“Okay, now is not the time to go all crystals and astrology witchy woo-woo, girl,” Marcus protested before Dorian could.

I couldn’t help it. I snarked a bit of a laugh at that and shook my head.

“I’m not – really,” I protested, then thought about it. I was biting my bottom lip again and I let it go to say, “Okay, maybe I am, but for real. I don’t think I’m in any danger here. Quite the opposite. I feel safe as can be. I’m far more worried aboutMaya.”

“Well, we’re worried about theboth of you,” Dorian countered and I nodded.

“I get that, but I’m here and I’m fine. We should really be focusing on Maya.”

“Right, but where do we even start?” Marcus asked, and I sighed.

“That’s the million-dollar question right there,” I said.

“Where’s her computer?” Dorian asked. “Doesn’t she book all of this online or whatever?”

I nodded. “Her laptop is in her room but I think she uses her phone for most of it.”

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