Page 7 of The Dancer and the Dark
The call went straight to her voice mail.
Gavin frowned. “Cara, call Dove.”
“Calling Dove, mobile.”
It was his nickname for his lover, and it was still jarring when he heard Cara, the polite AI helper in the Nocht system, call Chloe “Dove.”
That call also went to voice mail.
Gavin stood. “Cara, do I have any voice mail messages?”
“You have… thirteen voice mail messages. Three from Veronica, three from Ben Vecchio, three from Audra, one from Chloe, one from Oleg, one from P-I-T-A, and one from Tenzin.”
“Play voice mail from Chloe.” His heart would be racing if he were human. As it was, his mind and body had settled into a cold, focused state that only happened when he was in danger.
Something was very wrong.
His lover’s voice came through the speakers. “Hey, handsome. Uh… I’mfine. Okay?I’m fine.Something happened and I need to fly to LA. It’s” —she cleared her throat— “stuff to do with my family, and just ignore all the other calls you’re probably going to get, okay? Do your meeting, there’s no rush, and I promise I amfine. I am not in any physical or mental danger. So do your thing, and just instead of flying back home, if you could meet me in LA, that would be better.” She took a deep breath. “Love you, Gavin. Miss you. I’ll see you tomorrow night.”
Gavin was pacing when he spoke again. “Cara, play Audra’s messages.”
Audra’s voice came on the line. “Hey, boss. Chloe is safe and not in any danger. She is telling me that she does not want me to tell you what is going on because I am in charge of her security, not her life.” Audra huffed out a breath. “I think you should fly home.”
There was a click, then Audra’s voice returned. “Okay, don’t fly home, fly to LA.”
Another click. “We couldn’t find a commercial flight until tomorrow, so Vecchio is sending his plane from LA along with an extra crew so they can land, pick us up and turn around.”
“Are Ben and Tenzin going with you?” Gavin shouted at the speakers. “Fuck!”
“Ben and the crazy one are coming with us,” Audra continued. “Tenzin was bitching about it for about half an hour, but Ben put his foot down, so she’s on the plane with us.”
“We own a fucking transport company,” he yelled at the walls. “How could she not have found an available flight?”
Because Chloe would think nothing of flying commercial if he wasn’t with her, and she probably wouldn’t even put herself in first class. Ridiculous. And Veronica was with him, which meant that Chloe would take care of her own logistics.
Which she was perfectly capable of doing, but Gavin had security to think about, and commercial flights were anything but secure.
“Cara, play voice mail from Ben Vecchio.” If someone didn’t tell him what was going on, he was going to stab something.
“Hey, Gav, it’s me. Chloe doesn’t want me to call you but— Ow, fuck! Chloe, don’t throw that.” There was a scuffling sound, and the voice mail ended.
Ben’s voice came back in the second message. “She’s stronger than she looks. We’re taking her to LA. I called Gio and he worked it all out.”
Gavin didn’t try to stop his snarl. It was his job to take care of Chloe, not Giovanni Fucking Vecchio’s. He didn’t care if the vampire had known his lover since she was young and treated her as family. Chloe was his.
Chloe’s voice came through the line even though it was Ben’s number. “Gavin, like I said, ignore these people and just meet me in LA.” She sounded annoyed. “Seriously, you guys. Just pack your shit and stop trying to interfere in my life. Gavin, I love you. See you in LA.”
The annoyance in her voice actually comforted him.
“Cara, which voice mails are unplayed?”
“You have three voice mails from Veronica, one from Oleg, one from P-I-T-A, and one from Tenzin.”
Gavin let out a slow breath. Veronica was staying in a room two floors above his, so he could check with her in person, he didn’t need to talk to Oleg or his sister, so that just left…
“Cara, play voice mail from Tenzin.”
The voice that came through the phone was halting. “It’s me. Hmm. I think—I don’t know if you want to know what I think, and I’m not going to tell you what’s wrong because it is not my news to share.”
