Page 31 of After All The Wreckage
“After you left last night, I tracked him via a GPS cell tracker website and got nothing more than his last location.” When I saw panic return to his eyes, I added, “It could just mean his battery died and nothing more. Did you turn on the Notify When Found option?” He looked at me funny. “Give me your phone.”
He pulled it out of his back pocket, swiped to unlock it, and handed it to me.
I flipped through the screens until I found the right app, located Monte’s number, and toggled through the options before handing it back to him. I didn’t tell him I’d already found the IMEI number and searched it the way the police would if they tapped the carrier. I’d found nothing beyond the CapitolBuilding and the side street where his phone had last pinged. Which in and of itself was weird. But I kept my concerns to myself.
Ivy came out of the bathroom, a tiny pink backpack in her hands with so many sparkles they shed as she walked. She looked like Monte had when he was her age. Shiny and bright and cherub-like.
I will bring him home to them, I swore to myself.
Gage led Ivy to the door, grabbing his keys from a bowl on the table nearby. I stuffed my laptop inside my bag and joined them.
We followed Ivy down the stairs at a snail’s pace that had me itching to pick her up and carry her. When we got to the ground, the two of them headed for the Pathfinder he’d been in the night before. I hadn’t known it was him at first when I’d spotted the car following me. It was the last vehicle I’d ever expected to see Gage in.
He lifted Ivy into the back where she crawled into the car seat and buckled up at the same slow pace as she’d taken the steps. Then, he opened the passenger door and waved at me.
I shook my head. “I’ll follow you.”
He looked at my bike parked one spot over. “Seems pointless to take two vehicles into D.C.”
I hesitated for multiple reasons. I needed an escape from the emotions that pummeled me when I was with him, but I also liked to control the vehicle I was in. Ever since I’d learned to drive and had taken the evasive driving course Mom had recommended, I’d preferred being the driver than the passenger. Those feelings had only intensified since Mom’s accident. But Gage was right—it was silly to take two cars into D.C. I instantly regretted not bringing Pop’s Jeep with me.
Our arms brushed as I got in, and it felt like I’d been hit with a low-level zap from my stun gun. The electricity spiraling up over my shoulders and into my chest was amplified a thousandtimes from the feelings I’d had around him as a kid. Our eyes locked for one beat… two… three. Then, he stepped back, shutting the door behind me and striding around to the driver’s side. My brain felt like it had short-circuited.
I’d had good sex before. Fulfilling. Satisfying. Maybe a bit mundane, but still good. And yet, never once had someone simply brushing against me set my body off like a fireworks display the way Gage did.
As we drove toward the day care center near the college campus, I pulled my phone from my pocket with a shaky hand. I swiped through the screens until I found the cameras I’d been watching on my laptop and continued my search through the sea of people arriving at the Capitol.
After parking in front of the preschool, Gage waited for Ivy to fight with her seatbelt. How many times a day did he physically hold himself back from helping? I wasn’t sure I’d be able to do the same. I could sit in a car staking out a place all day, but what Gage did required a different kind of patience.
“I’ll be right back,” Gage said, and they started to walk away, but Ivy pulled her hand out of his and ran back to the Pathfinder. She looked up at me with wide eyes full of a fear that hadn’t been there all morning. I opened the door.
“Monte’s side hurts. His fingers too,” she said. “He’s scared. Really scared.”
A weird sensation crawled over the back of my neck. My gaze flew to Gage’s. His jaw was locked tight, his lips a straight line of anger or disapproval or… reluctant acceptance.
“Wh-what?” I forced out, my breath seeming to have left my body, as I looked down at the little girl. Her expression had turned blank as if she hadn’t just dropped a huge bomb in my lap. As if she hadn’t said anything. She seemed confused at being back at the SUV as she turned to her brother.
Gage scooped her up, held her close to his chest, and murmured something in her ear. She nodded, resting her head with its two enormous bows on his shoulder as they strode toward the building once again.
My heart was pounding furiously.
I hadn’t ever believed in any kind of extrasensory perception. Clairvoyance, channeling, and telepathy were all scams people ran on the weak-minded. At least, that had been the opinion of both my parents. One I easily subscribed to.
And yet… The look on Ivy’s face… It hadn’t been normal. It had been spooky as hell. And that voice… She’d said all her R’s perfectly.
Another shiver ran up my spine.
I was ready to climb out of the Pathfinder and run back to my Rebel to escape all the emotions that had buffeted me since walking into The Prince Darian Saturday night.
He’s really scared,she’d said.
I thought about the tattoo on Gage’s arm. I thought about Veronica’s words about the hero being the one who remains in your life while the villain is the one who takes off. I didn’t want to be the villain. I didn’t want to be my dad, walking out when things didn’t go the way he’d planned.
A little bit of spookiness wouldn’t send me running. I needed to do this for Gage’s family—to ensure the pain and heartache radiating from Gage disappeared. So Ivy’s smile was all joy and not sadness. So the little cherub boy I hadn’t seen in years could come home to his family.
But maybe, just maybe, I needed to do it for myself as well.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
