Page 74 of Known By You
“I like her. Little too much, probably, considering.” I raised a shoulder. “But you know me. I can’t just… not.” I’d accepted, to some degree anyway, that despite being someone who wanted longevity and a future with someone, I couldn’t pass up a chance to have this time with Liz, even if I knew for a fact there was no future with her.
He nodded. “I do. And of course you can’t. It’s one thing we all love about you.”
He filled his mug, then held up the carafe, and I slid mine over so he couldfill it, too.
“And if it all goes down the drain, I’ll be here. And I’m certain Dorian will make you as many croissants as you can eat.” He raised a brow as though to ask whether that would be enough.
“Hey, sorry to interrupt.”
My pulse spiked.Liz.
“What? No. No interruption. Hey. You. How are?—”
“What is it?” Cookie said, ending my weird spiral of verbal vomit.
Her eyes were troubled and her posture on edge. If I hadn’t been so far down the rabbit trail of talking about my squishy feelings for her, I would’ve seen it instantly.
“It’s Evie.”
That was all she needed to say.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
Elizabeth
The panic I felt channeled straight from Jack’s mouth into my brain.
“I can’t find her. I don’t know what happened,” he said, voice and hands shaky. “The police know but they can’t do much.”
Silverton’s sheriff department was eminently capable and well-staffed for such a small town, but when a woman was missing for an hour, there wasn’t a lot they could do. Hence the reason he’d called Saint.
“She went to her doctor’s appointment, and then was supposed to come right back here. But it’s been an hour and I can’t get ahold of her, her phone isn’t tracking, and the driver I hired said he didn’t see her.” His jaw ticked and he leaned his elbows on his knees. “If anything happens to her, I’ll never forgive myself. I’ve already failed her once and I can’t stand the thought of it happening again.”
“We’re not there yet, man. We’ll find her. We’re going to fan out in town, the police are on the lookout, and odds are, this is all a misunderstanding,” Kenny said, patting his back for reassurance.
“And if not?” Jack asked, the stress radiating off him. “How do I ever look myself in the eye again? How do I stand to know I could’ve helped her sooner? That she deserved a life free from pain and fear and if I’d just gotten my head out of my own?—”
“Hey, pump the brakes. One thing we don’t do is what-if until we have to. Sometimes, we have to get creative to figure out the answers, but we will figure it out. We will find her.” Kenny’s voice had taken on a soothing but firm quality.
Damn, he was good. There was something so completely appealing about a man who could keep his head in a stressful situation, and a person like Kenny, with all his boundless energy and joy, didn’t necessarily strike me as someone who would be like this. Bruce? Wilder? Tristan? All yes. Even Cookie had a more calming energy.
But right now, Kenny was exactly who Jack needed him to be. That just made me all the more determined to be who Evie neededmeto be.
“I’m going. I’ll be back.” I caught Kenny’s blue eyes and we had the same thought there—hopefully with Evie in tow.
Kenny would stay with Jack, so Cookie and I were on the way back to town.
“What do you think?” I asked, knowing all the Saint personnel had more experience with missing people than I did. My work in Kappa Sector rarely had anything to do with missing women, abusive exes, or even hostage rescue. If the CIA had someone go missing, they were either gone, or we called in the EMU to get them back.
“I have a feeling this is a misunderstanding. Other than the phone call, there’ve been no indications the ex is even looking for her, let alone knows where she is. She’s been cooped up in the house with Jack, who is lovely, but not her family or even her lover, and she’s about to have a baby and be essentially stuck at home even more. So I suspect she’s spreading her wings.”
He seemed confident and it made sense. “You’re certain they aren’t lovers.”
“Certain.”
“How?”
He laughed. “They have no chemistry. No hint of heat between them. You and I have more sexual tension than she and Jack do—and you and I have exactly none.”
