Page 98 of SNOB

I have to find her.

My mind goes to Harry who helped crack the code on Beau’s phone. It’s time I call in more reinforcements.

She left without a trace. She left without a word. I can’t have that.

She’ll pay for that.

I’m a man of my word.

I will find her.

“She’s like a ghost,” Harry says, leaning back in his chair in the computer lab. “Besides all the art on social media, it’s like she doesn’t exist.”

My hand pounds on the desk, a pain ringing through it but nothing like the pain vibrating through me. Harry flinches and I fight the urge to pound his head in to do a better job.

It’s not his fault. It’s yours.

Reaching into my pocket, I tap out a cigarette and let it hang off my lips as I try to steady my heart rate. Harry opens his mouth but closes it as if he knows better than to remind me of the rules.

“Maybe she doesn’t want to be found,” he says.

That only makes my muscles tighter. He’s not getting off that easy and neither am I. “Don’t stop until you find something. Anything. Or you’ll regret it.”

I’ll regret it.

Leaving the room, a group of guys sit on a wooden bench in the hallway, huddled around a phone. Ryung’s head sits between, chuckles coming from the group.

“Oh shit,” Ryung laughs, telling me they’re way too deep in hockey highlights to care about much else right now. I get it, but hockey is no longer my priority.

Moving towards the door, Harry’s voice sticks to me. Maybe she doesn’t want to be found. Am I stupid for wanting to find her? Am I the one who should let this go?

“McKinsley,” Ryung calls. “You gotta see this.” I don’t answer, the pain in my chest too much. I need to make it better. “Hey,” Ryung calls again when I'm near the exit. “Red Light has a new girl, seems up your alley.” The mention of that site tells me they’re not looking at hockey, they're looking at porn. Any urge to join them disappears as I push the door open, a gust of fresh air hitting my face as smoke billows from my mouth. “I’ll send it to you.”

I’m not even a foot away from the door before I get a notification on my phone from Ryung. A link with a preview attached. It's the usual. A dick in a pretty girl’s mouth, mascara running down her face.

My body stills, the world around me muffling.

Wait a minute.

I know that mouth.

Looking around, I lean against the wall, puffing hard on my cigarette before I click the link.

My heart pounds when the link opens and it’s not the clickbait description that has my hand shaking. “DRUNK BITCH TAKES MASSIVE COCK”

The cigarette drops from my mouth when the video plays. It’s rough, the usual for The Red Light. You can’t see the man’s face but you can see his hand tugging on dark hair. Even the sounds she makes are familiar. They’re sounds I’ve heard before.

It’s all in your head.

It’s all in your head.

It’s all in your head.

But when she looks up, it proves that it’s not.

Those bloodstone eyes look back at me, my cigarette dropping to the ground as I pause the video. Her eyes are out of it. Vacant. But I know them anywhere.

Ember’s.

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