Page 26 of Apple Martinis

“Yeah. I’m tired and I need to check on Mocha.”

“I’ll follow you there. You shouldn’t be left alone right now.” He says.

“I’m not some withering flower.” I grunt with a raised brow.

“No, you’re not but I’m also the only family you got. At least any that’s in your life.”

He has a point so I don’t say anything as I make my way to my car, loading up Piper’s packages in the back seat.

Getting into the car, I don’t look behind me to make sure August is following. He knows where the house is. Hell, he even has a key.

It doesn’t take me long to drive to the house. August pulls in behind me as I’m taking Piper’s stuff out of the back seat.

Letting myself inside, August walks in a few seconds later. When Mocha spots him, she runs over to him with her tail wagging like crazy.

“I’ll take Mocha for a walk while you put that away.” He nods to the bags, walking to the back door with Mocha right on his heels.

Taking everything into my room, I set it all down on the bed then go into the kitchen to find something to drink.

Grabbing two beers from the fridge, I too go out the back door where August is currently playing fetch with Mocha, setting one down on the table for him.

“Brought you a beer.” I say when he walks up onto the porch, taking the seat next to me.

“Thanks. Do you think the cops will find her soon?” He asks.

“I’m not sure. My mind is all over the place. They could have taken her for all kinds of reasons. Some of them are worse than others. If left completely to the cops, she’ll just be another statistic.” I say through gritted teeth.

“So what do we do?” He asks.

“I’m not sure yet. I need to see if I can reach her friends. I think they were supposed to be headed down here some time tomorrow.”

Taking her phone from my pocket, I see the screen is cracked from where it landed on the ground. Pushing a button on the side, it lights up and I’m so fucking glad there’s no pass code to get into it.

Pulling up her texts, the first one I see is from a guy named Ben. That must be the cheating ex because she’s not read any of the messages.

Scrolling past it, I see a group chat with a few other women and guess them to be the friends she was always talking about. Opening it up, I start a text but then delete it.

“How the fuck do you text someone and tell them their friend was taken by God knows who?”

“Nah, man. You don’t text that. Just send a text saying who you are and give your number for one of them to call you. Say it’s important. Tell them it’s about their friend Piper.” August advises.

Doing exactly that, only a few minutes goes by until a number that I don’t know starts ringing my phone. Picking it up, I answer quickly.

“Who the fuck are you and what are you doing with Piper’s phone?” A voice demands before I can even say hello.

“My name is Rome. Piper and I have been sort of seeing each other since she got down here.”

“Where is she?” Another voice says and I know I’m on speaker phone.

“That’s why I’m calling.” I sigh, getting up to walk around the yard while I try to explain to these women what happened to their friend.

An hour later, I get off the phone with Piper’s friends and walk back up to the porch, taking my seat once again.

“What did they say?” August asks, handing me a fresh beer.

“They’ll be heading down first thing in the morning.” I yawn. “I just wish there was something else we could do. The longer she’s gone the longer they have to do whatever the fuck they want to her. I can’t stop myself from thinking that someone could be hurting her right this minute. Maybe even raping her.” I squeeze my beer until my knuckles turn white.

“Man, don’t be thinking like that.” He says, running his hand through his hair. “What we need is to find a group of those guys that hunt people down. Like that group we heard about in New Orleans that saves women from trafficking.”

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