Page 123 of Shattered Veil

“They didn’t include piercing eyes or devilishly handsome,” Colton told her with a smirk, and she rolled her eyes in return, “but yes. Point is, I’ve even seen some of those listings say suspicious male or some other vague shit. The fact that this dude didn’t put word out that you had someone violent on your tail sounds sketchy as shit…and now we find out that he knew the guy personally? Feels dirty.”

The more he spoke, the more I felt my brain buzz. I tried to absorb what he said, but it was as if the words were water, and I were hydrophobic. They were rolling off of me in beads—dripping on the floor and leaving me standing in a puddle that I wanted to drown into to silence the noise—to stop the gnawing pain of the unknown.

But then, something clicked.

I had no idea if the thought was insanity over the reality of someone I loved becoming intangible.

That could have been it. I was well aware that I was in love with James…and I didn’t mind in the least that I had quickly toppled head over feet for him. Instead, I felt that, somehow, he had as well. That when we had finally thrown caution to the wind and succumbed to each other, we had both just…fallen…but the sensation of it wasn’t akin to smashing into concrete. No, it was more like being laid to rest on a soft pillow. Being swathed in a warm blanket. Sinking into a deep sleep that’s full of pleasant dreams and gently waking with the sunrise, rested and refreshed.

Yes, I loved him.

And my certainty of that was what made me wonder if what had clicked in my mind regarding his disappearance was unreasonable. Perhaps I was simply grasping at straws, frantically attempting to find an explanation—any explanation—whether it was insane to think it or not. I spoke it, anyway:

“Jay got pulled over earlier today.”

Colton’s eyes brightened. “Oh…you did tell me that, didn’t you?”

“Wait, wait,” Luke held up a hand, “when did he get pulled over?”

“When we were talking on the phone this morning,” I said. “He wasn’t sure why…thought maybe he was speeding or something—”

“Jay, speeding,” Luke sardonically grumbled as he walked back and forth. “Sure.”

“But that was the last time I talked with him,” I stated. “I—this is fucking crazy, but I feel like something happened with this cop.”

Colton pointed at me enthusiastically. “I knew we were on the same page.”

Without saying a word, Zoey seemed to entirely understand our viewpoint as she bobbed her head up and down vehemently.

Claire and Luke, however, were more hesitant.

“I—okay, no-no,” Claire stammered, “Cassie, you’re—you’re trying to say that Jay’s with this policeman?”

Luke added, “If he was arrested or something, it makes sense that his car’s on the side of the road, but wouldn’t his phone have been seized and stored? I don’t think anyone would be able to message from it.”

“Not arrested,” I clarified.

“Dirty cops,” Colton nearly sang. “Dirty. Fucking. Cops.”

“Taken—and I don’t know if he—if he thinks that Jay knows something about all of this or about,” I groaned quietly to myself, “about all the dancers that up and quit from Gas Lamp because he’s close to me, or what.”

Luke stopped pacing, then, and his wide eyes snapped to me. “Dancers were quitting like you did?”

I nodded, waving a hand at Colton. “He told me.”

Colton noted, “Felt weird. Thought there could be a rumor floating around about the ones that went missing.”

Claire asked me, “But…you didn’t…” I shook my head, and she then directed to Colton, “And you didn’t…”

“Telling people shit I know doesn’t exactly work in my favor ’cause of reasons like this,” he remarked. “Y’all were an exception. I’m normally Fort Knox.”

“The why doesn’t matter at this point,” I said.

“What matters is that if Randy,” Zoey pointed at the laptop, “is dirty and fucking took James for whatever reason, then we have no idea if we can trust the police at all at this point.”

Claire whispered, “Fuck, you’re right.”

Luke’s attention bounced between us all. “So…we can’t talk to the authorities.”

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