Page 151 of Unexpected

When I input the address into the truck’s GPS, it said the place was twenty minutes away, but we didn’t have time to waste. I would make it in at least half the time.

FIFTY-THREE

Luke

Josh putthe call with the restaurant on speakerphone, but they didn’t have much to say. The man we spoke to didn’t have a clue who we were talking about and claimed he was uncomfortable providing people he didn’t know with that kind of information anyway. My hands began to hurt from the tight grip I was keeping on the steering wheel, and my jaw was sore from clenching it.

Finally, after Josh had gone back and forth with the guy for several minutes, I reached over and ended the call. Then I proceeded to break every speed limit, run every red light, and pass on the shoulder to get to the restaurant in nearly ten minutes. I only slowed long enough to make sure we were at the correct place. I found a spot near the front door and leaped from the truck.

I spotted Hazel’s car also in a spot by the door, and I couldn’t decide if it was a good or a bad sign that it was still there. I peered through the windows as Josh headed inside, but there wasn’t a fucking thing out of place.

When I opened the large black door and stepped into the warm restaurant, it was like stepping back in time. The memories assaulted me from every direction. Although it had changed since, I would never be able to forget the restaurant where Valerie and I had our first date and my life changed forever. It was a time I would do anything not to ever think about again. But the restaurant was a time capsule holding and spawning so many of those memories.

There wasn’t anyone up front at the hostess stand, although there were a few people at the tables I could see over the short, half wall on the opposite side of it. Raised voices from the back of the restaurant meant I didn’t have to go searching for my brother. I brushed past a man asking me to wait to be seated as I headed toward the sound of Josh’s voice.

“Yes, I saw her and her, but not this one,” said a tall, blonde woman who was probably only in college. You could tell she was unsettled by Josh’s attitude. When I approached, the blonde’s eyes went wide. I would usually try to temper my approach—soften my eyes, relax my jaw, seem shorter and less scary—but I didn’t have the capability at that moment.

“What’s up?” I directed the question at my brother, but an older man behind him began talking.

“You cannot just barge into my restaurant and demand—”

I pushed Josh to the side and twisted the man’s shirt into my fist. Just like the blonde, his eyes went wide with terror. “Someone has just kidnapped the fucking love of my life from your restaurant. I will do as I damn well please if it means getting her back. And so help me God if you stand in my way…” I let the man go along with the threat, and he slumped back into the wall, breathless and shaken up. Turning back to Josh, I asked again. “What’s going on?”

Josh’s eyebrows were raised, but he didn’t say anything about my behavior.

“The hostess says she seated Hazel first at this table, then approximately fifteen minutes later, she seated Blakely. Apparently, Blake looked upset but made some excuse about a bad breakup and just needing her friend, a.k.a. Hazel.”

“I knew she was lying,” the hostess interrupted. “She was shaking like a leaf, like she was terrified. I pointed to the table where the first girl was sitting, and it wasn’t a few minutes later that I asked the waiter if the other girl had stopped crying. That’s when he told me the table had walked out.”

There were tears in her eyes, and I knew she was telling the truth. “Tell him about the reservation,” Josh prompted, and the woman nodded.

“It was a woman that called to make the reservation. She said she was going to surprise her two best friends, and all I needed to do was make a reservation under the name Blakely and seat them at that exact table so she could sneak up on them. Since, you know, you can’t see the door from the table or vice versa.”

“Did the caller give you her name?”

“Yes, her name was Lexi. Lexi Shepherd.”

My blood boiled and my fury spiked at that name. She was setting everything up so I would play into the palm of her hand, and my lack of control was maddening. What was her endgame? She said she wanted me, but what would she do to Hazel in the meantime?

This was my fault, and I should have listened to my gut. The text message from Blakely and her random change of heart when it came to talking to the police didn’t seem right from the start. I knew there was more to her invitation than a lunch date to make amends. It meant that Blakely was also a part of the plan. It wasn’t possible that her being here was a mere coincidence.

“Find Blakely,” I directed Josh. “Call Amanda or any of the guys, but she was involved, and we need to know what the fuck she knowsnow.” He didn’t hesitate to thank the hostess before heading off in the direction of the front door to track down our missing, back-stabbing friend.

While he tried to find her, I hunted for Hazel’s phone. It said it was still in the restaurant, so I searched around the other tables, apologizing to each patron when I bumped into them or found myself in their personal space. Once I knew the dining room was clear, I started toward the back and had a thought.

I took an immediate right, knocking on the opaque glass of the women’s restroom door, but not waiting for a response. Luckily, the space was empty, and in the trash can near the door, I found exactly what I assumed would be in there somewhere.

Tucked beneath several paper towels was Hazel’s little black purse. I carefully pulled it from the can and set it on the counter. Right inside was her phone, placed in the same pocket where she usually kept it. The inside of her bag smelled like the perfume she kept in it, and a memory of nuzzling her neck right after she’d put it on made my heart constrict.

And then true fear set in. They had left the restaurant at least two hours before and the entire time, I thought she was having lunch. But her phone was shoved down to the bottom of the fucking trash can along with the rest of her belongings.

Valerie knew. She had to have known that the location was on and that I would find Hazel’s stuff eventually.

Knowing that her phone may not provide any clues, I pressed the unlock button anyway. A string of profanities spilled from my lips as I saw the new photo placed just behind the time and the missed call notifications from me.

My chest constricted as I swiped away the notifications and saw the picture that had replaced the one she’d taken of herself and Sadie. It was a blood-chilling and unnerving sight, and I dropped it to the counter like it had stung me. Hazel, wearing the same jeans and sweater I’d seen her dress in earlier that day, was bound and lay on her side with her knees pressed to her chest. She was in the trunk of a car, given how tight the space was, with her arms and ankles bound using a rope. Her mouth, the soft, pink lips I’d kissed a million times and planned to kiss a million more, were covered in silver duct tape. Her eyes were open, but she was looking somewhere too far in the distance.

Time stood still as I dissected the photo. I was utterly petrified for Hazel. I’d promised that I would protect her, that I wouldn’t let Valerie anywhere near her. And I’d wholly and completely failed in the worst possible way.

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