Page 43 of Beck and Call

I went to turn off my phone, but Colter's name appeared on my screen before I could turn it off. He was probably going to yell at me too, but if I rejected his call he would show up at my apartment.

The moment I accepted his call, I heard him yelling at me. "Answer your fucking phone, douchebag!"

"Hello to you too, asshole," I greeted in return. I wasn't in the mood for more shit from him.

"Evie is missing."

"What did you say?" I had to have heard him wrong. This wasn't happening. She was stronger than Callie. Wasn't she?

"I'll track her phone." Thank God I'd had that app installed before I gave her the phone.

I heard a door click, and he sighed. "Don't bother. I have her purse and sweater. Apparently, she didn’t even bring her phone, because Jana said she didn’t want you to track her down. I'm with Malcolm Graham right now and we're going over the security cameras. It looks like she just walked out of the club."

Would she have gone back to my apartment? Jana's? "Did anyone check if she went home?"

"Where would she consider to be home?" His words were neutral, but I heard the accusation.

This was my fault. I'd done exactly what I feared I would do, came in and consumed her until she had nothing outside of me. Except I didn't even give her the security to feel like she had a home with me. Finding her was the priority, and then I had to decide what to do.

"I called both of your doormen, and no one has seen her. I even had them access both of your apartments to check, but she isn't there."

"Fuck," I shouted. "What are we supposed to do? Drive around aimlessly and search for her?"

"Is there anywhere you can think of that she'd go?"

"She hasn't been here very long. The only person she would have turned to is Jana." Real fear gripped me then, because I was sure wherever she disappeared to it was randomly selected.

"What direction did she head from the club?"

"West, but the camera loses her halfway down the block. The crowd to get in here tonight is massive, and it seems to swallow her."

"So you're telling me she could be walking around aimlessly, or someone might have her?"

"I'm sorry, Beck, but yes that's a possibility."

I hung up the phone and leaned forward to speak to Dave. "Head toward that new club Oasis."

For the first time in twenty years I prayed. It was nearly the same prayer I’d said when I was eighteen. "Please don't let me be too late."

* * *

Evie

Slowly, the cold began to seep deep inside my bones. I felt my teeth begin to chatter, and the apathy I felt a little while ago began to recede. As I came back to myself I started to really worry about what I was going to do.

I left the club without my phone or my purse. Even if I remembered the name of it, which I didn't, I couldn't even get in. I didn't have my identification, money for the cover charge, not to mention my name wasn't on any list to bypass the velvet rope.

I wasn't sure where I was, let alone how to get to Jana's apartment. Even if I could somehow get a taxi or an Uber, I couldn't pay for it. Then there's the fact I don't have a key to get in.

A laugh bubbled up inside of me and exploded in a hysterical fit of giggles. For nearly a year I'd scraped, starved, and saved every penny to keep from becoming homeless. In less than two weeks I had a better job, but I'd lost the roof over my head.

Tears slid down my face while I continued to laugh. The cold was really starting to hurt, and my shivering became more like full body convulsions. In the back of my mind I wondered how long I could stay out here before hypothermia set in. There was a cold front that had moved in, so rather than temperatures in the mid-forties, it was only around thirty-eight degrees.

Self-preservation started to kick in, and I began to think of all the places I might be able to go to get warm. The problem was, it was well past closing time for many businesses, and there was the small matter of not really knowing where I was. Getting up and moving might make me feel warmer, but I knew that some of the areas surrounding my location were likely to be pretty sketchy.

I wondered if anyone was looking for me. Had Jana and Sabrina realized I was gone?

My thoughts started to feel as scattered as they did when I was in the club. I needed to do something. I think I needed to go somewhere. Staring at the silvery waves brought me peace though. Leaving became less and less important.

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