Page 66 of Crave Me

“I’m sorry I bothered you,” I say as the silence stretches between us. “Give Fiona a kiss from me and—”

“Where are you?” he asks, his voice gruff.

“Curran, it’s no big deal,” I tell him, sensing his anger. “If anything I feel like a dumbass for calling you.”

“You’re not dumbass,” he says. “Look, I’ve been a cop long enough to know to follow my instincts. If something inside you is telling you something is wrong, then something probably is. Where are you?”

“On Walnut Street, approaching the Forest Theatre.”

“Okay,” he says, shuffling in the background. “Pull over and stop at Anthony’s or Mulligan’s. I’ll meet you there and follow you home.”

Almost at once, Fiona starts crying in the background, something she does every time she sees her daddy getting ready to leave. “Curran, don’t. You’re upsetting the baby over nothing.”

“Shhh. It’s okay,” he says to her.

I can almost picture him gathering her little body into his arms. “Curran, Evan is meeting me at the house as soon as he’s done at work.”

“But he’s not there now,” he says, cutting me off as his daughter settles. “You still have at least another twenty before you’re home and anything can happen between now and then.”

I roll to a stop at a light. “But it’s going to take you at least forty minutes to get to me and another two hours before you’re back to your family—all because I’m seeing things that aren’t there.”

“Bryant’s missing,” he tells me.

“What?”

The car behind me blasts his horn when the light turns green and I don’t immediately shoot forward. I flip him off and punch it, listening closely to what Curran says.

“We’ve been keeping an eye on him, but now we can’t find him.”

“Shit,” I mutter.

“Wren, do you hear yourself? How upset you sound? Pull over and I’ll leave now.”

Fiona starts whimpering all over again. But even if she wasn’t so upset, I’m not taking Curran away from his family.

“No,” I say. “There’s no one behind me.” That’s a lie. The same asshole who honked at me is still there, but he makes a left at the next block.

“Tess, can you take you take her a sec?” What sounds like heavy steps race forward. “At least let me send a badge who’s close your location.”

I mutter a curse, checking my mirrors again when I reach the next light. “What are you going to tell him? My little sister thinks she’s being stalked?”

“Yup,” he answers, the edge to his tone tightening the knot in my chest.

“But it’s not true,” I say, more because I need to believe it. “I haven’t even heard from him.”

“That doesn’t mean you won’t.” He huffs when I quiet. “Look, just like your instincts warned you that something was wrong, mine are telling me Bryant is fucking with you. There’s too many dots connecting him to you and I don’t like it.”

“I don’t like it either,” I admit.

A door swings open at the corner store. Two people stumble out, laughing and acting drunk. “Does Evan know about Bryant?”

“Yes, I—”

I jump when the high-tech Bluetooth rings and Alfred’s techno voice streams through. “Evan is returning your call. Should I put Curran on hold?”

“Curran, hold on. Evan’s calling. Yes, Alfred.”

I start to correct myself and give the full command, “Yes, Alfred, hold Curran and answer Evan,” but Alfred is already on it.

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