Page 578 of Dark Love

Me: I did. But I missed you.

Me: How was your day?

Vex: Terrible without you.

Me: My parents are leaving early tomorrow morning.

Vex: Have breakfast with me and call in for work.

It’s tempting to say yes.

Me: Yes and no.

Time to distract him.

Me: We got invited to a baseball game next weekend.

Vex: Let me guess… you accepted for us.

That doesn’t sound good. Is he irritated that I made a decision for him?

Me: Yes.

Vex: Good. I know how much you love baseball. I can’t wait to watch you at the stadium.

I love that man.

Could Temperance be right? Is all that’s stopping us from being together an irrational fear?

Snitches Don’t Get Stitches

Vex

I should have snuck into Dahlia’s house last night. Her parents never would have heard a thing. This separation thing lasted two days too long. Tomorrow can’t come fast enough. I pull out my phone and check the security feeds.

Dahlia laughs at something Imogene says.

She’s baking cookies. With all the sugar she just dumped in the bowl, it’s got to be cookies. Why? Why does Dahlia do things just to torment me? I miss that smile. I miss that laugh. I miss everything about that woman.

But now isn’t the time to think about her endlessly.

Plant walked away with another woman, and I need to start getting to the bottom of all of this. Today, that means finding out more about his victims.

Jogging in the park really isn’t my thing, but it’s the least conspicuous way of meeting up with my contact.

She’s waiting for me at a little corner bench by the pond. It’s close enough to the running path not to look odd for a person to stop, but isolated enough that we won’t be overheard. I do one quick reconnaissance round to make sure no one followed me then sit down on the other side of the bench.

“Hello, Vex.”

“How have you been, Charleese?”

“Good. I’m really enjoying school. It’s definitely more fun this go around compared to when I was a teenager.”

Charleese fell for the oldest scam in the book. An older man telling her that he loves and understands her in ways that her parents never could. She ran away from home only to find out he was a human trafficker. By the time I got her out of that situation, she was addicted to drugs and barely alive.

“Why did you want to know about that women’s shelter? The Nest always has an open bed.”

I raise an eyebrow at her.

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