Page 166 of Sin City Lights

Fingers clenched around her phone, she stared at the dark screen.

Adam was gone.

•

Adam

It was the nights that were the worst.

Adam tossed on the bed, punching his pillow in a useless attempt to find a comfortable position. Another sleepless night like this, and he would lose his mind.

He now lived in what felt like a constant state of jet lag. Sleep had evaded him since he’d gone to Eve’s apartment, determined to get her to talk to him, whether she wanted to or not.

Only to find an empty place, no contact information, no forwarding address. Intelius had yielded nothing. Ian was on the case, but it was taking him forever. It was as if she’d vanished into thin air.

He checked his phone—4:00 a.m.

He stared up at the ceiling and heaved a heavy sigh. Might as well give up on sleep again and start the day.

Making quick work of showering and dressing, he put on a pot of Colombian dark roast. Placing a mug at the ready, he ambled to the kitchen window and stared out at the Alaskan evergreens, unseeing. He inhaled the rich fragrance. Listening to the gurgling coffee maker, he passed a hand over his stubbled face, recalling how Eve used to bring him a fresh cup as he shaved. She would perch on the tub’s edge to watch him with bright eyes, sipping out of a LarsAir mug.

Out of sight, out of mindwas bullshit, he decided. He couldn’t get Eve out of his head, no matter how far away from Vegas he ventured.

His phone vibrated, and Adam swiped to talk to Ian.“Hey, Buck.”

“Finally! I’ve been trying to get you on the phone all week. Where the fuck have you been?”

“Spotty service here.”

Ian grunted. “And nonexistent when you turn off your phone.” He paused for effect. “How’s the wilderness?”

Adam poured coffee into his mug, ignoring Ian’s accurate comments about him shutting off the phone.“As good as I remembered. You should get out here and fly with me.”

“I would, but unlike others, I can’t just pick up and take off whenever I feel sorry for myself. How’s the flying up there?”

“How do you think? Wish I could move out here and just do this.”

“No, you don’t. Seventy-minute flights over the best scenery in Alaska in a small aircraft can only be fun until you get the itch to fly something with turbines. You’d go stir-crazy in less than a month and start conversing with the wildlife. Go home, man. You’ve been up there for over two weeks.”

Adam sighed.“Yeah, yeah, I know.” He did miss flying jets but not the mountain of work he knew awaited him.

“How’s Howard?” Ian asked.

“Happy to have me take a bunch of flights so he can stay home and bang his wife.”

His brother chuckled.“And how are you? Have you managed to sort it out yet?”

Had he?“Somewhat.”

“Well, suck it up. They’re getting antsy at the office. They haven’t been able to get ahold of you, so Devon called me. They want your ass back in the real world, bad.”

“Devon is the one who told me I was getting dangerous and should take time off to decompress.”

“He didn’t think you’d disappear into the wild like fucking Sasquatch.”

“Is that why you’re calling? To bust my balls?”

A long pause.“I found Eve.”

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