Page 92 of Rook

By the time I surfaced, I had a crick in my neck, and more hours had passed than I’d realized.

I immediately reached for my phone, expecting a text or two from Tessa asking where I was and what I wanted to order for dinner.

But there was nothing.

I wasn’t exactly worried as I rose from my desk and made my way out to the street, but there was a tingle up my spine that I didn’t exactly like, either.

When I didn’t see her car on the street or find traces of her in the apartment, yeah, that was when the worry started to settle in.

“Got something already?” Slash asked when I called.

“Uh, maybe. But I’m not calling about that. Is Tessa at the clubhouse?”

“No. Why would she be here?”

“Because she’s not home.”

“Maybe she just took another job when she didn’t see you in the apartment.”

“Maybe,” I agreed, but something felt wrong. “Thanks.”

I moved back outside, standing on the top landing of the stairs, looking down on the town, searching for any signs of her or her car.

When another half an hour passed, I was making my way down.

Shady Valley was small.

If she’d already gotten the order from the grocery store, she should have been back in town by then, regardless of how big the order might have been.

I made my way down the street, climbing on my bike, ready to take a drive around, thinking maybe that junker of a car of hers finally crapped out on her.

But why wouldn’t she have called then?

I shook that thought away, not wanting to get myself freaked out without reason.

I drove up the town first, going all the way to the gas station—which was the last stop before the prison—but saw her nowhere.

I drove through Millionaire’s Row on the way to the suburbs—where most of her orders came from these days.

She wasn’t on the street or in anyone’s driveways.

It wasn’t until I circled around to the apartment buildings that I caught a glimpse of gold.

Something felt… off about the placement. Parked on the wrong side of the road outside of the parking lot.

It wasn’t somewhere Tessa, who was now familiar with Shady Valley, would park. Unless she was looking for a ticket.

I rode over, my heart feeling constricted as I got nearer and found she wasn’t inside.

And when I got off my bike and looked in the windows, her fucking purse and phone were still on the seat.

“Again?” Slash answered as I dialed with shaking fucking hands.

Because I knew.

Somehow I knew, with no other clues, that whatever it was that Tessa had been running away from had finally caught up with her.

“Tessa’s missing.”

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