Page 18 of Gabe

Her words feel like a slap to my face. “That’s bullshit Princess. I called you multiple times that morning after I noticed you didn’t come home. I swear I called you.”

She is furiously shaking her head. “No you didn’t. I had zero missed calls from you.”

“Hold the fuck up,” I say and shift her forward to grab my phone out of my pocket. I log into my online profile for myprovider, click on bills and request the bill for a year ago. I download the pdf file and scroll all the way down to the day I’m looking for. There in black and white is the hundreds of calls to her phone. I turn my phone around to show her.

“I called you hundreds of times. Because you didn’t have your voicemail set up I couldn’t leave a message. I don’t know about the other guys but I fucking called you.”

Tara takes my phone from me and stares at the screen in shock. “You… you called.” Her bottom lip starts trembling and the sight of it kills me.

I knock my phone out of her hands and sink my hands into her dark locks pulling her face inches from mine. As I speak my lips brush against her. “Yes I fucking called you. I kept calling you until I got that fucking recording that told me your number had been disconnected. From the moment you went missing I never stopped looking for you. How could I stop looking for my fucking heart? Because that major organ is not inside my chest it’s fucking with you, Princess.”

“I don’t understand this but I’m sorry. I’m sorry I–”

Tara’s sentence is cut off by the sound of tires on the gravel outside. “We will finish this later. Come on, let's find out why this bitch lied about you,” I say, pressing a chaste kiss to her lips in promise that everything is going to be fine.

Chapter

Ten

TARA

The one thing I can do is compartmentalize when I have things that need to be done. While I want to do nothing but find out why I never received any notifications of Gabe’s calls I can’t because Lilly is here and she takes top priority. I need information from her and then I can figure out everything else. This is the first time that someone from my old life besides Reed and Gabe is going to find out that I’m not dead and I’m a little nervous about how this is going to go. I look through the back window and notice that we don’t have time to get weapons from the trunk. Lilly is getting closer to us. Not that I think we need them but I like to be prepared just in case.

“Is the only thing you have on you a blade?” I ask Gabe as I open the console and grab the knife that Vance always keeps there. His hands are still in my hair and there is very little space that separates our lips. He is so fucking tempting but I can’t give in. I pull my head back and give it a little shake to clear everything else away.

“Yeah, why?” Gabe’s eyes widen when I pull out the small knife and place it in my waistband right against my stomach. “You think we need protection. Against this girl?”

“I don’t know but I don’t like being caught without any.” I open the car door and climb off his lap, not as gracefully as I would like. Gabe chuckles when I almost fall on my ass and I flip him off before straightening my clothes. I open the back door and let Reaper out, he takes his protective stance in front of me staring out at the driveway.

Lilly pulls up in front of the warehouse, kills the engine and steps out of her blue bug. I take a deep breath and step out from beside the SUV. Gabe and Reaper match my steps and movements one behind me and the other protecting me from the front. There is no more hiding in the shadows now. Lilly hasn’t changed much since that night, she has gained a few pounds and her black hair is a little longer than it was. When she sees me her golden eyes widen and her hand muffles the gasp. “T… Tara, you’re alive?”

“I am. Which is it, are you scared or surprised?” My tone is cold and uncaring, even though I once thought this woman could become a close friend of mine.

“How is that possible? The police said you died.Theysaid you died,” she says, shaking her head as she steps closer to her opened car door. She is going to run and I really don’t want to chase her but I will if she makes me.

“Don’t run. I don’t want to have to chase you or hurt you but I need answers.”

My words freeze her in place. “Please don’t hurt me,” she begs and it doesn’t bring me any joy. Not like the other pleas I’ve heard over the last couple of months.

Gabe chooses this moment to talk. “We don’t want to hurt you or even scare you but we need you to tell us the truth.”

Lilly holds her hands up in front of her, they are shaking so much that I’m surprised she hasn’t dropped the keys she is currently holding. “I’ll tell you whatever you want, but I need to get my daughter–”

“You brought your daughter to meet a total stranger,” I say with disgust coating each word. Why would she fucking do that? Doesn’t she know how dangerous that is

“I didn’t have anyone to watch her for me. I had no choice but to bring her.” Lilly hits the switch and her driver seat folds forward. She reaches in and slowly pulls back with a toddler held tightly against her chest. The little girl’s head is laying on Lilly’s shoulder as she stays asleep.

“Come on. We can talk in here,” I say, motioning for everyone to follow me inside. While the outside looks abandoned I have cleaned up the office that sits right inside the door. I use this place for all my research and even a crash pad when needed. I open the office door, flip on the light and point to the small couch against the wall. “You can lay her down there. Reaper, stay.” Reaper sits down outside the office and I know that no one will come inside without us knowing it.

I pull over the desk chair and place it right in front of the couch. “Thank you,” Lilly says, lowering her daughter down. “Please, she means the world?—”

“I would never hurt you or your daughter. That’s not what this is about. I just want my questions answered. When you tell me the truth you both will walk out of here unharmed.” Gabe walks in and I point to the chair. “You can sit here. I’ll sit on the desk.” Once everyone is settled Lilly wastes no time answering all my questions without me having to ask her.

“You were right, I lied about that night. I didn’t want to but I had no choice.” Lilly picks at her nails refusing to look at either one of us. Gabe is sitting rigid in the chair, his gaze never roaming from Lilly.

“What do you mean you had no choice?” I ask, pulling my legs up to sit crossed-legged on the desk.

She motions toward her daughter and turns to look at her with so much love. “As you know I just moved here a monthbefore you went missing. But in order for all of this to make sense I have to give you a little history.”

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