Page 89 of Delayed Offsides

They’re at my door within a few minutes, still dressed in their clothes from dinner, both wearing the same expression I am. Confusion. But under that, they’re scared.

“When did you hear from her last?” Ami asks as soon as they walk through the door.

As they move into my kitchen, following me, I lean against the counter with my arms crossed over my chest, my head bowed. “When she called me an asshole… and then said fuck you and walked away.”

“Okay.” Ami sighs. “Can you think of anywhere she might be?”

“I can’t. If she isn’t with you, I have no idea. Maybe with her dad?”

Mase and I both look at each other. Neither one of us want to call Ed.

Ami groans and sets her phone down on the counter. “Okay, it’s one in the morning. We either go looking for her or call Ed.”

“Go looking for her,” Mase and I say together.

See what I mean? Even Mase doesn’t want to bother with Ed.

We’re in the elevator when Mase holds up his phone. “She’s not with Remy.” And then there’s a notable pause as he stares at me, like he wants to say something else, but he’s not sure how to put it.

“What?” I shove his shoulder. “Say something.”

His brows knot. “Sorry… I paused.”

“That wasn’t a pause,Evan.” I move over when an older couple pushes inside the elevator. “It was a moment of fuckin’ silence.”

Mase frowns, his words hushed. “She’s not with Walker.”

I groan and roll my eyes. “She better not be.”

“How do we track her phone?” Ami asks, looking from Mase to me. “We can do that, right?”

“Yeah, we should be able to.” Mase glances down at his phone as we step out of the elevator and into the lobby. “I think I know how.”

Nash, the doorman, is there. “Hey, Nasher, you see Callie?” Mase asks, still walking toward the street where his car is brought around, looking over his shoulder back at Nash.

He nods. “Yes, sir, she left here about seven.”

“Did she say where she was headed?”

“No, sir.”

Fuck.

We step out of the large glass doors and get inside his car.

Where the hell can she be?

With unsteady hands, I push my hair from my face, contemplating what we should do.

Mase looks up from his phone and then hands it to Ami as he turns onto W Grand Ave. “That’s weird. It says she’s at the United Center.”

I lean forward between the seats and rip the phone from Ami’s hand. “That… doesn’t make any sense. Why would she be there?”

Mase weaves around traffic. “I don’t know.”

The ten-minute drive to the United Center, my heart is beating so fast I can barely catch my breath, let alone stop myself from shaking and push down the lump in my throat. She was upset with me, and she’s now probably in danger. No one walks around there at night. It’s dangerous. Hell, the players don’t even walk out alone anymore. We have security.

Already my mind is filled with a dozen possibilities of what could have happened to her. I try to remain calm, think positive, but you can’t in a moment like this. The thoughts rip through me until I can’t take it any longer.

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