Page 47 of Bound by Wreckage
15
Nox
“What’s up?”I greet into the phone, pushing through the doors of the emergency room to out into the parking lot. The warm sun does nothing to stop my heart from pounding.
“Hey, Nox, how ya been?”
“Not too good, Gunny. We’ve got a man down, and it’snot lookin’ good.” I steal a glance inside seeing no one has moved.
“Sorry to hear that.”
“What’s goin’ on? How’s Ava?” Carsyn had damn well better be okay. If nothing else is going right, she has to be safe.
“I think she’s fine. You don’t know?”
My gut twists and the sudden urge to hunch over hits me, but I fight it knowing I need to get information. This is exactlywhat I don’t need at the moment. “Don’t know what?” I really didn’t want the answer, but needed to hear it just the same.
“She took off a few weeks ago. She didn’t call you?”
My hand rubs over my face in frustration. “No. I haven’t talked to her since I left.” Even though I gave her a damn phone with my number for her to call at any time. True, I didn’t talk to her, but I thoughtit was for the best. I didn’t want to cause her more pain.
“Shit. I thought for sure she would tell you,” he huffs out.
“No, Gunny. Where is she?” My back teeth grind down as my body tenses. Anger starts to bubble in my veins as a cold sweat breaks out across my forehead. Fear like I haven’t felt before slices through me like a knife. I have to protect her. Need to.
WhileI knew she’d leave Gunny and Sharon’s at one point, I’d asked Gunny to keep tabs on her, so I could. I may not be talking to Carsyn, but I talked to Gunny, just haven’t the last couple of weeks.
She’d been with them for over four months and from what Gunny told me, she was doing well. Now this.
“I was hopin’ you were gonna tell me that. She’s got some mail here. I think it’s alljunk, but I wanted to talk to her so it gave me an excuse.”
“Since when do you need an excuse?”
He lets out a gust of air. “Ava, she’s a tricky one. Knew the moment she left that she wouldn’t be callin’ us. It was written all over her face.” He pauses. “Fear.”
“What?” I clip out, gripping the phone so hard it cracks.
“No matter what I taught her, that fear didn’t leaveher eyes. She’s a one, I tell ya, and loyal to the core. We got a couple of those hang up calls where we answer and whoever is on the other end hangs up. Well, that’s when I saw the change in her.”
“What change?”
“She went from semi-relaxed to hardcore tense. Knew in my gut from that she was gonna be spooked and take off and, well, I can’t keep her here.”
Sure you could.
He continues, “I thought she’d call you and let you know where she was goin’. Knew you two were close.”
Rubbing my eyes, a headache forms behind them. Fuck. “Any trace on those prank calls?”
“Not that I know of.”
“And you don’t know where she was headed?”
“Nope. And she said she’d call, but never did. You think she’s in trouble?”
“Fuck, I hope not.”
Rylynn comes storming out of the ER doors, look of fury emanating from her making her steps tense and determined.
