Page 70 of Wasted Memories
“You don’t look so good,” he observed as he leaned against his desk, arms crossed over his chest. He overlapped his ankles, studying me. He looked so relaxed, using a tone of voice he’d never used when speaking to me before.
“Can you call Wesley?” I breathed out, my speech slurring. My tongue felt heavy, my limbs getting a similar feeling.
“Of course.” He walked by me to go back into the break room where my phone was sitting on the table. When he came back in, my vision focused enough for me to see that he had my phone shoved in his back pocket. Maybe he was out there longer than I thought and already called him. Every moment seemed to fuse into one, my thoughts jumbling together like the waves of the ocean, slamming against the shores of my mind.
Something wasn’t right. I’d never had a flu come on like this, so it couldn’t be that. Another wave of nausea hit me and I bent over, clutching my stomach. My forehead rested on my knee, my hair cascading around my face as I groaned.
“Up you go,” Elijah mumbled as he grabbed my shoulders, pushing me back upright. My stomach tightened as I rolled my head back. I let out a low moan, my mind spinning again. My heavy eyelids fluttered shut despite my protests to keep them open.
“How long ago did you do it?” I heard a raspy voice ask. I recognized that voice, but I couldn’t pinpoint who it belonged to.
“Little under an hour,” Elijah replied.
I heard footsteps, my head pounding with each foot fall. “We’ve got a short amount of time to do this then, if you dosed it right. Go bring the car around back.” I heard keys being tossed, footsteps receding.
I peeled my eyes open, my vision foggy. A male form stepped into my view, his body towering over me. “Looking paler than usual, little smokeshow.”
I blinked rapidly to try to clear my vision. I was able to make out the silhouette, his nearly bald head coming into focus. “Felix?” I mumbled.
I couldn’t fight my eyelids any longer. They fell shut as arms grabbed me under my armpits, hauling me upwards. I slumped forward against him, unable to hold myself upright. I moaned, the fog taking over and my mind went black.
Chapter Forty Two
Wesley
Istaredatthepage I’d opened to in my book, trying to comprehend the words but none of them making sense. My mind kept straying to Emerson and why she hadn’t walked through the front door yet. I’d been sitting at the island in the kitchen for what felt like forever, my foot tapping nervously against the metal leg of the chair.
I checked my watch for what had to be the hundredth time. Slamming my book shut, I stood up, walking to the living room. Pacing back and forth, my hand ran through my hair, pulling at the ends. I checked out the front window. Nothing. No sign of her.
She’d have gotten off work almost two and a half hours ago now. I checked my phone to see if she’d texted. No notifications. I wouldn’t typically be worried but for as long as I’d known her, she’d never been this late. And even if she was running late, she would have texted or called. She always updated me.
Something had to be wrong.
Pulling up my contacts, I dialed Stella.
“Wesley?”
“Hey, Stella. Emerson happen to be with you?”
“No. Why?”
My lips pressed in a thin line as I stared out the window, the rain pelting the glass. “She was supposed to be off work over two hours ago but she hasn’t come home yet.” My heart skipped a beat, my heart recognizing the way my mind spoke about this home. It felt likeourhome. No longer a temporary rental, but a place that felt permanent. A small house that quickly became a home because I got to share it with her.
I hadn’t lived under this roof for very long before Emerson started staying here, and thinking about it now, I wouldn’t have wanted it any other way. I honestly wasn’t sure how long I was going to stay in Oldport when I first arrived here, but having Emerson in my life made me want to stay forever, if that’s what she wanted.
“I have her phone’s location, let me check where she is.” I heard her tapping her phone screen as I waited, anticipation building inside me, making my stomach twist. “She planning any vacations I don’t know about?”
“Where is she?” My hand was gripping the phone so hard I swore I heard something crack.
“She’s on some road at the base of Merritt Peak.”
I turned away from the window, quickly making my way into the kitchen to open the laptop sitting on the counter.
“The mountain?” I asked, holding the phone between my shoulder and ear as I googled how far that was.
“Yeah, but I thought they closed the pass in the winter?”
I cursed under my breath. “Stella, let me call you back.” Hanging up, I pulled the phone away from my ear and dialed Easton. Pressing the speaker button, I set my phone on the counter as I grabbed a piece of paper to write the directions down. More than likely, there would be no service up the pass if I had to drive that way and I didn’t want to get lost up there in this weather.
