Page 68 of Hot Mess

“I could use that.”

The car finally pulled up. I opened the back and climbed in. I looked up at Steve before I closed the door. “Thanks, man. I mean it.”

“I’ve been there before. I get it. Go find your woman.”

If I had thought waiting for the damned car to show up had taken a long time, waiting for the plane was interminable. I didn’t want to think of the time that got wasted while waiting to get back to LA.

“You haven’t returned my calls,” I barked as I pushed into Isaac’s office.

“I have a situation. I’ll call you.” He pulled the earbud out of his ear and stood. His hands were up and making small patting motions as if I needed to soothe.

“Nick, you need to sit down and take a big breath.”

“Where the fuck is Kayla?”

“I don’t know.”

“What do you mean, you don’t know? Come on, Isaac.”

I sat and clenched my fists. I felt helpless listening to him.

“She didn’t show up at that job I got her. She hasn’t blocked my number; I’m beginning to wonder if she even knows how to. I hired a PI to check out all the hospitals for me. Nothing. But this”— he reached out and picked a padded envelope off his desk and handed it to me— “came in this morning’s mail.”

I opened the envelope. The house key, still on the realtor’s plastic key fob fell into my hand.

“She’s ghosted us, Nick.”

“No.” I shook my head. “Why? What happened? How?”

“You are asking a lot of questions neither of us have an answer for. You’re the one who was sleeping with her, did she say anything?”

I shot him a glare, before I realized he was only speaking the truth.

I fisted the key, its brass teeth cut into my palm. I surged to my feet. “I’m going to see if she left any hints at the house. I drove too fast. I didn’t care. I needed to get to the house, maybe being closer to where Kayla had lived would help me to understand what the hell was going on.

The house looked like it always had. The light was switched on in the kitchen.

I ran up the steps. My foot slipped on something, fucking my balance up. I did an ungraceful spin, trying to get stable flooring under my feet. I landed on one knee, braced on the fingers of the opposite hand. All that stunt training, and I naturally hit a superhero landing. It might have been cool if I wasn’t so pissed that I lost my footing to begin with.

It was a fucking envelop. A big one. Other than my footprint there weren’t any marks on it. I knocked on the door before using the key.

“Kayla? Babe, are you here?”

I went straight to the kitchen where the light over the sink was on. The kitchen didn’t smell of recent cooking. All of the dishes were put away. I opened the fridge and checked the garbage. Both were empty.

I tossed the offensive envelope on the counter before checking out the rest of the small house. Nothing. The only sign she had been here was her shampoo in the shower. All of her clothes were gone.

I checked the bed side table drawer. The box of condoms was still there.

I dropped to the bed.

“Fuck.” I buried my head in my hands. She was gone.

“Fuck!”

I threw the condoms across the room.

There was no reason to stay here. I got up and returned to the kitchen to turn off the light. That envelope was still on the counter. I opened it and spilled the contents out on the counter.

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