I have the ability to wake up early, I just prefer not to when it isn’t a requirement. This last month with no missions has been heaven, a recharge of epic proportions and I owe it to Faith, mostly. There’s nothing like going to bed with empty balls and a beautiful woman in my arms to make me feel like a million bucks.
I wash my face, brush my teeth, and dress quickly, eager to wrap my arms around her and see if I can entice her back to bed for just a little while longer. Last time I asked, she told me she wasn’t tired, and I carried her in here, reminding her that a lot more than sleep happens in that bed.
The smell of coffee washes over me before I make it to the kitchen, wondering what number cup of tea Faith is on by now.
But she isn’t in the kitchen like I suspected. I lean my head out of the room and look into the living room, but she isn’t in there either.
“You lost?” Grinch asks from the kitchen table.
“Looking for Faith. Have you seen her?”
“She’s not here,” he says as if I’m an idiot who should know that.
“Not here?”
“It’s Monday, idiot. She went to work.” The smile slides off my friend’s face when I glare at him. “And I bet she lied when she told us you said it was fine for her to go to work alone?”
My heart begins to race, an arrhythmic pattern that pounds in my ears.
Faith hasn’t been out of the clubhouse alone since she arrived. We’ve always been careful and meticulous with her safety.
“And you believed her?”
“She’s a trustworthy person. I didn’t think she was lying,” Grinch argues, but he’s on his feet like he’s the one who made the mistake, not Faith who blatantly lied.
“I forgot it was fucking Monday,” I hiss as I pull out my cell phone and dial hers.
It goes straight to voicemail. The time on the screen tells me that calls to her office will be answered by the answering service she has hired, but I try anyway.
Today is her first day back at work, and we discussed before bed last night how it was going to go. I wanted her to stay here, but when she demanded to be allowed to work like I was holding her hostage, we agreed that I would take her and be there the entire day with her. Besides, the people I hired to update her security system at the office to include cameras were meeting me there at ten.
She agreed to all of it, but then she gets up and dresses so quietly I don’t wake up and leaves?
“Is something wrong?” Grinch asks as he walks closer.
“Other than a woman who needs a couple smacks to the ass?” I grumble as I leave the kitchen. He follows me. “Probably not, but she’s not answering her phone. How long ago did she leave?”
“Forty-five minutes or so,” he answers.
I want to strangle the man. He didn’t think to question why she was leaving the clubhouse more than two hours before her office opened?
I take a deep breath, once again fighting the urge to blame anyone but her. She did this, not Grinch. I’ll never forgive her if her own stubbornness puts her in danger.
“Want me to come along?” he asks when I grab a set of car keys.
“No,” I answer. “I’m sure everything is fine.”
“Call me if you need me,” he says, an apology in his tone as I leave.
Everything is not fine; I realize when I make it across town. Faith’s car is not at her work. It’s not at her burned-down house when I drive by there either. Calls to her cell go to voicemail.
When I circle back around to her office building, I notice Pauline’s van in the lot, so I pull in. Pauline confirms that Faith hasn’t arrived yet, and she’s expected in the office not court because she has a deposition scheduled first thing this morning.
My entire body is riddled with anxiety when I pull out my phone and call Colton.
A feminine chuckle fills the line before he speaks. The first words I hear are behave before he says hello. He’s no doubt still at home if I had to guess, talking to his wife Sophia.
“Have you heard from Faith today?”
He confirms that he hasn’t heard from her, and I quickly end the call, pulling up Max’s contact information next.
I give him a brief rundown of what’s going on while he logs into his computer and tracks her cell phone. It takes much longer than people realize, especially considering Max doesn’t have the authority to do such things.
“It seems her cell is dead now and powered down.”
That explains my calls going directly to voicemail.
“I can give you the address of the last place it pinged.”