When I stalked up to Ember’s door, I reminded myself that she had suitemates and forced myself to knock rather than slamming my fist on the wood.
No one answered, so I tried again. A little louder. Again, nothing. After my third knock—closer to a bang—the door opened to reveal a girl in NYU sweats.
“Can I help you?” She yawned as she pushed a pair of blue glasses up her nose.
“Have you seen Ember Walsh?” I asked, deciding to get right to the point.
The girl thought for a minute, then shook her head. “Not since she left for her study group and date last night.” She smirked. “Maybe her date hasn’t ended yet.”
I clenched my fists but worked to keep my expression neutral. “I was her date,” I grunted.
The girl’s cheeks turned pink. “Oops. Um, I’ll check her room.”
“Thanks.”
She hurried over to Ember’s door and knocked. When no one answered, she peeked inside. Then she looked at me and shrugged. “Sorry. She’s not here. Did you try calling her?”
“Yeah. If she comes back, will you tell her Nixon stopped by?”
She nodded, and I mumbled my thanks before heading back to the elevator.
I returned to my car and pulled away from the curb, contemplating what to do next. Worry that something had happened to her was beginning to fester. The last thing I wanted to do was involve my sister in my relationship with her best friend, but if anyone knew what was going on with Ember, it was Naomi.
Since she hadn’t called me to yell at me for ruining Ember’s date, then fucking her, I assumed she didn’t know or wasn’t awake yet.
Looking at the time, I debated whether to brave Prentice’s wrath if I woke up my pregnant sister. A text was probably the safest way to proceed.
It was a short drive back to my place, so I waited until I was parked to shoot off a message to Naomi asking if she was awake.
My phone rang five seconds later.
“Is everything okay?” she asked when I answered, her tone worried.
I frowned as I opened my car door and climbed out. “You tell me.”
“What?” Naomi huffed. “You’re awake before eight o’clock during the off-season. Something must be wrong.”
“Have you heard from Ember?”
“Ember? Why?”
“She isn’t answering my calls or texts.”
“Your calls and texts?” Naomi sounded bewildered, and I couldn’t blame her, but I also didn’t have time to deal with filling her in right at that moment.
Thinking fast for an excuse, I blurted, “I wanted to check on her after her date. Make sure she’s okay.”
Naomi was silent.
“Mims!” I snapped impatiently. “Have you talked to her?”
“Um, yeah.”
“If you’ve talked to her, why are my calls going straight to voicemail? She’s obviously fine, and her phone is working. She couldn’t at least respond to my texts?”
“Probably because she’s on her way home.”
“I went by her dorm. She wasn’t there,” I grunted, annoyed that my normally chatty sister wasn’t spilling all the details. “And that still doesn’t explain the radio silence.”
“You what? Nix, what is going on with you two?”
“I don’t have time for this discussion, Mims. I just need to know where she is.”
“I didn’t mean her dorm. She’s probably not answering because her phone is turned off since she hopped a plane to our hometown this morning.”
My heart stuttered. Was she so sure that I wasn’t serious about her that she ran all the way home? Well, fuck that. I wasn’t letting her get away. She was mine.
I immediately stalked to my bedroom, grabbed a duffel bag from my closet, and tossed it onto the bed. Then I hurried around gathering everything I would need for a trip of my own.
“Her mom fell and broke her leg. She probably needs surgery, and I think Ember was really scared. She called to ask me to buy her a plane ticket since she was rushing to the airport super early this morning.”
I stopped shoving clothes in my bag and pinched the bridge of my nose as I squeezed my eyes closed and took a deep breath. Motherfucker. I hated to hear that my girl was hurting and scared when I wasn’t there for her to lean on. But she needed me, so I resumed packing, adding a few toiletries to the bag and zipping it up.
It was a little frustrating that I was finding out about all of this from my sister instead of Ember, but part of me understood. Our relationship had done a one-eighty in a single night…a night when we hadn’t done much talking. I wanted to be there for her, and hopefully, this would help convince her that I was serious about her.
“When was her flight?” I asked as I hoisted the duffel over my shoulder and left my apartment.
“She should be arriving soon. Nixon, what the heck is going on?”