After collecting the flowers, thermoses, and donuts, I walked to the red door and knocked a time or two.
Silence was the only response.
After a good minute, I knocked again, this time a bit louder.
Silence again.
“Brooke,” I called, ringing the doorbell this time. “Brooke, I know you’re mad at me, but can you just give me five minut—”
The door swung open, and Ria’s blue eyes met mine. Her hair was wet, and she wore a robe, as if she’d just hopped out of the shower to answer the door. “Oh, hey, Declan. What are you doing here?”
“I was looking for Brooke,” I said. “Is she—”
Her brows knitted. “What do you mean you’re looking for Brooke?”
“Look, I know she’s upset, but if you could just give her this—”
“What the fuck are you talking about?” Her face screwed up in confusion. “She was with you. She told me yesterday that if she didn’t come home, it was because she was spending the night with you.”
My heart dropped. “She didn’t come home?”
Ria’s breaths stopped. “You’re kidding, right? This is a joke—you two are fucking with me.”
Suddenly, I wasn’t sure ifshewas the one fucking withme.
If Brooke didn’t want to talk to me, I could see her sending Ria to the door. But I couldn’t see her telling Ria to lie and say that she was missing if she wasn’t.
“And what the fuck was she upset about?” Ria took a step inward, eyes widening. “What did you do?”
CHAPTERTWENTY-FOUR
DECLAN
Oh, fuck no.
Stomach suddenly aching, heart falling, I extended my hand. “We got into an argument, and she stormed off. Read my mind—I swear that’s all.”
She glanced down at my hand, then the street behind me.
That look made it clear she didn’t trust me. Which made sense. I was over two hundred pounds, two heads taller than her, had Werewolf strength, and was evidently the last person who’d seen her sister. Blocking her front door while she stood there in a robe and slippers obviously had to be an intimidating picture.
But I was just as scared as she was.
I took a step back but kept my hand outstretched. “I swear on my life that I didn’t hurt her. Please read my mind and see that so we can find her.”
Her blue eyes held mine for a long moment, hand beginning to tremble where she held her robe shut. She glanced at the road behind me, likely weighing the exposure risks. The early morning road wasn’t busy, but to do what she did for a living, Ria had to be street smart. Inviting the guy inside who’d associated with two missing women in the last week wasn’t smart.
“You move a muscle, and I’ll scream,” Ria said. “The lady next door is old, but she has a gun, and she likes me.”
I still held my hand out. “Understandable. But she left Spades around eight last night, and it’s after nine now. We need to—”
She clapped her shaking fingers together with mine. “Shut up and let me think.”
Swallowing hard, I did so.
She did as Brooke had done the night we met, sliding her fingertip along my palm. As she outlined the eye, whispering an incantation to herself, her eyes sealed shut, and the images of last night passed through my mind.
Brooke and I at Spades, teleporting to Abe’s, flirting on the sofa, then Tommy. The fist fight. The meeting in Abe’s office. The argument between Brooke and I outside of Spades. Brooke peeling tire out of the lot, then me tossing and turning in bed. Driving to the diner, squeezing the box of doughnuts in the bag, and knocking on this door.