“Sure I do. We’ve spent a lot of time together these past two nights. I feel like I’ve known you for weeks.”
I looked down at my body, dressed in the overtly sexualized clothing of his and Cassie’s choosing. He didn’t know me at all if he thought this was how I wanted to look.
“I know that you’re intelligent. You’re beautiful. You’ve got a strong mind of your own and won’t put up with shit from douchebags like me.”
“That’s true,” I said.
“I understand why you ran out from the club.”
“It wasn’t a good vibe, Rob. I didn’t like it one bit. I was scared.”
“I know.”
“Is that what you put all your dates through?”
He shook his head. “You’re different, Lacey. I want to change. I want you to help me change.”
“Why would I do that?” I said.
“Because I have such strong feelings for you, Lacey. I’m crazy about you.”
Chapter 21
Grant
MY PHONE WAS CRUSHED TO PIECES. It couldn’t have happened at a worse time. I walked purposefully out of the club and took the sim card out of it before flinging it across the street. I drove the van a few blocks away to some higher ground and pulled over. I was on a street of abandoned warehouses. No one would disturb me there.
I got into the back of the van and powered up the equipment. It’s top of the range. I bought most of it on the black market from retired government agents. I could do anything with it, find anyone.
I typed Lacey’s cell number into a laptop that was wired to a high-powered radio receiver. Then I waited. A map of the city showed up on the screen, then the map zoomed in closer and closer on the triangulated location of Lacey’s cell.
I thought about calling it, I could make a call directly from the receiver, but then I noticed she was at Mercy hospital.
My mind went completely berserk. All I could think was that she might be hurt. If anyone had touched her, there would be hell to pay.
I had no time to spare. I climbed into the front of the van and began speeding toward the hospital. I pulled up outside the emergency room and left the van in the ambulance bay. It would be towed in minutes but I didn’t care. I pushed through the swing doors and ran straight to the desk.
“Lacey Eden,” I said to the nurse at the desk. “Was she admitted?”
“Just a minute, sir. Are you her husband?”
I hesitated. I don’t know why. The question caught me off guard. “I’m family,” I said at last. “Her brother.”
The nurse typed Lacey’s name into her computer and scrolled through the results. “Sorry, sir. No one by that name has been admitted.”
My heart was pounding. That could mean she wasn’t hurt, that she was perfectly fine, but it could also be even worse. She hadn’t had her phone. What if she didn’t have her ID?
“What if she didn’t have ID?” I said. I took Lacey’s picture from my wallet and showed it to the nurse. “Do you have any women in their thirties, blonde, who might not have been identified?”
She typed again, then looked up at me. “No, sir. It’s a quiet night. No one unidentified fitting that description.”
I breathed a sigh of relief. She hadn’t been admitted. That didn’t explain why her phone was showing up here though. I was about to turn to leave when I saw, down the corridor toward the trauma center, a blonde woman in a stripper outfit talking to a guy with a bandaged face.
I knew it instantly.
It was Lacey. It didn’t look like her, it wasn’t the way Lacey usually dressed, even the hair and makeup were different, but there was no questioning it. I’d know that face anywhere, and it was Lacey’s.
And she didn’t look distressed at all. Not one bit. In fact, she looked like she was having a heart to heart with the guy in the bandages.
I ducked around a corner before they saw me. I didn’t want to approach. I knew I should have gone up to her, asked her if she was all right, but I had to know what was going on. I was desperate. Something fishy was going on, and the best way of finding out what, was to spy. Lacey had been very clear. I was to give her space, and privacy. I was to butt out of her love life.
But she’d asked for help too. That text message. I had no doubt she’d sent it. She was getting mixed up with something bad, and my job was to find out what, even if it meant spying on her.
I hurried back to the van. Miraculously it hadn’t been towed.
“Is this your vehicle, sir?” a security guard said.
“Sorry, it was an emergency.”
“This bay is for hospital vehicles only.”
“Yes, sir, I’ll move it right away.”