Page 175 of Savior
When I park my car in the driveway in front of the detached garage, Dean isn’t pulling up behind me. I lost sight of his motorcycle shortly after leaving the party. Grabbing my black beaded clutch, I remove my cellphone and try to call him. It rings and goes to voicemail. If he’s still riding, he won’t pick up, so I opt to leave him a voicemail asking where he is, following up with a text asking the same. Maybe something came up at the Twisted Throttle and he made a quick detour? I can’t imagine he’d blow me off for no reason. Not knowing how upset I am about everything that just happened. I’m sure he’ll either be home soon, or at least call me to let me know what’s going on.
I let myself into the house and head straight for the master bedroom to strip off this dress. What a disaster this night turned into. I almost can’t believe what my sister tried to pull with Dean. In the past, it seemed rather harmless, though a little annoying. Everyone thinks Giuliana is perfection personified, and she knows it. I don’t know why she always has to play these games with my dates. We aren’t teenagers anymore. And Dean isn’t a date. What she pulled with him tonight, crossed a line I can’t pretend to ignore anymore.
I toss the dress over the chair in the bedroom and change into a fresh pair of underwear and one of Dean’s old t-shirts, then proceed to scrub the makeup off my face, brush my hair, and climb into bed with my cellphone.
It’s nine PM. Still no word from Dean. I send him another text asking him if he’s alright.
After almost an hour without any response, I’m pacing from the bedroom to the front door, checking for Serene’s headlights in the distance down the hill. Where is he? This is so unlike him. He knows I’m upset. That all I wanted to do tonight, was to just curl up with him. To listen to his assuring words that everything is going to be alright, and believe him, because Dean never lies to me.
Taking my cell with me into the living room, I tuck my legs up onto the couch beneath me and bring up Viking’s number. Maybe he knows where Dean is?
“Hey, Vanna.” Viking answers.
“Is Dean with you?”
“I thought he was with you tonight? That family thing he’s been bitching about.”
I’d laugh, if I wasn’t so concerned about him. “We left. He was following behind me on Serene. One minute he’s there, the next, he’s not. And now I can’t get in touch with him. I’ve left him voicemails and texts. Nothing. That’s not like him. I’m really starting to worry.”
“How long ago? And where was the last time you saw him behind you?” Viking asks.
“I don’t know… maybe an hour ago. I was driving down seventeen. I crossed over the tracks, glanced behind me and he wasn’t there anymore. I thought maybe something came up at the roadhouse.”
“Okay, so he kept going down seventeen. I’ll start there.” Viking says. “Keep your phone on. I’ll call you if I find out anything. You do the same.”
“Alright.”
“Do us all a favor though, Vanna, and stay the fuck home.” He adds. “I’m sending a few prospects over to the house, just in case.”
“Why? What’s going on now? What else have I not been told about? Is Dean in danger?”
“Just a precaution. I don’t need my best friend’s pregnant woman wandering around at night looking for his ass.”
“Are you sure that’s really it?”
“Woman! Just stay put!” he barks at me now.
“Alright! Call me when you know something.”
Viking hangs up on me.
As I get up and walk anxiously to the front door, staring down the driveway, hoping to see Dean riding home to me, I notice something wedged in the door…
It was put there after I got home… Sometime within the last few minutes, or I’d have noticed it…
My blood feels like ice water pumping through my veins. I’m afraid to look, thinking back on the contents of the box that was left on our porch last time... But this is just an envelope… And Dean isn’t answering my calls or texts…
I quickly unlock the door to retrieve it. The letter falls onto the welcome mat and I grab it, slamming the door and locking it once again. I pull the little card out and read it. Oh God…
“You’ll want for nothing… I promise… D”
Ipull down the unpaved driveway on the wooded lot to the old familiar trailer where I once beat Janie’s boyfriend with a bat on the kitchen floor. Last time we spoke, it was at her grandfather’s grave, and she was happy and moving on with her life in Oklahoma. Somewhere far away from this prick. Why the fuck would she go back to him after a clean break?
Dismounting Serene, I make my way to the front door, which is slightly ajar…
“Janie?” I call inside.
“I’m in here…” a shaky female voice calls back to me. She sounds weak and afraid.
