Page 222 of Malice and Surrender
“What?”
“I said, Raine is alright. You didn’t hurt her. The doc was here. He said you’ll be fine. The stress and lack of sleep brought this on.”
“I don’t care about me. You promise she’s alive?”
“Yes,” Roach said, letting go of my face and groaning as his phone rang. He pulled it from his pocket, and I realized it was mine. “This guy never gives up. How do you put up with him?” He hit a button and sat the phone down.
“What? Who?”
“Avro. The guy keeps fucking calling,” Roach said.
“Why?” I asked, pushing myself up in bed. Everything ached. Whatever I went through left me feeling like I ran a marathon and then did a round with Mike Tyson.
“I don’t know. I didn’t answer.”
“But Avro never calls me,” I said. “Give me my phone.”
“The doc said that….”
“I don’t fucking care what the doc said. Give me my phone,” I growled.
“I don’t get it, man. Why are you torturing yourself, allowing them to be in a relationship with you and Raine? I couldn’t do it,” I looked at the fifty missed calls and then up at Roach.
“I’d do anything for her. That’s all there is to it. I’d survive longer without my beating heart than if you took her from me.” Roach shook his head like he just couldn’t understand. Of course, he couldn’t. He’d never loved someone so much they made his blood sing. They became his world.
“Why didn’t you answer any of these?”
“I had more important things to worry about, like what the fuck was wrong with you. Besides, Raine was pestering us to let them know how you were before we took you from their house. I may not have bothered to call when Mannix asked me to.”
“Why?”
“She hurt you. She fucking deserved it. She can wait a little to find out what’s wrong. It won’t kill her.”
“Fuck man, I swear if something is wrong,” I mumbled. I was about to hit the voicemail and listen to the messages when it started to ring again.
“Avro?”
“Kai, thank God. She’s gone, she’s gone, something happened,” he rambled, but I sat up straight and was on the move. Whatever was going on with me could fucking wait.
“Slow down. What do you mean she’s gone? Raine took off again, like last time?” I grabbed my leather jacket off the door handle, not slowing my pace. I knew Roach was following, the sound of his boots heavy behind me.
“Fuck Kai. No, not like last time.” He sounded like he was hyperventilating. The one thing I’d learned about Avro, he was pretty fucking chill. It was Jace and I that freaked out. To hear the terror in his voice had me gripping the phone tighter.
“Then what happened?”
“After you were taken away, Raine was really upset. I offered to come to her house and pack some of her stuff to keep her mind occupied. I went to get some supplies from the hardware store, and when I got back, she was gone.”
“But not like last time?”
“Kai! No!” Avro yelled into the phone. I could hear Jace in the background telling him to take a breath, but his fear spiked my adrenaline, and my heart pounded against my ribs.
“Then how?”
“Give me the phone,” Jace said, and there was swearing, but Jace came on the line. “Kai, she’s been taken by someone. There were signs of a struggle, and her phone was smashed on the floor. The door was open when Avro got back, but who the fuck would want to take Raine? Is this because of me and the proposal? I just can’t see a fan doing this.”
I stopped dead as an ice-cold dread snaked down my spine. “No, it’s Frank.”
8:31PM
