Damn!
What does that mean? Did she go away somewhere and not tell me since I cancelled by text? He stood there playing over their last night and morning together in his head. The way she’d kissed his chin when he’d left for work, running late for the first time in eight years. The sheet she’d dragged off the bed to hold over her breasts as she waved from his doorway with a smile.
There’s no fucking way she’s not into me. Something has happened to her.
He walked quickly back to the car, reversed down the street and headed in the direction of the local police station. If something had happened to her, someone needed to report it.
***
“Is Edward Owens here?”
The officer glanced at the clock. “His shift starts in ten minutes. Can I help you with something?”
“I think I need to make a report but I’m not sure if I’m overreacting. I’d like to talk to him first, if that’s okay. We’re old friends.”
“No problem,” she said. “I’ll put a note on his desk to come out here when he arrives. Just take a seat.”
“Thanks.”
He sat in the row of chairs against the far wall, chewing his lip as he worried. Thoughts jumbled through his head and soon he wasn’t sure whether he was worried he was overreacting, or worried that she was hurt.
“How’s my favourite tight ass bank manager?” Edward’s words pulled him from his thoughts, his friend grinning from a side door. “Want to come in?” He held the door open and Nate followed him through. At a corner desk Robert sat and indicated Nate could take the vacant seat. “What’s up? Long time no see.”
“I know. It seems like months.” He paused and took a long breath before continuing, “I have a somewhat odd request and I need you to talk me through it.”
“Okay. Shoot.”
“I met this girl.”
“Oh, oh. All the bad stories start like that.” Edward grinned and Nate continued.
“No, we hit it off and we dated three times last week.” Robert nodded and made a note on a sheet of paper in front of him. “On Wednesday night, she stayed over.”
“Uh huh.”
“I left on Thursday and everything was great. Then I got to work and got news of an urgent interstate trip. I texted her to cancel our date on Friday night. It’s now Monday night and I haven’t heard a peep from her. When I call her phone is turned off and goes straight to message bank.”
“She could have blocked you.”
“She could have. I’d be surprised if she has, though. She’s quite straight forward and we parted on excellent terms that morning.”
“You know women, man. They get a bee in their bonnet and—”
“I went to her house when I got home on Friday night. Left a note in the door. I’ve just come from there and the note is still in the door. The junk mail from the weekend hasn’t been cleared. She has this awful yappy dog. No sign of him either.”
“You think something’s happened to her?”
“I have no idea. What do you think? I don’t know whether to report her missing, or take it as a rejection and let it go. I don’t want to sound conceited or anything but I think something must have happened. Our night together was perfect.”
“Perfect.” Edward raised an eyebrow. “Big call.”
Nate blushed but pressed on. “I’m telling you, it’s not normal for her to suddenly disappear.”
“Okay, do you want to lodge a missing person’s report? She’s technically been out of contact for a couple of days, right?”
“That’s right. Can I put in a report? Do I have to be a relative?”
“Nope. Anyone can do a report. How about we fill it out and then I can make a few enquiries. It’s probably nothing. Maybe she’s just pissed with you and taken herself off for the weekend.”
“I hope so. At this point I’ll take total rejection over her being hurt.”
“Okay.” Edward pulled his laptop toward him and opened the lid. “Let’s get the details down and I’ll see what I can find out.”
Chapter 10
“Hey Nate?” Samantha stood in his doorway on Tuesday morning, a guilty expression clouding her features. “I just found a message on my desk from Friday.”
Nate frowned. “You’re just giving it to me now?”
“I’m sorry. We were busy and then on Monday the news came about the closure. I just forgot.”
She walked forward and handed him the piece of paper. His eyes scanned the message and he was suddenly filled with anger. “Goddamn it, Samantha! This was important!” He dragged his fingers through his hair and let out a short laugh. “I put in a missing person’s report last night. I thought she was dead!”
“Oh, Nate. I’m sorry. I had no idea it was important. All she said was to tell you she lost her phone and would contact you this week. She said calling you at work was all she could think of to get in touch.”
He took deep breaths to calm himself, relief coursing through his veins.
She’s alright! Yesssss!
The phone on his desk rang and he snatched it out of the holder. “Hello? Ahh… can I call you back? I’m in a meeting.” He hung up and then put the phone back to his ear, dialling a number from a card on his desk. “Hi Edward? You can stop looking. It turns out she lost her phone on Thursday and she’s working in Perth for the week. I’m sorry to waste your time.”
“Oh, that’s good. I was going to tell you there’d been no phone calls and her bank account hadn’t been touched. I’m glad you’ve confirmed she’s well. Do you have a number I can call to verify your information?”
“Not yet. The second I hear from her, I’ll get you the number.” He hung up and looked at Samantha, who looked like she might cry. “Hey, don’t get upset. I’m sorry I snapped at you. This has all worked out. I might even get some sleep tonight now that I can stop worrying!”
***
“I’m surprised to see you here, Nate. I thought you were pining for your new woman?” Ruben welcomed him through the side gate. He’d cleaned up his backyard and invited several friends around after work. Nate’s response was almost always a no.
“I was, but I’ve had news that she’s okay. So now I’m distracting myself until I hear from her. Want a beer? I bought a whole carton.”
“Tight ass Nate bought beers. Whatever is going on?” Dean laughed as he pushed the gate open and entered Ruben’s backyard. “I arrived just in time.”
A bark drew Nate’s attention and he watched Dean wrestle with a ball of fur as he walked toward him. Shock filled his voice, “Why do you have Fang?”
“You know Fang? My friend Kelly rang me to pick him up after she got stuck interstate for a few extra days. Pissed my boss right off that she insisted on pulling me off shift on Thursday night. Apparently, she lost her phone and didn’t have anyone’s number.” He took a beer from Nate’s outstretched hand. “Is Jasper here? He promised to bring me a training lead he has.”
Nate snorted, “He’s not here yet, and any training lead he has will not help that monster.”
“Aww. That’s not true.” Dean ruffled the fur under Fang’s belly. “Don’t listen to him, you’re just misunderstood aren’t you Fangy Wangy?” The baby tones he used on the dog had Nate and Ruben staring at him, wide eyed. “What? I like dogs. So, sue me.” He sat next to Ruben and placed Fang on the grass. “How do you know Fang, anyway?”
“Little bastard is the one who bit me at work.”
Dean laughed and slapped his leg. “No way! I had no idea it was him.” Dean scratched the dog’s ear as he sipped his beer and watched Nate purse his lips. Realisation dawned on him as Fang rolled over onto his back. “Hang on. That means his owner is my friend Kelly?”
“Looks like it.” Nate took a long swig of his beer. Then he ground his teeth together thinking of the tortured weekend he’s spent wondering where Kelly and Fang had got to. If only Dean didn’t spend all his time getting another beer they might have worked out they knew the same person.
“No way! Kelly Foster is your mystery woman? How the hell did you manage that? She never looks twice at anyone?”
“Really? Why is she friends with a stripper then?” Nate’s tone betrayed his thoughts.
“Oooh, careful Nate. Your skin might turn green if you think like that.” Dean laughed again and then held up his hands. “Don’t panic. We do some modelling together occasionally. We hit it off and I look after the dog whenever she goes away. She thought it would be just one night but they extended the job.”
“You model?” Jasper’s incredulous voice preceded him into the backyard. He closed the gate behind him, rattled it to make sure it was locked and then handed a dog lead to Dean. “Why did we not know this, pretty boy?”
“For exactly that reason. I can live without you teasing me.”
“Oh, I think not! Wait until I tell Mimi. No way will she let you get out of going in the next calendar.”
“She’ll need to sell it to me. I get paid to show off this body. I’m not keen to give it away for free, even if it is for charity.” Dean leaned down and slipped the lead onto Fang. A small growl rattled around in his throat and Dean scolded him, before clipping the lead around his neck.
“It can only be good for publicity, surely.”
“Hmm… maybe. Anyway, Nate bought beers, so no more talk about how much the ladies want me. Let’s get stuck into that carton before he decides to go home and take it with him.”
“No early home time for me tonight. I’m drinking and sleeping on the couch if I have to.”
“Stressful weekend?” Jasper sat beside him and took a beer.
“You have no idea. Apparently, Dean here knew Kelly was safe, while I was off reporting her missing to Edward.” He shook his head. “I thought she was dead!”
Dean held up his hands again. “In my defence, I never heard you mention her name so I didn’t know who you were talking about.”
“I’m not blaming you. Just marvelling at how the world works. Do you have a number for her?”
“Nope. She said she wouldn’t have time to replace the phone until she got home.”
“Damn. If she calls you will you give her my number, please?”
“Of course. Now that I know it’s Kelly, I can see why you might be reluctant to set off on that big overseas adventures. She’s a catch.” Dean groaned as Nate glared at him. “She’s also a lovely person.” He shook his head as he continued, “I can’t believe you’re the jealous type. You’ve always seemed so cool, calm and collected.”
“Yeah, but he’s usually single.” Jasper laughed as Fang ran a quick lap of the fence line. “Now he has something to protect, he’s getting all manly on us.”
“Well, he’s the opposite of you then.” Ruben teased. “You’ve been whipped Jasper. We can all see it.”
Jasper rolled his eyes. “I don’t know why I hang out with you guys. Mimi is so much nicer to me than you all are.”
“We’ve known you forever. It’s our job to keep your head from getting too big.”
“That ship sailed a long time ago.” Nate laughed as Fang found a stick and settled down to chew on the end. “The best we can hope for now is to stop it growing any larger.”
Chapter 11
“Dean said you had news?” Kelly slipped into the passenger seat of Nate’s car at the airport. Her hands still shook from the intensity of their reunion at the arrivals terminal. If she’d known he’d be so emotional she might have got Dean to pick her up instead.
“I do. Did that big mouth tell you what it was?” Nate started the car and quickly reversed out of his space.
“No, he said you’d have to tell me.”
Nate looked to the sky and laughed. “It’s a miracle. Remind me to get him a shiny medal to pin to his chest. I don’t think he’s ever kept anything to himself in the history of our friendship.” He took her hand and placed it on his thigh, keeping his eyes on the road as they merged onto the highway. “He did keep it a secret that he was doing modelling, but that’s his own secret, so it doesn’t count.”
“Enough about Dean. What did you need to tell me?”
“Well, a lot has happened since I last saw you.”
“Yes, you reported me missing!”
He laughed. “I did. I’m not sorry for that at all. I was feeling all rejected until I told myself that cancelling our date via text wasn’t enough to wipe out our last morning together.”
“Of course it wasn’t!” She squeezed his leg and he smiled at the road.
“Well, anyway, my trip to Sydney turned out to be bad news. I’ve been made redundant with a six-month notice period. The same for my whole branch.”
“They’re closing it down?”
“Yep.” He sighed. “So that’s one piece of news.”
“God, there’s more? I was only gone a few days.”
“The next part could be partly your fault. When I thought you’d decided not to see me anymore, I did some research to look at my options. I tend to be a bit rash when I’m upset, and I was really upset.” His finger traced across the back of her hand as he considered his next words. “I originally thought I might like to buy a business, but now I think I want to travel.”
She smiled and nodded. “We talked about that when we first met. Travel is good.”
“It is and the more I think about it, the more enthusiastic I get. I want to go for a long time, though.” He covered her hand with his and stilled his fingers. “I want you to come with me.”
“Oh.” She stared at him. “I don’t know what to say.”
“Well, I don’t want to go alone.”
“Not about that. About the longer time. I thought you were going to say you were going for a month, or six weeks.”
Nate took a deep breath. “A year is more like it.”
“A year? Holy crap!”
“I know. It sounds overwhelming.”
“That’s one way to describe it. What will you do about the house?”
“I’m going to rent it out. Maybe to Dean if it works out.”
“Oh,” she said again. Her head leaned back against the seat as she stared out the side window.
“You could rent yours out too.” Nate’s kept his voice neutral, not wanting to seem too desperate.
“What about Fang?”
“Maybe Dean could babysit? Or another friend.” His voice rose at the end of his question as he glanced at her profile. She didn’t look as thrilled as he’d hoped.
What did you expect, idiot? Did you expect her to disrupt her life and just follow you without question?
“We don’t have to decide today.”
“Well, that’s lucky.” Her trademark humour quickly returned, as she shoved him on the shoulder. “I think I need more than a few minutes to decide to go traipsing around the world with a backpack.” She frowned. “That’s what you mean isn’t it? Backpacking and exploring?”
“Pretty much. It won’t be as glamorous as your modelling career.”
“No, but I probably won’t be reported missing either!”
Chapter 12
Nate spent the next weeks planning the trip he wanted to take and driving Kelly insane with the details. The more he talked about what fun they were going to have, the more she worried she’d jumped into this too fast. Technically, she hadn’t even told him she’d go with him. They’d just agreed to play it by ear since Nate still had a job until the end of the year.
“Do you want to spend more time in Asia or in Europe?” he asked her one morning as he pored over his copy of a Lonely Planet guide. Several fat guides sat on the table now. Nate ordered a new one every time a new country took his fancy.
“Don’t care,” she answered as she poured milk into her cereal and took the bowl to the table.
“Well, Asia seems much cheaper, but Europe has all those famous landmarks you’ve heard about your whole life.”
“I’ve love to see the Eiffel Tower.”
“You’re keen on France? Why didn’t
you say?”
“It’s a bit hard to get a word in around here, nowadays.” She took a mouthful of cereal and chewed. “I was supposed to spend a month in France as a graduation present from my parents after high school. They wanted me to go there so I wouldn’t go to the usual school leaver celebrations.”
“Why didn’t you go?”
“I got a modelling job and chose that instead. They were happy since I still missed the Schoolies celebrations. I even got my passport before the trip was cancelled.”
“Is it still current?”
“Yep. I renewed it last year. It seemed smart since I might model overseas at some point.”
“Perfect. My passport is current, too.” He grinned and went back to the page he’d been studying. “I need some input from you so I can plan the Paris part.”
“Right.” She frowned and pushed her bowl away.
“What’s wrong?” Nate closed the book and sat next to her at the table. He took her hand and kissed the back of it. “Tell me.”
“It’s just that,” she bit her lip, something she did a lot of lately. “How safe is it for us to go? There’s so much on the news these days.”
“I think bad things happen anywhere. I’d rather have something happen to me in Paris or in London, than be crushed by a falling roof in my office at work.”
Kelly laughed and squeezed his hand. “You would not have said that a few weeks ago.”
“I know.” He leaned in and kissed her, a gentle action that had her heart racing. “I’m turning over a new leaf.”
“It suits you. I’m just not sure that I’m ready to do the same. I had so many plans that will all be pushed aside if I go with you. My job. The renovations that I want to start. The longer you leave those things, the more they cost.”
“Well, we could start them straight away if you want. Then they’ll be done before we leave.”
She laughed at his immediate enthusiasm. “Yeah, remind me to show you the list of what I want to do to that place.”
“I can manage it. What else has you worried?”
“Well, I hate to state the obvious, but we only met a few weeks ago. We barely know what the other likes and enjoys.”
Tight Ass! (Panty Dropper Series Book 3) Page 6
