“What’s wrong, old man? Can’t work your cell phone? Bit different from the quill and parchment they used in your day, huh?”
Alex didn’t even glance at Sloan as he called Tara’s phone again. It rang then went to voicemail.
“Did your stocks take a dip? Lose a few thousand?”
“I don’t have time for you right now, Sloan,” Alex snapped.
Sloan wiped the smirk from his face, replacing it with a frown. “What’s wrong? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
“Tara’s gone. I can’t get hold of her.”
“She’s probably just gone home to bed.”
Alex shook his head. “She should never have left without telling me.”
“Why would she tell you? She’s not waitressing anymore is she?”
“What?” Alex shook his head realizing Sloan didn’t know they were together. “Tara is my sub now. We have a contract. We came here together tonight and she left without telling me.”
Sloan’s eyes widened. “And she’s not answering her phone?”
“No.”
“Jesus, that girl is in for a world of punishment.”
Alex shook his head, looking down at his phone in anguish. “This is my fault. I left her on her own for hours. I’ve treated her as though she meant nothing to me, as though all I wanted was someone to fuck. She means so much more and I never told her.”
“Hey, relax. So you’ll give her some time and go talk to her in the morning. It will be okay.”
Alex shook his head. “No, I can’t wait that long.”
Instead of calling her cell he tried her landline. Again, a mechanical voice clicked on. Answer machine.
“Fuck! I need to find her. I’m going to her apartment.”
“I’ll come with you.”
“Why?”
“Because I like Tara and you don’t look like you should be driving.”
Alex scowled and opened his mouth.
“Before you protest, if I drive then you can keep calling her,” Sloan said reasonably before leaving the room. Alex grabbed his wallet and chased after him.
***
“She’s not here,” Alex stated the obvious, but he still looked around the apartment once more.
“Wow, you guys work fast,” Sloan said.
“What?”
“You have a key to her place already. You don’t mess around.”
Alex waved his hand at the irrelevant observation. “I own the apartment.”
Sloan raised his eyebrows.