That Emerald Vow (The Crimson Creed #2)

23. Chapter Twenty-Three

I think I’m finally ready to take that leap of faith with Damon. Our relationship has been a whirlwind of fast falling; although we didn’t want to just jump into it with our emotions still running high from other things.

He’s going to pick me up in about two hours to grab a drink at the bar, so I clean up around the house; this is a date I definitely plan to bring home. I know he won’t care about the mess, but a cluttered space equals a cluttered mind. And I want my full attention on Damon and not the dirty laundry piling up.

I dance around my living room as I vacuum with Taylor Swift’s Reputation album blasting. There’s a beeping going off, which I assume is my dryer telling me it's done. I lower the volume of my music to realize it’s actually my cell phone.

I run over to it to see Adrian’s name on the screen, which is odd, since we never call each other. We usually only speak through Lily.

“Hey, Ade. What’s up?”

“I-I was wondering if you’ve spoken to Lily today?” he asks

“I spoke to her yesterday when we had lunch. But other than that, we haven’t spoken.” I’m now fully alert. “Why?”

“I’m worried . . .” He explains to me that he’s tried calling her several times since coming home, and every time, it went straight to voicemail. So he decided to check the camera feeds that we all share with each other. With our line of work, one can never be too careful.

Adrian says she left for a run but never returned.

“Fuck. Fuck. Fuck!” I exclaim. “That’s not normal. Where are you?” I can hear his feet hitting the pavement faster than before.

“I’m heading to the park where she usually runs,” he says as I’m already grabbing my key off of the hook and heading for my car. I look down at myself and honestly give zero fucks that I’m wearing pj’s and slippers. But I need to change so I can hide some weapons, because I’m craving blood now and am unsure what to expect. I don’t know where Lily is, but if someone has hurt her . . . that person is about to die.

“I’ll meet you there. Let me know if you see her,” I say.

“Okay. Please let me know if you hear from her?” he pleads.

“Of course . . .” I say. “Ade . . . what if . . . what if they took her?” I ask nervously. We have been plotting this revenge for months, but they could have found us . . . her . . . first.

“We’ll find her,” he tries to say confidently, but his shaky voice gives him away. “I don’t think it’s X. I would have heard about it. But I . . . I don’t know.”

“Okay,” I whisper as I am already halfway changed. “I-I’m coming.”

Less than five minutes later, I’m driving like a bat out of hell to the park when I get another phone call.

“Hello?” My voice comes out shaky.

“Hey, where are you?” Damon asks.

It feels so nice to hear his voice, but I feel equally guilty. While I was busy daydreaming about Damon, the first person to ever truly care for me romantically, my guardian angel of a best friend went missing. I know those two things don’t correlate at all, but it doesn’t stop the needles stabbing me in the chest over and over again.

“I’m driving to the park. I assume Adrian called you too. ”

“Yeah, I’m getting on my bike now. Didn’t know if you wanted me to come get you.” I hear his engine purr to life. This man is so fucking considerate.

“Thank you for always thinking of everything, but I’ll meet you at the park.”

“Okay. See you in a bit.” I reach out to the console to end the call. “And, gem?”

“Yeah?” I ask, leaving my hand midair.

“We’re going to find her and make whoever did this bleed. I promise you that. I’ll see you soon.”

Bringing my hand back to the wheel, I groan in both excitement for finding someone just as ruthless as me and for fear of my best friend being hurt.

We scour the entire park and other surveillance in the area with the help of Reid and Octavia—Adrian and Damon’s go-to tech duo. It’s clear she did her run for about thirty minutes and headed towards her house. The last footage we find is from a camera in front of the bank three blocks from her house. There’s no other footage that shows where she went or if anyone followed her. But the lack of video evidence means someone definitely has her, someone with reach. Wiping out this many cameras without a trace isn’t easy.

Adrian and Damon go to X’s headquarters to talk to Alex. Damon was reluctant to leave me behind, but I assured him I would be fine. We shouldn’t reveal that I know about X, as that would risk everything we have planned, especially if they weren’t the ones who took her.

So I head home and look through all of our tabbed files that contain every piece of info on scum within a thirty mile radius, which makes this a formidable task. It’s organized by potential predators, confirmed predators, and those we’ve already dealt with.

My vision is starting to blur when I’m about twenty percent done with the files, but then my doorbell chimes, indicating Damon is here. He immediately pulls me into a hug as soon as the door opens a crack.

“It seems like Alex doesn’t know anything about this. I’m sorry I don’t have better news.”

I take a deep inhale, filling my lungs, and choke when I go to exhale as a sob breaks free. All day, I had refused to stop and let myself truly sit in the very real possibility that Lily could be somewhere dead . . . or worse, alive and being tortured.

“Are you okay?” he asks.

My body shakes with each escaping tear, opening a floodgate of emotion. Damon takes the backs of my thighs and lifts me up to wrap my legs around his waist. He carefully kicks my front door closed as he takes me to the couch. I continue to cry into his chest as he runs his fingers over my hair and back. He even peppers kisses along my head every now and again, reminding me he’s here with me—that I don’t have to do this alone.

We sit there for God knows how long, but once I feel like I have absolutely no tears left to cry, I sit up, realizing his shirt is soaked. “I’m sorry. I’m such a mess.”

“Your best friend is missing. You have every fucking right to be upset,” he says softly as he takes my hand. “How about you go get cleaned up and I’ll get something cooking for dinner.”

“I’m not hungr—”

“I know. Neither am I. But for Lily’s sake, we all need to take care of ourselves so we can put all our energy into finding her. Food equals energy.”

I sniffle. “What about Ade? This must be killing him too.”

“I’m going to send him some food, and we can call him to make sure he eats it. ‘Cause, like you, I’m sure he’s going to be stubborn.” He chuckles but purses his lips almost immediately. I stick my tongue out at him, allowing myself a single moment of normalcy.

“Okay. I’m not sure what’s in the fridge to cook.”

He smiles at me. “It’s like you don’t know me. I ordered ahead to get groceries delivered. It worked out ‘cause I was always planning to cook for you tonight.” My heart constricts, remembering we had a date tonight—what was supposed to be our first night, the beginning of us.

I lean over and hug him, hyperaware that I’m still straddling this gorgeous man. “You are incredible.”

“I know,” he says with sass.

Pulling back, I roll my eyes before leaning in to give him a lingering kiss on the cheek. As much as I want to let this moment take its course, I know that, yet again, it’s not the time for us. “I’ll be back.”

I can’t help but shed more tears of fear, anger, and sadness in the shower. By the time I come out, there’s a wonderful aroma wafting through my home. I quickly towel dry my hair and put on the first pajamas I find—not giving two shits for once in my life about my appearance.

“What are you making? It smells amazing,” I say as I enter the kitchen.

Damon looks concentrated, but it changes into an enamored look. “You look breathtaking, baby.” I look down, suddenly self-conscious again. He walks over and kisses my cheek as his hand slowly trails down my arm, leaving goosebumps in its wake. “You are perfect.” Damon walks back to the stove. “I’m making chicken with string beans. I know Chinese is your favorite comfort meal.”

I raise my eyebrow at him. “Seems like someone has been paying attention.”

“Actually, I bought a bunch of groceries for the week to cook for you.” His cheeks flush in embarrassment.

“And you call me perfect.” I grab a cooked string bean from the wok, slightly burning my finger but not caring. My eyes roll to the back of my head as I moan out. “This tastes fucking divine. And the string beans are perfectly crunchy!”

“Only the best for my gem,” he says, making me smile.

We eat quickly and then clean up the kitchen. Damon and I sit in the living room with folders splayed out and my laptop open. He helps me go through more of my physical and digital files. Unfortunately, while we get through more than half of them, there’s nothing that helps us get any closer to finding Lily.