Chapter 5

      It wasn’t until Elliot’s strong arms wrapped around her from behind in a warm, comforting embrace that Skye realized the high-pitched wail echoing in her ears was her own.

      “Shh,” he whispered in her ear. “It’s going to be okay. I promise. It’s okay, sweetheart. Just calm down for me.”

      With her back still to his front, he lifted her off her feet and quickly pulled her from the room, reaching back with one arm to yank the door shut before carrying her into the living room. Since there was nowhere to sit down, he set her back on her feet, but kept his powerful arms wrapped around her, and she trembled as she felt him place his cheek against the top of her head.

      “Come on,” he crooned, surrounding her in his warmth as she tried to stop making the god-awful sounds that were being pulled up from deep inside her. Oh, God... Vivian! She silently screamed that phrase over and over inside her head, feeling like she’d slipped into some kind of macabre, demented nightmare. What the hell had happened to her best friend? Was she hurt? Was she...gone? And why? Why was this happening?

      Squeezing her eyes shut, she tried to block out the sinister images of Viv’s room that kept flashing through her mind. But it was impossible. Who could do such a thing? Who would? And why?

      “Skye, listen to me.” He’d lowered his head, speaking the urgent words against her ear, and she could feel the warmth and smoothness of his lips against her sensitive skin. “I need you to take a deep breath for me, okay? Come on, honey. I know you can do it.”

      Somehow, Elliot’s deep voice managed to reach in and capture her attention from the painful chaos of her thoughts, the husky timbre grounding her when everything around her seemed to be spinning so violently out of control. She gasped, trying to do as he said, but it seemed to take long, endless moments before her lungs could finally work. She coughed and wheezed between sniffs and hiccups, her muscles twitching as she let him hold her up, her limbs as weak as a rag doll’s. If he’d let her go, she would have simply fallen into a heap of broken sobs and fear on the floor. One more broken thing there to add to all the others.

      But he didn’t let her go. He held her like he would stand there and hold her forever, if that’s what it took, and as the seconds ticked by, she could feel his strength seeping into her, until she was able to blink her vision clear and pull in a slow, deep, shuddering breath. At that moment, Skye honestly didn’t know what she would have done without him. She didn’t even want to think about it. And, yeah, she was going to have about a million and one questions once she’d managed to calm down. Just...not now. Right now, she needed to keep feeling his strong arms holding her close, his chest rising and falling at her back as he matched the rhythm of his breathing to hers.

      “That’s it,” he murmured, giving her a gentle squeeze. “Just one deep breath after another, nice and slow.”

      She gave a hard swallow and sniffed, needing to make her throat work so that she could at least thank him. But as she turned her head, wanting to look up into his rugged, gorgeous face, she caught the flash of something on the floor from the corner of her eye. Her stomach clenched when she realized it was the flashing red light on the answering machine that Viv had found for them at her favorite thrift store, and she tried to lunge for it, but Elliot’s arms were still wrapped around her, holding her tight.

      “Let me go!” she cried, pulling at his arms. “I need to check the answering machine. Someone’s left a message and it might be Vivian!”

      Lowering his arms so that she could cross the room, he asked, “Why wouldn’t she just call your cell?”

      “My battery’s completely broken, remember?” She flicked him a quick look as she crouched down to hit the play button. “Look, I know it sounds weird, but you can check this thing remotely by calling the number and punching in a code. So this is how we sometimes leave messages for each other, because my cell phone is pretty much a piece of crap. Something always seems to be going wrong with it.”

      He muttered something under his breath about her needing a new phone, then turned and quickly made his way over to the front door, yanked it open and shouted, “Max, get in here!”

      His partner came rushing through the open door just as the message began to play.

      “Skye, it’s me. I hope you’re calling and listening to this from someplace safe. But if you are in the apartment, please, please get the hell out of there and go to the shelter. Something’s... I don’t... Something weird is going on, but I don’t know what. It...it might have to do with the club, and I’m so sorry I didn’t listen to you about that place. I should have, and now...now I think I’m in trouble, so I’m getting out of town. It’s the only thing I can think of right now to keep these assholes away from you. I know your stupid phone isn’t working, so I just called the diner. That bitch Robin said that there had been some kind of robbery, but that you were okay and might have had to go and give a statement or something. Just...please don’t stay at the apartment, in case someone comes there looking for me. I’m on my way there now, to quickly pick up some clothes and that stuff of my mom’s, and then I’m heading out. I’ll call you as soon as I can. Love you, girl. Stay safe!”

      * * *

      As a heavy, leaden silence settled over the room, Elliot glanced at Max, and he thought the guy looked like he was going to be ill, his face too pale and his breaths coming sharp and fast.

      With his hard gaze focused in tight on the answering machine, Max quietly muttered something that sounded like Christ, I’d hoped they were just fucking with me.

      “I don’t understand,” Skye whispered, drawing Elliot’s attention back to her. “Wh-what assholes? How did she know she was in trouble if she hadn’t even gotten here yet?”

      “Something must have happened at the club. Or when she snuck away,” he offered, catching Max’s gaze, hoping he might have an explanation. But his partner looked just as confused as he was.

      “I don’t think she was even trying to get away from Max,” Skye murmured, swiping at the tears on her cheeks with her fingertips, while the machine continued to play a soft static sound, even though Vivian had ended the call. “She was probably running from whoever’s hurt her.”

      Elliot rubbed his palm over his whiskered jaw and nodded. “You could be right, Skye.”

      Shifting her gaze to his partner, she blurted, “I’m sorry I snapped at you earlier. I get that you were only trying to help her.”

      Max blinked, clearly caught off guard by the apology. Then he managed to jerk his chin up in acknowledgment, before scraping out a low “Don’t worry about it. It’s good that she’s got someone like you looking out for her.”

      Skye’s bottom lip quivered, and