for, lover (Completed; editing)

Chapter 3

"Miles was really antisocial when we were kids. I don't know if he's changed that much or not."

"He hasn't changed at all, then." I say softly as I finish the last drop left in my cup.

I would get up and get more but I'm already getting jittery.

Jesse calls out Levi's name to come pick up his refill he ordered a few minutes ago. He returns quickly and takes a seat back down in front of me.

"Is he gone again?" he asks me, swirling around the ice in his cup and taking another long sip.

I nod slowly, not breaking eye contact with the table. I don't know what to think right now. I have too much information and nowhere to try to piece it together while I'm still deep in conversation with this guy.

"Do you know where he is?" he asks when he realizes I wasn't going to say anything else.

"I have no idea. I was kind of hoping you would be able to help me with that."

He raises a brow and sits straight up in his chair. "You're trying to track your boyfriend down?"

I shrug and tap my fingers on the edge of the table. It has gotten way too hot in here to be comfortable.

"I don't know what we are but I confronted him about some really disturbing shit and then he disappeared so I have no idea if it's even true or not."

"Well running away isn't a very good sign." he says.

"Yeah, I know." I sigh. "That's why I need your help. You're the only person who knows about his childhood. There has to be something you can tell me to help me out."

"I told you most of what I know, Bree. There's not much to the man. I don't see Miles as a kill and flee type of guy but that's just me."

"That's the thing, I don't see him as that either. He won't return any of my phone calls and he hasn't come back home since he left six months ago, so I would really appreciate some answers. I'm willing to pay if that helps."

He belly laughs and slaps his hand on the table. "I don't want your money. I answered because you seemed like a nice girl and I was hoping I could help, but I don't know where your boyfriend is."

"Does he have an old place he could have gone back to? Some friends he could be staying with?"

Levi ruffles his hand through his hair. He's thinking hard and that's honestly all I could hope for.

"There's this guy that Miles used to work for before he got his job at that warehouse. He used to be a server at this really fancy restaurant downtown. The one on Church street."

"Angeline's." I blurt.

"Yeah! How did you know?"

Of course it would be Angeline's. That's where Miles took me on our first date. He had told me his mom was friend's with the owner so he would go there a lot as a kid. He never mentioned that he worked there.

"I've been there." I mutter and scoot my chair back away from the table.

If I'm going to get this moving along, I might as well start now.

"Thanks for answering me, Levi. I really appreciate it." I slide on my coat and rush out the door.

Angeline's is on the upper part of Charlotte but it doesn't take me long to get there. The breakfast crowd rolled in quickly and there's already a little bit of a wait. I wait patiently to speak to the hostess.

"Hey, sorry to bother you but I was wondering if the owner was available?" I ask her nicely.

She looks down at me from her podium, no sense of judgement or discontent in her expression. "Mr. Tillman doesn't come back from his vacation until next week." She responds.

Of course he's on vacation right now. My luck never fails to amaze me.

"Is there a way that I can leave my name and number for him to call me when he gets back? It's not urgent but I would really like to speak to him as soon as possible."

"Yes, of course."

She hands me a slip of paper and a pen for me to write my information down on. Thank God she wasn't an asshole. I wouldn't be able to deal with any more disappointment today.

I start heading back home shortly after that. Maddy is watching some talk show and eating her oatmeal on the couch. I plop down next to her and let out an exaggerated sigh to try and get her attention. She picks up the remote and pauses the television.

"Good morning to you too. How did the interrogation go?"

I glare at her and cross my arms over her chest. "It wasn't an interrogation. It was just talking."

"That's what interrogators say." she says with a sly grin.

"Whatever. It went okay. He told me about Miles growing up and that they used to go and steal stuff from a few different neighborhood's to sell online. He was also apparently a server at the restaurant he took me to on our first date."

She nods and stares down at the bowl of food in her hands. She's only eaten half of it. She probably won't finish it because she never does. I shouldn't have distracted her from her breakfast.

"So no new information then? We kind of already figured out that Miles was poor and a liar."

"You know, as my best friend you really don't try to conceal anything to make me feel better."

"Why should I sugarcoat it? If he did what we think he did, I don't want him anywhere near me or you. I don't trust him."

"Can't we just save the hatred until we find out all of the truth?"

"You give people too many chances, Bree. It's not a good look."

Maddy's commentary is starting to piss me off but I won't let it fuck with me too badly. Her and Ben must be going through a rough patch or something because she's been extra bitchy this past week.

"It's not about giving chances. I'm not going to blame someone I care about on something we don't even know actually happened yet. Sorry if I'm a little hopeful."

"The facts are all there, Bree! What else do you need to know? Do you want to see the car he killed our best friend with because he probably has that somewhere too!"

She gets up from the couch and stomps to the kitchen. I stand up and go after her. I don't want to fight but I think I might have to.

"Maddy, you know how important this is to me. You know that all I'm trying to do is find answers so I can-"

"Feel less guilty about fucking a criminal?" She cuts me off.

"NO!" I yell. "Stop being a bitch and listen to me. There is a fifty percent chance that Miles left because he's guilty. There's another fifty percent chance that he left because maybe he had some shit to figure out for himself. I just need to make sure he's okay. That's what you do when you love someone."

"You're trying to make sure he's okay? Are you fucking insane? He could be an actual murderer and you're trying to make sure he's okay! I thought you were smarter than this. Who knew it would be you to let love cloud your judgement because in case you haven't noticed, that's my thing."

She sets her bowl in the sink and walks to her bedroom, slamming the door shut as soon as she steps inside.

Revised;