HOW I LOST YOU

CHAPTER SEVEN/ EIGHT

Chapter Seven

My body froze. Goosebumps ran up my arms. I turned further away from Levi.

"Are you okay?" I whispered. I wanted to reach through the phone and hug her close to me. Protect her from his darkness. Evil.

Kya didn’t answer. Over the phone, the background noise changed. Someone was knock-ing on a door.

"Kya," I said sharply. "Where are you? I’ll come and get you."

She covered the phone. I heard muffled sounds. She called to someone. A door opened and the noise got louder. I heard bottles clink. She giggled but it was a messy half laugh, half sob.

"Kya!" I called.

"Hold on. Give me a sec," she said in a slow over-enunciated voice. "I’m talking to Grace."

Over the phone, the door closed. It got quieter. Kya breathed loudly into the earpiece. "I hate…" She didn’t finish her sentence but breathed heavily into the receiver. The words hung in my ear. Asking to be completed.

"Kya," I said in a louder voice. "I’m coming to get you. Right now. Where are you?"

A boy called her name. The phone rustled around again. I heard faint giggling and then the phone was hung up.

I pulled it away from my ear. Hit redial.

"Kya?" Levi mouthed softly. I nodded as it rang. Someone picked up, but before I said a word, it clicked off again.

"What the hell?" I dialed again and it rang and rang and rang. "Shit." The phone was heavy in my hand and my heart hammered. From the corner of my eye, I saw a girl about my age piggybacking a guy into the coffee shop. They were laughing and happy. Envy filtered through me for a moment and then it was gone.

"Is she okay?" Levi asked, bringing me back to the moment.

I wondered what he had gotten from my end of the conversation.

"No." I pushed on the table to move my chair back and threw the phone back in my purse. "I’m sorry. I need to go. I have to find her."

He frowned and reached across the table, grabbing my hand. "What’s wrong with her?"

His hand gripped mine. Too tight. I pulled hard to get away from him. The look on his face scared me. I remembered the warning. His temper. His eyebrows pressed together and his lips were one tight line. As if he was irritated. What could he possibly have against Kya?

He leaned across the table, his eyebrows squished together in a thick unibrow. I frowned, my stomach twisting.

"I have to find her," I repeated, bothered by the intensity in his face. All flirty coffee banter had vanished. "I have to go."

His entire demeanor changed. Anger. He was angry.

Disappointment bubbled under my skin and I longed to go back to the conversation be-fore Kya’s call, but I didn’t have time to deal with his issues or even my reaction to them.

He let me go and sat back. "I think I know where she is." I stared at him. "She was with my cousin earlier." He gazed into his tea and then back at me. "She probably still is," he said in a softer voice.

"What?" I glared at him with anger of my own rising to the surface.

"She came over this afternoon. My aunt and uncle are in Seattle for the weekend. Lucas and I are alone. He had a few guys over. And Kya." He pushed back on his chair and stood. "Come on. I’ll take you there."