Freakshow

Chapter Fifteen

I supposed it shouldn't bother me that much, I'd barely known Cairo after all. It hurt though, more than the stinging annoyance I'd felt with Jason's betrayal. This felt personal somehow, much more directed at me. Like he'd drawn back his arrow and pointed it directly at my heart.

I decided to stop thinking about it and concentrate on something that had come to light.

There had been some news about Cara. A friend of a friend had told Rose that Cara had been spotted back in Canada. We were both skeptical, but somehow it seemed easier to accept that reality than the alternative...that Cara was lying lifeless in a ditch somewhere.

We couldn't figure out why she would have gone home without telling us, and logic demanded that we still look for her, but both of us had come up empty handed over the last day and didn't know how to keep looking. Neither of us had the power, money or know-how to initiate any investigation. Cairo would have to tell me what his assistant had discovered when he returned.

Thursday night found me lying on my bed, listless and half awake. I'd been checking my texts every so often just in case. In case he decided to actually fucking get back to me, and in case Orion was insane and planted the thought in my head to tear us apart.

Rose had gone for dinner without me, but only after she'd asked me a hundred times or so to join her. She was worried about me, and with good reason.

I was a mess. Truly a pathetic mess of a woman, and all over a man.

And I wasn't even sure if Orion was being truthful, I needed to hear it from Cairo's lips before I believed a word. My gut told me it felt right, there was something else going on in his life.

A knock at the door dragged me from half sleep. I held my breath, listening, not entirely sure if it had been from the dream side or this side of my brain.

I heard it again, it was real.

I got up, pulled my robe tight and went to the front of the trailer.

"Who is it?" I asked and peeked out the window.

Before he even answered, I saw his face, Cairo.

"It's me, Liv," he said through the closed door.

The moment of truth, my hand shook as I unlocked and opened the door, swung it wide and saw his grin.

"Fuck, you look amazing," he said and stepped into the space that suddenly felt miles too small. I backed away and looked him up and down. He was fucking delicious.

"Where have you been?" I asked and crossed my arms in front of me. It was hard to be angry when he looked that good. Why did he have to look so damned good? "I even called you, I was worried."

"I lost my phone," he replied. I wanted to believe him, he sounded so sincere. I shot him a skeptical look and watched him squirm. "I left it in a cab in Vancouver. I had to get a replacement, but they couldn't keep my old number and I don't have anybody's contact information." He held up an obviously brand new phone, his old one had been beaten up and a few years out of date. I'd loved it though, that it had marked him as so against the grain.

"You couldn't get a hold of your father? He was asking about you this morning."

"You've been working with him? Has he been okay with you?"

"Yes, and you didn't answer my question."

"No, I don't know my father's number. I couldn't text. I knew I was coming back today anyways, so it didn't seem like a big deal."

I stood with my feet apart and my arms crossed and stared him down. Finally I got the courage to ask the question I'd been dreading, simply because I was terrified of the answer.