He could go there, he thought, but he didn’t want to freak her parents out. They didn’t know about him yet, so how could he just burst into their restaurant and introduce himself by asking if they’d seen their daughter, who he just happened to send running off in the night because he was a thoughtless asshole?
He kept his eyes on his phone as he scrolled mindlessly through his contacts.
And then he saw it.
Tate, Colin.
Would she have called Colin?
Would she have gone there?
She had been feeling so guilty about everything that happened earlier that Chase could see her doing something like that. He could picture her going to him, trying to make things right between everyone again, even though Chase knew it was a lost cause at this point.
“Fuck,” he sighed to himself, taking a deep breath before hitting the button to call Colin.
It rang five times before going to voicemail.
Chase dropped his head back and brought both fists to his eyes before he began pacing the hallway in front of her door. He hated the feeling he had right now, this helplessness. He didn’t know what the hell he was supposed to do, but he needed to find her. That much was clear.
Chase hit the button to dial Colin again, and this time it went to voicemail after one ring.
“Son of a bitch!” he yelled, ending the call and heading toward the stairs.
He had to go there. It was his only option. He couldn’t go back home until he figured out where she was and knew she was okay.
He made it to Colin’s in half the time it would have normally taken him, so he didn’t really have time to focus on the stupidity of what he was about to do. Chase knocked on Colin’s door, and when it swung open, his friend’s face went from shocked to blank in the span of a second.
“Is she here?” Chase asked.
Colin stared at him. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
“I don’t know where she is,” Chase said desperately. “Is she here?”
Colin’s jaw flexed as he continued to stare Chase down. “Unbelievable,” he muttered before he went to close the door on him.
Without thinking Chase threw his hand out, stopping the door, and Colin’s eyes glinted with rage.
“Move your hand. Now.”
“We had a fight.”
A moment of disbelief overshadowed Colin’s anger. “And what, you’re coming here for sympathy? You really are a piece of work.”
Colin went to shut the door again, and this time Chase slammed his hand against it with such force that it swung out of Colin’s hand and hit the wall.
“She might be hurt!” Chase shouted, and Colin froze. “Please,” he said, his voice softening significantly and bordering on desperate. “Please…just help me.”
Chase couldn’t decipher the expression on Colin’s face, but when he spoke, his voice was firm but controlled. “What do you mean she might be hurt? What did you do?”
“I didn’t do anything,” Chase said. He explained what had happened in a rush, and Colin listened, his expression unchanging.
Finally, after what seemed like hours of silence, Colin turned and walked into his apartment, leaving the door open.
“Colin?”
“I’m gonna make a call,” he said curtly.
Chase took two tentative steps into his friend’s home, watching as Colin grabbed his phone and hit a few buttons before bringing it to his ear.
“Tracey?” he said. “It’s Colin. Is Andie with you?” There was a silence before he said, “No that’s okay. If you hear from her, can you just have her give me a call? Thanks.”
“Shit,” Chase said under his breath, running both hands up through his hair. “Where the hell is she?”
Colin looked down at his phone for a second before he hit a few buttons again.
“Hey, Danielle. It’s Colin. Is Andie working tonight?” A pause. “Oh. Well did she stop by the restaurant at all?” Another pause as Chase listened to the sound of his own heartbeat thrumming in his ears. “Alright. If she comes by the restaurant, can you ask her to give me a call? Thanks.”
As Colin ended the call, Chase began pacing in front of the door with both hands fisted in his hair. There was nowhere else she could be that made sense. With her car still at his place. And her keys on the floor.
He heard a strange rasping sound and realized it was his own breathing.
Chase forced himself to stop walking as he bent at the waist, bringing is hands to his knees as he tried to calm himself down, and he noticed Colin staring at him with the oddest expression on his face. There was something else behind the anger in his eyes. Disbelief? Scrutiny? Shock?
Whatever it was, he didn’t have time to analyze it. He grabbed his phone and started dialing.
“What are you doing?” Colin asked.
“Calling the cops.”
“Chase, they’re not gonna do anything. She’d have to be gone for twenty-four hours.”
“I don’t care!” he yelled. “I’m not just gonna sit here!”
Colin stood, running his hand through his hair as Chase explained the situation to the dispatcher. Fifteen minutes later, there were two officers at Colin’s door: a middle-aged woman, and a man who looked to be in his twenties.
Chase explained everything to them, about Andie leaving his apartment, about her car and her keys on the street, and how no one knew where she was.
As the young man jotted a few things down on a notepad, the middle-aged woman quirked her brow at Chase. “What happened to your eye?”
Chase licked his lips and glanced at Colin before he said, “It’s a long story.”
“Mm-hm,” she said, turning toward the other officer and motioning with her head.
“At this point there really isn’t anything we can do for you guys,” he said. “There doesn’t seem to be anything suspicious going on. People lose their keys all the time.” He glanced up as he closed the pad. “Give us a call if she doesn’t turn up within twenty-four hours.”
Chase shook his head in disbelief. “So I’m just supposed to sit here?”
“Can I ask what your relation is to the girl in question?” the middle-aged woman asked.
He glanced back at Colin before he said, “I’m her boyfriend.”
The woman nodded before she said, “And you?”
Colin stared at her for a moment before he said coolly, “I’m her ex.”
The corner of the woman’s mouth twisted up before she looked back at her partner. “And if you still want to report her missing in twenty-four hours, I would suggest you call someone who is of blood-relation to her and have them file the report.”
Chase looked back and forth between them in shock, and the young guy said, “Unless you’re married, live together, or have a child together, we can’t accept the report from you. Besides,” he said, smirking at his partner, “this whole thing seems a bit off to me. Like maybe a couple of ex-boyfriends are trying to find a girl that doesn’t want to be found.”
Chase opened his mouth to protest, but the woman held her hand up. “Have her family give us a call if she doesn’t turn up. Have a good night gentlemen,” she said, and the two officers turned and walked out the door, closing it firmly behind them.
Chase stood there staring at the door with panic and helplessness battling for control in his chest. After a stunned minute he reached forward and yanked the door open.
“Where are you going?” he heard Colin ask.
“I’m gonna drive around until I find her,” he said, but before he could finish the sentence, he heard Colin’s phone ring behind him.
He whirled around in the doorway, watching as Colin answered the phone.