Inseparable

“Really, Lil? You’re going to use my own words against me?” He chuckled on the other side of the door. Giggling, I grabbed the dress out of my bag, glad I’d packed a couple of dressy outfits to wear. The dress, a spaghetti strapped, charcoal chiffon, flowed down mid-thigh, and looked hot. Curling my hair into a high loose bun, I quickly put on some make-up, and I was ready.

I walked into the main room. Dane was sitting on the sofa, facing away from me.

“I’m ready.” I said, the nerves catching in my throat. He stood up, turning to face me.

“Holy shit.” He smiled, his eyes drinking me in. Walking over to me, his hand reached up and touched my face. “You’re so beautiful. You’re always beautiful, but this is…” He trailed off as his lips met mine.

“We better get moving.” I grinned, slipping into my low heels. Dane made a face.

“You sure you don’t want to stay in tonight?” He joked, though I wasn’t convinced he was actually joking. As I went to answer, his phone rang. He glanced at the screen, his expression changing.

“Hi. Recce.” He said, his eyes meeting mine. “Sure, now is fine. Okay, see you in a minute.”

“Well?” I prodded, after a moment of silence.

“Reece is downstairs with some news.” Dane sighed. “Maybe you should change?” He suggested. I laughed. Was he serious?

“Dane, I’m not changing.” I giggled, knowing the only reason he wanted me to change was so Reece wouldn’t ogle me. “Besides, he will take a minute, and then we will go.”

Dane sighed, clearly not happy. The knock on the door stopped the conversation though. I waited by the sofa as he went to answer it.

“Hey Reece.” Dane shook Reece’s hand, standing aside to let him in.

“Hey man. Hey…holy shit.” He gaped at me, his intruding eyes making me wish I’d listened to Dane and changed.

“Hi Reece.” I said loudly, interrupting the staring contest he was having with my breasts. He grinned, not out of embarrassment that he’d been caught out staring, but the same cocky smile he wore whenever he looked at me.

“You're one fucking sweet assed babe.” He said, running a hand through his hair and adjusting his crotch.

“Thanks." I said, cringing, forcing myself to be civil. "You said you had something for us?” I pushed, still determined to make our dinner reservation.

“Yeah, I do.” He said down and pulled out his laptop. “So I was able to track Rafel Fernandez to a rather interesting website.” He swung his laptop around. I glanced at Dane, alarmed, and back at the screen. Images of naked women filled the screen, one after the other, but all in the same pose. Sitting on a chair with arms tied behind their backs. Each girl was numbered.

“What is this? Some kind of porn site?” I asked, trying to make sense of what I was seeing.

“This is an auction site.” Reece replied, almost proudly. “These numbers down here are unique to each girl. If I wanted to enquire about a girl, then I’d call this number, and quote her number.”

“How is something like this up? Why wouldn’t the police have taken it down?” I asked, glancing at Dane. His face was stony.

“Most likely they don’t even know it exists.” Reece explained. “Look, there are probably thousands of sites just like this that nobody knows about. It’s not hard to make a website virtually untraceable. I’m awesome at what I do, and it took me about six hours to crack this, and even then it was only thanks to the info you guys’ had to start with.”

“So, what now?” Dane asked. It was the first time he’d spoken. Reece shrugged.

“I have no idea. I can give you the website, and the number, as well as the address I tracked the website to, but I can pretty much guarantee the address will lead to a dead end.” He said, shrugging.

After Dane had let Reece out, he came and sat next to me on the sofa. This was our strongest l

ead yet, and I was beginning to feel like we were getting in over our heads.

“What are you thinking?” Dane asked quietly.

“What the hell we are going to do next? Where do we go from here, Dane?”

He shook his head. He had no answers. “I have no idea.” He hesitated. “Do you mind if we skip dinner? I don’t really feel up to going out.” I nodded, not sure what to say. He leaned in and kissed my forehead. “I’m going to have a lie down. I’ll come back over later?”

“Sure,” I said, forcing a smile. He was pulling away from me, and I had no idea what to say, or do, to get him back.

After texting Kella with an update, I changed out of my dress, and into my pajamas. It was barely eight in the evening, but I was tired, and too depressed to even bother trying to fight off my tiredness. I climbed into the bed, trying to ignore how lonely I felt lying there alone. Tucking the covers up under my chin, I closed my eyes.