I pulled out my phone and texted Cam asking him to call me before putting it back in my bag and heading out the door, wondering how I was going to find Liz.
The question was where would Liz be hanging out, and even more than that, would I find her in time to save her from herself?
Billionaire on Fire Volume 4
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Cam
When my shift was over the next morning, I loaded Tesla in the truck and headed out to help Alex find Liz. Leo was blowing up my phone trying to get me to commit to the press conference with Metzler.
"Not sure how we're going to juggle all of this, girl," I said to my canine companion as we drove toward Alex's apartment. I hadn't said anything about the rent payment I'd made to her landlord, nor was I going to. I knew that on Monday morning when the student accounts office opened up, I'd drive over and pay off her tuition, but I wasn't going to say anything about that, either. It was risky going behind Alex's back, but I figured that alleviating the financial stress was the least I could do to help her out, and that when push came to shove, Alex would understand that I'
d had only the best of intentions.
I dialed Alex's number and waited for her to pick up, but her phone went straight to voicemail.
"Alex, it's Cam, call me," I said, wondering where she was and why she wasn't picking up. I looked down at Tesla and said, "No one's answering, so I think we need to go check things out."
Tesla wagged her tail as she looked out the front window, and I wondered what had happened to Liz. The last time I'd spoken to Liz, she'd sounded like she was getting herself together, although there was something strange about the fact that she kept denying her drug addiction. Anyone who looked at her could see that she was suffering, and I couldn't really blame her for drowning her sorrows in substances that would take away the pain.
The problem was that she said she wasn't addicted to anything. However, in my decade with the fire department, I'd seen countless addicts declare exactly the same thing when it wasn't true, so I was inclined to believe that Alex's assessment of the situation was correct. Liz had an addiction that was eating her up.
My phone rang, but when I looked at the screen and saw it was Leo not Alex, I let it go to voicemail. I'd get back to Leo as soon as we'd found Liz.
Chapter Thirty
Alex
I'd searched every place on campus that I could think of, and by the time Cam arrived at my apartment, I was more than a little panicked about what had happened to Liz.
"Hey, did you find her yet?" he asked as he wrapped his arms around me and pulled me to him. I closed my eyes and rested my cheek against his chest as I wound my arms around his waist. It felt good to be in his arms again, and as worried as I was about Liz, there was something calming and reassuring about Cam. Tesla sat quietly at his feet waiting her turn for some attention and wagged her tail when I pulled away and bent down to pat her head.
"You're such a good girl." I smiled as I knelt down and put my arms around her neck. The next thing I knew, tears were streaming down my face onto the dog's fur. Tesla sat quietly for a moment, then pulled her head back and began licking my face.
"Alex, what's wrong?" Cam asked. There was deep concern in his voice as he reached for my arm and pulled me back up to him. "Are you okay?"
"I'm worried about Liz," I said, wiping the tears from my eyes before I looked up at him. "I think she's in real trouble, Cam. She's in denial about her problem and she won't accept help, and now she's run off and I can't find her!"
"Hey, hey, we'll find her," Cam said as he cupped my cheek with his strong hand. "I promise. We'll look and we'll alert everyone we can think of, and eventually we'll find her."
"What if we don't find her in time?" I asked quietly. The reality was that if Liz was using, she was likely to overdose at some point, and if I didn't know where she was, then I couldn't bring her back. "What if I can't save my best friend?"
Cam held me tightly, resting his chin on my head as he stroked my back. I cried harder than I could ever remember having cried, but it felt good to have him to lean on as I let out all the emotions from the past week. I told him what was going on with the cheating accusations and my fear of not graduating.
"And what if we find her and they kick her out of the nursing program?" I said, and then more quietly, "And what if they kick me out, too?"
"They're not going to kick you out, Alex," Cam said confidently.
"If they conclude that we cheated, they will," I said, shaking my head. "And if they don't make their decision soon, it won't matter. I'll be out anyway, and I won't have a place to live!"
"Yes, you will, don't you worry about that at all," Cam said as he squeezed me tighter. "You won't get dropped from the program and you won't get evicted from your apartment."
"It's nice that you're so sure about all of this," I said as I tried to focus on the task at hand. We needed to get out and look for Liz. With every hour that passed, we were losing the trail from the hospital. "We need to find her, Cam. We need to find Liz."
"I've put in some calls to people I know in the fire department and asked them to contact their people in the police department," he said as he looked at his phone and frowned. "I need to return a call."
I nodded as I moved to the kitchen and started a pot of coffee. It was going to be a long day for us both, and we were going to need to keep the caffeine flowing. I could hear the murmur of Cam's voice as he talked to whomever it was he called. He sounded irritated, and then suddenly I heard him shouting.