I tucked the phone into my back pocket and rushed around the room, putting myself together as quickly as I was able in the midst of my haze. I took the stairs, trying to save some time and working hard to catch my breath as I approached her door and knocked.
She pulled it open after my first knock and walked out into the hall with me, looking a bit unruly and intensely hot. Her cotton shorts were more for sleeping in than prancing around the city, her t-shirt soft looking, and her hair in a cute little messy bun.
"Hey." I moved up beside her as she stormed toward the elevator. "We're going to find her, okay?"
"Don't be nice to me, please. I'm barely holding it together. She's been my best friend since I could walk." Vivian pressed several buttons accidentally, her hands shaking hard.
I pulled her back and reached around her to press the button for the lobby. Tears welled in her beautiful, albeit tired, eyes, and I pulled her against me, wrapping her in a tight hug and kissing the top of her head. "It's okay, Viv. We're going to find her. We'll take a cab to the station, okay?"
"I hope so," she mumbled as she pulled back from me and pressed her palms to her eyes. "I told her that this was a mistake. This trip was damned from the get-go. We should have just stayed home and planned out graduation or hit our favorite places in New York."
I grabbed her hand as we walked from the elevator and moved toward the front door. "It's going to turn out just fine. Casey seems like a wild child. I bet she went home with some good-looking guy last night and just forgot to call thanks to one too many drinks."
"She could have been taken advantage of. What the fuck was she thinking?" Viv pinned me with an angry stare as if I'd been any part of it.
I stopped by the valet. "We need a cab to the police station please."
"Sure, Mr. Parks. We'll have a driver take you. One minute." He moved away from us, but not before turning back to let his eyes run across Vivian. The girl was oblivious to the multitudes of looks she received, but now wasn't the time to mention it.
"Come here." I pulled her against me again and squeezed her tightly. "Hold it together for a little while longer. We'll find Casey, get something to eat and take a nap, okay?"
"Alright. I guess you're right." She rested against me and released a deep breath.
I brushed her hair back from her face rhythmically and kissed the top of her head again. I was starting to think of her as mine, which wasn't good for either of us, but it wasn't something I could stop doing. She fit too well against me, caused too many foreign emotions inside of me, moaned my name almost too well.
"Here we go, Sir." The valet held the door open to the Lincoln Continental and nodded toward us. "I hope everything is okay."
"It will be. Thank you." I pulled my wallet out of my jeans and handed him a tip before getting into the backseat and reaching for Vivian's hand. "She didn't call or text at all last night? The last time you saw her was at the club?"
"Yeah. I need to call Jackson to see if maybe he saw her after we left. Remember she texted that she left before we did? Maybe calling him is a waste of time." She picked up her phone as I pressed my hand to the front of it.
"You do whatever you want, but I'm pretty sure Jackson left right after we did." I removed my hand from her phone and shrugged. "Totally up to you of course."
"Maybe you're right. Let's talk to the cops and then we'll go from there." She intertwined her fingers with mine and glanced over at me. "Thank you for coming with me. I'm sure you have a million meetings and such that you need to be at."
"They can come later. I'm good being with you." I leaned over and brushed a kiss by her cheek. "I'm a little upset with you not letting me come down last night."
"I know, but you know why I couldn't." She turned to face the front, her expression locking into unbendable resolve.
"I get it, but you should have called. You pacing the floor all night alone sounds heinous."
"I've been through worse." She shrugged and tugged her hand from mine as her phone buzzed. She let out a sigh and dropped it in the seat next to her. "Just my mother."
"Do you need to get it?" I asked in earnest curiosity. I rarely ignored a call from my mom, but then again, she rarely bothered me.
"I'll call her later. She'll know something is wrong if I answer the phone right now. That'll just lead to questions that I don't feel like answering." She shrugged and sunk back into the seat next to me, closing her eyes and relaxing a little.
I studied her beautiful face, unable to help myself. The dark circles under her eyes were concerning, but a good meal and a great night of sleep would take care of that. It was the first I'd seen her looking so ragged since meeting her. Some part of me liked it because it acknowledged the fact that she could use a man like me to take care of her, to protect and comfort her.
"We're here," the driver called back to us.
"Come on. Let's see if they can help us." I opened my door and helped her out before taking her hand and walking into the busy police station. Someone gave us a number at the front, and we made our way to the large waiting room where only two seats remained open. I asked an elderly couple to scoot down so that I could sit by Viv, and they were more than willing to accommodate us.
I sat down and reached for her, pulling her down beside me and cuddling her against my c
hest as she curled up and closed her eyes again. Within seconds, she was sound asleep.
I watched from above her, memorizing the perfect slope of her eyebrows, her long eyelashes, and regal nose. But it was her lips that captivated me, and I couldn't help but think back on our night together, her body a playground of delights that I wanted to experience over and over again. It would be better to just help her with Casey and disappear. That's what Vivian would want to happen, but I knew I wasn't capable of being so callous.