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Aiden and I had not had time to finish what we started in the shower, and I was still horny. Eager to get back home so the three of us could get started on our special night, I hoped things at the river did not take too long.
I made my way down what remained of an asphalt road. When I got to where it dead ended at the river, the water was still pouring out the Taurus. I parked on a patch of dirt where I would be out of the way. The ground was strewn with empty beer cans and discarded condoms. I nodded at the patrolman overseeing the operation. Once the tow driver disconnected the wench, I went over and introduced myself. He asked how long the car had been missing. I told him it was stolen two months earlier.
“In the old days, before they cleaned up the river, the whole thing would have been covered in sludge and I wouldn’t have seen it.”
“Seen what?”
He pointed to the passenger window. “Take a look inside.” I opened the car door, water splashed on my shoes, but I ignored it. Someone had tried to set the car on fire. But because they had left the windows up, the flames quickly died out from lack of oxygen.
“That ain’t all, though. This guy was clearly pissed off at the vehicle's owner.”
“What do you mean?" I asked. He led me to the front of the car. In big black letters, someone had spray painted LYING CUNT, across the hood. “Fuck.”
The police officer had come over to join us. He said exactly what I was thinking. “Whoever stole that car was no punk looking for a joyride. This shit is personal.”
Aiden
I was just about to call Logan when my phone rang. Before I could get a word in; he told me what he had found at the river. My already racing heart beat faster.
I explained that when I had arrived at the Piggly Wiggly, Ember was not waiting out front. I had gone into the store, but she was not there. After twice scanning the parking lot, I checked inside the Dollar General next door. Still no Ember. I tried her cell, no answer.
After a third trip through the grocery store, I asked the employees if they knew where she was. One of the bag boys told me that while he had been outside collecting carts, he saw her getting into a black car. No, he did not recognize the car; he told me. I called her phone two more times. Straight to voice mail.
“She always answers her phone, “Logan said. “God damn it, what the hell was she thinking getting into a strange car like that?”
“Maybe it wasn’t a stranger.” I told him. “Maybe it was someone she knew and when we didn’t answer, she hitched a ride with them.”
“God damn it,” he said. “You don't think she would have got in a car with Reggie, do you?”
“Maybe. She’s never seen him as the threat we do.”
“Stay where you're at. I'm going to pick you up and we're going to go find out.”
While I was waiting for Logan to get there, I called her cell four more times. No answer. That's was not like her. Even if she went with somebody else, she would still answer her phone. Assuming she could.
Before I could even close the door, Logan slammed the car into gear and took off. Neither of us said a word. I knew, like me; he felt guilty about missing Ember’s call while we were screwing around in the shower. As we got closer to Reggie’s apartment building, I could feel his guilt shift to anger. He was gripping the steering wheel like it was Chatman’s neck.
“You need to calm down,” I told him. “We don’t even know that Ember is with him. Even if she is, she may have gone willingly.”
“Not a chance,” he said. “There's no way she went with that creep freely.”
I knew how he felt. After all the time we had spent together, grown to love one another, I struggled to believe she would go back to the man who had treated her so poorly. But people have a way of surprising you, and not always in a good way. I told Logan, “It’s probably best that you let me do the talking.”
“Fine, you do the talking and I’ll do the punching.”
“There will be no hitting, at least not until we find out what is going on.” We pulled in front of an eight-plex, one of a dozen on the block. In the front yard, a woman was napping in a lounge chair, while a group of young children chased each other in and out of the building with squirt guns. In the lobby, we checked the mailboxes for Reggie’s apartment number.
Logan wanted to kick the door in, but I convinced him to let me try knocking first. When the door opened, I checked to make sure that I had the right apartment number. The chubby woman appeared to be in her late thirties. She had on a stained T-shirt. Unfortunately, that was all she was wearing. “We're looking for Reggie Chatman.”
“You’ll have to wake him up yourself.” She hitched a thumb over her shoulder before letting us in.
We found him passed out on the couch, surrounded by empty beer cans. I was already thinking we'd made a mistake, but Logan pulled the unconscious man to his feet and roughly woke him up. “Where's Ember?”
“What are you faggots doing in my house?” He doubled over when Logan punched him in the stomach.
“That's an offensive term and we're bisexual, not gay.” It seemed like a stupid time to quibble over semantics, so I stepped between the two of them before Logan could throw another punch.
“Ember's missing and we thought she might be with you.”
