Page 69 of Driven to Love

“Hey, man. What’s up?” Cade answered.

“I don’t know, but my gut’s telling me something is—”

“Talk to me.”

“Are you with Laney tonight?”

“Yeah. We’re at her parents’ for dinner.”

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt, but can you ask her if she’s heard from Addison?”

Nash gritted his teeth while long, agonizing seconds passed.

Finally, a sweet voice rang through the truck. Laney. “Nash, I haven’t heard from her. What’s going on?”

“Shit.”

“Hang on. I’m texting her now.”

“I hope you have better luck than me. I’ve texted and called. No answer. She was picking up something for her mother, then we were going to have dinner.”

“Yeah, there is a stretch of road there on the way to Rochester that’s a black hole in the service. Maybe you just tried during then. I’ll try calling.”

“Is she picking up?”

“No.” The worry was clear in her voice.

It was a perfectly clear night. The sun had just set, but something in Nash’s gut told him she was in trouble.

“Do you know what route she normally takes? There are a couple of different options—county roads, freeway, or the scenic route.”

“Can you text me the roads? I’ll take a drive.”

A second later, Cade was back on the line. “You take the scenic route. Laney and I will go to the freeway, and Sawyer says he’ll take the county roads.”

“I hate to disrupt your meal.” His phone pinged. A text from Laney appeared on the truck’s dashboard screen.

“Man, no way Laney’s staying here if she thinks Addison’s in trouble. She’s already on the phone calling the police station to make sure there were no accidents reported.”

“Okay, man. I’ve gotta call Leon and see if Davey can hang out a little longer. Let me know what you find.”

This could all be for nothing. Addison could have taken a detour or changed her mind. But his instincts screamed she was in trouble, and he’d be damned if he’d sit back when the woman he loved was in danger.

“Any word from her yet?” Sawyer’s voice echoed through the truck speakers.

“No. I’ve been up and down this road once already.” Nash hoped to find her broken down beside the road.

“Have you called her mom to see if maybe she went to a different place?”

“Laney reached out. Cade called me. They circled back to see if she had stopped somewhere else in Rochester, checking out some of her favorite restaurants and places.”

“Don’t worry, we’ll find her. Marti just called me. I’m gonna go pick her up and bring her with on my next pass. She has some ideas about where she might’ve gone.”

“Thanks.” When Nash ended the call, he hit the button, instructing his phone to call Addison for the twentieth time that night. It rang, but no one answered. He wanted to hear her voice, to hear a snarky comment, to tell him he was overreacting.

A car went by, and the road was clear ahead, so he bumped his high beams up and slowed down, scanning the rock cliff on one side and the trees. A cliff face dropped off on the other side of the road.

If she’d gone down there, if something happened, it was so dark he didn’t know if he would even see the car. But it didn’t matter. If he had to drive all night into the morning light, he would. A quarter mile down the road, he caught sight of a wide spot in the trees, and he slammed on the brakes. Had he seen that the last time he went by? Or was he imagining it?