Everything You Need (22 page)

He lowered the magazine onto the table and picked up the tea. “Thank you.”

“I’m sorry about the other day.” Mary joined him on the sofa.

“About what?” He carefully took a sip of tea, testing the heat of the liquid. It was not that hot. “Are you certain that it’s a mint tea? It’s slightly bitter.”

“I might have mistaken it for something else.”

He nodded and made a few gulps of tea. “You said you were sorry, what about?”

“The way I reacted that time, and for cutting you off whenever you called, but it really annoyed me that you discarded the photos so easily. You didn’t even look at them, did you?”

“I deleted them.” He pinched his eyebrows together and sighed. “I don’t know what you were thinking by sending them, or what you thought you would accomplish by following her around. You have to stop doing that, please.” And seek professional help.

Without saying anything, she lifted her cup and drank from it.

He yawned. “Please, promise me that you will keep away from Kris. Your problem is with me, not with her.”

“If it means that much to you...”

“Yes, it does.” He yawned again.

“I promise that I won’t follow her around anymore.”

“That’s a relief to hear.” He drained the rest of the cup. He was glad that she had promised so easily and without hesitation; it meant that he had worried for nothing and she had never presented any danger to Kris. Another yawn opened his mouth. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me,” he said apologetically as he sank deeper into the sofa and made himself more comfortable. “Lately I’ve had trouble sleeping. It’s catching up, it seems, even though...” His eyelids felt so heavy, and he had to force himself to keep his eyes open. “It’s weird to be so sleepy all of the sudden.” His eyelids fluttered closed. “I’ll just close my eyes for a moment.” There was something nagging at the back of his mind. Something about the tea, about the bitterness of it. The thought formed, but then it slipped away.

Chapter 23

The dark brown liquid foamed at the bottom of white porcelain, the brown of the jet became lighter and lighter as it filled the cup beneath it and, with a small splash that dotted the upper part of the cup, stopped. Kris took the cup, placed it on the saucer, added two sugars and a tea spoon, then put it on a tray where she already had three cakes and two glasses of juice.

Rose passed her and started to make two coffees, grumbling something under her breath, while over her shoulder, she cast dark glances at the two blonds occupying the table in the corner of the room, by the window.

“They still refuse to tell you what their conference is about?” Kris lifted her tray.

Rose’s eyes narrowed. “Nobody ever tells me anything.” She glowered at Kris. “Not even you.”

“Yes, I’m sorry about that.” Kris gave her what should have been a sympathetic gaze. “I’m just not ready to talk about Ashton yet. You said that you understand that.”

“I do, I do. It’s just... You know how strong my curiosity is. And now those two...” A deep scowl flashed on Rose’s face as she fixed her gaze at her boyfriend and his brother. “If they aren’t willing to share what their little tête-a-tête is about, they could at least not have it right in front of me.”

“I don’t think they planned it,” Kris said to Rose. Without waiting for Rose’s reply she went to table seven, where she set the cakes and the drinks down. On her way back, she glanced at Kalen and Camden.

They were staring at her, and as soon as they noticed her eyes on them, they averted their gazes.

She thought it was just a coincidence, but she caught them observing her again a few minutes later. And then again. What was that about? After Kalen left, she pondered whether she should ask Camden or not, when he ambushed her.

“Hey, have you heard anything from Ash?” he asked her.

“No. Why?”

“If he contacts you, would you be so kind to let me or Kalen know?”

“If you don’t tell me why, then no, I won’t.”

Camden stared at her for a short moment before he grimaced. “Okay, if you promise me you won’t tell Rose.”

“Why?”

“Because she would make such a big fuss about it. It’s only... Ash hasn’t been in the studio for three days now, and right now, he’s not in the apartment either. And his phone is disconnected.”

Ashton was missing?

“It might be nothing, just one of Ash’s antics, even though he’s never disappeared for more than a couple of hours before. He’s done reckless things, but he’s never left, not even for a day, without telling somebody.”

“He’s gone missing, as in ‘missing persons’ missing?”

“Yes.”

“For three days?”

“Yes.”

“You filed a missing persons report, right?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“Could you lower your voice, please?”

“What if he had an accident or something? We should call all the hospitals and --” At the thought of his lifeless body lying on a cold steel gurney in a morgue, her breath rushed out of her lungs as if a ton of bricks had fallen on her chest, and her knees felt like jelly. Her fingers curled around the edge of the counter for support. She shook her head. She shouldn’t think about the worst case scenario, and she shouldn’t allow dark thoughts of death to fill her mind. Ashton only went somewhere to have a mini-holiday. But Camden said that Ashton never went somewhere without telling somebody.

“It could be nothing.”

“Yeah, it could be nothing,” she said. “But what if something happened to him?”

“Just in case, Kalen has hired an investigator.”

At least they had done something.

“But if he contacts you...”

“I’ll let you know.”

“Kris,” Rose called her; then, when she had Kris’s attention, she pointed at table six. “The check.”

Kris nodded and faced Camden. “But you have to let me know if there’s any news too.”

“I will.”

“Good,” Kris said, before she rushed to the patrons waiting for the check. After they paid and she was back behind the counter, Rose interrogated her about what Camden had wanted from her. “He told me that your grandmother-in-law is trying to organize an engagement party for you and Kalen,” she lied to Rose. “Is that true?”

Rose groaned. “Unfortunately. I don’t understand the rush. I mean, I love Kalen, and it’s not that I don’t want to get married. I would be stupid if I didn’t want to marry him when he’s such a catch. He has a great personality, he’s gorgeous -- have you seen his abs? – and he’s wealthy and he loves to spoil me. But we’ve only been dating for half a year. Don’t you think that’s too soon for marriage?”

“Why wait when you two are perfect for each other?” Kris said, then tuned her friend out, nodding and murmuring, while Ashton’s situation occupied her mind. The thoughts of him -- as if she hadn’t been thinking of him enough already -- stayed with her through her shift, and the worry awakened by the news of his disappearance increased. When was the last time she had seen him? On Friday, in front of The Delight. At first she thought he had been there spying on her, something she had planned to complain to Camden about, but he had been there waiting in ambush because of Mary’s stalking tendencies. That became obvious when Mary appeared and he jumped on her and dragged her away. That had been four days ago.

After the shift was over and she stood in the twilight before The Delight, she took her phone out of her bag. She started to walk, with her gaze on the phone, while she browsed through her address book until she came to Ashton’s number. Camden had told her that Ashton wasn’t available via phone. She bit her lip. Should she verify? But what if the line wasn’t disconnected and he answered? That would be a good thing, right? She pressed the call button.

“The number you have dialled is temporarily --”

She cut the line and tapped the phone against her chin. Could he have just closed himself in the studio -- something Claudia had said he was fond of doing -- and now he refused to have any contact with the outside world? Because of her? No, surely she didn’t wield so much power. But he had waited outside The Delight to catch Mary in the act. Or was there another reason he had been there?

She arrived at an intersection and her stride slowed to a stroll. Her new route home, the one that made a detour around Ashton’s gallery, was to the right, while the street straight ahead would take her to the gallery. She shoved her phone into her bag, pushed her hands into her jacket pockets and, with a confidence she wasn’t feeling, walked straight ahead. She arrived on Fourth Street and there on her right was the gallery. The lights inside outlined the statues in the window displays and threw shadows on the pavement. The windows of Ashton’s studio were on the other side of the building and she walked through the rusty inner door between the buildings to the inner yard, where she stood under the tree and searched for the studio’s tall windows.

There were no lights on.

So he really wasn’t there? He could have been sleeping, but she doubted it.

A bark of a dog.

A glance around the empty, dark yard, where the shadows of the tree’s bare branches looked like claws. She rushed out of it and hurried home. The next day, on her way to work, she stopped by the gallery, and after a few long seconds and a few deep breaths, she pushed the door open and stepped inside.

The reception area was empty, but she heard voices coming from behind the wall that ran through the middle of the space. She went behind it and found Claudia hanging up pictures with one of the part-timers. “Hey.” She lifted her chin in greeting.

“Hi.” Claudia’s mouth stretched in a smile; she lowered the picture she was holding and said something to the temp, before she closed the distance between them. “I haven’t seen you for a while, now. How are you?”

“Okay. And you?”

“Well.” Claudia’s eyes went to the stairs. “He’s not here.”

“I know. That’s why I’m here. When was the last time you saw him?”

“Umm... On Friday afternoon, I think.” Claudia passed Kris and gestured for her to follow her. “Since he never goes anywhere without saying a word, I called the police on Saturday evening.”

Camden hadn’t told her that. They passed the reception desk.

“But it didn’t do any good. I told them that his car is missing and so is one of his travelling bags, the one he uses to bring clothes from his apartment, so they think he took some time off.” She wrinkled her nose as she lowered herself onto the softness of the armchair. “The police officer told me that I should have more patience, because we all know how artists can be. As if Ash would have ever done something like that.”

“So you think something has happened to him?”

“I have this really bad feeling.” Claudia crossed her legs. “Really bad feeling.”

“The last time I saw him was on Friday, he was with Mary, dragging her away. Did they come back here?”

“I haven’t seen them, but then, I went home around six.”

“That was around four.”

“They didn’t come here.”

“Maybe they went to her place?” At that thought irritation enveloped Kris like a thick fog.

“Wait a minute. I heard Kalen talking with her over the phone on Sunday, and from his replies I assumed she told him she hadn’t seen Ash for a while.”

“Then she lied.”

“Maybe I misunderstood. Or you mistook Ash for somebody else.”

“As if that’s possible.”

“You have a point there,” Claudia said with a smile playing on her mouth, before a scowl darkened her face. “Why do you care what’s going on with Ash, anyway? Weren’t you the one who ran away from him?”

So she knew about that. Kris grimaced. “I didn’t exactly run.”

“Do you know how moody he was because of that? He was like a dog with rabies, barking at everybody.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Well, at least you’re worried about him.”

“That I am.”

Claudia nodded. “Hey, do you want some tea or something?”

“I would love to, but I’m on my way to work. Some other time?” Kris swung the bag she had across her chest forward and rummaged inside until her fingers wrapped around her phone. She pulled it out. “Would you mind giving me your phone number?”

“And promise to call you if there’s any news?”

“Yes, if you would be so kind.”

Claudia told Kris her number and after Kris shoved the phone into her bag, Claudia said, “He’s crazy about you, you know, and without you around he’s been really miserable. God knows that after all those hearts he’s broken he deserves to suffer, at least a little, but... It was really painful to watch him.”

Ashton was crazy about her? Warmth pooled in the pit of Kris’s stomach. But wait, what about Mary?

“I do hope you two are able to work things out.”

There was nothing that needed to be worked out, but that wasn’t something she could tell Claudia. “What about Mary?”

“What about Mary?”

“He loves her.”

“Yes, as a friend.”

“But they...” Kris bit the inside of her cheek.

Claudia lifted her eyebrows.

“Never mind.”

“Slept together. Is that what you mean?”

With her mouth tightly pressed together, Kris nodded.

“They were just... friends with benefits. If Ash was serious about Mary, he wouldn’t be sleeping around with anyone else. I mean, when you started to model for him, he not only stopped sleeping around, he also stopped clubbing, which is a pretty big statement.”

“He did? But...” She had heard him tell Mary that he loved her, quite clearly.

“Listen, if you want to find out how Ash feels about you, talk with Kalen. He’s Ash’s best friend.”

As if she would be able to do that. “As if men talk about these things.”

“Some men might not, but those two do, in a shallow, manly way; I’ve heard them. Unintentionally, of course.”

“Yeah?” Kris shifted closer.

“Didn’t you say that you’re on your way to work?”

“Uh, yes.” She took out the phone to check the time. “I’ll be late. Well...” She gave Claudia a wave.

“You are welcome to stop by here anytime, even when Ash isn’t around.”

“I will, thank you,” Kris said, smiling, before she turned and rushed out onto the street. Her fingers glided over the strap of her brown bag and she sucked in her lower lip then held it with her teeth as she zigzagged between the people strolling across the street. So... Mary and Ashton were just friends with benefits, and when she, a copy of his dead girlfriend, had waltzed into his life, he had ceased with all his sexual activities, except with her? Did she believe that? She wanted to.