Leave Me Love (Call Me Cat Trilogy #2)(25)

I leaned in, eager for the first time in a long time. "Would you be willing to take me there?"

His eyes snapped back to me, his mind returning to the present. "Hmm, well, I suppose we could do that. It's just been so long... " His voice trailed off.

He seemed so sad, so mournful, that my resolve faded. "If it's too hard for you, we don't have to."

"No, I will. I will. It's time to face the ghosts of my past, isn't it? Time to face them."

I left him in his thoughts and met up with Ash in the center of campus. He smiled when he saw me and I let him wrap me in his strong embrace, inhaling the smell of his leather jacket, his natural scent and a lingering hint of Cuban cigar I still hadn't actually seen him smoke. "One of these days you'll have to smoke one of those cigars with me," I said.

"Tonight then. We'll sit on the back porch, light a cigar and enjoy the smoke while watching the city lights blink on and off around us."

I kissed the dimple in his chin. "Sounds perfectly lovely." We started walking through the campus, heading to the car as I told him about my meeting with Cavin.

"When are you going?" he asked.

"I don't know. But I'll let you know when I hear from him."

As we turned the corner of one of the older buildings, we saw Jon heading toward us, books in his arms, ear buds distracting him with music. Before he saw us, I froze, noticing that, unlike the college kids in jeans and t-shirts around us, Jon wore a suit. A fancy striped suit.

"Ash. Could that be…?"

"The fancy suit the guy with Bridgette was wearing."

"It could be a coincidence," I said without conviction.

He grabbed my hand and pulled me toward his brother.





Chapter Twenty One


Guns and Lovers


"JON!" ASH CALLED for his bother and I tugged his hand, willing him to relax a little, though my nerves were on end too.

Jon pulled the ear buds out and stuck his iPhone in his bag. "Ash, Catelyn, good to see you."

"I like your suit," I said. "Is it new?"

He frowned, sensing the undercurrent of unease in the air. "Yeah, it is."

"Funny, that," said Ash. "Bridgette signed Catelyn's name to release her car at the impound. We don't know why, but we do know that a guy matching your description was with her, wearing that very same suit." Not exactly true, but maybe it would get him to talk.

Ash poked him in the chest, and I could see Jon puffing up, ready to start something with his older brother. I reached for Ash's hand and implored Jon with my eyes. "Please, Jon, she's missing and we need to know what happened. What was going on?"

He looked down at his feet then sighed and looked up. "Look, it's not what you think. Well, hell, I don't even know what you think, but the thing is, Bridgette and I were dating."

That shocked me. "What? That's impossible. She would have told me."

"She knew Ash and I had issues, and she didn't want to cause more problems with everyone, so we decided to keep it under wraps until we knew if it was serious or not."

I sat on a bench under a tree, and Ash sat next to me.

Jon fidgeted on his feet, then sat on the grass in front of us. "We were going to tell you soon, but then… she disappeared and I didn't know what to do."

I realized then how hard this must be for him. His girlfriend was missing and because they'd agreed to keep their relationship private, no one even knew he was mourning. I reached out to him, put a hand on his shoulder. "I'm so sorry. If I'd known… "

"When did you see her last?" Ash asked.

Jon wiped a tear that had escaped and looked up. "The day before she disappeared. I went to the impound lot with her. She said she had to do something to help you, Catelyn. So I went with her but hung back to take a call while she signed some papers. Then we left."

I could tell he was leaving something out, something critical. His face hid something. "What else, Jon? We need to know everything."

He hesitated.

“What else, Jon?”

"She asked for my help," he said. "To buy a gun."

"A gun? What for?" I asked.

"She was really freaked out after all the stuff with the Midnight Murderer. When you were kidnapped and then in a coma, she was a wreck. That's when we started seeing each other. She was scared and needed someone to talk to."

I knew he was telling the truth, but it made my heart hurt that she was so scared and didn't tell me. I thought about what Gray had said about her journal entries. It all made sense, expect it didn't. Why was she hiding all this? Why was she hiding from me? I pinched the bridge of my nose as pain pushed into my eyes.

When I looked up, Ash was holding me on the ground and Jon looked concerned. They were both staring at me. "What happened? What's wrong?”

Ash frowned. "You don't remember? You blacked out."

I stood with Ash's help and took a deep breath. "I feel fine now. It was just a headache. I should get my medication. I left it in the car."

We said goodbye to Jon who apologized again and promised he'd tell us if he remembered anything else. Ash drove me home, to our home, a place that was in fact starting to feel more like ours and less like his. We'd even gone shopping for some new paintings and decorations to add some splashes of color and make it feel more like something we'd both contributed to.