When I'm Gone (Rosemary Beach #11)(41)

Mase

When ten thirty rolled around and I still hadn’t gotten a call from Reese, I called her instead. Something was wrong. She’d have called me by now if everything was fine. The phone rang until it went to voice mail. I hung up and tried again. The same thing.

I tried to tell myself not to panic, and I dialed Jimmy’s number.

He answered on the third ring. “Hel—”

“Have you seen Reese?” I asked, not letting him finish his greeting.

“Yeah, she was walking home later than usual, and I gave her a ride back. She said she had a headache and was going to get a shower and go to bed.”

A headache was normal. I didn’t need to panic, but dammit, I wanted to know she was OK. Not hearing her voice didn’t sit well with me. “Go check on her. She’s not answering her phone, and I need to know she’s OK. She could be sick.”

Jimmy sighed. “I am assuming this command also means you will be staying on the phone with me while I do your bidding.”

I didn’t even care that he was being a smart-ass. I just wanted to know that Reese was OK. “Yeah, that’s what it means.”

“Fine. But if she’s sleeping, this is going to wake her up.”

I’d thought about that, but I couldn’t not know. I kept imagining her sick in the bathroom, too weak to call someone, or passed out on the floor. My fears were getting more exaggerated by the second.

“You sure are protective over her. You’d think the two of you were in a serious relationship,” he said in an amused tone.

“We are in a serious, very exclusive relationship. Did she not tell you that?”

Jimmy cleared his throat. “She wasn’t sure what you were in. But she did tell me she couldn’t double-date with me because she didn’t think you’d like that.”

Damn right I wouldn’t like it. What did Reese think all that was this weekend? I came to town just to stop her from dating someone else. I made my interest very clear, over and over. “She thought right,” was my only response. This wasn’t a conversation I needed to have with Jimmy.

“I guess if you’re not getting any on the side, then—”

“Jimmy, are you trying to find out if I’m f*cking other women while I’m in Texas? Because if that is what this is and you’re trying to protect Reese, then understand something: I don’t want anyone but Reese. Ever. So stop trying to rile me up, and go check on my woman. Now.”

Jimmy chuckled. “Well, all right, then. I can do that.”

I breathed a sigh of relief. She wasn’t thinking of dating other people. Jimmy just wanted to see if I was. I’d be pissed at him if it wasn’t for the fact that he cared about her. He was just trying to watch out for her. I liked that.

I waited while Jimmy walked over to Reese’s apartment and knocked on the door. “Reese, honey. If you’re awake, could you open up? I got an angry cowboy on my phone interrupting my soaps.”

I waited while I listened to Jimmy knock again.

“I hear the latch,” Jimmy said, and the panic slowly started to ebb.

“Hey,” her soft voice said from inside her apartment.

“You wanna talk to him?” Jimmy asked.

I heard the muffled sound of them whispering with a hand over the receiver. I hated it. Something was wrong. I was going to have to leave shit here again and go back to Rosemary Beach.

“Hey, sorry. I was asleep. It was a long day.” Reese’s voice came over the phone, thick with sleep. She wasn’t lying. She’d been in bed. She was OK.

“Do you feel sick? Have Jimmy check your temperature,” I said, feeling anxious that something was off.

“I’m fine. No fever, I promise. I’ll call you tomorrow. I just needed to sleep tonight. But I’m not sick. I don’t feel sick.”

Something was wrong. I could feel it. “OK. Sleep, then, baby. I’ll want to hear your voice in the morning, though. I won’t be able to focus until I know you’re better.”

“I’ll call,” she assured me.

“Good night. Sweet dreams,” I whispered, just before ending the call.

Fuck, I wasn’t going to get any sleep now. Something was wrong, and she wasn’t going to tell me what it was. I had sold the quarter horse today, but I had to be here when the buyer came to load it up tomorrow. He was also bringing the check so we could finalize the paperwork. Then I had to go to the stockyards and get some cattle. I should have gone yesterday. As it was, I was behind on shit.

But Reese needed me, and I couldn’t be there. Another reason I wanted her here. Hell, I couldn’t tell her that yet, though. She wasn’t even ready to let me touch her *.

Throwing my phone down, I went to the fridge to get a beer. I had a long night ahead of me, and if I started thinking about Reese’s *, it was just going to get longer.

Reese

I hadn’t slept a wink after Jimmy came knocking on my door. Hearing Mase’s voice and his concern had sent me into a fit of tears. Then I’d sat up and thought of every way possible I could make money, and fast. When I got my paycheck this week, it would give me twenty-eight hundred dollars total to my name. I would still need twenty-two hundred more.

I was afraid to try to get a night job waiting tables. When I got stressed or panicky, I still had trouble making out words. And my writing wasn’t so good yet. I doubted I’d even be able to fill out the application. I had watched the sunrise, knowing I was just going to have to see how this played out. If she reported the mirror stolen, then they couldn’t arrest me without proof. And I had proof of a sliced-open hand to hold up my side of the story.