The Vow: Dangerous Suggestions Book 1 (15 page)

I wasn’t really sure whether he was
addressing me or talking to himself. “She seemed friendly toward
you,” I said, trying to sound as nonchalant as possible. I really
wanted to know what kind of relationship they had. I knew it was
none of my business, but it had been driving me insane since she
kissed him when she greeted him.

He smiled slightly. “We were close
once, but it was a long time ago. I grew up; she
didn’t.”

“
Oh,” I said softly. I
looked out the window, trying to decide what I should say next. I
hated knowing they had been together. I’d had a feeling they were,
and now I had a confirmation. I was the one who’d pried, and he
told me. It wasn’t his fault that I didn’t like the
answer.

“
Hey,” he said, sounding a
little worried. He took my hand in his and squeezed it gently. “We
will find out who or what you are. I promise,” he said, trying to
reassure me.

I looked back over at him and forced a
smile. “I know,” I said, trying to sound confident. I didn’t know
why it suddenly mattered so much to me. My need to know was
something I had been questioning. It was one of the reasons I
barely slept. Maybe part of me was afraid of finding out who or
what I was.

Dawson turned into the driveway of his
house, pulling me from my thoughts. All the lights in the house
were on. It was a little odd. I could tell Dawson thought the same
thing by the look on his face.

“
What the hell,” he
growled as he climbed out of the truck, then hurried toward the
house. I was sure he thought Mason was up to something, but I
thought there was something more going on.

I climbed out of the truck and hurried
after him. I wouldn’t be of any use to him if there was something
going on, but I was curious, so I followed. I hesitated when I
stepped in the door. The house was in disarray. Furniture and paper
were thrown all over the place. It looked like someone was looking
for something. I couldn’t see Mason causing this much destruction,
no matter how mad he got.

Dawson walked down the hallway toward
me. “There is no one down here. I am going upstairs. Stay here
until I can make sure it is clear.”

Before I had a chance to say anything,
he was rushing up the stairs. I remained at the base of the stairs
like he asked. I didn’t want to get in the way. After a few minutes
I started getting antsy. I breathed a sigh of relief when Dawson
reappeared at the top of the stairs.

“
There is no one up
there,” he said gruffly, as he hurried back down the
stairs.

“
Where is Mason? He was
here when we left,” I said, trying not to sound worried. I was
worried. Someone was looking for something, and I doubted Mason had
anything to do with it. I was worried he would have been hurt if he
got in the way.

“
I don’t know. We should
probably try to find him,” he said softly, as he surveyed the
damage.

“
What were they looking
for?” I asked, a little confused. It didn’t make sense. It seemed
like whatever they were looking for mattered enough that they’d
decided to turn the whole house upside-down trying to find
it.

“
I don’t know. This is
strange. They went through every room. There had to be more than
one person. It would have taken a lot longer if it was an
individual,” he said thoughtfully.

I watched him for a minute, trying to
decide what to ask next. I kind of wondered if he could smell
someone like a normal dog could. If he could, he could track them,
or at least get an idea of who was in the house. “Can you track
them?” I asked as casually as possible. I didn’t want to compare
him to a dog outright, but it was a valid question.

He looked at me, and a shadow of a
smile crossed his face. He knew I was trying not to be offensive
while asking him a slightly offensive question. “No, they were
smart enough to hide their scent. They had to use a masking spell.
I have seen it done before.”

“
So it had to be a witch,
then?” I asked, a little surprised. My immediate thought was that
Selena had something to do with it. I knew I was being a little
unfair automatically assuming it was her, but I couldn’t help
it.

He shook his head. “They had help from
one, but witches do that. It does not mean the witch has anything
to gain. I should go look for Mason. Will you be ok here? I travel
faster on my own.” He was watching me like he was worried about
leaving me on my own.

I had been on my own my entire life. I
could handle a little while without Dawson. “I will be fine,” I
said, smiling slightly. “I will try to clean some of this
up.”

He nodded. “I will be back as soon as
I find him,” he said, then turned and hurried out of the
house.

I sighed and looked around the room.
The place was a disaster. It was going to take a while to clean it
all up, and I was just looking downstairs. If they did the same
thing upstairs, then it was definitely going to take a
while.

* * *

I managed to get the main two rooms
cleaned up. I looked around, trying to make sure everything was
back in place. I glanced at the clock. Dawson had been gone for
over an hour. It was getting pretty close to dawn already. I was a
little worried about Mason. I’d figured Mason and Dawson would have
been back by now. I knew Dawson could take care of himself, but
Mason couldn’t. He at least acted like he couldn’t. Just as I was
thinking about moving on to the next room the front door opened,
and Dawson walked in.

He was scowling. It didn’t appear that
he’d found Mason. His eyes met mine, and his expression softened a
little. “I couldn’t find him. No one has seen him. There is
something wrong; I know it,” he said impatiently.

“
Where could he have
gone?” I asked, starting to worry a little more now that Dawson was
worried.

He ran his fingers through his hair
and sighed. “I don’t know, but I think whatever happened here has
to do with his disappearance.”

“
Can you contact Deek? He
had a problem with Mason; maybe he came after him,” I said, hoping
it would be that easy. We both knew Deek was after Mason, but Deek
didn’t make an attempt to do anything to Mason when he was here
last. I couldn’t see Deek taking the time to come here, ransack the
house, and take Mason. It seemed a little far-fetched; at least, I
thought it was. It didn’t seem like Deek’s style at all.

“
I could, but I doubt he
would tell me anything. What if you called him? He seems to be fond
of you,” Dawson said dryly.

I was a little startled by his
comment. I wouldn’t say he was fond of me, but he was at least nice
to me. “I guess I could. I don’t think it has anything to do with
fondness. Like you said, Deek likes power, and I have an ability
that would be useful to him,” I said, as I walked over to the couch
and sat down.

Dawson retrieved his cell phone from
his pocket as he walked over to me. He sat down next to me on the
couch. He hit a couple buttons, then handed me the phone. The phone
rang a couple times before someone answered. “Deek’s phone,” a
gruff male voice said. I recognized the voice; it was
Jason.

“
Jason, this is Larel. I
don’t know if you remember me…” I said, hesitantly.

There was a pause on the other end. “I
remember you. What do you want?” he asked after a
second.

“
I was hoping to speak
with Deek; is he around?” I asked, hoping Jason wouldn’t give me a
hard time. He’d liked annoying me the last time we ran into each
other. I was sure nothing much had changed since then.

“
He might be. What is this
about?” he asked haughtily. It was obvious he didn’t want to do me
any favors. I did hit him over the head with a lamp, though, so I
really couldn’t blame him.

“
It’s about Mason. You
wouldn’t happen to know where he is, would you?” I asked
cautiously. I knew Mason was a touchy subject, and I was hoping
asking Jason wasn’t a mistake. If he hung up on me, we would be
back to square one.

He scoffed. “I thought he wasn’t your
boyfriend.”

I fought the urge to roll my eyes. I
attempted to remain patient as I glanced at Dawson. I didn’t want
to play a hundred questions; I just wanted answers. “He isn’t…” I
started, but there was a scuffling noise before I could finish
speaking.

“
I apologize for my
cousin, Larel. What is it I can help you with?” Deek asked smoothly
as he took over the phone.

I was a little relieved I could speak
to the person I wanted to. “I was hoping you would know where Mason
is. We can’t find him,” I said, getting right to the
point.

“
You think I have him,” he
said, amused.

“
It is the most logical
explanation to his sudden disappearance,” I said, trying to keep my
tone neutral. I didn’t want him to think I was accusing him,
because I wasn’t. I was just trying to find out if he had anything
to do with Mason’s disappearance. I still didn’t think he did, but
I wanted to make sure we followed all leads.

Deek laughed lightly. “I suppose you
are right. I am sorry, but I cannot help you. I haven’t seen Mason
since I spoke to you on the porch at Dawson’s house. I am sure
Mason has made many enemies that you don’t know about. He could be
any number of places.”

“
I suppose you are right,”
I said, glancing at Dawson. I was getting nowhere. I could tell by
the look on Dawson’s face that he already knew it. Deek was a dead
end. “Well, thank you for your time. If you hear anything, please
let me know.”

“
I will,” he said,
sounding slightly amused.

I hung up the phone and handed it back
to Dawson. “Well, that was a dead end,” I said softly.

Dawson accepted the phone and stood.
He started to pace back and forth. He looked like he was deep in
thought. I decided not to say anything. Maybe he would come up with
something if he thought about it long enough. He stopped suddenly
and looked at me. “I just don’t think he ran off. There has to be
something wrong.” He was upset, and I wished I could make him feel
better, but I couldn’t.

I stood slowly. “I am going to go
upstairs and clean up. Maybe you should get some rest. He may come
back. He tends to run off when he gets upset.”

He watched me for a minute; then he
sighed. “I guess you are right. I will come up and help you. It
will at least kill time.”

He followed me upstairs. My mind was
on Mason just as much as Dawson’s was. I normally wouldn’t have
worried, but Dawson was antsy. He felt something was wrong, and I
was worried he might be right.

We spent the next couple hours fixing
the mess upstairs. Dawson didn’t say much of anything. I didn’t say
anything either. I wasn’t really sure what to say. Dawson got a
couple phone calls. It sounded like he had people posted in various
places watching for Mason. Every time he got a phone call he
answered it quickly, but as soon as he got whatever message they
had to give, he was back to looking worried.

Once the last room was clean, I looked
over at Dawson. “We should probably get some rest,” I said softly.
The sun was already up. I was pretty sure it was already
midmorning. I had been up way too long, and I was starting to feel
it.

He glanced at me, then looked back
down at his cell phone. “You should go to bed. You have been up for
a while,” he said absently. He wasn’t even really paying attention
to me. He was too focused on his phone.

“
You should really get
some rest too,” I said, trying to convince him. I had a feeling I
wouldn’t be able to, but I was going to try anyway.

“
I am fine, I just want to
find him. Once I do, I will get some rest. I am actually going to
go look around again,” he said, as he put his phone in his
pocket.

“
Okay. Just get me if you
need me,” I said, wishing I could do more for him.

He nodded, then turned and hurried
down the stairs without another word. He was focused on finding
Mason. He wasn’t interested in resting, or me. The thought
depressed me a little, even though I understood. I couldn’t believe
I was being so selfish that I was thinking that way. I pushed the
thoughts away. I needed to get some rest. Hopefully it would help
me clear my head. I was also hoping to wake up to Mason being back
home. I was just hoping he was out throwing a fit somewhere, and
not in any real trouble. I walked into my room, and climbed into
bed. I fell asleep as soon as I hit the bed. I was so tired I
didn’t even bother with undressing.

* * *

The door slamming downstairs startled
me awake. It was dark outside my window; I had been asleep for a
while. I quickly climbed out of bed. The door must have been shut
pretty hard for it to startle me out of the deep sleep I was in. As
I opened my door, Dawson appeared at the top of the stairs. His
expression was bleak, like something bad happened.

“
What’s wrong?” I asked,
worried, as I hurried over to him.

“
I was right; he was
taken,” Dawson said, starting to sound like he was going to panic.
He was really upset, which meant whoever took Mason probably meant
to hurt him.