His pissed off tone is enough to send shivers down my spine. But the message was short and didn't give me a lot of information. I open up my messages and start to read the several from Wells.
Wells: There are some suits here on campus asking about you.
Wells: Holy shit, Ryker. What did you do?
Wells: You need to call me ASAP.
Wells: I really don't want Zella to get hurt, but if you don't contact me soon, I'm going to have to call her. Shit isn't looking good for you right now, man.
My stomach drops, and sweat prickles on the back of my neck. I have no idea what the fuck is going on, but it doesn't sound good. No way did campus security catch on to my server hack. We're talking about a few semester grades, no biggie. The dudes who paid me weren't there on scholarship or anything.
I hear Zella before I see her. She must be heading back to the car, so I fire off a text to Wells.
Me: Phone's been off. I have no idea what's going on. Be back in about five hours.
Hitting send, I slide the phone back in my pocket.
"Did you get a hold of Wells?" she asks as she comes up to stand in front of me. I'm leaning against the side of the car. To calm my nerves, I place my hands on her hips and pull her into me. She moves effortlessly as if she were waiting for an invitation. Leaning down, I find her lips and kiss her. The kiss doesn't last long thanks to the vibration in my pocket, bringing me back to reality.
"I did. Hop in the car. Going to run to the restroom real fast." Regretfully, I let her go.
"Already got you some snacks," she replies in a sing-song voice. She slides into the front seat and closes the door. I turn and walk into the building, barely waiting a second before checking my phone.
Wells: Come to campus security as soon as you drop off Zella.
Damn it. The next five hours are not going to be easy. Since I don't know what kind of trouble I'm so obviously in, I better make the most of my time with Zella. After I find out what the hell is going on, who knows if she'll still be into me.
The time somehow simultaneously drags on and passes at light speed. Before we know it, it's ten o'clock at night and I'm pulling up in front of the Lofts. Cameron is waiting just inside and meets us right as I pull the key from the ignition.
I drag myself out of the car and grab Zella's bags from the backseat. I get a look of concern from Zella when I hand her bags to Cam. She must be expecting me to come up. I badly want to come up with her. Hell, I'd stay the night with her if I could, but I can't. I can't ignore whatever real-life bull shit is waiting for me at the campus security building.
"All right, Blondie. I've gotta run, but we'll talk in the morning." I try not to be a dick, but I can't stay.
Her eyebrows crease. "Oh, okay." She turns away to follow Cam, who's clearly giving me the cold shoulder. But I'm not leaving things between us like this. I reach out and catch her hand, stopping her. When she looks back at me, I pull her arm, and she follows. I dig my hands into her hair and kiss her with passion. I hear a throat clear somewhere behind her but ignore it.
Slowly breaking the kiss, I smile down at her dazed, blissful face.
"I had an amazing few days with you. Don't forget to put lotion on that tat." She looks up at me and nods. She breaks away from me and walks back toward the building entrance.
"Night, Blondie." I try to keep the panic out of my voice.
With a half-smile, she waves and despairs into the building.
Slowly, I get back in my car and drive myself into what's surely about to be hell. Minutes later, I walk into the campus security building. There are a couple campus security guards milling about, and I briefly wonder what they normally do this late on weeknights while they are on call. One of the guards recognizes me; he walks over and knocks on a door. It opens and out comes the security director, followed by two men in dark suits and a police officer.
"Ryker, nice of you to show up," the director says. I've met him a few times. Over the years. You'd think I would know his name, but I don't. I've always thought of him as a joke though.
"I've been out of town," I offer.
"Mr. Stone. I'm Special Agent Black, and this is Special Agent Graham. We need you to come down to the station with us. We've got some things we need to talk about." Black is a tall, thin man; he looks like he's in his late thirties, but I'm not sure. Graham looks older and stockier.
I glance at the officer standing next to him, and then the campus police standing at attention, both strategically placed and ready for the chase if I were to run. That isn't going to happen though. I don't run. I'm not a coward.
"Am I under arrest?" I eye Black.
"Why don't you just come willingly? That way, we don't have to make a scene," he replies, but the officer looks disappointed. Douche.
“I’d like to call my lawyer.” Technically, it’s my uncle’s lawyer, but he’s helped me out before.
The good agent curses under his breath. “Yeah, I’m sure you do. Come on.”
With a sigh, I nod. I want to get to the bottom of this, then I want to crash because I'm fucking tired from the ten-hour drive I made today. I walk out into the night with Agent Black and Graham and some douchebag officer. I leave my car in the parking lot and hope like hell this is all a huge misunderstanding.
17
Zella
Ten days ago, I was on cloud nine. Today, I couldn't be further from the sky. Ten days ago, I had a boyfriend sitting next to me in the car, holding my hand and singing along to whatever song I played. Today, I don't know what I have, but it's not a present boyfriend.
I haven't heard from Ryker since he dropped me off in front of my building. I should have suspected something was wrong when he didn't come up to my room. Though we didn't talk about it, I thought for sure he was going to come up. I would have even asked him to stay if I'd been given the chance.
He didn't show up in class Tuesday night, which pushed me over the edge. I might not have a lot of experience in the relationship department, but I don't want to be a clingy girlfriend. When you spend five days with someone and then get no texts, no calls, and don't see them for over a week, it's rough.
I knew something was wrong.
He regretted his time with me. I knew it. I could barely keep it together through class. Cameron kept giving me the side-eye. He’d try his best to comfort me. "He's probably just tired and missed class."
As the days went on, Cam's tune changed; he was no longer defending Ryker, which I assume a best friend does when your heart is broken.
I guess what's got me so upset is that I don't know where he is. It's like he just fell off the face of the earth.
Two days in with no contact, I wanted to march down to the police station and file a missing person report. That's when Wells stepped in. He said Ryker was involved in some bad stuff, and he's either in police custody or hiding.
That promptly started an argument because I know Ryker well enough to know he isn't a coward. He wouldn't hide. He would face up to whatever it was he did. Wells wasn't as sure. I told him that as Ryker's best friend, he needed to have more faith in him. That earned me a sad, shameful response, ending the argument.