The Siren (15 page)

He rolled onto his side, propping his head up on his arm. “I just asked him what he thought about letting his only daughter marry a guy who has no job and no family and no history with you at all.”

“Are you serious?” I was laughing with an uneasy mix of nerves and excitement.

“Yeah. Why wouldn’t I be?” he asked. “You didn’t think this was some kind of random fling for me, did you?”

Everything had transpired so quickly, I wasn’t sure what I thought. “No, but I didn’t think you were talking to my dad about marriage either.” I jerked the sheet up over my body. “Are you proposing to me right now?”

He opened his mouth and widened his eyes like he was about to say,
Surprise!
Instead, he laughed. “No.”

Strangely enough, I was disappointed. “No?”

He shook his head. “No.”

“Why not? Do you want to marry me?” I asked.

He raised an eyebrow. “Are
you
proposing now?”

I smirked. “No.”
 

He cupped my chin in his large hand and pulled on my lower lip with his thumb. His eyes fell to my mouth. “I’m going to marry you, but not just yet.”

My brow wrinkled. “What are you waiting for?”
 

He gave me a half-smile and slid his hand down to my arm. “I guess I’m waiting until I don’t wonder where your mind goes sometimes.”

I twisted my head in confusion. “What?”

He just stared at me till a light bulb flickered on in my mind and I realized what he was talking about. It felt like my stomach had fallen through the mattress. “Nathan McNamara.”

He nodded, and there was a knock at our door.

He sighed. “Speak of the devil.”

Warren flung the covers to the side and pushed himself off the bed. As he walked to the door, he slipped on the jeans he’d discarded the night before. Around the corner, I heard the door open.
 

“Morning,” Nathan said. “You guys up?”

“Yeah, but we’re not ready yet.”

“We’re heading up to the pool for breakfast if you want to join us,” Nathan said.

“Sounds good. Give us a few,” Warren answered.

When he returned, he didn’t rejoin me in the bed. “You hungry?” he asked.

It was obvious the subjects of marriage—and Nathan McNamara—were no longer open for discussion. My brain was firing in a thousand different directions. I got up, and we both dressed in awkward silence.

Everything was happening so fast, and for the first time since we’d been together, I felt really overwhelmed. I loved him, but he was right. My mind was still prone to wandering. My ears had been ringing from noise damage all week to prove it.

The silence continued when we got up to the roof. Nathan and Shannon both noticed over breakfast. Nathan pointed his fork at both of us. “What’s with you two?”
 

“It’s none of your business,” Shannon scolded him from underneath her ridiculous hat.

That was both true and untrue.

I shifted in my seat. “We’ve been trying to decide this morning if we should stay for a few more days or not. We haven’t accomplished anything at all,” I said. “Not with Rachel Smith or with Larry Mendez.”

Nathan’s head snapped back in surprise. “You’re thinking about going home early?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know. Probably, if we don’t start getting somewhere pretty fast.”

Nathan looked at Warren. “You’re just going to walk away from Mendez?”

Warren didn’t look up from his omelet. “I might go kill him before we leave and neutralize the problem.”
 

Nathan stared at him with an awkward smile, like he wasn’t sure if Warren was joking or if he was serious. To be honest, I wasn’t sure if Warren was serious or not either.

My phone rang, and I jumped at the chance to escape from the table and answer it. I looked at the screen. “It’s my dad. Excuse me.” I stood up and walked to the edge of the roof.
 

“Hey, Dad,” I answered. I leaned my elbows on the chest-high concrete wall that surrounded the area.

“Hey, sweetheart. How’s the Lone Star state?” he asked.

I groaned. “A little tense at the moment. Did Warren talk to you about us getting married?”

There was a beat of silence on the other end of the phone. “Why? Did he propose?”

“No, but he said he talked to you.”

“He did. He came by my office last week,” he said. “Is everything OK?”

I sighed. “It will be. How are you?”

“Well, I’m fine. Your mother, however, isn’t feeling too well,” he said. “I’m trying to convince her to go to the hospital for some tests, but of course she’s being stubborn. If she isn’t any better today, I’m going to drag her there if I have to.”

“What’s wrong with her?” I asked.

“Well, it started with a mild headache. Then a few days ago she started getting dizzy and throwing up. She thinks it’s an inner ear infection, but I’m not convinced. She started on antibiotics three days ago and still isn’t any better. I don’t think it’s anything serious. I just wanted you to know before someone called you and said your mother was at the hospital.”

“Yeah. Thanks for letting me know. Keep me posted on how she’s feeling and what you find out. Tell her I said to quit being stubborn and go to the hospital and listen to you,” I said.

He laughed. “She hasn’t listened to me in twenty-seven years. I’m not sure why she would start now.”

I laughed. “Give her my love, OK?”

“I will,” he said.

“Love you, Dad.”

“I love you too,” he said and disconnected.

Warren looked up with concern as I approached the table. “Is everything OK?”
 

I nodded and sat back down. “Mom is pretty sick, and Dad wanted me to know he’s trying to get her to go to the hospital for some tests. He’s going to keep me updated. What are you guys discussing?”

“Nathan thinks we should go back to the gas station, where the photo was taken, and see if anyone recognizes Rachel,” Warren answered.

“I’m kinda surprised we haven’t already thought to do that,” I said.

Shannon raised her hand. “What’s so special about this Rachel person anyway? Why have you spent all week looking for someone you don’t even know?”

“It’s complicated,” Nathan said.

She put her fork on her plate. “I think I can keep up.”

Nathan looked at me for an answer.
 

A bright idea popped into my head. “You remember how I’m adopted, right?”

Shannon nodded.
 

“Well, Rachel Smith might know something about my birth parents and where I came from.”

She adjusted her hat. “Right, because she’s a social worker.”
 

Nathan’s eyes widened at me. “Yes,” he said. “That’s exactly correct.”

“Well, that doesn’t sound too dangerous. Mind if I tag along?” she asked. “I’ve been in every shop on the River Walk at least twice, and I don’t think I can stand another day of being left behind and cooped up in this hotel.”

I thought about it. Shannon really hadn’t been a pain in the ass all week about staying at the hotel while we went out like I had expected she would. She had actually almost been pleasant to be around. I also knew the chances were very slim we would even find Rachel, so I decided to throw Shannon a bone. “Sure. Come with us.”

Warren looked up at me but didn’t say anything.

Shannon clapped her hands together and squealed. “Yay! Thank you! I promise I won’t get in the way. I’ll be as quiet as a church mouse.”

I doubted that.

We hung out at the pool until families with a lot of young children showed up just after noon. We decided to go get changed and grab lunch on our way toward what we assumed was Rachel’s neighborhood.
 

When Warren and I got to the room, I grabbed him by the hand. “Can we talk a sec?”

He turned toward me and nodded. “Sure.”

“What you were saying this morning.” I shifted uneasily on my feet. “Do you worry about me and Nathan?”
 

He shook his head. “No. I don’t think you would cheat on me, if that’s what you’re asking. But I also know if I weren’t in the picture, the two of you would be together.”

“He’s with Shannon.”

He crossed his arms and frowned down at me.

I sighed. “OK. Yes, we probably would be together, but we aren’t because I love you, and I’ve chosen to be with you.”

He put his hands on my shoulders. “I know that, Sloan, and I’m not mad at you. I want to make sure you’re in this 100 percent before we start making permanent plans together. Not 99 percent or 99.9 percent. I don’t want the majority of you. I want all of you.”

“Do you want me to not be friends with him anymore?” I asked.

“I would never ask you to do that. I just think we need to give it some time to make sure you’re never going to look back.” His eyes became very serious. “I don’t want to be walking in on my wife someday looking at him the way you were looking at him the other night in the pool.”

His words were like a knife to the chest. “Nothing happened in the pool.”

“Maybe nothing physical.” His eyebrows were raised, daring me to argue. I didn’t. “I told you, I’m not angry about it. I’m not happy about it either, but I trust you.”
 

I cast my eyes down at his feet. “I’m sorry, Warren.”

He shook his head. “There are a lot of layers to this relationship, Sloan. This whole thing with you and me blew up overnight, taking everyone by surprise, including us. You’ve still got some things to figure out, whether you want to admit it or not.”

I opened my mouth to protest, but he kissed me to shut me up. When he let me go, he smiled like the whole conversation hadn’t even happened. “Get dressed.”

* * *

We drove to the gas station where the surveillance photo was captured and showed both clerks who were there the picture of Rachel Smith. Neither of them recognized her.
 

When we got back in the SUV, I slammed my door shut. “The clerks at the Texaco near my house would at least recognize my face,” I said. “She doesn’t live here.”

Warren nodded and started the engine. “You’re probably right.”
 

I felt a hand on my shoulder from behind. It was Shannon. “I’m really sorry, Sloan.”

I nodded. “Thanks.”

Warren looked over at me. “Well, you wanna cruise by Mendez’s house again before we completely call everything quits?”

I looked up at the sky. “It isn’t dark yet.” I glanced at Nathan. “What do you think?”

He leaned against his door and shrugged. “It’s your call.”

“It wouldn’t hurt to take one more look,” I said.

Across town, the maroon pickup was parked at the curb outside of Larry Mendez’s house. All the lights inside appeared to be on. We parked a block away and watched.

“Who is this guy? What do you want with him?” Shannon asked.

“He gives me the creeps,” I said. “I want to figure out why.”

She laughed. “Lots of people creep me out, but I don’t sit outside their houses like a stalker.”

A blue car that was missing the front fender pulled up behind the truck. Nathan leaned forward between the front seats for a better view. The car doors opened and two men got out and stepped onto the sidewalk. One was a white guy wearing a white tank top and baggy jeans. The other was Hispanic, wearing a red polo and a lot of gold jewelry. They were both covered in tattoos, and they were both about our age.

Warren leaned over the steering wheel and ripped off his sunglasses. He strained his eyes. “That’s impossible,” he muttered.

I looked over at him. “What’s impossible?”
 

He pointed. “The guy in the white shirt. I think I know him.”

“What?” Nathan asked.

“Who is it?” I asked.

Warren cocked his head to the side. “Sloan, do you remember me telling you about the two guys who attacked that girl at the dumpster in Chicago? One died and one got away.”

Warren had told me the story. It had been the second time he had ever used his power. He killed a guy from his group home who was trying to rape a girl in an alleyway near a movie theater. “Yeah. I remember.”

“I could be wrong, but I’m pretty damn certain that’s the one who escaped. That’s Rex,” he said.

My mouth fell open. “You’re kidding? We’re a bazillion miles away from Chicago.”

Nathan shook his head. “That would be a huge coincidence.”

I groaned and felt my heart start to pound. The word
coincidence
was becoming a verbal red flag. True coincidences never seemed to happen around me. I looked at Warren. “What do you want to do?”

He reclined in his seat and rested his hand over the steering wheel. He tapped his fingers on the dash. “Let’s see what they do.”

The two men talked for a moment on the curb, and then the Hispanic guy made a phone call. A moment later, they scanned the street, then walked up the stairs and knocked on the door. They disappeared inside. After a few short minutes, the Hispanic guy came out first holding his car keys. He scanned the street again before signaling to the front door.
 

Nathan chuckled. “Not so good as a lookout, is he? Big white SUV right here.”

I laughed. Warren didn’t.

Rex and Larry Mendez came outside, holding onto the arms of two young Hispanic girls. One was the teenage girl we had seen earlier that week and the other was much younger. They both looked sluggish, like they had been drugged, as they were led to the car.

I gasped and covered my mouth with my hand.
 

“They’re trafficking,” Nathan said. He moved to reach for his door handle.
 

Warren reached out and grabbed him by the back of his shirt. “Hold up. Hold up. We should follow them and see where they go.”

“I agree with Nathan,” I said. “I think we should take them down before this escalates any further.”

“No, Warren’s right. We need to see where the hub of this thing is.” Nathan sat back and put his seatbelt on.

“What about Shannon?” I asked. “This isn’t safe.”

Warren put the car in drive and chuckled to himself. “I’ll give her my gun and she can protect you.”

“Hey!” I shouted and punched him in the shoulder.