5. Hazel

Chapter 5

Hazel

T he article was finally out. I’d mentioned all the information Olivia gave me and added a call line, urging anyone with information to step forward. I also mentioned that Emily was in town because of Ian.

I hoped that would make her fellow Ian Carter fans more sympathetic. There were so many of them in town. One of them had to know something.

The police had already begun their investigation as over twenty-four hours had passed since Olivia reported her friend missing. Sadly, they still hadn't been able to find anything substantial. There wasn’t a lot to go on in the case.

Emily was there one minute and gone the next. For all we know, she could have taken a train out of town or met someone and left with them. The possibilities were endless.

There was also the possibility that she was in serious danger. Olivia knew her friend, and she assured us that Emily would never leave without telling her. I trusted her because I would say the same thing.

If Jade and I traveled together, I was certain she wouldn’t leave without telling me and vice versa. It was the normal thing to do. If Emily didn’t tell Olivia where she was going, it was likely because she wasn’t able to. Maybe someone abducted her from the hotel room. She could be hurt somewhere and in need of help.

I bit my nails as I stared at the phone in front of me. We still hadn't gotten any calls yet, but the day was just starting so I was still hopeful.

“They’ll call,” Kira said, reassuringly. It was the first real sign of concern I’d seen her show since Olivia walked through the door a few days ago. “Don’t worry.”

I smiled at her. “Thank you.”

My other coworkers offered more reassuring words that helped ease the discomfort in my chest. While I hoped someone would call soon, I also worried that I wouldn’t like what they had to say.

What if someone had found her body?

I shook my head, banishing that thought to the dark abyss where it belonged. Emily was fine and soon we would find her. I repeated that statement in my head until I started to believe it.

“I’m sure the girl just went out with some friends,” Mirabel, one of the editors, said. She was older than most of us and a mother to three young girls. I knew the story hit her personally because she couldn’t help imagining Emily as one of her daughters.

“I’m sure you’re right, Mira.”

Neither of us looked convinced by our statements. We were doing our best to remain hopeful, but it was difficult to hope when things looked so bleak. I sighed and shifted my gaze back to the phone. Still no calls.

The front door suddenly flung open so violently that I thought it would fly off its hinges and the glass would shatter on the ground. I looked up, expecting to see someone frantically asking for help like Olivia had done. Instead, I saw Ian.

He was frantic, but he wasn’t asking for help. He looked livid. His angry eyes scanned the room before settling on me. I gulped. I’d never seen him look so angry.

“Oh wow, it’s Ian Carter.”

“Ian, I’m your biggest fan!”

“He’s even more handsome in person.”

I heard my coworkers gush, but I didn’t have the guts to look away from the man approaching me. I was like prey that had locked eyes with a predator and already accepted my fate.

Ian stopped in front of my desk. His fury was even more terrifying up close. His green eyes burned intensely and the tightness in his neck told me he was still holding back, doing his best to keep a lid on his anger. It made me wonder what it would be like if he unleashed it.

“We need to talk. Now.”

My coworkers were still gushing over him, so I knew this wasn’t a good place to talk. They wouldn’t give us any privacy if we stayed here.

“Come with me.”

I led him into the supply closet. I walked in first and then Ian came in after me, his big frame filling up the room and making me feel smaller. I had to crane my neck to look up at him because he was standing so close.

He backed me up against the wall and my eyes widened. He still looked furious but for some reason, I was no longer afraid. What I felt was completely different from fear. I was strangely out of breath under Ian’s intense gaze. I couldn’t help staring at his lips and wondering things I shouldn’t even be thinking about.

With him standing so close, I could smell his scent. It invaded my nose; the musky cinnamon fragrance was so alluring that I was tempted to lean into him so I could inhale him.

His broad chest, covered in a black t-shirt that clung to his heaving muscles. He was breathing hard, clearly still upset. I wanted to run my hand over the fabric and enjoy the contrast between hard muscles and soft cotton. I balled my hand into a fist and reprimanded myself for such insane thoughts.

My breath came out in labored huffs that made me question everything I knew about myself. I couldn’t possibly be attracted to Ian. I’d never looked at him in that way before.

Sure, I knew he was attractive, but that never meant I was attracted to him. He was the last person who should be making me feel this way but as I stood there between him and the wall, I found myself staring at his sensual lips.

They were moving which meant he was saying something. I shook my head and tried to focus, tried to eradicate all the weird thoughts I was having about him.

“... you involve me in a case that has nothing to do with me?”

“What?” The fragment of the sentence I’d been able to catch wasn’t enough for me to make sense of what he was saying.

Ian scrunched his eyebrows, his anger momentarily giving way to confusion. “Did you hear anything I said?”

“I—

“You involved me in a case that doesn’t concern me. Why is it that you go out of your way to make life more difficult for me?”

“What are you talking about Ian?” It was my turn to be confused.

Ian lifted a newspaper between us. It took a minute before I realized that it was a Starlight Tribune paper. The one we sent out this morning that had the story of Emily’s disappearance.

Was that what this was about?

I stared at the paper for a long time before looking at him again. Whatever I was feeling before was long forgotten now. “Is this about Emily?”

“You wrote an article about a missing woman and somehow you managed to implicate me in her disappearance.”

“Implicate you? What are you even talking about?”

“By claiming Emily was in town because of me, you pointed a finger at me.”

“That’s crazy. I didn't point a finger at you. I only said she was your fan. I thought it would help more people take an interest in the case.”

Ian scoffed. “Oh, is that what you thought? Well, the only thing you did was drag me into something that had nothing to do with me.”

“Nothing to do with you? Emily came to town because she’s a fan of yours. Don’t you care at all about her disappearance?”

I couldn’t believe he was reacting like this. How was he more concerned about this when a woman was still missing?

“Of course I do!” Ian’s anger returned with a vengeance. He squeezed the newspaper so hard I could have sworn it started to tear. “I care about what happened to her and I want her to be found as soon as possible but I don’t want the entire town thinking this is somehow my fault!”

I rolled my eyes. “No one thinks this is your fault, Ian.”

“Then you clearly haven't stepped out of your office today.”

I bit my lip on a reply because he was right. I’d been at my desk all day waiting for someone to call in about Emily. I had no idea how people were reacting to my article outside.

Ian took my silence as a confirmation. “If you did step out, you would know the real effect your article had on the town.”

“It can't possibly be that bad.”

I wasn’t sure about that statement, but I’d be damned if I let Ian accuse me of this. He was probably only reacting this was because I was the one who wrote the article, and he already didn’t like me.

“That’s easy for you to say. You’re not the one being badgered by random people everywhere you go. And all because of one article. It’s like every time you release one of these, you implode a piece of my life. Did you do this intentionally? Was your goal to hurt me from the very beginning?”

“That’s preposterous.” I rolled my eyes again. “I know this might be hard for you to understand, Ian, but you’re not the center of the universe. We don’t all act with you in mind.”

“It sure seems like you do. Because one way or the other, your actions always have some kind of harmful effect on my life. It seems pretty intentional to me.”

“I didn’t do any of this to hurt you. I was only trying to help someone.”

“And you couldn’t help her without dragging me into it?”

“I didn’t drag you into it! You were already a part of the story. Do you think I enjoyed going on the Ian Carter’s Childhood Spots tour? Well, I didn’t! I had to do all that because those were the places Emily visited before she disappeared.”

“And you think the missing woman returned to our old high school? To do what exactly?”

“I don’t know! But I had to try! I had to do something!”

“Of course you did. Because Hazel Jones is just too kind to see anyone in trouble and not do something.”

I heard the sarcasm in his voice. “You’re just an asshole!”

“And you’re a horribly inconsiderate human being. You never care about how your actions might affect other people!”

“Forgive me if you weren’t at the forefront of my mind when I was trying to help a distraught woman find her missing friend! I know I’ve said this before, but you clearly need to hear it again. You are not the center of the universe, Ian!”

I glared up at him and he returned the intensity of my glare with his own. Our chests heaved in unison as our breaths mingled in the heated aftermath of our diatribe. This wasn’t how I expected this to end when he walked into the office earlier.

I felt so angry at him but I also felt drawn to him in that moment. We were both still breathing intently and neither of us had moved or said anything. My back was pressed firmly against the wall but I felt myself slowly moving forward, drawn up by some strange force that I couldn’t resist.

For a moment I thought Ian and I were going to kiss. The thought should have been appalling. I hated Ian, and he felt the same way about me. So why was I looking forward to the moment his lips would touch mine?

We were closer now, just another inch and he would be close enough to kiss me. My breath still came out in fast pants that matched his. I felt transfixed in that moment. I couldn’t move or push him away. But what terrified me more was that I wasn’t sure if I wanted to push him away.