7. Hazel

Chapter 7

Hazel

I stood in the supply closet long after Ian left. For a while, I wasn’t sure how to move. It was as if I’d forgotten how to control my own body. That was the effect he had on me, and I hated myself for it.

When I finally pushed myself off the wall, I took a deep breath before stepping out of the closet. I’d looked outside when Ian opened the door, so I knew my co-workers were eavesdropping on our conversation. I tried to mentally prepare myself for the quizzing they would give me once I stepped out.

I pushed the door open and walked into the main office where they were all waiting for me. Even the woman from Human Resources was here. I wondered if she was also standing outside the door eavesdropping. The only person absent was Bradford.

“What did you say to him?” Julie, the HR woman asked. She looked almost… disappointed in me.

How was it possible that Ian had come here to scream my head off but somehow I ended up being the bad guy?

“He seemed really upset,” Kira said as she stared at the door Ian had walked out of a while ago. “You shouldn’t have shouted at him.”

“I shouldn’t have—

I paused midway, not sure how I should even respond to what she said. I was so surprised by her statement that I didn’t even know what to say. She had no issues with Ian yelling at me but me defending myself was where she drew the line.

I shook my head and lifted my hands in defeat. “You’re right.”

I chose not to argue with them. There was no point. In the game of right and wrong against Ian Carter, I would always be wrong and he would always be right. He could do no wrong in the eyes of the townspeople.

After all, he was the one who brought fame and notoriety to our little town. I couldn’t help rolling my eyes at that thought.

“I have somewhere to go,” I said as I walked past them and picked up my jacket. “Please call me if anyone calls in about Emily.”

Emily was supposed to be our focus here but somehow it had shifted to Ian. A woman was missing but my coworkers were worried about the super-rich hockey player with enough money to buy us out of our jobs. Ian would survive, but Emily may not. She was my priority.

I walked out of the office and dialed Jade's number. I needed to talk to another sane person before I lost my mind. We agreed to meet up at the local bake shop run by our mutual friend Stacey.

The bake shop was only a few blocks away, so I decided to walk instead of taking my car. It gave me time to think and clear my head or at least that was the plan.

Sadly, I spent the entire walk thinking about how annoying Ian was. Who did he think he was to come into my office and yell at me like that?

I understood why he was upset but that didn’t give him the right to react the way he did. It was wrong on so many levels.

By the time I got to Stacey’s bakery, I’d managed to upset myself more. I met Jade sitting at our usual spot inside and I walked over to her.

“You seem cheerful,” she said when I practically yanked off my jacket and threw it on the back of my chair.

Her sarcastic comment reminded me of the one Ian made while we were in the supply closet. “Gotta love the Carter family sarcasm.”

Jade immediately understood the source of my ire. She sighed as I took the seat opposite her. “What did Ian do this time?”

“Remember the brunette you met outside my office?”

“The one with the missing friend? I saw the story in the paper this morning and I…” her voice trailed off and a look of realization settled on her face. “Ian must not have been happy about you mentioning his name.”

“No he was not,” I said. “He stormed into my office like a raging bull and gave me an earful.”

I went into more detail about my fight with Ian but I made sure to leave out the part where it felt like we were about to kiss. I didn’t want Jade to know that I thought that way about her brother even though it was just a temporary lapse in judgment.

It must have been the effect of the small room or the old ink in the supply closet. It all contributed to the absolute insanity that made me even consider kissing Ian.

The memory of my lips on his arm flashed through my mind but I banished it immediately. Thinking about Ian that way was not allowed. It was easy to banish the thought, but the memory of his scent was a lot more difficult to get rid of. It stayed with me no matter what I did.

“I guess I understand why he’s upset but at the same time you did what you had to do,” Jade said.

As always, she didn’t take any sides. Jade had always been a neutral party in all of my fights with her brother. She’d made it clear early on that she wouldn’t get involved in whatever argument we had.

In the beginning, she’d to mediate peace between us but after failing many times, she gave up on trying to make us see eye to eye. With time she accepted that her brother and I would just never get along.

I knew it bothered her that we hated each other so much but at this point, she’d grown used to it. Ian and I were capable of putting a lid on our hatred when we were around our families which made it easy for everyone to forget we couldn’t stand each other.

“Maybe if you both apologized, it would—” Jade stopped halfway when she saw the look I gave her. “Or not.”

I sighed and looked down at the table. Jade had been here a while, so she already ordered a bagel and a cup of coffee. Looking at it made me realize how hungry I was. I hadn't eaten anything all day because I was waiting on the phone to hear news about Emily. My stomach grumbled just as I signaled a waitress over.

“I’ll have what she’s having please,” I said.

“Coming right up.”

I turned back to Jade. “Have you seen Stacey yet?”

“Yeah, she was here when I came in. She walked into the kitchen to handle some things, but she said she’d be back soon.”

As if on cue, Stacey walked out of the kitchen. Her face lit up when she saw me, making her look even more stunning. She had blonde hair, blue eyes, and a dazzling smile that had been causing dizzy spells since she was a freshman. She’d always been a beautiful woman.

“Hazel! I thought I heard your voice,” she said.

“You heard me from the kitchen?”

Stacey made a face, and I could tell she was about to do an impression of me. “What is wrong with that man? I truly cannot stand your brother,” Stacey said, imitating what I usually say about Ian.

Jade laughed and Stacey joined in. “That was good,” my best friend said.

My bagel and coffee arrived. I took a sip and immediately recoiled. “I forgot you take your coffee in the most disgusting way possible. Can I get a sweetener or something?”

The waitress nodded. “Sure thing.”

“Thank you.”

“You take way too much sugar,” Jade commented as I added two cubes to my coffee cup.

“No, I take the amount of sugar required for a normal person. It’s not my fault you like your coffee to taste like death.”

Stacey laughed again. “I missed being around you too.”

“We’re happy we’re able to entertain you,” Jade and I said in unison, making all three of us laugh.

“To show my gratitude, I’ll give you guys some free cinnamon rolls. I’ll also throw in a few extra ones in Jade’s pack so she can give them to Ian.”

“Traitor,” I muttered as I bit into my bagel.

Stacey laughed and walked away; the sound of her laughter bounced off the walls of her bakery like music. I stayed with Jade for the rest of the afternoon before I returned to the office. There was still no news on Emily so I went home where I could eat my cinnamon rolls with the lack of propriety it required.

I pushed the door of my apartment open and walked inside. The place looked exactly the same as when I left it hours ago.

The benefits of living alone , I thought as I placed the box of cinnamon rolls down on the center table in the living room. I walked into the kitchen and grabbed a glass of orange juice. I plopped down on the floor between my sofa and the center table.

My mind drifted to Emily as I ate. The more I thought about her case the more confused I got. None of it made sense. I tried to go over all the information I’d gathered on the case but there wasn’t a lot of it.

Things seemed so straightforward, but they were also very confusing. Emily had come into town to see where Ian grew up. She and Olivia stayed in a hotel room together and they’d been there for three days until she disappeared.

Emily was in the hotel room when Olivia left, and she told Olivia that she didn’t plan to go anywhere. She wasn’t there when Olivia came back, and she didn’t leave a note or anything else to say where she was going. The most suspicious part was that she didn’t take any of her belongings. Her purse, phone, and ATM card were in the hotel room when Olivia got back. Emily was the only thing missing.

It all pointed to one terrifying possibility that I still didn’t want to consider. If Emily didn’t take her things, then there was a chance she didn’t leave because she wanted to. Maybe she was… kidnapped.

I just hoped she was still alive. It would break my heart to know she traveled all this way just to die in someone else’s home. She didn’t deserve that. No one did.

Emily’s disappearance was the most that had ever happened in Cloverhill in a long time. People typically didn’t go missing here and even murders were a rare occurrence.

Cloverhill was known for its low crime rate which was why most of us hung onto the belief that she’d simply gone home. I tried to make myself believe that but the evidence didn’t point in that direction. Emily wouldn’t leave without her belongings, and she wouldn’t leave without her best friend.

Olivia had also reached out to Emily’s only living relative, her aunt. The woman stated that she hadn't heard from her niece in days. Everything pointed to Emily being kidnapped.

I wished there was more I could do for her. The article didn’t feel like enough. I needed to help in any other way I could. The only way I could think of was continuing the investigation. I’d already gathered all the available information about the case. I also had direct access to the last person who saw Emily.

Hopefully, with my help, the police would find Emily sooner. I wanted her to be found as soon as possible because I knew that the more time went by, the more in danger she was.

I promised myself that I wouldn’t stop until she was found. I would do everything I could to find her. I’d never done anything like this before, but I was determined to help. I couldn’t just fold my arms and sit back.

Every second mattered now.