Complicated

by M. M. Koenig

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  The Beginning of the End

  After my shameless behavior with Ethan, I updated Bri on Colin’s interest in me. She freaked out, which was understandable, since I was scared beyond reason too. We racked our brains for a good hour to come up with a way out of Harrison’s hold over me, but got nothing. It was going to take more than a few hours to figure out a way to outsmart these people. When the plane landed, they went home. Since my car was at Ethan’s, I went with him.

  The following week went by quickly, with Thanksgiving eating away two of the workdays. It was weird all around for me. Ethan became withdrawn at times. I chalked it up to his mom’s passing, but it seemed like more, judging by the troubled look in his eyes that seemed to grow by the day. I refrained from pushing him on it. If he truly was finding peace with her death, as Reece seemed to believe, then the last thing I wanted to do was stir up any more emotions.

  We celebrated Thanksgiving that Thursday with Ava. She prepared an excellent meal, but you could tell she was still grieving her daughter’s death. Ethan and I promised we would be back soon. Ava seemed to be in more need of the company now that the diner was closed. We had a twelve-course turkey dinner with Trey’s family that Friday. Lillian was more than thrilled to have us. The kids remained indifferent to Ethan – no surprise there.

  Normally, Bri rose to the occasion around the holidays. Given the situation with her family, she was understandably less than thrilled to give thanks this year. With my mess of a life, I was right there with her. Jackson and Shane took off for the holidays on Wednesday with no plans to return until Sunday evening. Throughout the week, I split my time between home and Ethan’s.

  After being out west, my head was a jumbled mess. By Sunday evening, I was finally in a state of mind to focus on finding a way out with Harrison. It more or less became a priority, since he was strangely quiet all week. I figured he’d follow up his text from out west, but it had been radio silence. It was even more disturbing knowing that Colin and Sean had an unknown interest in me. I wondered who they thought I was. Conversations throughout the trip surrounded my every thought, demanding that I find more answers. My nerves rattled even more.

  I spent Monday and Tuesday night at home. I wanted the space away from Ethan so I could keep piecing things together. The flashes after my fall began pressing to the forefront of my mind. I was starting to wonder if there was more to them than I thought. I gave up thinking about it after several hours of going in useless circles. My mind struggled to stay on one train of thought for long. It was an effect of the concussion, and made me even more irritated. Ethan noticed it too, especially when we were working together. He made me leave early both days so I could get some more rest.

  I decided to make it up to him by spending Wednesday night at his place. I missed being in his arms when sleep did occasionally make an appearance, which had become much worse since the fall. It was a combination of my reluctance to have any more dreams to mess with my head even more, and my growing impatience for this meeting.

  We had a quiet dinner of Chinese at his place, but the conversation was light between us. We tried watching a movie and making-out again. We made it through a quarter of the movie before giving into our sex drives. By late evening, Ethan had left me completely satisfied and ready for bed. My phone began vibrating shortly after we turned in. I rolled onto my side and leaned over Ethan to grab it. As I fell back against the pillow, his hand ran across mine to stop me from going into my call log.

  “Shut it off,” Ethan mumbled sleepily, massaging my thigh tenderly with his free hand.

  “It rang close to six times in the last five minutes. I need to see who keeps calling,” I muttered, stopping his hand from wandering any further.

  Ethan sighed. “If I fully wake up, you’re paying me back in the manner of my choosing.”

  I giggled while checking my missed calls. Micah’s mom had called earlier in the evening. She also called during the week and left me a voicemail asking if I had seen him recently. I had been meaning to return her call, but kept putting it off. I listened to her recent message. Her voice was more panicked, begging me to call her. The rest of my missed calls were all from Trey. I was about to listen to his message when he called again. Ethan rolled onto his side to face me. I rested my palm against his cheek. Ethan took my hand and brought it to his heart before nodding to take the call.

  “Trey, what is it? You’ve called a ridiculous amount tonight,” I answered, annoyed.

  “If you’d answer your fucking phone, I wouldn’t have to call you like a lunatic,” he snapped.

  “What do you need?” I asked, cuddling into Ethan.

  “You need to come home. We need to find Micah. His mom is freaking out. She wants to file a missing person’s report. I persuaded her to hold off until we search his usual hideouts.”

  I flinched with his alarm. “Why is she so worried? Micah took off for a whole year. She didn’t question that.”

  Trey snorted. “She didn’t have to because he checked in with her. She called me, and you, when he was gone. The only difference was that I took her calls. You didn’t. Some things haven’t changed.”

  “Why can’t this wait until morning?”

  “She has a bad feeling, and so do I. She said the last time she saw Micah was six weeks ago to the day. Think about that Mia,” Trey responded, irritated.

  I had nothing at first, but then it hit me like a head-on car crash. That was the morning Micah had grabbed me outside of work. I gasped noisily while the hairs of my body stood on-end in panic.

  Trey huffed. “There it is. I’m glad you finally caught up.”

  “I’m on my way,” I whispered.

  “Make it quick. We’ve already lost enough time tonight,” Trey bit back.

  “I will,” I replied, hanging up.

  Ethan had been watching me attentively. By the time I hung up, he was visibly concerned.

  “What’s going on Mia?”

  I swallowed against the growing lump in my throat. “I have to go.”

  “I get that much, but you aren’t going anywhere until you tell me what’s going on.”

  I took a deep breath. This was going to go one of two ways. Ethan was either going to be supportive or he was going to get royally pissed off that Micah was wreaking havoc in our relationship again.

  “Trey needs my help to look for Micah,” I said timidly.

  Ethan sat up as the vein in his forehead sprang out. He glared at me and replied, “I’m sorry Mia. I’m not letting you run around to chase him down in the middle of the night.”

  Grrreeeaaattt. So much for supportive.

  “Ethan, you’re my boyfriend, not my keeper.”

  “That’s right. I’m your loving boyfriend. Part of that is taking care of you by not letting you do stupid things. I’m not going to allow you to willingly put yourself in danger.”

  My temper flared. “Do you remember out west when I told you that you can’t stop me from doing things? This is one of those things. I have to do this whether you like it or not,” I argued.

  We sat across from each other, at an impasse. Hearing the fear in Trey’s voice had left me scared enough. Ethan wasn’t helping the situation. I straddled my legs around him and rested my head against his chest. His heart was racing. I gently stroked his arms to ease his frustration. Eventually, he relaxed and held me close. I placed light kisses along his collarbone, urging him to meet me halfway.

  “Mia, why can’t you let him go?” Ethan asked, pained.

  “Ethan, this isn’t about helping my ex-boyfriend. His mom is frantic. She took great care of me growing up. I haven’t really been a decent person to her. Frankly, I’ve been downright horrible. The least I can do is help her. If we find him, I can finally put an end to all the unanswered questions Micah left me with. Please try to understand,” I begged.

  He buried his head into my shoulder. “I don’t like it Mia.”

  I ran my hand through his trimmed
hair and murmured, “I’m not particularly thrilled to leave either, but I need to do this for his mom … and for me.”

  “I don’t want you going anywhere without Trey. And I want you to call me with updates. I hate letting you go off in the middle of the night, to God-knows-where, to look for him of all people,” Ethan grumbled.

  The sadness in his eyes made me tremble. “I’m sorry,” I whispered, kissing his forehead.

  “You should get going. The quicker you get this over with, the faster you’ll be back here with me where you belong,” Ethan said, removing my legs from around him.

  I slid off his lap and quickly changed into a pair of tattered jeans and a hooded sweatshirt. I turned to face Ethan, who was on his back with his eyes shut. His face held the same forlorn expression. I sat down on the edge of the bed and ran my hand up his chest before placing a soft kiss on his lips. Ethan sat up and draped an arm around me as he inched us closer together. His other hand settled on my face to hold it firmly as he appreciated every aspect of my mouth. My heart rate spiked as our kiss took on an urgency we hadn’t really expressed with one another since before I came clean with all my lies. As his lips encased my bottom one, I took a moment to catch my breath. I looked him in the eye to determine where his head was. Ethan blinked before giving my bottom lip a final suck as he lazily pulled away. He hugged me tightly before giving me a subtle push. As I got up, his hand lingered along my arm until his fingers grazed the tips of mine.

  “I love you Mia.”

  “I love you too. I’ll be back before you know it.”

  On my drive home, I started thinking about all the places that Micah had hid out at, from the time we were children playing games with each other to when he was older and hiding out for entirely different reasons. If this had anything to do with me, we were looking at a different sort of problem. Harrison’s last message echoed in my mind and knocked the wind right out of me.

  He promised leaving town would bite me in the ass. In fact, he guaranteed it. And I ignored it because of everything I was trying to pry out of Ethan. Fuck.

  Micah had drifted in and out of my mind on numerous occasions. In my heart, I knew this time was different from the last, but I had pushed it aside because of the friction it created with Ethan. I banged the steering wheel for being so stupid on so many different occasions. Every time I felt like I was correcting all my mistakes, something else came along to prove that I wasn’t even close.

  I saw the boys anxiously pacing on the porch in deep discussion as I arrived. They stopped when I pulled into the driveway. I killed the engine and made my way over to them. They hurried down the steps to meet me halfway across the lawn.

  “I’m glad you got back here quick,” Trey said, clearly worried.

  “Are you ready to go?” I asked, my voice cracking.

  Trey stiffened. “What are you thinking Mia?”

  Jackson and Shane carried the same heaviness in their eyes. My hands began to twist together in time with my overly-anxious nerves.

  “Do you know why Micah’s mom is so panicked now?”

  Trey bit his lip with his fists clenched tightly. I glared at him. I suspected by the tone in his voice that he had held something back on the phone. Jackson and Shane looked at him with the same level of irritation as me.

  “She said she got a phone call from Micah tonight. She never heard him though. From what she told me, it sounded like he was in trouble and possibly being held against his will,” Trey admitted.

  The rock on my chest became twenty pounds heavier. I hunched over to catch my breath.

  Jackson crouched down next to me and held my chin as he spoke. “We’ll find him.”

  He forced me to look at him until I started breathing normally again. Though he was trying to comfort me, his face betrayed him. He was continuously fidgeting with his lip ring. It had, and always would be, his tell.

  Shane gave my back a gentle pat as I straightened up. “We should get going,” he urged.

  If Micah was in trouble and it in any way could be connected to Harrison, then we had to stick together. “Where’s Bri?” I asked.

  Trey’s brow furrowed in confusion as he said, “She said she wasn’t feeling well so she went to bed a few hours ago. I’d rather not have her involved.”

  “I’d rather not have anyone be a part of it, but that doesn’t seem to be an option any longer,” I shot back.

  Trey exhaled heavily. “I suppose you’re right. I’ll go get her.”

  He went into the house as the rest of us paced the lawn. I pulled my hood up over my head while mulling over all the different places that Micah might have gone. After a few minutes and a few ideas, I walked over to stand next to Jackson’s SUV. He followed a few moments later with Shane trailing behind him.

  Ten minutes later, Bri shuffled out alongside Trey with a sleepy look lingering in her eyes as she clutched his hand. She noticed the rest of us and her face paled. Trey didn’t give her much of a chance to process anything as he tugged her quickly towards us. We piled into the SUV and headed for the South Side.

  Jackson gazed between Trey and me for directions. Trey gestured for me to make the call. I had a gut feeling that Micah might be at this warehouse we found when we were in high school. Being abandoned, it was the ideal spot for shady activity.

  “Do you remember when I gave you the tour?” I asked. Jackson nodded with a small smile. “Go to the edge of the neighborhood that has the warehouse I showed you. We’ll start there.”

  As we drove, Jackson and Shane carried on a tense conversation. Trey stared out the window as his eyes darted towards Bri every so often. She was in the middle of us, anxiously fidgeting with her necklace.

  “Mia, what happened? I fell asleep and things were fine. I wake up and it seems like all hell has broken loose. When did you come home?” Bri hissed.

  I subdued her restless hands before returning my gaze out the window. My heart thumped unevenly as I said, “Micah’s mom called Trey. He’s been missing for over a month. It turns out I was the last one that saw him. It was around the time his mom stopped hearing from him.”

  Her forehead creased as her eyes stared blankly. “When did you see him?”

  I inhaled shakily. “A few days after we got back from Miami, Micah showed up at Ethan’s office. We didn’t talk long.”

  Bri gasped. “Do you really think he’s still around here?”

  I looked away as my nerves hit a level well beyond freaking out. “I don’t know. I’m praying this has nothing to do with me.”

  “Is there a reason why all of us are here?”

  “If this does have anything to do with my involvement with Harrison, then no one should stay in the house alone anymore.”

  A thin smile curled at the edges of her mouth, but her eyes screamed that she was utterly terrified. She tried to hide it and jokingly said, “This sounds like an outing for the Scooby gang.”

  “I’m tired of feeling terrified that something horrible will happen to any of you.”

  Tears stemmed in my eyes as the possibilities of what Harrison could do ran through my head. He had warned me on more than one occasion that I was on the verge of making him uphold his threats.

  Her face fell as she slid her hand in mine. “Mia, I didn't crack the joke to make you cry. This isn’t your fault, so stop thinking that way.”

  I kept my eyes away from her as the suburbs slipped away and the grimness of the South Side took over. Jackson rounded the corner to the part of the neighborhood that had a variety of abandoned buildings. He slowed down as we neared the warehouse at the edge of the block that had graffiti on every side of it and boards across the windows. He pulled into the alley behind it. From there, we could enter through the sliding metal door that was always open. If you didn’t want to be shot, you didn’t dare try gaining access any other way. You never knew who you might be disturbing.

  As Jackson stopped the car, a few homeless people popped out of their cardboard boxes but lost their interest
quickly. My eyes drifted down the alley to a variety of cars that were cluttering it. There were always people back here doing some sort of drug dealing, but it left me with a bad feeling tonight. One of the vehicles looked similar to the black Benz that had been tailing me.

  Even if it’s not the same car, Jackson, Shane, and Bri shouldn’t be here. This is more than likely Harrison’s doing. This situation sucks all together, but walking them in there is only a promise for more trouble.

  “Jackson, take Bri and Shane home. Trey and I will look for Micah. If we can't find him, we’ll swing a ride home,” I demanded in my ‘don’t fuck with me’ tone.

  Trey immediately agreed as he looked at Bri. He caught on to my thoughts. Whether I wanted to accept it, this was my mess, and our neighborhood. Even if it had nothing to do with Harrison, it was still Micah. Without a doubt, there was unfinished business between us. Trey was just as much a part of that as me. The years we spent together deserved some sort of explanation from Micah. He needed to clarify to both of us why he had gone off the deep-end this past year.

  “Mia,” they snapped.

  “No, Mia’s right. Everyone keep their cells on. You three go home and stay together,” Trey instructed firmly, making it quite clear that the decision wasn't up for discussion.

  They looked between Trey and me with fear in their eyes. I opened my door without another glance. Trey lingered for a minute to whisper to Bri before he hopped out. He tapped on Jackson's window and motioned for him to roll it down.

  “Hey man, just trust us. It’s better for everyone,” Trey reiterated.

  “I don't like leaving you guys down here without a ride. Are you sure you’ll be OK?” Jackson asked, his voice full of anxiety.

  “Yeah, we’ll be fine,” Trey assured.

  I stumbled away from the truck to lean against the brick building. My eyes skimmed the door and my heart sank – it had a paddle lock on it, which had never been the case in the past. I wanted to fall to my knees from the fear attacking my body, but I pulled it together because Shane had an eye trained on me. I shuffled over to his door and opened it. I didn’t bother glancing at either of them as I rummaged around in Jackson’s glove box. Finding nothing but a couple of paperclips, I slammed the compartment shut and shoved them into my pocket.