Page 201 of Speechless
Mama Hart answered on the first ring. So fast she’d probably been waiting for the call. “Logan?”
He snickered. “I believe that’s the number I’m calling from.”
“Don’t get smart with me.” Her voice is sharp. “Cecil is beside himself trying to get a hold of Trinity. Do you know where she is and if she’s all right?”
The three of us shared a careful look. We had to be cautious, because this wasn’t the time to tell them about us being bonded, nor was it the time to confront Cecil about his pack. “She’s here, and I’m sure you can imagine she’s been better.”
“Why hasn’t she answered her phone?”
“The police haven’t recovered it,” he said truthfully. Then he winced. If she had lost her phone, how would we know about what happened? Still, we weren’t hiding it anymore. Mama Hart and Cecil could speculate all they wanted. “Once we found out, we’ve been busy getting her back from the hospital and making sure she was okay. A phone call wasn’t the priority.”
She sighed, but when she spoke, I heard resignation. “Yeah, I guess I understand that. Cecil has been panicking, and I understand that too. Can she talk to him now?”
“She’s sleeping. I’d rather not wake her.” Before she could protest or push for it, he kept going. “How about this? Let’s all come over for dinner early next week. It gives Trinity some time to recover, get her phone back, all of it. Tell Cecil she’s safe. We’re looking after her.”
A long silence over the phone had us all looking back and forth. Did she know?
“You’re looking after her.” A statement. Not a question.
“Is there a reason we shouldn’t do that?” Logan asked carefully. “I thought that was the whole reason you pushed for her to live here.”
She paused again. “Just be careful.”
“Always am.”
“Love you.”
“I love you too.”
He ended the call, and I went to the pantry to grab a can of cat food. “You think she knows?”
“She suspects at the very least.”
Brooks ducked into the pantry after me to grab some ingredients. “Good call telling her early next week, since we don’t know how long her heat will last.”
“That was my thought.”
Cinder appeared as soon as I opened the can of food, like a siren’s call. She had a fierce meow that also had the kitten version of vocal fry. Tiny screeches becausefeed me.
I chuckled and tapped the food into a clean bowl for her and put it on the little mat that we’d ordered. She’d moved right in like she owned the place, and so far, besides Trinity, Aiden was her favorite person. It made the rest of us grin. He liked her, even if he didn’t want to admit it.
Brooks was putting together a bowl of yogurt, fruit, and granola. He glanced at me. “Can you grab Rin’s med bag? It should be on her nightstand or her bathroom counter.”
“Sure.”
It was in her bathroom, where she’d left it this morning before going out and being taken.
Frankly, I wished I’d done more damage to the assholes that took her. I didn’t know if the man I threw into the water was alive, nor did I care. The police had questioned us for a long time and ultimately couldn’t fault us for anything. We’d been riding on pure instinct to save our Omega. Nothing was more important than that.
And, of course, they were grateful to us for exposing a wealth of crimes. We made sure to tell them it was Trinity and her former boss who’d done the heavy lifting there.
I set the medicine bag on the countertop. “Should we call the magazine tomorrow?”
Logan looked up. “Probably a good idea. I imagine they’ll have heard, but they should know she’s not coming in for a while.”
Grabbing a piece of paper from the notepad on the fridge, I wrote it down. “New phone too, and keys. Maybe change the locks here if the police don’t find her bag.” They hadn’t by the time they were done questioning us. Brian had probably dumped it when he grabbed her, and they were looking.
Cinder made adorable little sounds as she ate. Almost too fast. She wasn’t very big, but she was old enough, and we didn’t know how long she’d been wandering around before she crawled into Aiden’s engine.
