Page 419 of Face Off

I can’t see the words engraved into the black base from here, but I know they face her.

TAKE UP SPACE.

Charm gave the sculpture a place inside the world she created for herself. She made room for something I chose because it reminded me of her before she knew whether I would ever choose us again.

The sight of it strips away the final question I carried across four hundred miles.

“You’re Ryan,” the woman behind the counter says.

I pull my sunglasses from my face. “Is Charm upstairs?”

Her eyes move briefly toward the ceiling. “I haven’t seen her this morning. Her car was already gone when I arrived.”

“What time was that?”

“Seven.”

She studies my expression as concern replaces recognition. “Is something wrong?”

“No. I came to stop something from remaining wrong.”

Her gaze moves toward the office and the sculpture before returning to me. Whatever Charm has told the people who work for her, it is enough to keep the woman from asking another question.

“The residence entrance is around the side,” she says. “The stairs go directly to her loft.”

“I know.”

I thank her and step back into the cold.

The narrow passage beside Encanto leads to a private door beneath the windows of Charm’s apartment. Snow has gathered along the shallow steps, but no footprints disturb it. I climb to the landing and knock hard enough for the sound to carry through the floor above me.

Nothing moves inside.

I knock again and call her name before trying the handle even though I know it will be locked. The door refuses me, and the empty parking space behind the building confirms what the employee already said.

Charm left before dawn.

I pull out my phone and call her. The ringing continues until her voicemail answers with a cheerful request to leave something interesting enough to deserve a response.

“Call me,” I say after the tone. “I’m standing outside your apartment, Charm, and I need you to tell me where the fuck you are.”

I end the call and look toward the dark windows above me. Her home is directly on the other side of the brick, close enough that I could climb the fire escape and make several decisions she would rightfully call criminal.

My phone vibrates before I can consider any of them seriously.

The notification comes from Briggs.

Briggs: Ry Charm is here and freaking out that you aren’t answering. I am confused and hungover. Call her for fucks sake. Fuck your schedule and call her.

I read the message twice.

Another arrives before my mind catches up.

Briggs: I didn’t mean that rude. I am hungover. Make good choices.

A stunned laugh escapes into the empty passage while I stare at his name.

Charm is in Milwaukee.