Roman - Lane Hart Page 0,22
me.”
While I want to shake her and tell her everything, all the secrets about the man she married, I promised Adam I would keep them. Besides, I don’t want to be the one to hurt Charlotte by slapping her in the face with the truth. While I have no clue how hard it must be to lose someone you love, I also know that Charlotte can’t handle something happening to her best friend, especially not if she continues blaming herself for what happened to Tessa.
“All right,” Chief Bailey says when he waddles back into the room and tosses a single typed piece of paper down in front of us. “There’s our press release.”
I read it silently as Charlotte does the same. The chief is going to release the video along with a number for Crime Stoppers for people to call with information. He’s also increasing patrols on high foot traffic areas of the town, like the strip on Ocean Boulevard, and asked women to try to only go out in groups at night rather than alone until the suspects are apprehended. When we both finish reading, Charlotte looks to me, her eyes asking my approval before she gives hers.
“If that’s the best you can do, then get on with it,” I tell the fat man when I pick it up and hand it to him. “Why are you still standing here with us wasting time when you should be in front of the cameras?”
His brown eyes underneath his bushy eyebrows narrow, but he plucks the paper from my fingers and says, “We’re going on in fifteen. So, if you’ll excuse me, I need to put on a suit.”
“We’ll be watching,” I tell him as Charlotte and I get up from our seats and walk out of his office.
“The statement is pretty good, right?” she whispers to me on the way to the door.
“Yeah. It’s solid and everything I would’ve asked him for. I just can’t resist giving him hell as often as possible,” I admit to her with a grin.
“So now what?” she asks when we come to a stop next to my bike, sobering me up about how much work there’s still left to do to find her friend.
“You and I should head back to the clubhouse and be ready for any updates from the rest of the guys out searching.”
“Don’t you think we should ride around and look for the van too?” she asks, like I guessed she would.
“We could, but it’s not easy or legal for me to check my texts and emails while steering a Harley. I figured you would rather we stay some place stationary to get news as fast as it comes in.”
“Yeah, that works I guess,” she reluctantly agrees.
Chapter Eight
Charlotte
There’s not much to do at the clubhouse with Roman while we wait, other than pace around the floor and occasionally throw some darts at the wall while picturing the four unknown men’s faces.
Each time the door opens or Roman’s phone pings with a new message, my heart stops, only to resume its regular rhythm when there’s nothing new. As the hours pass, my body begins to ache with exhaustion. My legs even begin to tremble as I lean against the bar to watch the afternoon news on the overhead television.
“You didn’t sleep at all last night, did you?” Roman asks me as he emerges from his office.
“How could I?” I reply. “I don’t feel like I will ever sleep again until I know Tessa is all right.”
“You have to try,” he tells me in a soft voice as he comes over and lays a hand on my shoulder. “I’ve got a cot in my office I sleep on sometimes if I’ve had too much to drink here. It’s military surplus, but more comfortable than you would expect. Come lie down for a little while. I promise I will wake you with any news, anything at all, okay?”
“I don’t want…” I start to protest, just as Roman puts an arm around my shoulders and my body almost collapses against his chest. “I don’t want to lie down,” I finish lamely, “but you’re right. I would fall off your bike if we had to go somewhere right now. Let me see how bad this cot of yours really is.”
Roman leads me into his office and takes me directly to the far corner where a cot with a thick single mattress on top of it has been neatly made. The sheets are tucked in so tightly