Read SEIZED Part 4: A Steamy New Adult Romantic Suspense Thriller (Seize Me Romance Fiction Series) for Free Online Page B

could just take Carrie to bed for days.
    It’s been a while since she ran off. She must have had a chance to calm down, so I try her number. I just need to follow Mark’s advice and tell her the truth. That I love her. That I care about her. That she’s mine. The phone rings and rings some more. No answer. It’s killing me. Thoughts of her safety enter my mind. What’s she doing ignoring my calls. Can she even answer her phone? Everything seems unsure so I decide to call Cooper. Fuck! He’s the last person on earth I want to speak to, but I force myself to do it. If she’s in trouble, he needs to know about it. He never should have let her come to New Jersey by herself.
    I dig his card out of my wallet and enter the numbers in my cell. I hear a couple of clicks before connecting. I wonder if all his calls are recorded. He must have no privacy as an FBI agent. None. The bureau will have looked into every aspect of his past before training him. The thought makes me cringe. I brace myself for a conversation, trying to remember what’s important. There’s no need, because he doesn’t answer. The two of them are off line. I don’t know where they are. I have to trust that he’s got a plan. He had better have a plan.
    Someone needs to watch over Carrie. She doesn’t realize how fragile she is. She appears so tough and resilient on the outside, but she can be easily broken. It’s not that she isn’t strong. I’ve even seen her fight. When I first enlisted and I was new in AA, I had made an amends list. She was close to the top of the list. I heard she was grading at her dojo in Iowa, and was back in town to see if I could track down my mother. I went to watch.
    She was amazing. Fast and fit. Calm and steady. Her strikes were a thing of beauty. I could have watched her forever but instead I stood at the sideline by the benches. It was a busy night, several classes were in cycle and she didn’t see me. Afterwards I waited. I watched as they finished the practice, then I saw the energy between her and another student. They were heading out for food. They were touching. I needed to say my piece but it wasn’t right. Instead, I went to the bathroom. I called Mark and he told me to wait so I left. Seeing her again nearly undid me. Seeing her with someone else made me realize what I’d lost. Carrie is still on my amends list. One day the time will be right. Until then, I’ll hold my tongue about the way things ended in high school. There’s nothing more to say about it.
    With both Carrie and Cooper offline, there’s nothing stopping me from heading out to look for Neon. Everyone knows the blocks where her girls work, but it’s a little strange to find Neon anywhere near them, except when she makes her rounds late at night for her cut. Usually around now she’s at the apartment where she lives, or at one of the local bars. She’s famous for her ability to hold her liquor, that woman. Bartenders also love her because she’s got the money to back up her thirst.
    The thing about Neon is that people notice her. She looks too strange to stay under the radar so I walk the streets looking for her. Clubs and bars are located at every level so it saves me time to show a photo. The bright lipstick and the pale skin make her distinguishable. All I have to do is show my badge to the bouncers to get a yes or no answer.
    Despite her reputation, she’s nowhere to be found. I decide to take my chances and head over to talk to some of her girls. It’s more than likely that they’ll shut me out. Neon’s girls are trained well. They know if they open their mouths there’ll be hell to pay. So unless it’s for a client, they tend to keep pretty tight-lipped. I’ve learned this in countless interview rooms, over years of trying to solve crimes related to prostitution.
    I pass one or two of the bars where I used to drink with her. At the second spot, there’s a young drunk guy outside, bent over a trash can. He’s retching and