Free Torn by Cynthia Eden Page B

found herself standing outside of a run-­down little bar called Vintage. They were on the edge of the historic district in Savannah, and the area was bustling with tourists, even at that time of the day.
    â€œThe place was packed last night,” Jim said. “It’s always big at night. Melissa was dancing one moment, then gone the next.”
    Melissa Hastings, age twenty-­three. A grad student in psychology who’d worked as an assistant for Dr. North so she could help pay the bills at the apartment she shared with Jim. Jim had been quick to point out that he and Melissa weren’t involved in any relationship. He’d said they were more like family.
    Sometimes, family can be your biggest danger.
    Jim rocked forward on his heels. “I have to be at work soon, but, Jesus, I can’t just walk away! She’s out there. She needs me.”
    They’d learned more about Jim and Melissa in the last hour. The two had first met when they were fifteen and they wound up at the same foster home. They bounced around after that, but something had clicked for them, and when they’d been reunited at Wellington . . .
    Jim had told Victoria that fate brought him back to Melissa.
    Victoria hadn’t been able to tell him that she didn’t believe in fate.
    â€œGo to work,” Wade ordered him. “We’ll look around here. See what we can find out.”
    There was no missing the relief on Jim’s face. “Thank you!”
    He shouldn’t thank them. They hadn’t done anything.
    She paced away from the men as Jim rattled off his phone number and other contact information to Wade. Then the young guy was off—­nearly running away. He seemed to do everything fast. Life passed at high speed for him.
    She headed toward the alley on the side of the building. Long, narrow. Empty. Her gaze slid over the cobblestone path back there. The place appeared to have been freshly cleaned. There was a puddle of water, as if the area had been hosed off recently.
    Footsteps sounded behind her. Victoria turned and saw Wade approaching. She bit her lower lip, then had to say, “You shouldn’t have let him think we were taking this case.”
    Wade shrugged. “Don’t know that there is a case yet. We’re here. Why not look around a bit?”
    Why not? “Because we’re supposed to be searching for Kennedy Lane. That’s what Lucas hired us to do.”
    His lips tightened. “Kennedy’s been gone five years. We both know we aren’t going to find her alive.”
    His words made her chest ache.
    â€œBut Melissa . . . there’s hope with her.”
    She tore her gaze from his and looked back at the alley. “She could have hooked up with someone last night.”
    â€œYou heard Jim. That wasn’t her style.”
    Victoria’s cheeks burned. I just hooked up with you last night. A hookup that she was very deliberately not talking about. “Sometimes, those close to you don’t realize who you really are. They think they know . . .” She shook her head. “But they only see what you let them.”
    â€œIs that what you do?” His voice roughened. “You let the team at LOST see part of you and hold the rest back?”
    â€œWe aren’t talking about me.”
    â€œAren’t we?”
    Her shoulders straightened. “There isn’t anything back here to see. Someone hosed off this area.” She turned around and walked toward him. “We need to get back to the case we were brought in to cover.” She started to skirt around him.
    But Wade moved, deliberately blocking her path. “What if I told you . . . I want to learn about all the parts you hold back? That I want to know all of you?”
    Won’t ever happen. It couldn’t happen. Not with Wade being the kind of man that he was. Oh, sure, he had a hard edge. He knew how to fight and play plenty