Total pages in book: 72
Estimated words: 70489 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 352(@200wpm)___ 282(@250wpm)___ 235(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 70489 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 352(@200wpm)___ 282(@250wpm)___ 235(@300wpm)
“I haven’t seen him in a while either. I figured he was shacked up with some girl.”
“Has he texted you or anything?”
If Randall was worried about him, that was bad. I explained the last conversation I’d had with Mitch.
Randall shook his head. “I’m worried, man.”
“Yeah, me too. I told him not to meet the guy with the job offer.”
“Do you think he did?” Randall asked.
“Maybe. He really needs money since his parents cut him off.”
“Shit. Should we, like, do something?” I wasn’t sure I’d ever seen Randall this worried. Did he think he’d be blamed?
“Who else is here tonight?”
Randall shrugged. “I don’t know. Most of the guys.”
We gathered up a few of the guys who knew Mitch best. We talked through what we knew and decided we’d all try texting Mitch and calling him. If no one had heard from him in the morning, I said I’d talk to our house mom.
Except that wasn’t what I actually intended to do. I was going to talk to Dante. If anybody could solve an issue like this, it was him.
33
DANTE
Someone knocked on my door a few minutes after I finished dinner. I assumed it was someone I knew because the guard who was watching the house would have stopped them otherwise. But Rafe rarely bothered knocking, and Lorenzo would have texted first.
I glanced through the peephole and saw Alex standing on my porch. Hot anger surged through me. What the hell was he doing here? I unlocked the door and yanked it open, not caring when it banged into a bookshelf.
“I told you not to come here. You need to leave now.” I tried to ignore how upset he looked.
“I’m not leaving until you tell me what’s going on.”
“Yes, you are. You can tell me on the phone.”
“If you answer, which you usually don’t. This can’t wait. It’s serious. I need help, and you’re the only one I can ask.”
My anger turned to fear as I pulled him inside and shut the door behind me. What kind of trouble was he in, and was it my fault? “Alex, what’s wrong.”
“It’s Mitch, my roommate. He’s gone.”
“What do you mean, gone?”
“No one has seen him for like two days. He’d set up a meeting some sketchy guy about a high-paying remote job. It was obviously a scam, and I told him not to go, but his parents quit giving him money, and he was desperate. Nobody’s seen him since the day he was supposed to meet that guy. He’s not been back to the frat. He’s not been in class, and I don’t know what to do.”
I led him to the sofa and encouraged him to sit down. Adenine came running into the room and jumped up to join us with a little mew. Ales was worked up and talking so fast that it was hard for me to piece everything together, but I didn’t want to stop him, so I let him continue rambling as he petted the cat.
“Randall came to my room to ask if I’d seen him, and that has to mean he’s really worried. He’s been scared to even look at me since Rafe threatened him. Mitch tried to get me to go meet this guy with him. He said the guy asked if he had a roommate because he had work for more than one person. As much as I’d like to have some money I controlled myself, I didn’t trust the situation, so I told him no.”
Thank God Alex had that much sense. “Don’t you ever meet anyone you think is shady. Listen to your gut. And ask me. Maybe I shouldn’t let you go anywhere without me.”
“I can’t go places with you. You’re my fucking professor, remember?”
I ran a hand through my hair as I considered the implications of Mitch’s disappearance. “The man specifically asked Mitch to bring you?”
“Yes, but I don’t think he used my name or anything.”
“But you don’t know?”
I shook my head. “Dante, what do you think is going on?”
“I don’t know, but I don’t like it.”
“Are you going to send me away now that I’ve told you why I need help?”
No way in hell could I do that. “No. You’re not leaving until I figure out what happened to Mitch.”
“For all we know, he’s been on a bender somewhere, and he never even met this guy.”
“Do you really think that?”
I huffed. “No, but you can’t keep changing your mind about whether I can be here.”
I couldn’t handle his defiance right then. “Yes, I can.”
“How are you going to keep me here?
“Anyway, I have to.”
“Dante—”
“Tell me more about Mitch. He really needed money badly enough to fall for some scam?”
Alex sighed. I was sure he wanted to argue more, but he answered the question. “His parents cut him off. He was arrested for the second time this year, and they said they were done with him.”