Chapter 33

Amelia did not return to her apartment right away after the fight between Dalton and Marcus; instead she went to the park just down the block and walked the trails. She did not want to go home, knowing she would turn back into a sobbing mess if she did. Jasmine has been right that Marcus would not listen to her, and would toss her aside again. Amelia did not want to deal with the smug yet sympathetic look on Jasmine’s face.

It was about a couple hours before she finally had enough control to be able to face her friend.

The space was quiet as Amelia pushed the door open. The lights were turned off, except the one over the stove which was always on. It was odd—yes it was late at night, but Jasmine usually would wait up for her.

“Jaz?” she called out, moving further into the living room area. When there was no answer she figured her friend had gone to bed. With a shrug, Amelia made her way to her own room, tip-toeing past Jaz’s closed door as she went. There was no need to wake Jasmine just to talk; she probably had to work tomorrow. Amelia made a mental note to check the schedule posted on the fridge tomorrow morning.

As the door to her bedroom shut, she could not shake the feeling of being alone. After all, her ‘boyfriend’ had just broken up with her...if he could have even been called a boyfriend. Actually, come to think of it, she did not know what to call him. Other than asshole. They had been on a couple of dates, sat and talked. Then why was there this dull ache in her heart? A hand gently rubbed her chest, trying to soothe the pain.

With a sigh, she changed into her pajamas and got in bed. Exhaustion from tonight’s events was catching up to her. Tomorrow was another day, and she could analyze her feelings then. Right now, all her brain needed was sleep. She let go as her eyes became heavy, and a short while later her breathing evened out as sleep overtook her.

The next morning, sunbeams danced through the window, casting light upon her; the brightness had Amelia scrunching her face. Peeking through eyelashes she glared at the offending window and turned over pulling the pillow over her head to shield her from the morning light. Even though she slept, it had not been a peaceful night's sleep—nightmares of Dalton stalking her, mixed with sweet dreams, had her tossing and turning, causing her to be highly annoyed with the fact morning had come already.

As if to add insult to injury, her phone rang. With an annoyed groan she turned to the nightstand where the device lay.

“Hello?” she answered in her not-so-pleasant morning voice.

“Hello, is this Amelia Rowe?” the voice on the other end questioned. It was too early for this.

“It is,” she grumbled.

“This is Tammy, Jasmine’s boss. We’ve been trying to reach her all morning. She had you down as an emergency contact, so we decided to give you a call. She was supposed to be in this morning, but we haven’t seen or heard from her.”

“Hang on,” Amelia replied as she threw back the covers. Placing the call on silent, she strode across the hall.

“Jaz, you’re late for work!” she called out to her friend as she knocked on Jasmine’s bedroom door. She was met with silence. “Jaz! You gotta get up!” She knocked again and turned the handle.

Instead of Jasmine’s sleeping form on the bed, what she found instead was nothing. The bed was neatly made, but all of Jasmine’s things were gone. Amelia stared dumbfounded. What was going on?

“Hello? Are you still there?” the lady on the phone called through the receiver. Amelia quickly unmuted herself.

“I-I’m sorry, she’s not here. I-I don’t know where she is,” she stuttered, trying to figure out what was going on. When did Jasmine leave? Why did she leave? Where did she go?

“Thanks for trying to help. We’ll try her cell again,” Tammy replied with a sigh as she disconnected the call.

Immediately Amelia dialed Jasmine’s number, but it went straight to voicemail. Jasmine’s cheerful recorded voice sent panic through her. Was her friend safe?

Quickly she dialed 911, explaining to the dispatcher what she found.

“So there is none of her belongings left in her room, correct?” the dispatcher questioned.

“Yes, it’s all gone!” Amelia tried hard to hold back a sob.

“Unfortunately, ma’am, due to the length of time Jasmine has been ‘missing’, and the fact that she took all her things with her, we cannot file a missing person’s report. There’s a good possibility she chose to leave.”

“B-but she wouldn’t just leave without saying anything,” Amelia blubbered as she paced the now empty room.

“I understand your concern for your friend, but we don’t have any proof of a crime being committed, just that someone decided to leave. I hope you have a better day.”

With that, Amelia hung up the phone and pushed her face into her hands as she cried. This was a horrible week.

A few hours later, multiple phone calls and text messages to Jasmine, still left Amelia with nothing. She sat at the kitchen table, staring at a spot on the wall. She had become numb. It appeared Jasmine had just up and left, even her job, as Tammy had called back to see if Jaz had been heard from.

Speaking of jobs, what was Amelia going to do about hers? She drummed her fingers on the tabletop. The half income she was receiving for being on leave for the month was not enough to pay the rent by herself, which it now looked like she was going to have to do. Picking up the phone, she dialed out once again.

“Wolfe and Howell, who am I speaking with today?” the friendly voice on the other end answered. It was a new voice, not one of the ones she usually spoke to while at the office. Had they replaced her already?

“This is Amelia Rowe, I was wondering if I could speak to Mr. Wolfe, please.”

“I’m sorry, Mr. Wolfe is not taking calls at this time. Have a wonderful day.” The happy voice sounded forced this time. But Amelia was not able to argue with the person on the other end as the line went dead.

“Well, that was freakin’ rude,” Amelia growled as she slammed the phone down on the counter.

The following days were the same as she attempted to get a hold of Jasmine to no avail. She called the office trying to speak to Marcus. The phone rang and the receptionist answered, but this time Amelia was not going to play nice; she jumped in before the familiar introduction was complete.

“I need to speak with Mr. Wolfe, NOW!” she barked into the phone, using her best pissed off voice.

“Ms. Rowe, Mr. Wolfe isn’t in the office today.”

Amelia gave an agitated sigh.

“I think it’d be best if you stopped calling.” With that, the line went dead once again.

“So much for getting my job back when the month is over with.” Amelia rolled her eyes and laid the phone down. Since she was going to be unemployed in the near future, she had to get a game plan together.

Grabbing her laptop, she started roaming through job listings applying to anything she could. She was not going to let all this break her any more than it already had. She was done crying and sulking and begging; she was going to pull her big girl pants up and move forward, like she always did.