FRED
I watched the door furrowing my brows as I turned my attention towards Blue. “Why do you think she’s pissed?”
“I dunno.” Blue lifted his shoulders in a shrug, showing how defeated he felt. “Perhaps, she believes we don’t trust her judgement. She thinks we are treating her like a kid.”
“But are we?”
He turned sharply at my question, narrowing his eyes to slits. “Ask yourself that.” Fuming, he walked over to her chair and plopped down. “Let’s just give her some time.”
“I see.” Nodding, I got up on the desk, still observing him. “Aren’t you worried about her?”
“And?”
“Let’s follow her,” I suggested, hoping he would jump at that. “We don’t have to let her see us. We will just trail after her in the shadows, to keep her safe.”
“Safe?” He scoffed. “Do you think she will understand it as that?” He exhaled.
“But that’s what we are doing!” I argued, knowing he was right. Our Bunny would assume we were monitoring her should she discover we followed her. Things wouldn’t go in our favour.
He heaved a sigh but didn’t say a word. With his forehead creased, he looked like he was deep in thought. “I still don’t trust her,” he declared at last, looking at me.
“Who? Our Bunny?” I creased my brows, confused. Why would he say he didn’t trust our Bunny?
“Imelda, silly.” He rolled his eyes as he relaxed in his chair. “I feel something is going on with her. I know Bella mentioned we are taking things too far, but I can’t help that feeling.”
“Me too,” I seconded. “I don’t trust her, but that’s all. There’s nothing we can do about that. Not when Bella is hell-bent on letting us know how much Imelda has changed. Do you think she will listen to us?”
“But -”
“That’s why I asked for us to follow her.” I got down from the desk and leaned on it, so I was facing him directly. “Even if she discovers us, we can give her an excuse.”
“And which one is that?”
“Well…” I rubbed the back of my neck. “Let’s discuss this later. We can think about it when the time comes. For now, we need to go after her before it’s too late.”
“Count me out of this.”
“What?”
“Stop gaping at me that way. I don’t want to do anything that will piss her off. She’s already mad at me for calling her judgment poor. I doubt she would forgive us easily should she catch us following her.”
“But -”
“Let’s wait for her return. Let’s trust in her judgement this once. Who knows, she might be right about Imelda,” he concluded.
His tone suggested that he wasn’t ready to go on the risky mission with me. He wishes to stay out of anything that might piss our Bunny off.
“What -”
“Can you snap out of this already, Fred? Our Bunny is safe out there. You don’t have to worry about her!”
“Says the man with his thoughts almost as loud as his speech.” Rolling my eyes at my twin, I walked towards the couch and plopped down on it.
“First time you ever thought of me as a twin,” he pursed his lips, giving me that knowing look I had gotten used to.
“Because you are not ‘twinable. I prefer calling you my brother, though.” I crossed my legs and placed my joined hands on my left knee. “Since you want us to wait for her return, I will humour you.” Scowling at him, I leaned back on the couch and closed my eyes.
We stayed that way, with me trying not to think about our Bunny and Blue’s worried thoughts hitting me loud. He didn’t even attempt to place a barrier to keep his worries away from my head. He just wanted me to join him.
“Can you quit speaking in my head?” I snapped at him.
“In your dreams.”
I peeked an eye open to look at him, just as a knock sounded on the door. Swallowing the retort I had for my brother, I asked the person at the other end to come in.
Chris walked in, smiling. “Good afternoon, bosses. Is Bella by chance with you?” She grinned as she looked around the office as if Bella might be hiding.
“No, she’s not,” I responded, folding my arms.
“She’s not?” She blinked. “Are you serious or just pulling my legs? Bella told me she was having lunch with…..” Her eyes widened. “Wait a damned minute. Did she leave with the bitch, Imelda?”
“Yeah, she did.” Blue nodded.
“Fuck that girl!” Gritting her teeth, she took her phone out of her pocket. “I have met no one as headstrong as Bella,” she murmured as she dialled her number. “Wait until I get my hand on her. I will teach her a damned lesson. She needs to know how not to trust just anyone.”
We watched her without saying a word. It was obvious from her comments that she wasn’t speaking to us. She looked to be in an entirely different world as she scolded her phone.
“What’s going on?” She removed the phone from her ear and glared at it. “Didn’t she charge her phone last night?” She asked, this time referring to us.
At her question, we got up. “She did. I was the one that unplugged it from the socket this morning. What did they say?” I walked towards her, just as Blue did the same.
“Her phone is switched off,” she deadpanned, waving her phone at my face.
“Impossible.” I reached for my phone, which I kept on the table, and dialled her phone, just as Blue followed. “No, this can’t be happening,” I muttered when I was told the user’s phone was switched off. “Bunny never switches her phone off. Something is wrong.”
“Same feeling,” Blue agreed, echoing my thoughts.
“Do you have Imelda’s number?” I asked Chris.
“No, I don’t. But it’s in the office’s -”
“It’s here,” Blue called out from behind the desk.
If Chris was puzzled about how he got over the desk so fast, she didn’t mention it. She was busy trying to get a hold of her friend, to apt attention to anything.
“It’s also switched off,” Blue whispered, looking towards me.
It was at that moment that we knew we were fucked.