Page 52 of Worth the Risk
I lock my door before getting on the elevator and heading down to the parking garage. As I suspected, Hannah’s car is in the garage. I know she’s there. I just don’t know why she wouldn’t answer the door.
As I drive to Arianna’s place, I wrack my brain about what may have happened during the last couple of days. Hannah seemed fine when I saw her at the game in Boston. We texted the next morning as normal. But then it was radio silence. That’s not completely atypical, as I know she can get extremely busy at work, but I have a nagging suspicion that something is wrong. Something happened.
Arianna lives about thirty-five minutes from me. She’s almost halfway between downtown Denver and Eternity Springs. She absolutely loves her job, managing the spa and hot springs at my family’s hotel, but she hates how small and quaint Eternity Springs is. She wants the nightlife and excitement of city living. Renting a place on the far west side of Denver allows her to get the best of both worlds.
As I pull into the parking lot of her complex, I see she’s waiting at the door for me so I don’t have to buzz her apartment. Her face is taut with worry.
“Alright, what did you do, and who do I need to hurt,” I tease as I walk up to her and toss an arm over her shoulders.
“Let’s go upstairs. I think we need some booze for this conversation,” she says quietly.
“Shit, Ari. You’re kinda scaring me.”
“Yeah, well, this isn’t a joke, Luca. So come on.”
We walk silently up to her third-floor apartment. I’m pleasantly surprised to find my brother Leo inside. “Hey, man! What are you doing here? I thought you weren’t going to make it back for a mid-tour.”
Leo has been overseas for the better part of a year with the Army.
“I wasn’t going to. They forced me,” he says stoically. Leo has always been the strong and silent type. Military life suits him. He gets a task, he completes the task, and then he moves on to the next task. Planning and strategizing are core strengths for him. What exactly does Leo do in the Army? Fuck if I know. He just keeps telling us all, “it’s classified,” as if that gives us peace.
“How long are you home?”
“A week. Gotta head back before we ship out to our next FOB.”
“What’s a FOB again?”
“Forward Operating Base.”
“What exactly does that mean?” I ask.
Leo sighs. “It’s a base with very basic communication set up. We basically go and get everything set up for the soldiers coming behind us. Then we move on.”
“And where are you going again?” I ask, wondering if he’ll slip up and give us a location.
“Not happening, Luca. Nice try, though.” His lips tilt in a very small smirk, which is as close to a smile as Leo gets.
“Alright, boys. Enough with the pleasantries. Luca, this is about you, not me,” Arianna blurts out. Leo sits next to Ari on her couch, while I stretch out in a recliner.
“Huh? Me? What the hell did I do?”
“It’s not what you did. It’s something that is happening to you. I promised Hannah I wouldn’t say anything, but I’m freaked out. Something is going on,” she says.
“Wait. You talked to Hannah?”
“Yes. Well, no. Just some texts.”
“What did she say?”
“That she needed some place to stay.”
“Oh, that’s nothing. Her aunt came back early. I was going to offer up one of my spare rooms. I’m actually surprised she didn’t ask to stay with me.”
“I don’t think she wants to stay with you, Luca. She sort of insinuated something had happened between the two of you.”
I stare at her incredulously. “That’s news to me, Ari. I don’t think anything happened.”
Arianna opens her mouth before shutting it immediately. She chews on her bottom lip momentarily before finally saying, “she seemed to suggest she might also need a new job.”