The Nines (The Nines #1) by Sierra Avalon, Dakota Madison

to talk.”
    She gulps, but nods.
    Hector doesn’t look happy. His mouth is a thin line and he crosses his arms over his muscular chest. I think he might actually tell me he’s not leaving without Roxie. But when I turn my attention to him and stare into his eyes with every ounce of fury I have, he immediately backs down.
    Luckily Julio jumps in to give me information about Claire. I also ask him to email me any photos he has of her.
    “I’ve got quite a few,” he admits. “Do you want them all?”
    “How many is quite a few?”
    “Hundreds.” He looks a little embarrassed by his confession. Hell, if I had a girlfriend I’d probably want to take a bunch of photos of her too.
    “I don’t need that many. Maybe a few which show different angles of her face. And then a few full body shots. So I’ll be able to run some biometric scans against photo warehouse data.” I give him one of my more difficult to trace email accounts so he can send the photos.
    “Is there anything else I should know?”
    “That I love her.” His voice is pained and I feel bad for the guy, but I also have a job to do.
    “I got that,” I reply. “Is there anything else that could help me find her?”
    “Should we file a missing person’s report with the police?” Hector adds.
    “You could. But she’s an adult, so they’re not going to investigate it with much fervor unless there are signs of foul play. It’s not against the law for someone to just take off.”
    “She wouldn’t do that,” Julio insists. “I have a really bad feeling she’s still…with those animals.”
    “You may know that. It doesn’t mean the police will take your feelings very seriously. College kids do crazy things sometimes. They take off. Go on road tips. Lost weekends of partying. I think a cop would probably consider those options first.”
    “Kind of like what Heather was saying,” Roxie adds.
    “Who’s Heather?” I ask.
    “Our Resident Advisor. She didn’t seem too concerned about Claire’s disappearance.”
    “That’s all I need to get started.” When I don’t see either Julio or Hector make any movement to leave I head toward the front door and open it hoping they’ll take the hint.
    Luckily they’re smart guys and can figure it out.
    Just before he’s about to exit Julio runs his fingers through his hair a final time then says, “Please find her.”
    “I’ll do my best,” I assure him.
    Then Hector turns to Roxie and asks, “Are you sure you’re going to be okay?”
    “She’ll be fine,” I interject.
    He seems a little shaken when I glare at him.
    “I didn’t mean—um…” His voice trails off.
    “You can go.” When Roxie places a hand on Hector’s arm I feel a twinge of jealously rip through me.
    Hector follows Julio out the door and the moment they’re gone I close and lock the door then turn my attention to Roxie.
    “You locked the door.” Her voice is shaky.
    “I did. You’re not running out on me again. I want to know why you left in such a hurry.”
    She shakes her head. “I can’t tell you. We need your help.”
    “You think I won’t help you if you tell me.” I can’t imagine anything that she could possibility tell me that would suddenly change my mind about helping find Claire. “If she’s in trouble I’d be a real asshole if I didn’t help. Do you really think I’m that big of a prick?”
    Tears begin to stream down her face and I can feel my heart ache in response. “Please don’t cry.”
    I slowly make a move toward her. I don’t want to scare her, but I can also see she’s in pain. I just want to take the pain from her, at least for a moment.
    As I put my arms around her and pull her close I thoroughly expect her to pull away, but to my utter surprise she doesn’t. She melts into me instead.
    I’m tall and I try to stay as fit as possible, but I feel like a giant next to her. She’s much smaller and more fragile than she initially comes across as. I think her passion and spunky