Heated Abscondment

Chapter Fifteen - Part Five

4 years before 

Etienne woke to an alarm going off, then a shower running shortly after.

He was too exhausted to care about the source and the reason.

A few minutes later, he rolled over and reached for the woman that was in bed with him.

All he felt was empty mattress.

He opened his eyes to look for her, and she wasn’t in the bed, nor was she in the room. He sat up to look around.

He noticed that his clothes were folded neatly and set on a chair. Her clothes and things were nowhere to be found.

Outside the door in the rest of the hall he heard voices and exclamations.

With a solid weight in his gut, he quickly got dressed.

He opened up the door and dashed down the hall into the living room. Both Casmin and Adrian ran into the living room from another hallway the same time as him.

There at the main door was everyone else, including Lurch/Evan, yelling ‘good bye’ and waving.

The one person not among the group was Ada.

Etienne rushed over to the group and looked over their heads. Since he towered over all of them it was easy for him to look into the street into the car they were all waving at.

It was Ada.

Waving good bye to everyone and smiling.

Then she turned around as the car turned the corner and disappeared down the street.

Etienne struggled to gather his thoughts for several moments in stunned silence as everyone backed away from the door and shut it.

The girls jumped when they noticed Etienne standing right behind them.

“What the hell?” Etienne loudly said.

Lisa glanced at Adrian with a questioning look before looking back at Etienne.

“She was leaving today.” She said matter of factly, like it was a well known fact.

“Leaving for what?” Etienne half way snarled.

Evan stepped forward with a stern frown on his face.

“If you can’t pull yourself together, you will be asked to leave this moment.”

Adrian stepped forward and wordlessly put his hand on Etienne’s shoulder from behind. Etienne glanced back at his friend then turned to look at Evan, or Lurch as Ada called him. He noticed that all the faces on the women in front of him were either steeled, ready to defend themselves and others, or just concerned.

No one was cowering and simpering in front of him.

He realized being callous and forceful wasn’t going to get him anywhere, nor get the answers he wanted.

“Fine.”

The group moved to the dining room. They haphazardly spread out among the dining area and breakfast bar. Coffee was made and brought to those that wanted any.

Casmin and Adrian sat with Astrid and Lisa. With a pang, Etienne saw how they had their arms across the women’s shoulders or back of their chairs.

He was looking forward to doing just that with Ada.

But in a moment it was torn from him.

And he couldn’t understand why.

“Where is she?” He asked again, calmer, but still sternly.

“Ada is starting her own accounting consulting firm. But she is traveling, moving from organization or business to business as she is needed.” Astrid started.

“I don’t understand, why couldn’t she do that here?”

“She is going to those that couldn’t afford paying for a firm and could greatly benefit from her help.” Astrid explained.

“So…She’s traveling giving accounting help, to organizations and businesses that are poor?” He asked skeptically.

Mari sighed exasperated and set her cup down.

“Ada is giving audits and budget reviews to organizations like women’s help shelters, homeless shelters, animal shelters and fostering organizations, basically if it’s a business or organization there to help others in need, she’s going to them to give them something they need so they can continue their work.”

“That doesn’t sound like it could support her.” Casmin commented.

“Well, she gets a small income from the government since it’ll be mostly nonprofit organizations she’s helping, plus a lot of them are giving her room and board while she’s with them.” Lisa quipped excitedly.

“I’m sure it’s fulfilling to her emotionally, but there’s no way that would suffice as an income. Especially if she’s traveling.” Adrian said.

“Don’t worry about her income. It’s a long story, but just know that she’s fine.” Rachael said with a finality note to her voice.

Adrian and Casmin just shrugged.

“This doesn’t explain where she went. I need to find her.” Etienne said.

The women cut looks to each other. Mari answered for the group.

“Why don’t you trade contact information with us. When we hear from her next we’ll let her know you want to find her and we’ll let her reach out to you.”

“Tell me.” Etienne said trying not to grit his teeth.

“The thing is, we’re not exactly where she went for this first location. We know that she had a flight this morning, that who she’s helping is a type of organization that helps battered women on the run, but we don’t know the location. It’s confidential. It’s part of the draw of the organization so that the women can be safe and not found.” Rachael said.

Etienne blinked, stunned.

He looked down at his hands for several moments.

“Fine. Thank you. I’d greatly appreciate that.” He said with a smile.

The men had a small breakfast with the women, exchanged information, then the guys ubered back to their hotel.

Etienne wondered if his security detail had figured out that they were gone in the night.

“So. What are you going to do now?” Casmin asked Etienne as they walked through the hotel lobby.

“We continue on our current political visits. I’ll wait to see if Ada gets ahold of me. In the meantime, I’ll employ some special services to find her.”

“I don’t understand why you’re so set on her. I mean, was s*x that good with her?” Adrian joked.

As the trio went through the door to their suite, Etienne answered.

“She’s my equal. She’s meant for me. I’m not letting that go.”