She was gone. She was fucking gone.

Zephyr woke the next morning, and his first thought had been Malia. But of course, when he’d gone out to the living room to ask her what she might want for breakfast, he found the living room empty and her bedding straight. He picked up the note on the coffee table. Her neat handwriting had scribbled a “Thank You.”

That was it. His first instinct had been to go after her. And fuck, that was what he wanted to do. He ran back to his room and snatched his phone off the charger. Voicemail. “Shit. Malia, where are you? It's Zephyr. Call me.”

Stalker much? He didn’t have her friend Emily's number. Cooper answered on the first ring. “Yo, man. It's early.”

Zephyr didn't have time for small talk. “I need a favor. The girl from the bar, her name is Malia Adams. Do you think you can help me track down a friend or two of hers?”

Cooper knew him well enough to know the tone in his voice. “I'll make some calls. Everything ok?”

“Not sure. I really fucking hope so.”

He was desperate to go after her. He was worried about the kind of risks she was taking. But first, he had to get through the day. He had time before sundown. He didn't have class. He was supposed to have office hours, so if any of the members of the group needed anything he needed to be available, which meant only half a day at work.

So he could at least get started looking for her around 2:30. First you have to survive the day with the Tanashis.

An hour into his morning, Zephyr could see it was going to be a long morning. Hokuto was his usual, cheerful, asshole self. The only difference with today was Zephyr had zero fucks left to give.

Unfortunately it showed.

At the meeting with the Winfield client to go over a set of plans for additional green space and the funding for that project, Zephyr had everything ready. The plans included every iteration of them; the budgets, where the funding would come from, etc. But the old man waved him off like he was an errand boy.

For the most part, Zephyr managed to keep his disdain off of his face. Seriously, how the fuck was he to work with these two for the rest of the academic year? He didn't care if they had hand-picked him. No way in hell he was staying on.

His day was nearly over. He’d filed away the reports, sent the emails he needed to send, and had his gear up when Hokuto stopped by his desk. "I see you have a half day?"

"Yes." Zephyr raised his brow. What the hell was he doing on this floor, outside of the gilded tower? He was honestly surprised Hokuto even knew where he sat. “The half-day is part of the fellowship agreement. I need to make myself available for the students.” Read: he had to go and fucking find Malia.

Hokuto raised his brow at his attitude. "Mr. Donovan, is there something you want to say to me?"

"No, not particularly."

“Fair enough. In that case, your work today was unsatisfactory. It's like you were phoning it in. We picked you out of the pile of applicants because I thought you could be the best at this. If you want to squander the opportunity—"

Zephyr didn’t even let him finish. "Squander my opportunity? I go above and beyond. I anticipate your needs. I give you everything just the way you like it. Specific. Down to the half shot of espresso in your coffee. I don’t want a fucking pat on the back. But you will show respect for my work. Stop looking for something to find wrong with it. If there's something legitimately wrong, tell me. Be fucking direct. Stop doing this passive-aggressive, 'I'm not speaking to you’ nonsense. It's bullshit. You don't like me. Fine. The feeling is mutual. But I am your fellow.

“You made a commitment to teach me, so do it or cut me loose. If you need something, tell me what you need, because right now I'm anticipating your needs through the specifications of all the research that I've done. And you specifically picking it apart just because you feel like it, well that’s bullshit. Stop acting like a petulant child. Otherwise boot me as your fellow. Kick me to the curb, find someone else. Though you won't find someone as good as I am. I guarantee you that."

Well, now you've done it. Fuck him. He had just taken everything he had been working so hard for and flushed it down the toilet. Well, at least, this way he would quit instead of being fired. Yeah, but if you’re fired, you can’t help Malia.

This was true. If he was fired, then he was out the apartment, which meant he’d probably stay with Cooper for a while. He’d be pretty much homeless himself and have to go back to Columbia and finish out his original program. It wasn't the end of the world, but it was not what he’d come here to do. Zephyr waited for the words 'clean out your desk,' but they never came. What he got instead was something different.

A slight crinkling of the eyes and a smile tugged at the old man's lips. Maybe he really enjoyed firing people? Hokuto nodded. "Next time, stand up for yourself sooner. I don't want doormats. I want people who will fight for what they believe in and what they want." He turned and walked away leaving Zephyr to stare at him.

Was he fucking kidding him? The asshole had been testing him this whole time? Fuck it. He couldn’t deal with him right now. He had to find Malia.

* * *

It turned out that Cooper came through. “Man, thanks for this."

His friend chuckled. "Yeah, sure thing. One of the bartenders came through for a hundred bucks. You owe me a C-note."

Zephyr juggled his laptop and his notes as he packed up for the day.

"You got it. I’ll call you later."

“I'll just text you the info.”

"That’s fucking awesome man. I owe you."

"Zeph, you sure you're cool? You don't sound like yourself."

"I'll explain later, yeah?"

"Yeah. Later."

Zephyr headed straight for the dorm. When he knocked on the door, a dark-haired girl opened it. "Hi, can I help you?"

He sighed. Here went nothing. "Hi. I’m Zephyr Donovan.”

Her eyes went wide. “Oh.”

Okay, so at least Malia had talked about him. That should make this easier.

“I don’t know how else to say this, but I think Malia is in trouble.” Zephyr didn’t want to share her secrets, but he needed to keep her safe. “Do you know where I might be able to find her?"

Emily squinted. “I have her address here. I mean, her roommate’s crazy though. Like super, certifiable crazy. She tried to burn down the apartment once. Malia is basically never there. She crashes here every now and then, usually on a weekend. Sometimes during the week I guess, when she’s not working, which is pretty much every fucking day."

"I know she's not there. Can you think of anywhere else she might go?"

"How do you know she’s not there? It's a possibility. I mean, she does pay her rent there."

Zephyr stared at her for a minute. "Seriously, how do you not know? She doesn’t live there. She hasn’t lived there since last semester. She told me herself."

Emily stared at him. "What are you talking about? She's my best friend. I know everything about her."

“Look, it's not my place to tell you this. But you don't know everything. Otherwise you’d know she was sleeping on a fucking park bench last night. She got attacked. She spent the night with me.”

Emily stared at him. "What are you talking about?"

Zephyr ran his hand through his hair roughly. “Fuck. I'm stepping on a set of landmines here. It’s not my shit to spill, but I'm worried about her safety so I’m going to tell you. As far as I know, she doesn’t have anywhere to stay.”

Emily shook her head. "But that's impossible. I mean, she goes home. If she doesn’t have anywhere to stay, where does she go?"

“I have no idea. That's what I am doing here. Trying to figure out where she might go. I’m trying to find something out about her. I don't have a class today with her. I know she wouldn’t miss class. So I don't have that to fall back on, which is why I’m here with you.”

Emily sank on to her bed. “Oh my God! A park bench? How could she be so stupid?”

"Well, it felt like desperation honestly. I don’t think she had anywhere else."

"That's silly because she could always stay with me."

"I don't think she thinks she can. She stayed with me last night. Granted, only because I made her. She swore she'd stay a couple of days until she got herself sorted out. But then she vanished on me this morning."

Emily grabbed a jacket and shoved her arms into it. “Um, let’s see, she drives Sober Car. It's the middle of the day so she wouldn't be driving that. There's a maid service too.”

Zephyr shook his head. "She wasn’t scheduled to work today, I don't think. It turns out she cleans my apartment. I already called them."

Emily nodded. “Let me get you a list.”

A list? Jesus. How many jobs did this girl have? It turned out, a lot. In addition to the Sober Car, and the bar, and the maid gig, she work the front desk at school and one of the dorms, and she sometimes worked as a nanny. He stared at the list. "This is going to take a while."

"No. Not with two of us doing it. Come on; let's go. I'll make the call to her nanny gig to see if she’s there, or has been there, or is scheduled to be there today. It’s still too early for Sober Car or the bar. Call the student center to check if she’s scheduled to work any desk gigs today. We'll find her."

Zephyr had been ready to tear into Emily and anyone else for not caring enough about Malia, but from the look on Emily’s face, she obviously loved her friend. She’d been kept in the dark on purpose. Malia hadn’t wanted anyone to know. And he just exposed the wound.

Zephyr and Emily converged in the middle of campus at six o’clock, trying to figure out the best plan to find Malia. After searching every job she ever worked, including the student center, they’d come up empty. "Is there anywhere else you can think of?"

Emily shook her head. "No, I can't. I mean, she was on the track team last spring. But training doesn't start until January. So she might store her stuff in the locker room. But there's no reason to spend any time there."

He frowned "At this point I'm willing to try anything. If it's not this, we'll need to start checking shelters. And given what she said yesterday, that's the last place she'd go."

“Okay. This way."

Zephyr's stomach cramped. All this time he'd been so preoccupied with her, and he hadn't seen she needed real help. You did. Except not for the right reason. He'd failed another woman. None of the sports teams had practice that night, so the place was mostly deserted. And the fancy gym facilities in the University Center had a different locker room entirely.

Emily charged ahead, but he stopped her with a hand on her elbow. “Maybe let me go since I know the situation.”

“It's the girl’s locker room.”

“I know, but maybe you can call in there?”

She sighed. “Fine. Anyone in there?”

There was a moment of silence. But then Malia's voice was clear. “Yeah, I'll be out in a minute.” She sounded raw and exhausted.

He found her at one of the benches, legs splayed over it, hugging it with her thighs as she leaned over her laptop.

Her head snapped up, and she moved so quickly that she almost fell off the bench. "What are you doing here? This is the girl’s locker room."

"And there's no one set to do any practices today. Besides, my lookout’s outside."

She frowned. “Look out?”

He gave her a lopsided smile. "Emily."

She sagged. “She was the one asking if anyone was in here?”

“Yeah.”

“I can't believe you found her.”

"It wasn’t easy. And for your information, I didn’t call her. I went over there. I wanted to see if you were okay. Turns out your best friend didn’t know what the fuck you were doing either."

Her gaze narrowed and he could feel the fire in her jade green gaze. "You told her? You told her I don't have anywhere to live?"

He could hear the panic rising in her voice. “She needed to know. People who care about you need to know. You can't just—"

"You will not yell at him. You have been lying to me for months." Emily's voice was like a blast of Arctic air and Malia sighed.

"Em, look, this is really none of your business. Either of you."

Emily glared at her. "Are you fucking serious right now? A park bench? Are you serious? I could have helped you."

"Really? By telling someone? My enrollment would have been in danger. I need to have an address in Pittsburg to actually be a student." Her words tore out of her in a harsh staccato pattern as the hysterics rose.

Zephyr stepped in. “Hey, hey you two. Let's get Malia out of here. You can yell at each other at my place.”

“I'm not going back to your place.”

He glowered at her. “Do you have anywhere else to go?”

She pursed her lips. ”Screw you.”

“Already promised you I wouldn’t no matter how much you beg. Now get your shit. All your shit. I'm not letting you out of my sight again.”

Malia glanced at Emily for help, but Emily was on his side.

“Sorry Malia, at least for the short term, you're stuck with me.”

“The hell I am.”

Emily was having none of the bull though. “Just go with him. You and I need to talk, but I have class tonight so I need to know you'll be safe. Do it for me.”

Malia clenched her teeth. “Fine.”

Zephyr grinned. “C'mon. Let’s go home.”