Series: Cobalt Empire Series by Krista Ritchie
Total pages in book: 220
Estimated words: 215301 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1077(@200wpm)___ 861(@250wpm)___ 718(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 215301 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1077(@200wpm)___ 861(@250wpm)___ 718(@300wpm)
Charlie shifts back toward me and Phoenix. “You have unresolved trauma from the last time Ben left. We don’t,” Charlie snaps. “That’s why you’re on the fucking ground and we’re not. But this is not like last time.”
I process with two slow blinks. “You know what? I’m happy to know that I might be overreacting in this instance,” I tell them. “The only instance I’ve ever overreacted. All other times were justified reactions.”
Eliot agrees, “This is an outlier.” We’d grin if there wasn’t a very big presence missing in this room. My eyes must speak the loss. Because Eliot assures, “We’re going to find him.”
“His phone is dead, not erased,” Charlie tells me. “He didn’t leave a goodbye letter. Very likely, he rushed out of the apartment without his fucking phone or his bodyguard because that’s Ben. He’s emotional. He reacts off fucking emotion.”
Beckett says, “This might have nothing to do with his OCD. We need to find Harriet.”
66
PHOENIX ST. PIERRE
I’ve never seen Tom break down like that. Full-bodied sobs—as though he was being crushed from the inside. I hope to never hear those sounds come out of him again, but if they do, I want to be the one beside him—I have to be with him.
I can’t fucking imagine not being present for Tom. It’s by luck or destiny that I’m not in Europe when this happens.
We’ve all thrown on clothes, and they’ve alerted their private security we’re going to Manhattan Valley University to find Harriet. I’ve tried calling her three times. Nothing.
I’m worried about her, about Ben.
But I can’t stop thinking about Tom.
We pool into the hallway outside their apartment. The Cobalts’ bodyguards already wait at the elevator.
“Beckett,” I say quietly in the hall, and he lingers behind while Eliot, Charlie, and Tom stride ahead.
I see Tom checking backward, realizing I’ve slowed down, and before he waits for me, I up-nod him to go on.
He does, staying at Eliot’s side.
I turn back to Beckett. “You said he’s been okay?” I ask to be sure. Of Tom’s brothers, I’ve mostly kept in touch with Beckett and Charlie. Usually a three-way call that involves Charlie hanging up midway through, but his brisk personality has never been that off-putting to me. I’m not exactly warm and fuzzy for a lot of people.
“He has been, but this, tonight, wasn’t normal,” he says quietly while we walk slowly behind everyone. “I think finding Ben’s phone must’ve triggered him, but he’ll be okay. Tom doesn’t like feeling stuck with no solution. You’ll see he’s going to move on quickly.” Beckett starts smiling. “Until he wants sympathy—from you, specifically.”
“Milking his tears for affection,” I say dryly with the shake of my head. Why do I want to be here for that? Because it’s him. It’s so Tom.
How the fuck am I going to leave in a week?
Coming back after two months away is magnifying how much I love being with him.
Beckett sees this torment on my face. “Ça ira pour lui,” he assures. He’ll be okay. “He won’t want you to choose him over your brother.”
“Je le sais bien.” I know…I really do.
Beckett’s personal driver, Hans, takes all of us to MVU’s campus. I sit beside Tom in the limo-style SUV and try Harriet’s phone again.
Surely, these calls would’ve woken her up if she was just sleeping. How would they not?
Tension fractures among us once the Honors House comes into view. It resembles a sorority house with collegiate columns and a pristinely manicured lawn. But it’s not why a collective breath is released in the car.
The headlights swing onto Ben Cobalt. He’s running toward the car like we’re a refuge from a flash flood. He has no shirt on, let alone a coat. It’s fucking freezing this December, and his skin looks pink and angry from the wind.
Tom rolls down the window and sticks his body halfway out. “Ben Pirrip!”
Relief is all over Ben’s face, but Harriet isn’t with him. Where the fuck is she? Alarm grips my muscles. “Get out, Tom.” I reach around him and yank the handle.
I don’t have to tell him twice. He’s jumping out of the moving vehicle, and I’m right behind my boyfriend.
I just barely catch Eliot saying, “I love them together.” That’s going to fuck me up for a minute. He’s quick to follow us, but Beckett and Charlie wait for the car to stop before piling out.
Ben reaches us in the middle of the lawn, winded.
Tom puts a hand on his brother’s back. “Breathe, breathe, breathe.”
Eliot sheds his peacoat, but Ben is already rejecting the offer with two outstretched hands and a hard shake of his head.
I don’t think he’s cold. He seems pissed.
“Forgot your shoes and your brain?” Charlie quips.
Ben glares. “Fuck you, Charlie.” His socks are dirty as he stands on the soft, squishy grass. He’s only wearing blue drawstring pants—what he wears to bed. “You have no idea—”