Total pages in book: 104
Estimated words: 102361 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 512(@200wpm)___ 409(@250wpm)___ 341(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 102361 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 512(@200wpm)___ 409(@250wpm)___ 341(@300wpm)
My phone rings, and it’s Brooks’s ringtone, but it sounds far away.
With my heart in my throat, I search around me. “Come on, I need you to come help me.”
I sound out of my mind. My voice is shrill and full of panic.
“WHERE IS MY PHONE??”
It rings again, and I’m able to look down between my legs and see my phone, face up, on the floor below.
“No.” Tears spring to my eyes. “Oh shit, I’m in trouble. I’m in so much trouble.”
Did I tell Brooks I was here?
I think back on our texts. No. I didn’t. I just told him I’d see him soon.
Oh God.
I can feel blood running down my left leg, and I can even hear it dripping on the hardwood below. The ache in that leg has its own heartbeat. It fucking hurts.
“I hope that blood doesn’t hit my phone.”
My laughter at that thought sounds hysterical.
I’m stuck here, hanging half in, half out of an attic that no one even knew existed. It’s getting dark, and no one knows where I am. And I’m worried about blood messing up my phone.
I’m so fucked.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
BROOKS
“Honey, I’m home!” I grin as I walk through the kitchen. I expected to see Jules in here, starting dinner, just because she said she was making my favorite tonight, but she must be in the shower or something. She didn’t answer my call on the way home, but I didn’t think too much of it.
Although she never called me back, either.
Frowning, I saunter down the hallway to our bedroom, then through to our bathroom.
No Jules.
“Jules?” I call out as I pull my phone out of my pocket and dial her number again. It rings and rings, then goes to voicemail.
After checking the backyard and confirming she’s not here, I call the restaurant.
“Sage & Citrus, this is Christy.”
“Hey, it’s Brooks. Is Jules still there?”
“Oh no, she left a couple of hours ago.”
“If she calls, or pops in there, will you please tell her I’m looking for her?”
“Of course. Hey, maybe she stopped at the bookstore. Sometimes she gets caught chatting in there.”
Okay, my heart calms down with that reminder. “Good thought, I’ll call there. Thanks, Christy.”
After hanging up, I call my sister, who answers on the third ring.
“Hi, biggest brother, what’s up?”
“Are you at the bookstore?”
“Yep.” She pops the P at the end of the word.
“Is Jules there?”
“No, I haven’t seen her.”
What in the actual fuck?
“Is everything okay?” Billie asks, her voice turning more serious.
“I don’t know. I can’t find her, and she’s not answering my calls or texts. She’s not at home and not at the restaurant. If she’s not with you, where could she be?”
“The grocery store? The post office? A doctor’s appointment?”
“Okay, you’ve made your point, but she was going to meet me here. At home. Something’s not right, Bee.”
“Take a deep breath. I’ll try calling her too.”
“I’m calling the brothers.”
I hang up and call each of my brothers, but every single one of them says they haven’t seen or heard from her either.
When I hang up with my parents with the same result, I want to throw my phone across the room. Because panic is starting to set in. Where. The fuck. Is my wife?
“Fuck!”
Something is wrong. Jules doesn’t disappear like this. She always has her phone on her or returns my call fairly quickly.
There’s a knock on my front door, but before I can open it, Billie comes striding through with Beckett and Skyla on her heels.
“We’re all coming to help,” Beck says. “How long has she been missing?”
“We don’t know—” Billie begins, but I cut her off.
“She left the restaurant a couple of hours ago. I was supposed to meet her here.”
Bridger and Dani file in, and then Harper and Blake behind them. Blake’s still in scrubs, and he’s scowling.
“Where the fuck is she?” he demands.
“We don’t know yet,” Billie replies.
“Maybe she went for one of her walks and forgot her phone?” Skyla asks.
“Her phone isn’t here,” I reply.
“But it’s not impossible,” Bridger adds. “I’ll make some calls.”
He steps out of the room, and all I can do is stare at the people I love so much.
“I don’t know what to do.” I rub my chest, over where my heart thumps in overtime. “Fuck, I don’t know what to do.”
“She’s fine,” Billie insists. “She’s just not hearing her phone. Maybe she really did have to run to the store.”
“She’d be back my now,” I growl. “I’m going to tear this town apart.”
“No need,” Bridge says, shaking his head. “I just spoke with Chase Wild. He’s getting some eyes out there, in case she’s taking that walk.”
“I’m texting Christy,” Billie adds. “Just asked her to check the upstairs of the restaurant.”
Harper flips on my lights, since the sun has gone down and it’s getting dark.
“She could be hurt,” I mutter, my hands moving in and out of fists, as I pace back and forth in the living room. “What if her car went off the road?”