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Lucas frowns slightly. “No. Last I saw her, she said she was taking Merlyn home. Said she’d come back.”

“Did she?” I ask.

He shakes his head. “Not yet. She probably crashed.”

My gut twists. I nod slowly. “Yeah. Probably.”

But my thumb is already hovering over her contact again.

Call.

Voicemail.

Nico steps closer. “You wanna go check on her?”

I nod once. “Yeah. Let’s head back.”

Lucas puts a hand on my shoulder. “Thank you again. Both of you. I mean it. I—” he stops, clears his throat. “I love you guys. In a manly, non-emotional way, obviously.”

I laugh, even though my chest feels tight. “Love you too, you asshole.”

“Tell Laney thanks, okay?” Lucas adds as he heads back to Joey’s room. “She held me and Sam up last night. Like a goddamn anchor.”

I watch him disappear behind the door, and I should feel lighter.

I don’t.

Nico watches me for a beat. “Let’s go.”

I follow him down the hallway, fingers still wrapped around my phone like a prayer because something’s off and I can feel it.

The sky’s just starting to crack open—thin bands of lavender and gray spreading over the horizon—but I barely register it. My fingers are clenched around the wheel, knuckles bone-white, and the tires hum against the road like a warning I can’t ignore.

Nico sits beside me, calm as ever, one leg stretched out, the other ankle resting on his knee, like he’s just cruising through another morning. But I can see the way his eyes flick across the landscape, his jaw tight behind that composed expression.

I’ve called Laney five times since we left the hospital.

Voicemail.

Every. Damn. Time.

“She’s probably asleep,” I say, more to myself than him. “She’s gotta be. She was wrecked. Everything with Joey… it had to wipe her out.”

Nico nods slowly. “Maybe.”

I glance over. “You don’t believe that.”

“I believe she’s strong,” he says. “But my gut’s twitching.”

Mine too.

I try to reason with myself. What if she took Merlyn out for a walk and forgot her phone? What if she took a sleeping pill? What if she dropped her phone and it broke and now she’s watching bad TV under five blankets and I’m about to look like an idiot?

But the longer the silence stretches, the tighter my chest pulls.

I finally break the quiet. “She wouldn’t just… not answer. Not now. Not after last night.”

“I know,” Nico says simply.