Page 13 of Code Word (The Atrous #3)

I ran to the internal garage access and burst through the door. His car was still there.

But he was not.

I walked then, back through the house, up the stairs toward his room. The house felt wrong, and each step closer to his room, fear expanded in my chest.

I had no clue what I was about to find.

His door was slightly ajar, and with my heart in my throat, I slowly pushed it open. “Luke,” I breathed. “Luke?”

I half expected to see his body on the floor.

Because my mind fucking hated me, apparently.

But there was nothing.

His bed was made, his bathroom tidy, and not a thing out of place in his walk-in closet...

Not that I could see, anyway.

The cleaning staff had obviously been in, because Luke never made his bed and he always left his clothes on the floor by the hamper, never in it.

I had no clue when he’d been here last. Had he even been here since the day I drove him up to the cabins?

I pulled out my phone and went straight to messages. Mine to him were still unread, so I added another.

FFS Luke fucking call me

You’re starting to scare me and idk how to fix this

And of course, my stupid eyes burned with stupid fucking tears, and the fear that clung to my ribs turned into anger.

I knew there was a good chance Maddox knew where Luke was, but man... I was too fucking mad to speak to him right now. So instead, I called Jeremy.

He picked up on the third ring. “Hey, B. What’s up?”

Fuck niceties. I was losing my fucking mind, and he was acting like nothing was wrong. “Do you know where he is?” I asked, my voice strained. “I don’t know where he is, and honestly, I’m like, fuck. Is he okay? Is he missing? Should I call the fucking cops?”

“Hey, Blake,” he said. “It’s not like that.”

“It’s exactly fucking like that. Don’t fuck with me, Jer. Do you know where he is? Is he still up at the cabins? Just tell me. I won’t go up there because I know he doesn’t want to see me, but fuck. At least I can stop losing my fucking mind.”

“Oh, Blake . . .”

“Don’t oh, Blake me. Jesus fucking Christ, Jeremy. If you know where he is?—”

“No,” he blurted out. “I don’t. I don’t know where he is.”

I nodded slowly, understanding completely.

“But Maddox does,” I said flatly. I snarled and ended the call. I wanted to throw my phone against the fucking wall. I wanted to scream, and most of all, I wanted to punch Maddox in his perfect fucking face.

I found Maddox’s number and hit Call.

And it rang. And rang. Until it went to voicemail.

I smashed the End Call button and gripped my phone, trying to quell the urge to throw it.

I needed to smash something.

Instead, in an attempt for calm, I took a deep breath and called Wes.

“Hey, buddy,” he said. “Long time, no speak.”

I kinda felt bad about that, because I hadn’t called him in a while, but he also hadn’t called me, so...

“Hey,” I replied. “How’s the fam?”

“Awesome,” he said, and I could hear the smile in his voice. “What can I do you for?”

God, he even sounded like a dad.

“This is gonna sound weird, but...” I shook my head at myself for being so fucking lame. “But have you heard from Luke? I’m sure it’s nothing and I’ll kick his ass later, but he’s not answering his phone.”

He snorted. “Nope. Not in a while. I saw that he and Vana broke up. Maybe he’s commiserating with a few new girls.”

A white-hot poker of something really fucking bitter drove itself into my heart and twisted.

Searing and so fucking painful.

“You know how he is,” Wes said.

I nodded, grateful he couldn’t see my face. I felt like I wanted to vomit.

But then a kid started to cry in the background, and I heard Wes mumble something to them. He had such a different life from me now, and I felt bad for not being a good friend to him.

“I should let you go,” I said. “I won’t leave it so long next time.”

Wes laughed. “Okay. Catch ya soon. ”

I stood there then, staring at the untouched room in the too-quiet house.

Too-empty house.

I stared at my phone screen, not wanting to call Becca but feeling like I had no other choice. She’d already done more than she should have, and I didn’t want her to hear me fucking cry over the phone.

So, blinking back tears, I sent her a text.

Hey. I know I have no right to ask this but have you heard from Luke? Has your mom? Is he okay? If I know he’s okay then I can stop worrying

I hit Send before I could chicken out.

I didn’t care if I sounded desperate.

I was desperate.

And if he didn’t want to speak to me or see me, knowing he was okay would be enough.

It’d have to be.

I walked to the hall, and instead of going left, back to the living area, I stood there and looked to the right.

I dunno why or what made me. No one really ever went to the room past Luke’s bedroom.

The previous owners of this mansion had used it as a library and a chess room.

Luke had used it as a room to put his trophies, his gold and platinum albums, and since Atrous quit the industry, the only people who went in there were the cleaners.

I stopped at the double doors, held my breath, and pushed open the doors.