Page 58 of The Bad Brother
I KNEW, A SECOND BEFORE I OPENED MY eyes that Sloane wasn’t in bed with me.
Remembering a groggy conversation about water and calling the hospital to check on Red, I crack an eyelid to find that sure enough, Sloane’s side of the bed is empty and her phone is gone.
Sitting up in bed, I listen carefully for signs of life. Water running in the kitchen. The faint hum of the microwave. The soft hiss of the shower. The murmuring rumble of the TV, downstairs.
I don’t hear anything.
The loft is completely silent.
Suddenly sure I’m alone, that Sloane is gone, I feel my heart give a single, painful lurch before it catapults itself into my throat .
“Sloane?”
Nothing.
Fuck.
“ Sloane .” This time the frantic shout of it, launches me out of bed.
Nononono...
Finding my pants on the floor, at the foot of the bed, I pull them on while telling myself to calm down. That she’s okay. That she’s not stupid. She wouldn’t just leave without?—
Tearing across the room, I do a quick check on the bathroom before I head downstairs, taking the steps two at a time while scanning the open space of the first floor.
Empty.
It’s completely empty.
Shit.
Even though I know it’s useless—that if Sloane were here, she would’ve heard me calling her and answered me by now—I check the half bath and the laundry room behind the kitchen. She isn’t there either.
River.
Last night, I told Sloane that River was here. That she fell asleep watching TV and that I carried her across the hall to my place to put her to bed. Maybe after checking on Red, she couldn’t get back to sleep. River’s always been an early riser. She’s undoubtedly awake.
Heart hammering painfully in my chest, I charge my way across the room, flinging the front door open on an empty hallway.
Shooting across it, I damn near kick the door open to find my living room as empty as the one behind me.
Checking my bedroom and the attached bath, I confirm what I already know.
River is gone.
They both are.
Back in my bedroom, I rip the curtains open to scan the parking lot below me. River’s jeep is still parked where she left it but Sloane’s car is gone. Wherever they went, they went there together.
Goddamn it.
Leaving my apartment, I don’t even bother to close the door behind me.
Back across the hall, I rush upstairs to retrieve my phone to call Sloane.
Snatching it off the nightstand, thumb poised over the keypad, I feel it buzz in my hand, a second before the name Cal Montgomery flashes across the screen.
Cal doesn’t call me.
Not without reason.
Fuck.
Heart pulsating in my throat so hard that I’m dizzy, I hit the button to accept the call. “What happened?”
For a second, Cal doesn’t say a word.
“Cal—”
“River called me,” he says without preamble. “She and your doctor friend are at the hospital. River asked me to come sit a spell with Red while Reese gets some sleep because?—”
Because Ethan is the one who stabbed him and sooner or later, he’s going to realize that he didn’t do a good enough job at killing him.
Sloane saved his life, which means, when Red wakes up, he’s going to be able to tell Colt who tried to kill him.
That’s something not even a Pryce can walk away from .
“While we were on the phone, I heard someone say, good morning sweetheart, fancy meeting you here . Right before he told River to hang up the fucking phone .” Cal clears his throat. “Line went dead after that. I tried calling back but no answer.”
I feel my entire world start to wobble on its axis.
Ethan has them.
He took them.
He took them away from me.
“I called Colt,” Cal says, all business.
“He’s on his way to the hospital right now and he’s already alerted their security team.
Cameras in the staff parking garage were looped.
When they checked, they found Sloane’s bag on the ground but when they checked it, there was no phone. They found River’s phone under a?—”
“Thanks for letting me know, Cal,” I tell him, my tone flat. Lifeless. “I appreciate it.”
“Now you listen here, boy—” Cal spent thirty years of his life serving as Barrett County Sheriff. He knows an unhinged man when he hears one. “Let Colt handle this the right way. If Ethan has them?—”
“I appreciate everything thing you’ve done for me,” I tell him quietly. “Tank made me family but you and Aunt Penny made sure it stuck, even after he died. Didn’t turn me away. I’ll be forever grateful for that.”
“ Goddamn it, Jen ?—”
I hear fear in his tone—real fear. I hang up before he can finish.
River was on the phone when Ethan grabbed them so he made her get rid of her phone but when they looked, Sloane’s cell was nowhere to be found.
If Sloane’s cell wasn’t in her bag, there’s a good chance she still has it.
Phone still in my hand, I find her number in my phone and hit send.
It goes straight to voicemail.
I try again.
Same thing.
I try again.
Same thing.
Fuck.
Chest heaving, vision blurry, I feel my blood, the hard pump of it, rushing through my veins. Echoing in my ears so loud my head hurts.
Ethan has them.
He took them.
He took them away from me.
Don’t do that.
Don’t you fucking dare fall apart.
Not now.
Squeezing my eyes shut, I do my best to control my breathing but it’s no use. The harder I try, the harder it becomes. The farther I spin out of control. I’m going over the edge.
Fuckfuckfuck...
Suddenly remembering what Sloane told me about the stash of Atomic Warheads she keeps in her nightstand, I stumble my way around the side of the bed, practically lunging at the drawer-pull in my hurry to get it open.
Fingers hooked around it, I jerk it open so hard it comes loose, the contents of it flying everywhere.
More than a few Atomic Warheads land on the bed beside me.
Snatching them up, I shove three or four of them into my mouth, not even bothering to unwrap them before biting down as hard as I can, grinding them between my teeth to tear the cellophane and pulverize the candy inside.
The sting of citric acid that hits my tongue and coats the inside of my mouth is so strong that my sinuses start to burn and my eyes begin to water.
But it works.
The stinging burn of it grabs me by the throat and shoves me back into my body. Grounds me in an instant. Clears my head enough to let me see through the fog. Spitting the chewed-up wrappers into my hand I dump them on the nightstand.
Think, goddamn it— think.
Sloane’s phone.
I shared her location with mine when I added my number to her phone. Something I didn’t bother to tell her because like breaking into her place and installing cameras without her permission, it was a creepy stalker move I wasn’t exactly proud of.
Right now, I don’t give a fuck.
Hand still shaking but steady enough, I punch at my cell screen until I find Sloane’s phone location on the app.
They’re just getting ready to cross the east bridge, traveling south. Heading straight for me.
Ethan is bringing them back here.