Page 24 of The Comeback Road (Leaving #2)

Jace

It must have been my lucky day because as I was debating what to do, the porch light kicked on, and I saw a shadow shuffle out.

Sloan. I should have known he would be there.

I should have just called him and woken his ass up to let me in.

Turning my truck off, I jogged up to Sloan, who was leaning on the unsteady column.

He gave me a shake of his head like he wasn’t at all surprised I was there.

“It’s a bit early,” he drawled.

“Is it? Some might argue it’s a bit late.”

“That self-awareness would have been good a few days ago. Lexie isn’t here.” He whistled, and the puppies came in from the shadows. I was so focused on my destination that I didn’t even realize that they were out there with us.

“Aren’t you missing one?”

“He’s officially Dexter’s. Magnolia caved.” His eyes softened at the mention of Magnolia, and I had to bite back a snide remark, knowing the only person I was mad at was me. Wait, it’s barely 6:00 a.m.

“Did you say Lexie isn’t here?” I questioned.

“You better come inside. I’ll get Magnolia.” The look of pity Sloan shot in my direction while he led me inside had me biting back nausea, my insides churning. “Wait here. I’ll go get her.”

I tried to, but I couldn’t sit still, so I moved to the kitchen. I couldn’t help but overhear the conversation that was going on upstairs.

“He looks sad, babe,” Sloan whispered, albeit not quietly.

“Good, he should,” Magnolia huffed out. “He deserves it. Why I ever thought he was good enough for Lexie is beyond me…”

“Mags…”

“Don’t you ‘Mags’ me…”

They must have moved away from the door because that was the last I heard before shuffling and the unmistakable bang of a door hitting a wall. An annoyed Magnolia flew down the stairs, and I braced myself for her incoming anger.

“Jace,” she said on a drawl. “Whatever are you doing here?”

“I’m here to see Lexie…” Before I could finish, Magnolia started to laugh, and not the laugh where you wanted to join in. It was the kind of laugh that haunts your nightmares.

“She’s gone.”

Now it was my turn to laugh. Lexie wasn’t gone. She was there. That was her home. She was there . It was some kind of joke. Sloan suddenly appeared in the doorway, and was looking at me with raised eyebrows.

“Is this some kind of joke?” Some kind of something so I wouldn’t be able to talk to her.

“I know I messed up, Magnolia. Please, let me talk to her.” I stepped around her before she could answer me.

“Lexie? Come on, Starlight, I know you’re up there,” I hollered out.

And since I knew where her room was, I flew up the stairs two steps at a time.

“Starlight!” The silence after her name had me sweating.

My mind wasn’t catching up to what I knew in my heart.

“Starlight!” My yell turned into silence in my throat when I flung open her door, expecting her to be bleary-eyed and yelling at me to be quiet. But it was silent .

The bed is unslept in.

Her smell is faint.

The bed is unslept in.

She isn’t here.

I teetered at the realization.

She isn’t here.

“I tried to tell you, she’s gone.”

Magnolia’s voice was quiet, almost apologetic, and I frantically turned toward her. “Well, where the fuck is she?”

Even though I knew Lexie wasn’t there, I strode in and started opening drawers, trying to find a hint or a clue to where she had gone.

It was clear her stuff had been picked through, like Lexie had packed up in a hurry and taken everything she could think of that mattered.

I roared out in frustration. “Where the fuck is she?!” I fisted my hair in my hands as I looked frantically around the empty room and into the eyes of my two concerned friends.

“Tell me she’s coming back. Tell me this isn’t permanent.”

Magnolia’s eyes filled with tears. “I can’t do that, Jace.”

I barely felt it when my knees hit the hardwood floor. I just felt the loss of her, and an all-consuming darkness without my Starlight.

She is gone.