Page 174 of The Illicit Play

You’re busy, and I’ll only get in the way. Here are your keys. Take care, Grady.

“I’ll only get in the way.” I read the words aloud a few times, and a horrible, ugly thought starts to form and grow and…

Fuck! Did she think she was getting in the way of me and Teah?

Did she think…?

“Fuck!” I shout again, balling up the note in my hand and forcing myself to think the way she might have been.

After the blowup with her brother, she’s running on the assumption that Wily hates her. She’s obviously confessed all to her parents, and that mustn’t have gone well by her parents’ reaction on the phone before. And now she’s running on the false assumption that I’m trying to get back with Teah.

Maybe.

Shit. I can so understand why her brain went there.

I hate myself for giving her that impression. I was just so pissed with Mac for putting Teah in danger. I’ve been worried about her with him. It’s been eating at me ever since the first time I saw them together; then the accident happened, and it all came bubbling out of me.

Snapping my eyes shut, I focus back on Blake, shoving my guilt aside for another time.

Right now, all that matters is finding her and making sure she’s okay.

So… she’s feeling rejected, alone… ashamed after that shit with her parents.

“What would she do?” I whisper, my brain lighting with an idea. “Disappear.”

Hasn’t she been begging me ever since we got back to take her into the forest and disappear? It was always said in jest, but the underlying tone was clear. She wants to run away from her problems.

“Would she do that?” I stare out my windshield, gripping the wheel and wondering if she would seriously drive back to the forest.

Looking at my watch, I wince, hoping like hell she isn’t that reckless.

But fuck it. I have to check. What other options do I have right now?

Squealing away from the curb, I head out of Nolan, speeding to the forest as fast as I can get there.

It’s a two-hour drive, and it’s getting close to dawn by the time I pull into the parking lot and spot Wily’s truck.

“Thank God,” I whisper under my breath, then feel my insides disintegrate.

Oh shit.

She went into the forest. No doubt unprepared, just stormed into those woods in the dark. Who knows where the fuck she’s ended up.

“No,” I whisper, jumping out my door and running around to check Wily’s truck. It’s been here for hours. The metal is cold, the windows frosted over from the dropping temperatures throughout the night.

She’s out there in it.

I spin, eyeing the start of the trail and feeling my gut plummet. Which way did she go?

Yanking out my phone, I call Wily. “I’ve found your truck. It’s in the parking lot.”

“Is she there? Is she okay?” Wily sounds wired, like he’s been pacing all night…or ever since I called to let him know where I was heading.

I wince. “She’s not in it. I think she’s gone into the forest.”

“Fuck!” he barks. “How long ago?”

“I don’t know, man. But I’m gonna go in and start looking for her. If I don’t find any tracks within the first thirty minutes, I’ll call in search and rescue. It’s fucking freezing out here, and she’s completely unprepared.” Fear starts choking me. She’s unprepared. And there are somany dangers in this wood—animals for one. What if she’s been mauled by a bear? Attacked by a wolf pack? Pounced on by a mountain lion?