Page 35 of The Rowdy Ones

“The state of the, uh, victim.” He swallows audibly. “Throat cut and face bashed in with a blunt object, so identifying the body is difficult. Right now, they’re looking through missing persons who fit the build and sex of the victim.”

My knees buckle and Wild grabs onto me before I collapse. “Who could do something that horrific?”

I know the answer.

I was kidnapped by those awful types of people.

And now it’s here too?

“The body matches the general description of Rowdy,” Wild chokes out, “but Uncle Will doesn’t want us to get ahead of ourselves. There’s still so much they don’t know.”

With my fingers pressing into my chest, I attempt to suck air into my lungs. It has to be some other person. Not my brother. Not Rowdy. He’s strong and fearless. If someone had come at him, I’m confident he could have defended himself and gotten away.

He has to be okay.

Wild hugs me to him, squeezing me tightly. I burst into tears and I can feel his own tears soaking my hair. We hold on to one another as the reality of our situation hits us.

Rowdy is missing and there’s a dead body matching his description.

There’s no way to avoid the truth.

My brother might be dead.

“Why are you crying?” a deep voice demands. “Who hurt you?”

I tear myself out of Wild’s arms, twisting toward the sound of the voice. Cold air blasts inside as he enters the RV. Without a second thought, I launch myself in his general direction, flinging my arms around his neck when I find him.

“Rowdy! You’re alive!”

I’m alive?

I’ve been gone a few hours and she thinks I died. Strange. Destiny isn’t known to be dramatic, so this whole interaction right now is alarming. She clings to me so tight, I struggle to breathe. I’m definitely missing something here because I don’t know why she’s worked up.

“Why weren’t you answering your phone?” Destiny demands at the same time Wild growls, “We thought you were dead, asshole.”

Wait? Wild’s freaking out too? What the hell did I miss?

Destiny lets go of me and crosses her arms over her chest. I pull out my phone and notice it’s lifeless, with no battery life. Wild, upon seeing it, curses and grabs it from me.

“You’re supposed to charge your shit,” he bites out. “Unbelievable.”

His eyes are bloodshot and his cheeks are wet. Destiny doesn’t look much better. They really did think I was dead.

“Sorry,” I grumble. “I didn’t think I needed to tell everyone my business. Apparently, if I don’t, you two assume the worst.”

“There was a fucking dead body matching your description!” Wild exclaims, flinging his muscular arms in the air. “I need to get some air because right now I want to kick your ass.”

A dead body.

Holy shit.

He shoulders past me, snagging his coat along the way. The RV door slams behind him, rattling every window in the place.

“We went looking for you,” Destiny says softly. “There was a roadblock. Police were everywhere. Then Weston called to tell me about the news of a homicide.” She sniffles and swipes at her cheek with the palm of her hand. “Wild’s uncle said the victim had been bashed in the face beyond recognition and he matched your description.”

Fuck.

No wonder they were freaked the hell out.