Page 51 of Forever Always

He turned toward the woman, Denise, with a smile on his face like he didn’t have a care in the world. I just stood there. I felt like I’d gotten shot in chest. He assessed the threat and then dismissed me. He knew there was shit I could do.

I needed a weapon. I wished I had my knife on me, but I left it under the pillow on our bed these days. If I had it, I could end this right now. Bury it in this fucker’s neck and end everyone’s suffering.

I scrubbed my face. Fuck, what was wrong with me? I didn’t have thoughts like that ever. But for Beckett, I’d burn the world down. Probably good I didn’t have it, so I didn’t do anything stupid.

My phone rang again, this time Jay. Fuck, not good. I looked at Denise. The poor woman didn’t seem to know what to do. “Remember what I said.” Then I ran out of the shelter.

The ringing stopped and started up immediately again.

“Hello?”

“Thank fuck. Finally,” he snapped urgently. “We know you’re not at work. You have the share my location feature on your phone for Becks, remember?” All the color drained from my face. No, I’d totally forgotten that.

“Listen, I can explain . . .”

“I don’t care right now. You can tell Becks yourself later. You need to get back here, now.”

I was shaking before I even asked. That was when I realized I could hear screaming in the background. Was that fuckin’ glass breaking? I started sprinting. I’d taken the bus here, but I didn’t have time now. I had to fuckin’ run.

“Jay! What the fuck is happenin’?”

“Your dad is here. Becks told me not to call you, but he’s—it’s not going well. I’m two minutes from callin’ the police, kid. The asshole locked me out of the apartment to keep me from gettin' involved and my key is inside. I can break down this piece of shit door, but I don’t wanna cause more property damage than they already have.”

“Fuck. Just . . . if it sounds like they’re killin’ each other, do what you gotta do. I’m on my way.”

I hung up before he could say anything and clicked into another gear. Why couldn’t we ever catch a fuckin’ break?

CHAPTER 20

BECKETT

“What’re you doing?”

I glanced over at Jay as he flopped down on the couch next to me. It was rare for both of us to be off in the middle of the day like this. Too bad Riley had to go into work.

“I’m checkin’ to make sure Ri got into work okay.”

I ignored Jay’s side eye as he leaned over and looked at my screen. “You’re seriously trackin’ him?”

“It’s the find my location app. Ri knows it’s on, so it’s not stalkin’.”

“Does he know you watch him on it like a creeper?”

I gave Jay the finger. “Fuck off, man. I gotta make sure he’s safe.”

I frowned at the app. Where the fuck was Ri going? He was currently headed in the opposite direction of his job.

“What the fuck you doin’, butterfly?”

Jay frowned down at my phone. “What’s wrong?”

“He’s not going to work.”

“What? That’s impossible. Where’s he goin’?”

“I don’t know.”

Jay ripped the phone out of my hand.

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