Page 84 of Caught from Behind

I should have done more. Shouldn’t have slept. Should’ve blown off practice and tracked her down.

“I need to go,” I mutter.

He doesn’t release me, just squeezes tighter. “Riggs,” he warns. “What did you do to my sister?”

“I didn’t hurt her. I didn’t do shit,” I snap. “She was drinking when I came home last night, wouldn’t talk about what’s bothering her—” I sigh and admit, “I’m worried about her. She was drunk and wouldn’t talk, so I put her to bed, intending to hash it out this morning, but she skipped out before we could talk about it.” I rub a finger over the throb in my temple. “She cleared her schedule at the salon, wasn’t at any of her normal spots and has avoided my calls and texts the last couple of days and Nova said?—”

“What did Nova say?” Lake asked, rigid possession in his question.

“You don’t know?”

He just lifts a brow.

“Nova said that she’s worried too, but that it’s Ella’s story to tell.”

A nod. “That’s what Nova told me too.”

“Fuck.” I shove my phone in my pocket when it starts ringing again, my dad’s fucking unrelenting. “I?—”

Raucous laughter echoes through the room.

Christ.

Fucking idiots.

Knox’s grip tightens further.

I rip his hand free. “I told you I didn’t hurt?—”

“Reading that loud and clear.” He tilts his head to the door.

“Let’s go. I know where she is.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

Ella

My head is pounding, but I force myself to hold still, to not reach for the bottle of aspirin in my purse.

I deserve the hurt.

I deserve the punishment.

I deserve?—

“Enough,” I whisper, forcing myself to focus on the lake, on the waves lapping against the shore and the sky changing colors in the distance. On the clouds drifting in, threatening to dump even more snow.

Good.

Bury me.

Give me frostbite.

Make me go numb so I don’t have to feel what I’m feeling now.

God, Kit. And Riggs. And?—

My dad.

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