Page 133 of Broken Pact

Her apartment comes into view, the streetlights casting a warm glow over the manicured lawns. I pull up to her apartment with my heart in my throat. The door is open and my cat sits on the front porch like some kind of sentinel. His tail swishes back and forth, his glowing green eyes tracking me as I get off my bike and run up her walkway.

“Pudding,” I call out, my voice cracking as I kneel down to scoop him up. He squirms in my arms, his little claws finding purchase against my chest as he tries to climb out of my hold. “Where’s our girl, buddy? Where’s Coraline?”

He lets out a meow, but I don’t speak cat yet. So I don’t know if that’s a be careful, there’s someone in the house meow or she’s upstairs and she’s hurt or how the fuck did I get here.

I tuck him under my arm, grab my gun from the back of my pants, and go inside her apartment. The house is eerily quiet, and as I move from room to room, my unease only grows. There’s no sign of struggle, nothing out of place, but the silence is suffocating.

I pull out my phone and call Nova. He picks up on the second ring. “What’s up, Jagger?”

“Is Coraline at your house?” I ask, my voice tight with desperation.

He picks up on it right away. “What’s going on?”

I snap, “Is she there or not?”

“Nah, man, she’s not here,” he says slowly. “Wanna tell me what’s going on?”

I pull the phone away from my face and let out a silent frustrated yell. I bring the phone back and exhale. “She’s missing.”

“Fuck. For how long?”

I shake my head too many times, not that he can see me. “I don’t fucking know, man. We got into this argument, and then she texted me that she was meeting me at my house, but I didn’t fucking see it. I didn’t fucking see it in time, Nova. And now she’s just fucking gone. And my creepy fucking half-sister is at my house, claiming she conspired with some guy to take Coraline.”

The words roll out of me, gaining speed with every one. By the time I’m done, I’m panting into the phone.

He waits a beat and then says, “You have a half-sister and you never told me? What the fuck, bro,” Nova exclaims. “Yeah, I know, not the time. But shit, man. I can’t believe I didn’t know about this.”

I shift my weight, my neck growing hot. “Yeah, well, you’ve been busy with the baby.”

“Still. You can still fuckin’ talk to me, man.”

“We’re talking now, aren’t we? I don’t know where she is, Nova.” I spin in a circle, looking around her neighborhood like the answers are going to magically appear. “But I think she’s in trouble.”

“Maybe she’s just taking a breather. You said you got in a fight, maybe she went somewhere for a little space,” Nova reasons, his voice calm.

“Yeah, maybe. But my cat is at her apartment and she’s not.”

“Fuck,” he curses into the phone.

“Yeah, fuck is fucking right,” I growl into the phone.

“I’ll let the guys know, and we’ll all start looking, yeah? Did you try Magnolia Lane?”

Magnolia Lane. Nana Jo’s house, the place Coraline spent most of her summers growing up.

“I’m going to need a favor,” I tell him, jogging to my bike. “I need you to watch my cat.”

I end the call and tuck Pudding into one of my saddlebags, closing the flap. “Stay inside, buddy. You’re gonna hang out with Nova for a little bit while I go get our girl, yeah?”

He blinks at me with a murmured meow, and I take it as his agreement.

If I don’t find her there, I don’t know what I’ll do. But I know one thing for damn sure—I won’t rest until I do.

61

CORALINE

I come to slowly, my head pounding and mouth dry like it’s been stuffed with cotton balls. Blinking against the dim light filtering through the lace curtains, I let my surroundings come into fuzzy focus. I’m still in Nana Jo’s bedroom, but only one of my wrists is zip tied to the bed.

---