Page 14 of Four Times Saved

I hissed. My mother's jaw slackened and she grabbed her chest. "Oh, no! Why wouldn't you tell me something like that?!" She hit my shoulder with a fist. "What can we do to help?"

"Nothing." I waved her away. "We have it under control."

"We?" She asked, but before I could answer, my father chimed in again.

"That's not what I heard," he said as I tried my best not to scowl at him. "What?" He gestured to me. "Sounds like the police aren't doing jack shit about it, but the boy's too proud to accept our help."

"I'm not too proud. I just don't want you to do anything that could compromise your health." I looked at him pointedly. His lips twitched with a retort but he decided against it when he looked at my mother. He couldn't argue with me on that.

But my mom could. "Let us help you." She insisted. "We have the resources and I'd give anything to stop feeling like a fragile piece of fucking glass."

My mother rarely swore and I gasped.

"Come on, Mrs. Fletcher. Let's go sit and calm down." The nurse tried.

"I don't need to sit down. I won't take no for an answer and you're not leaving unless you accept our help. You know it wouldn't take much for me to stop you. I might be 'old'..." She made air quotes. "But I can still overpower every single one of you. And stop looking at me like I'm crazy."

I dropped my eyes from the furious glare in her dark brown retinas and the fixed, no-nonsense line across her mouth.

"She's not lying, you know, about her strength." My father agreed, hands on his hips and a proud tilt to his lips.

"Oh, I know." I nodded.

They shared a glance with each other, filled with admiration for the other. My mother ran her hand over the top of her shoulder-length wavy reddish-brown hair, a blush coloring her cheeks, and that's how we ended up in the living room downstairs gathered around notes of military contacts after I managed to talk my parents down from getting directly involved. Hesitant, they agreed not to come with me and instead, they gave me the contacts they had for a search and rescue team.

With a kiss, a hug and a promise that I'd use the contacts, I was out the door, a little less worried about leaving them behind.

Chapter 8

Matt

Acar honked at me and my eyes jerked open to find that I'd been zigzagging on the highway. I fucking fell asleep, which was shocking in itself since I hadn't been able to sleep all night.

Slapping myself in the face and cursing my recklessness, I focused on getting to the airport in one piece. I should've called a frigging taxi. But I was anxious for the only good news we'd received so far. Eric would be able to use his contacts to help us locate Marco and lead us to Lily.

When he spotted me, the reality hit him all at once. His eyes locked onto mine, holding a question as he walked to me. She's not back yet? He asked without words. We both knew the answer, but it was still difficult to grasp, that after so long she wouldn't just come back. Luggage in hand and face hardened, he hurried toward me. When he got closer, the redness in his eyes grew striking. He fell into me when my arms wrapped around him, shedding what he must have been holding in since the moment he heard the news. My body rocked with him as the river in my own eyes flooded my face.

His knees buckled and he surrendered, almost falling to the ground save for me holding him up.

"Tell me you have something that will help us find Lily." I pulled away, unsure I'd be able to keep from collapsing myself.

"Yeah." His shoulders shook on a gasp of breath. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a notebook. "A search and rescue team." He reassured me. "Where are the rest of the guys?" He pulled his dragged eyes from left to right.

"Ethan's wasting his time with the police," I told him on our way to the car. "And I'll be back in a couple of hours or so to pick up Ryan. But this. This is what we need." I waved the book he'd given me at him and got in the car.

Swearing as I knocked my head on the way in, I dropped into the driver's seat and punched the steering wheel.

"You need me to drive?" Eric offered.

"Let's just get out of here." I hissed, turning the car on and pulling out.

Great, on top of everything, I had a monster of a headache. The road blurred before me, but I forced my eyes open.

"Don't worry about picking Ryan up later, I'll do it. You look like shit," he said.

He wasn't wrong. "Says you." I looked over at him, swollen red eyes and his lusterless unbrushed reddish-brown hair pulled back in a low man bun. It was fair, considering. "Doubt you're in better shape than I am."

His eyebrows shrugged. He didn't contest.

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