Page 15 of Four Times Saved

"So, have you made contact with the search and rescue team yet?" I asked.

"No. Fuck. Are you sure this is the only option we have to get Lily back?" he asked.

What the fuck kind of question was that? "What do you mean, 'if it's the only option'?" I spun my head too hard to look at him, almost giving myself whiplash, and the throbbing in my head grew larger. There was no way he just asked me that.

"Damn it." He swiped his hand over his face. "I'm just wary. If anything goes wrong, I can't have my parents blaming themselves, you know? We don't know who we're working with and if we involve their contacts and any of them lose their lives..."

"But you'd rather risk Lily's life with those same people you're worried might kill trained soldiers?!" I yelled. I couldn't believe what I was hearing and I almost slammed my foot on the brakes in the middle of the road.

"No. Of course, not!" He barked. "Damn it!"

In a fit of rage brought on by desperation and lack of sleep, I reached for the notebook. "Well, if you won't fucking use it, I will. We can worry about that afterwards. Lily's life is on the line."

He didn't let go of the notebook. "I know that and I'll do anything I have to, to get her back! I just need a minute!"

"Lily doesn't have a fucking minute!" I pulled again.

"Will you stop it? I'll call them, myself." He tugged it back toward him.

Within the next second, the world went up in smoke. There was a bang, and before I could assess what happened, the car was spinning out of control. Horns and angry drivers bellowed at us, and next to me, Eric was flopped forward on the dashboard, his face turned toward his window and blood dripping from the side of his head. By the time I gained control of the vehicle, if you could even call it that, the side of the car Eric was on slammed into a light post. My airbag puffed up, and I threw my weight on my door, pushing it open. Running over to his side, my heart stopped beating at Eric's still body.

"Fuck! Fuck!" I cried. With tears pouring from my eyes, I pulled him from the vehicle and onto the side of the road.

Onlookers exited their cars, phones were out recording, and I couldn't find my voice to beg one of them to call the police. My trembling hands searched my body for my phone, but it must have fallen out in the car. Eric's was smashed, and the notebook? Where was the notebook?

Luckily, an ambulance found us not long after. Eric was still breathing, thank goodness. But he wouldn't wake up. As they took care of him, I ran over to the car, found my phone, and spared a few minutes to look for the notebook. The smell of gasoline caught my attention in time for me to hear someone yell, 'Get away from the vehicle!'

But the notebook! Gritting my teeth with my heart in my mouth, I finally gave up and pulled away. Seconds after I walked off, I witnessed something I'd only seen in movies. My car went up in flames as I stared at it, mourning the loss of the damn notebook, the uncertainty of getting to Lily sooner rather than later, and standing frozen in the realization that Eric and I could've still been in that car. Before the ambulance could drive off with Eric, I jumped in with him, only noting after that I also had blood dripping down the side of my face.

Ethan

"So, our investigations tell us that this Lily lady's a drug addict," the cop stated.

"Was! Was a drug addict!" I sliced the air with the side of my hand as I gestured to him. "She's been clean for years. What does that have to do with anything?" I scowled.

"Once an addict, always an addict. Trust me, I've seen it before. She could've relapsed. Wandered off..." the cop suggested.

"Fucking unbelievable," I hissed. "Where the hell is Matt and Eric with those damn contacts?" I mumbled to myself. He was already convinced that coming to the police station was a waste of time. He wasn't wrong, damn it. After counting down the minutes until the 24-hour wait period, hoping they'd finally get their heads out of those foul asses and get their jobs done, this...THIS IS WHAT I'M FACED WITH?

I stuffed my breath, pressing my hand against my lips to keep myself from having an outburst. Thankfully, my phone rang, and I all but jumped for joy when I saw that it was Matt.

"What did Eric say?" I asked as soon as I answered.

"I'm going to need you to pick up Ryan in a couple of hours," he said.

Reeling from the lack of an answer, I shook the noise out of my head.

"We were in an accident, but we should be back later this evening," he continued.

"What the actual fuck? How bad was it? Are you two okay?" The world landed on my shoulders.

Hissing, I left the police station. They were useless anyway. As Matt explained what happened to me, I was more cautious myself when driving back to the Airbnb. Deciding to get some rest for the next couple of hours, since they almost lost their lives due to lack of sleep, I flopped down onto the living room sofa. Because if anything happened to any of us, Lily had no one left.

As if she had anyone at all to begin with. Four heads together and we still couldn't find Lily ourselves. She was fucking doomed with just us in her corner. I was almost suffocated by my inability to catch my breath. Shutting my eyes filled my head with noise and doubt.

I doubted I slept a fucking wink when I jumped to my feet before my alarm went off, racing out the door.

Matt

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