Page 123 of Unbroken

“We’re gonna find him, Devon. I can feel it. We’re close.” He sounded confident, but when I looked into his eyes, I saw the uncertainty I expected. The confidence was just a front. The act was part of his job to show victims and their families that there was hope in the middle of the madness.

But hope felt fucking useless sometimes. If it weren’t for her—for Blakely—I’d eat, sleep, and breathe hope.

“I’ll be in touch,” Detective Baker promised. I only managed a slight dip of my chin in response before he walked back to his unmarked car.

CSI was finishing up with my car, and Jade, who had been evaluated by the EMTs but refused the trip to the hospital, was waiting for her boyfriend to pick her up.

Watching the two of them together was trippy. If it weren’t for the circumstances, anyone would have thought they were twins. The freak had found the perfect doppelgänger. I wondered how long he’d been planning the stunt. If he’d happened upon Jade and the idea had come to him, or if he’d been scouting a victim all along. The latter made me even angrier, and I quickly shook away the thought.

A breeze whipped past, and Jade tightened the blanket around her shoulders. Blakely’s black hair tumbled around her face. She absentmindedly pushed it back behind her ears, and my heart grew a million fucking sizes.

I never knew love like that existed—so all-consuming and intense that it was both exciting and fucking terrifying.

Blakely’s eyes sharpened, the far-off look finally disappearing as she glanced to her right at Jade. Jade was idly running her fingertips over her lips, which were cracked and chapped from the duct tape and lack of water. Blakely shifted and reached into her purse, pulling out something small and offering it to Jade.

I was too far away to recognize what it was until Jade accepted the object, uncapped it, and brushed it against her lips.

No one else would have understood the weight of that moment. But Blakely offering Jade the same comfort and kindness she’d received after she’d been found…it felt big.

And it felt even bigger when she looked up and locked eyes with me, a small, gentle smile curving her cherry lips.

FIFTY-SIX

Devon

“At least it’snot three in the morning this time,” Blakely joked as I let us into my apartment. We’d stopped in the main house and retrieved Tato and Stormy, who’d spent the day with my mom, and they followed us inside.

“At least,” I said, tossing my keys on my desk by the door and envying Tato and Stormy’s ability to get comfortable on the bed in a matter of seconds. A few weeks later, the two of them had become fast friends. The standoff between them night one only lasted a few hours, and ever since, they’d been almost inseparable, sleeping with us every night and cuddling throughout the day.

Glancing back, I spotted Blakely standing next to the door, staring at our pets curled up at the end of the bed. Her lips were slightly upturned, but the smile didn’t meet her eyes. She was tired. I could see it not just in the way her gray irises were dimmer or how they never entirely focused, I saw it in the way she carried herself. Her shoulders dropped, and her movements were slow.

She toed off her boots, and I tugged her into me, nothesitating to scoop her up into my arms. She squeaked in surprise but wrapped her legs around my waist and her arms around my neck.

I ran my nose along the curve of her jaw and took in a deep breath of her. Feeling her weight in my hands and her body pressed against mine calmed something in my soul. And the way she sighed and let me hold her, I considered that maybe she felt it too.

“I want to apologize,” she whispered against my cheek, and I reared back to find her eyes.

“What the hell for?”

Her fingers danced through the hair at the back of my neck as she stared down at my lips. “You didn’t let me finish.” She sighed. “I want to apologize, but I know you won’t let me.”

“No,” I said with conviction. Apologize? You’ve got to be kidding me. None of what was happening—noneof it—was her fault. And I wasn’t going to let her carry the blame for even a second.

“Look at that,” she joked, brushing her thumb over the hard-set line of my lips. “It’s like I knew exactly what you were going to say.”

I let loose a playful growl, and her smile finally met her eyes. I held her tighter and walked us over to the bed, settling on the edge as she continued speaking.

“I’m still scared,” she whispered.

Pain swept through me, and I wanted anything to be able to take away that fear. But until we found him, I knew she would be living with this over her head. I wasn’t sure there was anything I could do.

Taking a deep breath, I ran my hand over her exposed back. “If you weren’t scared, I’d be surprised.”

The look she leveled at me was unimpressed. “He’s escalating.”

She was right. Of course, she was. Kidnapping someone else took it to an entirely new level. It wasn’t flowers or cookies. But Ididn’t want to dwell on that fact after we’d been living in nothing but that reality for the past several hours. “Detective Baker thinks they’re onto something. That they’ll find him soon.”

“You believe that?” Disbelief laced her words, and her hands settled on each of my shoulders.

---