Page 143 of Consume Me

“You’re not alone, Bailey. We’re always here for you,” I assure her, and Abi hands her a drink. We sit down on the plush sofa, and all four of us fit comfortably.

“I feel so damn lost. Being behind the screen gave me a purpose, but now I am chasing ghosts. I feel like a damn failure.”

“Don’t let me hear that again,” Celine says. “You’re incredible in what you do.”

Bailey sighs. “I still can’t find the money.”

“Forget about that damn money. We’re the heirs of the Family. And I know you’re going to find whoever was behind that,” Abi says, taking a sip.

“I have no clue where they are. It’s like the earth swallowed them,” she says, and suddenly, a freaking light bulb switches on in my head.

“What if they’re underground?”

All three girls whip their heads to me.

I shrug. “It could be, right?”

“I have to check this, right now,” Bailey pushes herself up and runs to her laptop.

“Go have your night with Blake,” Abi says.

“But…”

“Nope. Go,” Celine says.

“Thank you, girls. We’ll be back tomorrow,” I say, then I go search for him.

The guys are in the gym, and while Dane does some cardio, the others are in a triangle, sparring. I open my mouth to let Blake know I am here, but then his back muscles flex as he attacks Hunter in a flurry of quick moves, and I forget everything else.

It’s as if he senses me, because he cocks his head right after landing a punch in my brother’s stomach. Ouch, that must have hurt, but my twin loves a strong fight.

“Missed me?”

“I want to go to the lodge.”

“Another time, guys,” Blake says, not waiting for them to reply. I take a towel from the rack and pad his face. He’s not even sweaty, but he indulges me. Then he leads me up the stairs and out of the house, opening the passenger door for me.

It’s a short drive, and I tell him about my theory.

“That would narrow down the search area,” he says pensively. “It’s plausible, especially since no camera has detected any of them.”

“Right? And we know they can’t be that far away because of their obvious intentions to take over.”

He exhales loudly. “Fuck, this might be the first real lead we have.”

“We can go back…”

“No, we need to do this,” he says, looking straight ahead, a muscle twitching in his jaw.

I place my hand on his thigh. “Nothing will change how I feel about you.”

He interlaces our fingers, stroking my palm gently, and offers me a small, tight smile, full of dejection. “I fucking hope so…”

When he parks, we walk down the now familiar forest road, hand in hand, until we reach the lodge.

“It feels like this is where we started––”

“Don’t you even think about that.” I place my finger on his mouth to hush him. “We’re not going to end, not here and not now. We won’t end at all.”

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