Page 33 of The Engagement Party

Mitch sighed. “We’re way past two.”

“What about Jake?” Sierra asked. “Did he know where we were meeting this weekend? Did he have this address?”

Ruthie knew the answer and it didn’t help them. “No.”

“Actually.” One word and Will commanded everyone’s attention.

This asshole. Fake engagement or not, she’d spent weeks with him. She didn’t love him because what they had was based on a lie, but she’d underestimated how limited he was when it came to relationships. She continued to be stunned at his lack of self-awareness.

Ruthie tried to rein in her fury. “You told me you didn’t know how to reach Jake.”

“I had his number and called.” Will skipped over acting contrite and moved right tothis is no big deal. “He doesn’t want to be part of the group. I get it. The memories are harsh, but I was hoping, since this was about our engagement, he might show so I told him where we’d be.”

Once again Will refused to take responsibility for anything, to dig a little deeper and understand the result of his choices. His inability to react or demonstrate having an emotional pulse tested her. “So, you lied.”

“Not that it isn’t important for you two to figure this out for your marriage, but... later?” Sierra winced as she asked. “I’m assuming Jake can travel. He has the ability to get here, yes?”

“He lives in Vermont,” Will said in a voice now thick with tension.

“Shit.” Alex shook his head. “I thought you were going to say somewhere overseas.”

“Let’s not assume Jake is to blame just because he was smart enough to avoid getting trapped on an island with us and a dead body,” Mitch said.

“But how—” Sierra’s comment ended on a squeal when the lights blinked out.

“Stay calm.” Alex got up and went to the window. “Must be the storm. The wind is actually bending the trees. The electricity is probably out all along the coast.”

“Sure,” Cassie said as she snuggled tighter into the blanket wrapped around her.

“It will click back on,” Will said.

Ruthie knew better. She’d studied the house. She knew about the alarm and the sprinklers. She also knew one very important thing the rest of them didn’t. The house had a backup generator and for some reason it hadn’t turned on.

Chapter Twenty-Six

Sierra

The mood of the room shifted from strained to chaos. The mix of darkness and uneasy questions gave way to frenzy. They all stood up. The unspent energy had them milling around and bumping into each other like startled cattle. Will used the lighter on the mantel to light the decorative candles there and on the coffee table. The flickering added to the precarious ambience.

A few of them turned on the flashlights on their phones but then decided they needed to conserve the batteries. They agreed to wait to use phones if the lights didn’t come back on within the hour.

A crack of thunder rang out. It sounded close enough for the next one to be a roof strike. They all stilled and waited. For what,who knew? The tension clawed and batted at Sierra until she shrugged off the blanket Mitch had thrown around her shoulders. She needed to be agile. Ready to run.

Mitch started to say something, but a flash of lightning cut off his words. The sky lit up the world outside the window in a hazy diorama of misshapen forms before plunging into darkness again.

Alex leaned in until his forehead almost touched the windowpane. “Did you see that?”

Four haunting words Sierra never wanted to hear. She dreaded the answer even more.

“A shadow or... Hell, I don’t know.” Alex put his hand against the glass. “It looked like someone running.”

An icy chill moved through Sierra. She closed her eyes and she tried to hum the idea of an unknown attacker out of existence but screaming panic filled her brain. Thoughts jumbled until all she could do was mentally beg for mercy.

“It’s nothing.” Definitely not, she thought. Only pieces of debris blowing across the island. Nothing was out there. Just water and leaves... despair and isolation.

“This isn’t the time for jokes, guys,” Ruthie said in a clipped voice.

“He’s not kidding.” Will joined Alex at the window. “There was something. It streaked across the lawn.”

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