Page 59 of Reign of Psychos

“No, why?” Cassian had pulled on some pants and was making coffee.

“Yeah, maybe.” We all turned to look at Landon. He shifted uncomfortably on the sofa. “She acted a bit odd when she came out of the bathroom just before Act 3 started. When I asked her what was wrong, she gave me some bullshit about there being no toilet paper. I didn’t buy it, but she seemed fine after that. Then we got back here, and she was tired, so I kinda forgot about it.”

“And you didn’t think to mention this?” Dario glared at him.

Lan threw his hands in the air. “No! The moment passed, and I got distracted!”

“Distracted by her tits, you mean,” Kyril snarled. “Such a fucking useless piece of shit.”

Tuning out their bickering, I scanned all the messages and calls Thea had received this evening. I’d installed some spyware on her phone after she returned from Italy, figuring it might come in useful if something went wrong.

She’d received a call from Eden around 21:30. Nothing unusual about that. Those two talked all the time. Then I frowned. Eden would have known she was at the opera, so it would have made more sense for her to message, not call.

Unless it was important.

I cast my mind back. Thea had been talking to Eden yesterday about the guy she’d connected with online. I’d caught the end of their conversation, where she’d tried to dissuade Eden from meeting him last night.

Had something gone wrong? If it had, Thea would have felt compelled to rush off and help her friend. I tapped my fingers on my knee while running through all the possible scenarios in my head.

Thea hated asking for help. She’d proved that many times already. Her dysfunctional upbringing had conditioned her brain to believe that no help would ever come when shit hit the fan.

The delay between Eden calling and her leaving made no sense, however. Surely if Eden was in trouble, she’d have left immediately? The fact she waited until we were all asleep before leaving told me this was more than a bad date.

I watched the pin on the app move north toward Scotland. She had a headstart but if we left now, we could catch up to her.

“Get dressed. We need to get to Scotland.”

Kyril turned around. “Why is she on her way to Scotland?”

“I have no idea, but it’s got something to do with Eden. Best guess is Eden’s in trouble, and she’s gone to rescue her.”

“That fucking girl,” Kyril growled. “She’s in so much shit when I get hold of her.”

“We can punish her together,” Cassian agreed.

“You’re fucking twisted, the pair of you.” Dario looked like he’d swallowed something deeply unpleasant. “She’s not into that kind of shit.”

“Isn’t she?” Kyril smirked for a moment before remembering he was angry Thea had fucked off without telling anyone.Again.

Lan said nothing at all. He didn’t move when the others jumped up.

“You coming?” I asked him.

“I should stay. Not much I can do to help.” He picked at a loose thread on the sofa, plucking away until it unraveled. “I’m just the pretty one with no skills other than a good pickup line.”

“Then you can use those skills to charm the traffic cops if we get pulled for speeding.” Which we definitely would if Kyril drove.

Landon scowled at me. “Funny.”

“I wasn’t trying to be funny. If we get stopped by a female traffic officer, the stats show we’re more likely to be let off with a caution if she finds one of us attractive. So you have skills we can use. Now get dressed. We don’t have time to waste. Thea needs us.”

Our girl was in trouble, and we needed to get to her.

28

Dario

The car ate up the miles as I sat in the back, squashed between Landon and Milo. None of us said much other than the occasional murmurs from Milo providing updates on Thea’s location.

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