Page 62 of Rhys: and the girl who was always his

He raises an eyebrow, not even bothering to hide his disbelief.

“Yeah, okay,” Arden says, walking in behind me. “That explains why you’ve been stomping around the house like a pissed-off gorilla for the past eight days.”

I spin around, pulse rising. “Don’t start with me.”

“I’m just saying.” Arden shrugs, grabbing a bottle of water. “You’ve been unbearable. You snapped at Ella for asking you to pass the salt.”

“Because she said it like I was deaf!”

“Shewhispered, Rhys,” Yasmin says gently. “She was trying not to set you off.”

My jaw tightens. My fingers flex around the bottle I’m holding like it’s the only thing keeping me grounded. I hate that my friends are in the firing line of my pain. They don’t deserve this, but they don’t know what it’s like to want someone for so long, and when you finally get them, they just disappear.

It fucking hurts, and I’m dying inside.

“Look,” Chase sighs, “we get it. You’re hurting. But none of this—sulking, raging, lashing out—is going to bring her back.”

I close my eyes, inhaling through my nose. “You don’t get it. She didn’t just leave. She disappeared. She left without a word, without a goodbye, and none of you will tell me where the hell she went.”

There’s a silence. Tense. Loaded.

Then Yasmin mutters, almost too quietly, “Smalls is probably helping her in the way he does with all of us.”

The words hit like a hammer to the chest.

My eyes snap to hers. “What?”

Yasmin’s face drains of colour. “Nothing. I just?—”

“You said Smalls.” I step forward. “She’s with Smalls?”

She stammers, “No. I was just saying?—”

I don’t wait for her to finish. I drop the bottle on the counter and push through the kitchen, my brain racing ahead of my body.

Smalls.

Of course. He’s the one person I didn’t think of. He’s off-grid enough to stay quiet. He lives over ten hours away. But he’s familiar. Safe. Someone Arden would trust. Someone Allywouldrun to.

The pieces slam into place.

“Rhys!” Arden calls after me as I grab my keys. “Where are you going?”

I barely look at him. “To get my girl.”

“Rhys—slow down. Think about this?—”

I whirl around, anger bubbling. “Think aboutwhat? How she left me, thinking she’s broken? How she ran because she thought it would hurt less if she disappeared instead of letting me prove her wrong?”

Chase steps into my path. “What if she’s not ready to come back?”

My fists clench. “Then I’ll show her she doesn’t have to do this alone. That she never had to.”

Arden meets my eyes. His expression is unreadable, but he doesn’t argue. He knows better.

Ashley’s voice cuts through the tension from the hallway. “You love her, don’t you?”

The words punch through my chest, loud and unflinching.

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