Page 21 of Bound By Threads
Chapter12
Roman
I’ve been restlessly tapping my fingers against the sofa for the past thirty minutes, trying to shake off this gnawing feeling in my gut. My phone’s been buzzing with missed calls from Elijah, but I haven’t picked up yet.
Part of me is avoiding him. Something is telling me that when I answer that phone, our whole world is changing. The other part of me knows that whatever he wants to talk about, it won’t be good. Because Elijah doesn’t make phone calls, he texts.
I’m too fucking restless to think straight.
Crew’s lounging on the couch, his eyes glued to the TV, but I can tell he’s not really watching. He’s been quiet for the past hour. Too quiet.
Whatever’s hanging in the air, it’s heavy.
My phone buzzes again. Elijah’s name flashes on the screen.
I hesitate for a moment before answering. “Hello?”
“Roman,” his voice cracks. I’ve never heard him like this before, and my heart skips a beat. It’s a little too broken. “I need you to meet me somewhere. Now. Bring Crew.”
“Why?”
“It’s about Sc...” he clears his throat, “It’s about her.”
A cold wave of dread rushes over me. My throat feels tight like someone’s squeezing it from the inside. “What’s happened?” I almost shout, but I keep it steady, trying not to sound like I’m already losing control.
“I don’t want to tell you over the phone. Meet me at unit ten.” Elijah’s voice falters, and his words sound jagged like he’s fighting to get them out.
“We’ll be there in fifteen.”
I hang up the phone, and the silence that follows is deafening. Crew doesn’t say anything, but the way his eyes narrow tells me he already knows something’s wrong. My pulse is hammering in my ears, and the weight in my chest is unbearable. I can’t breathe properly, like I’m drowning in some bottomless, dark pit.
“We need to meet E at the unit. It’s about Scar.” I say, my voice hollow. “Let’s go.”
Crew stands up, his body stiff, but he doesn’t ask any more questions. We both know we won’t get answers until we’re at the unit.
The drive feelslike it takes forever, even though it’s only a few minutes away. The air is thick with dread. I keep glancing at Crew, but he’s focused on the road, not giving me anything, which is terrifying. He could lose his shit, go completely off the rails or shut down on us and take months to find his way back. I’m not sure if either of us knows what to say or if we’re just trying to avoid saying something we might both regret.
We’ve done a lot of that lately. Hurting people we shouldn’t, but we do it to survive.
We finally pull up to the unit, and I turn off the engine. The parking lot is deserted since we bought out the unit and the ones surrounding it. We needed a place that was just ours, with no strings attached to my dad. There is nothing here he can hold over my head to make me compliant.
Elijah’s car is already here. He’s probably been waiting longer than us, stewing in whatever he needs to tell us.
We get out of the car without a word and make our way to the entrance. The hallway is dimly lit, the flickering light overhead casting an eerie glow. I reach for the door handle, but my hand stops just before I touch it.
I don’t want to go in, and I don’t want to hear whatever Elijah has to say.
But I have to.
I open the door.
Elijah’s standing in the middle of the room, his face pale, eyes red-rimmed from crying or lack of sleep —maybe both. The look on his face hits me like a freight train. His body’s tense, like a man who’s been holding everything in but is now close to falling apart.
“Elijah?” I say, jolting him as his red-rimmed eyes flick to mine. “What happened?”
He doesn’t answer right away. Instead, he looks away, his eyes trained on the ground, almost like he can’t bring himself to look at us.
Finally, he opens his mouth, his voice ragged. “She’s gone.”
