Page 118 of Nemesis

I don’t dare glance at Tem.

She grabs my shoulder when Reese enters the elevator.

I slow it down to real time, leaning forward. He weaves a little, seeming out of it. Lost in his thoughts? Tem’s hand turns into a claw when he exits the elevator at the lobby. He glances around the open space—new angle, now—and stumbles on his way out the door.

“Oh my God,” she whispers. “How much did you two drink?”

I grunt.

I click on the camera feed that points outside.

Reese exits and stops on the sidewalk, his chest heaving. Suddenly, he stops.

He pivots and punches the wall, and it must bite him back, because he shakes out his fist. For a moment, it seems like he’s going to stride away.

But then?—

Tem gasps.

Someone comes behind him from the left-bottom side of the frame. It’s grainy, and kind of hard to see with the shadows, but the glint of an object rising in the stranger’s hand, coming down hard and fast at Reese?—

He shifts, getting a look at his attacker a millisecond before he’s hit in the head.

Reese crumples.

I pause it and try to reel in my anger. While this was happening, I was fucking sleeping?

“Don’t,” Tem warns. “Now’s not the time for the blame game. Keep going.”

Fuck. I don’t want to admit that she’s right, but her words ring true. I hit ‘play’ again, and we watch the guy stand over Reese for a long moment. He then bends down and gets Reese slung over his shoulders, like a fireman’s carry.

He walks off-screen, heading across the street, with Reese slumped and unconscious.

Not good.

“Is there another angle?” Tem’s voice is desperate.

I click through, but there’s nothing. I stand, and her hand slips from my shoulder. I face her, the guilt that I’ve been feeling low in my stomach now burning through me.

“We’ll find him.” It’s a promise. “Could that have been Kade?”

Tem presses her lips together, quickly shaking her head. “No. Too… slim? Kade is bulky.”

I grimace.

“We need help,” she adds. “Kade or someone else?—”

“How about your brother?”

She hesitates. Scowls. Then, “I don’t know if he’d take it seriously.”

Yeah. Apollo holds a grudge, especially since our first introduction to Reese was Tem fainting at the sight of him. Although their prior relationship still evades me, I always figured it was wrapped in trauma or some shit.

A regular old breakup wouldn’t make Artemisfaint.

“We’re not going to Kade.” I cross my arms.

She raises an eyebrow.

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