Page 124 of Help Me Remember
I want to wail and scream and fly to him. I never should’ve left. If anything happens, I will never forgive myself. In my anger and hurt, I pushed him away, accused him of the unthinkable, and walked out just like the women before me.
No wonder he left town.
“We’ll find him.” Jackson’s voice is full of confidence. “Look, when guys are hurt, they need time to lick their wounds. He’s probably off in the mountains on a hike without cell service. Or he’s drunk in Vegas. One of the two.”
I roll my eyes. “Vegas and those boys are a bad idea.”
“Vegas is a bad idea for any boy,” Quinn says with a laugh.
“Well, at Isaac’s bachelor party, the four of them ended up in a shitload of trouble. Spencer was out thousands of dollars. Isaac almost didn’t get married once Addison found out about the money he spent. Holden hooked up with some girl in a bathroom. She left him blacked out in the stall, and Emmett spent the night sleeping on the hood of his car because he lost his keys. Trust me, he hates Vegas and vowed never to go back.” Plus, it’s where Spencer’s mother would go whenever she needed to get away from him and find herself.
The only way that Spencer would go there is out of desperation.
“Wherever he is, we’ll track him down and make sure he’s safe as well. Let us worry, Brielle. You just prepare your apology speech.” Jackson squeezes my arm and steps back. “Miller, make sure you’re giving me updates.”
Quinn nods. “I’ll be in touch every two hours.”
The car lurches forward, and I prepare myself for the longest car ride in history.
ChapterThirty-One
SPENCER
It’s been a week of dead ends. I know this is part of the job, but I am at my wits end. I took the video of the altercation to my video guy. He was able to enhance the video, but the man’s face was in the shadow too much to make a positive ID.
He is working on digitally recreating it, but that takes at least a day.
All I have now is the boy she was protecting. If I can get information from him, then maybe he can tell me who Brielle was upset with.
I’m driving back toward town when I see the sign for the park we went to a few weeks ago. I can’t resist the pull, so I turn in.
There are the swings where her flag was hidden and the grassy area where the barrels of balloons were placed.
I step out of the car and head toward the swings when someone yells my name. “Hey, look, Timmy! It’s Spencer!”
Great. I need these heckling kids like I need a hole in my head. I turn, and sure enough, Brielle’s teammates are strolling over, and Timmy has a soccer ball tucked under his arm. “Hello, boys.”
“Hey, man. You came back for another butt whooping?”
“Not this time.”
The one kid, I think his name is Saint, comes closer. “You okay? You don’t look okay.”
I force a smile. “I’m good.”
I’m sure I look like shit. I haven’t slept. I can barely eat. I sure as hell haven’t used a razor in five days, and I have been living in my car while I searched for any answers.
“Where’s Brielle?”
Gone. She’s fucking gone, Saint, that’s where. “Not sure. She went on a trip.”
Brian steps forward. “Did you upset her?”
“Why would you ask that?”
“Because you look like you did,” Timmy answers.
I don’t even want to ask what that means. “She’s fine.”
