Page 122 of Fire Island
“Absolutely, baby girl.”
“Good.”
“Wonder what we’ll find in the house?” I grumble as she studies my face that’s not holding the excitement hers is.
She drops to her feet. “I’m sure everything is fine.”
Only one way to find out, I guess. We head up the jetty, and I shoulder the overnight bag. Everything is quiet and just the way we left it from the outside.
Evie goes first, and I brace for a mess.
She pushes the door open, and her face falls.
Our house is trashed.
Furniture tossed, books scattered. The sofa’s been sliced up, its shredded fabric moving in the breeze.
“No,” she utters, stepping over the threshold. “Oh no.”
“Reese!” I stalk through the rubble, half expecting him to wander over from the shack, or down from upstairs. “Reese, where the hell are you?”
“Cal...” Evie’s voice is too quiet. I turn back. She’s standing by the refrigerator, her back to me. She raises her hand to touch something sticking out of the fridge.
A knife.
A knife is stabbedintothe appliance. Something flaps in the breeze against its piercing hold.
Evie rips the paper from the blade and reads it. “Oh god.” Her hand slides over her mouth.
I round the counter and take the note from her hands.
“For fuck’s sake, don’t these low-life pieces of shit ever give up.” I crumple the note in my fist, stalking through the living room, kicking debris from my path.
Evie’s staring at the floor, her face distraught. “Time’s almost up.”
“What?” I halt my pacing.
“Time. It’s almost up. I can be there in under an hour.”
I fly back to where she stands, grabbing her face. “No, you’re not going anywhere near them.”
Fire lances through my chest, flooding my veins as anger commandeers my senses.
“You can’t lose him, Cal. You just found him.”
“I just found you, too!”
I can’t help the volume of my voice. I can’t help the sick feeling in my gut that comes with having to fucking choose.
“Fuck!” I slam a fist into the stupid refrigerator like it’s responsible for this clusterfuck.
Evie stands a little taller, setting her shoulders back. “I’ll go, make sure they release Reese, and Em can pick me up like last time.”
I’m shaking my head so hard my vision blurs. “That isnothappening. Em and I will go down there and bring him back.”
“You don’t have that kind of time. We’ve been gone for a day and a night already. That’s already twenty-four hours. We?—”
“We have till tonight, sunset at the latest.” I slump against the counter and shove my head in my hands.
