Page 50 of Swallow Your Fear
My eyes scanned the entryway and open area to our right, finding no sign of Brynne.
“Is Brynne with you?” I asked.
“She’s not with you guys?”
My head snapped to her. “No. She came up here to find you.”
A small furrow crested McKenna’s brows as a confused expression crossed her face. “She must still be looking, then?—”
But I didn’t stick around to hear what she had to say. Brynne knew exactly where we’d left McKenna, which would’ve been the first place she looked. If she wasn’t here, then she wasn’t in the house, period.
“It’s okay. It’s not your fault.” Austin’s falsely soothing voice sounded as he presumably reassured McKenna, but it wasn’t okay. Brynne could be gone or worse?—
If anyone hurt my girl, I’d gut the fucker who thought he could get away with it. Rip his sternum wide open and remove organ after organ while he begged for mercy.
But that’s where he’d fucked up big time.
I didn’t grant mercy to those who took what was mine.
I rid them of every bloody piece inside them, the thing that kept them living, because that’s what it felt like in this moment, not knowing where Brynne was.
Like my goddamned heart was torn clean from my chest.
Along with the hope that maybe she was caught up in a conversation with a friend. Or outside getting some air.
Because I knew the feeling all too fucking well when the devil was out to play.
“Booker,” Henley called out to me as I took the basement stairs two at a time.
As soon as I reached the bottom, my head swiveled both ways, and on the second glance down the way we’d come from, I froze. The bandana that had been around Brynne’s neck lay in a bundle on the floor. I crossed the three feet to it, grabbing the material in a fist. If I wasn’t already certain something had happened to her, I was now.
Turning the opposite way, I went down the way we hadn’t been before. My shoulders brushed the cold walls as my boots echoed on the cement. She had to be down here. She fucking had to be.
“Booker!” Henley called again, but I wouldn’t fucking stop. Not until I found her.
The first door I came upon, I slammed it open, the wood crashing against the wall so hard it splintered. A couple making out broke apart, frantic eyes jumping to me. With no sign of her, I moved on.
For the next three doors, I did the same, either finding them empty or with two horny people trying to find privacy in this house of horrors.
A strong hand grabbed my shoulder, but I shrugged it off. Not even a second later, it was back, gripping myflesh hard. “Booker.”
I spun, smoke practically billowing from my nose as I was two steps away from breaking Henley’s goddamn hand.
He held his palms up in surrender, backing a step away. “Breathe, man.”
I closed the space, getting in his face because if I couldn’t take it out on whoever had her, I’d do it to the next closest person. “You think she has time to breathe right now, Henley? That whoever has her is allowing her to be calm?” Our noses touched, but he stood his ground. “No!” My voice echoed down the hall. “They probably want her scared. Want her all fucking vulnerable.”
The thought alone made me fucking sick.
Brynne would only be vulnerable for me. Scared ofme.
Swallow your fear, Darlin’. I’m coming.
“She’s not here. You’re wasting your time,” Henley said.
His statement had my blood turning to ice as I straightened. “How the fuck would you know?” If he had a hand in her disappearance?—
“The meetup spot Chase told us about off forty-nine. If his boss is trying to lure you somewhere, he’d choose there. He clearly knows you know about it now.”
