Page 92 of Be With Me (Adair Family 4)

The banging grew louder.

“Arran! Wake up!”

My eyes flew open.

The annex. I was in my bed in the annex.

Relief made me sag against my sweat-dampened pillow. It was just a stupid bloody nightmare.

“Arran!” Bang. Bang. Bang.

What the fuck? I jumped out of bed at Lachlan’s hammering. A quick glance down at my boxer briefs reminded me I wasn’t completely naked, so I yanked open the door and squinted against the daylight pouring in.

Lachlan scowled at me.

He was dressed for the day in one of his expensive three-piece suits.

“What time is it?” I muttered, scrubbing at my tired eyes.

“Six o’clock in the morning. I thought you were an early bird?” My brother strode past me inside.

“Usually I am, but I took ages to fall asleep last night.” I’d texted Ery at around midnight asking her to meet me, but she hadn’t texted back. On that thought, I moved past Lachlan and lunged across my bed for my phone like a desperate man.

Hope gave me a burst of adrenaline when I saw I had a text from Ery asking me to meet at her place this afternoon. My shoulders relaxed as I typed out a reply. Maybe I could fix this between us after all.

“I didn’t come here to watch you moon over your phone.”

I looked up at my brother. He appeared so imperious this morning. “What’s up?”

His imperiousness turned to seriousness. “I have news. One name you gave me, Maranda Peters, the girlfriend of your friend Colin …”

“Aye?” I dropped my phone, giving Lachlan my full attention.

“She’s working at the University of Bordeaux. Something to do with marine biology.”

“Bordeaux?” Where the emails had originated from.

“The internet café is on the campus there.”

“Fuck.” Goose bumps prickled over my skin at the thought of Maranda holding Colin’s death against me for so long. I’d never liked the girl, but I’d felt awful for taking Colin from her. “Maranda? All this time?”

“It’s looking that way.”

“What do I do now?”

Before Lachlan could answer, my phone rang.

It was Eredine.

“I have to take this.”

“Of course.”

“Hey, gorgeous, I need—,” I answered, ready to blurt out everything we’d discovered.

“Uh, is this Arran?” an unfamiliar woman interrupted. She had a Scottish accent.

Alert, I stood from the bed, giving Lachlan a look as I replied, “This is Arran. Why do you have my girlfriend’s phone?”

Lachlan’s head jerked at my words, and he took a step closer, so I switched on the speaker.

“My name is Ashley. I promised your girlfriend I’d call you to let you know she’s in the hospital at Golspie. She was attacked by a woman with a knife on the beach this morning. My husband and I stopped to help.”

I barely heard anything after the words attacked by a woman with a knife.

“Arran?” Lachlan bent his head into my face. “Arran?” Scowling, he peeled the phone out of my hand and barked at the woman for details.

* * *

Thankfully, the hospital in Golspie was only twenty minutes from Caelmore. I couldn’t have been in the passenger seat of Lachlan’s Range Rover any longer than that. As it was, we’d already sniped at each other four or five times over my wanting him to break the speed limit and him refusing to do it.

“I’m worried about Ery, too, but I don’t see how killing us will improve matters!” he’d eventually yelled.

I shut up then but was a jittery mess, and as soon as he swung into a visitor’s parking spot, I jumped out of the car.

“Arran, wait up!” he called, but I was already jogging across the car park and through the main entrance of the small community hospital. That she’d been brought here instead of airlifted to Inverness meant her injuries weren’t severe, and Lachlan said the stranger on the phone had explained as much.

But rational thinking wasn’t taking hold of the reins right now.

I just needed to see Ery.

I hurried over to the reception desk. “My girlfriend?” I asked without preamble. “She was brought in with a knife wound. Eredine Willows.”

The receptionist gave me an abrupt nod and checked her computer. “Yes, she was brought in half an hour ago. The doctor is with her. If you’d take a seat, we’ll let you know when you can see her.”

“I need to see her now.”

She pursed her lips. “She’s being treated by the doctor, so I’m afraid that’s not possible.”

“I need to know she’s okay.”

“Sir, she was admitted with a minor knife wound. We’ll update you beyond that as soon as possible.”

Fuck that.

I turned to find Lachlan marching across the reception. “They won’t let me see her, but she said her wound was minor.”

He jerked his head and walked out of reception toward a set of double doors to the rear left. Hurrying to follow, I fell into step beside my brother as we entered the wide corridor.

“Where are we going?”

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