Page 91 of Wild and Bright

I turn around slowly. “Where is she?”

“Not in the shower.” He holds out his phone, his eyes fixed on the screen. It takes my tired brain a second to realize he’s taking a video. Strangely, I don’t even care that I’m making a complete ass of myself, and that he now has footage of it. It’s worth it to know with certainty that Lauren and Cadence aren’t here.

Logan looks up from his phone. “I’m not sure where she is, but I do have a basement.” He grins, but then his face becomes mockingly stoic. “You should probably check that, too. You know, to be thorough.”

“Logan.” Leilani’s tone is scolding.

“She isn’t here.” She turns to Logan, glaring at him. “He’s being an asshole.”

Logan walks over to her and pulls her against his chest. “Give me this one moment,” he says after kissing her hard on the cheek. “For Lauren’s sake. I’m going to send all of this to her.” He glances at me. “Let’s go check out the basement.”

When he raises his phone again, an idea occurs to me, but I don’t want him to catch on, so I keep my head down as I follow him to the hallway. When we get to what looks like a closet door, he lifts the phone higher, which makes my heart race. He opens the door and gestures down at the concrete staircase. “Go ahead.”

Keeping my eyes on the stairs, I walk steadily forward. As I make it to the threshold, I reach out and yank the phone from Logan’s hand.

“What the fuck!” he shouts.

Not wasting a moment, I sprint to the front door and burst outside of the house. While I run, I pull up his contact list and search for Lauren’s name. As soon as I find it, I press the call button. Knowing Logan is on my tail, I throw open the door of my rental car and leap inside. After slamming the door, I press the lock button three times in a row to be safe.

Lauren picks up on the third ring. “What’s up?” she says, and her high-pitched voice fills my body with an overwhelming warmth. I shut my eyes, relishing the sound of it.

Still, I have to keep my head. I know I can’t properly mimic Logan’s voice, so I don’t even try. Instead, I keep my voice low. “The coast is clear,” I say, hoping against all hope that she snuck out the back when she found out I was at the front door.

“What the fuck are you talking about?”

My heart sinks. She isn’t here. But I can’t let my disappointment get the better of me. I have to find out where she is. I wince when I hear pounding on the roof of my car.

“Lauren!” It’s Logan’s muffled shout. “Cam stole my phone! Hang up on him!”

“What the fuck is going on?” Lauren’s voice is shrill.

Logan keeps pounding and shouting. Accepting that it’s a losing battle, I give in. “It’s Cam. I was worried about you and Cadence, so I flew to Indiana.” I shut my eyes after I say it, worried she’s going to hang up.

“Why would you fly to Indiana?”

“I was hoping you went to stay with your brother.”

“How did you even get his address?”

“Your mom gave it to me.” I wince right after I say it. Bad move, Cam. Very bad move.

“You’ve been talking to my mom.” She says it with so much disdain, I fear that I might never find her. That I might have sentenced myself to a never-ending chase with her slipping out of my reach whenever I get close.

“We’re really worried, Lauren.”

“We.” Her tone is scathing. “You and my mom are a ‘we’ now. I don’t believe it.”

“She reached out to me. And I needed information from her to help look for you. It’s not like we’re going out on coffee dates and sending each other pictures of our food. I’m not on her side.”

She doesn’t say anything, but I know she feels betrayed. I’ll deal with it later. At least she hasn’t hung up. Yet.

I try to keep my voice steady when I ask, “Can you tell me where you guys are?”

“No,” she says immediately.

“Can you just…” My throat grows tight. “Come home then?”

“Home,” she repeats, and there’s something in her voice…something almost melancholy. It gives me the first glimmer of hope I’ve felt in days.

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