AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Oh, don’t worry about that. I can have Diane get you out of your other classes,” she said, before picking up her line. “After all, I am the headmaster, and I also happen to know your mother so…”
She tossed another wink my way, which made me smile. I’d love to hang out with her today. It was time I moved past my own grief too.
It was well past time.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Dorian
Me: Where are you and Brielle at, little fighter? We’re all kinda starting to worry about you.
I think we were past that point, Wolf, Ramses, and me. Brielle had texted my god dad she was taking Sloane out of school for the afternoon, and Noa had confirmed this when she messaged me before school let out. I hadn’t had much of a thought about that other than the fact the whole thing was cooler than shit. Sloane and Brielle hadn’t been doing a whole lot of bonding since she’d come back, and it sounded like they were headed to city hall to check out where Brielle worked.
I hadn’t heard from Sloane since her initial text but didn’t find any of that particularly alarming. I figured I’d see her by the time school let out, but she wasn’t home when I got there. Wolf and Ramses were the only ones who had been, but even Ramses hadn’t heard from his wife. He’d gotten the same message from Brielle that Sloane had sent me about the two going into Brielle’s office, but that’d been it.
They should’ve been home by now.
I had started to worry when, every time I did see Ramses, he was on his phone. He’d been leaving voicemails, his wife’s name on his lips, and that was when Wolf and I had started texting people. I hit up Bow first, but she had academic shit after school. She hadn’t heard from Sloane, and Thatcher and Wells were out lifting weights at the gym. Meanwhile, Ramses, Wolf, and I were chilling at the Mallick house with little to no answers. It was pushing dinner time, but none of us had heard from either of the women.
“Hey, Jersey girl, where you at? Let me know something when you can, okay?”
Wolf and I gazed up to find Ramses on his phone again, entering the room with his hand in his hair. Jersey girl was a reference only he used for his wife of almost twenty years, Brielle from New Jersey. Ramses hung up the phone, then spotted us, a frown on his lips.
“I’m sure they’re fine,” my god dad stressed, but he didn’t look fine. In actuality, he appeared just as worried as I felt, and Wolf and I didn’t even bother hiding our phones when he walked into the room anymore. We’d pretended we weren’t texting the shit out of half the town in search of Sloane and Brielle earlier tonight, hiding our phones and pretending to play video games whenever he was around. Ramses cocked his head. “Seriously, I’m sure they’re just caught up. They might have gone shopping or something.”
I started to say something, but then Ramses was on his phone again. He was leaving another voicemail, and Wolf pushed off the floor before his dad could finish.
“This is stupid. I’m going to go look for them,” Wolf growled, but his dad snapped his fingers at him.
“You sit and wait,” Ramses stated, covering his phone. Wolf sat with clenched teeth, and only after he did, did Ramses finish leaving the voicemail. Sounded like he was trying Sloane this time. He looked at us after he hung up. “There’s no need to scour the city. They’ve only been MIA for a few hours.”
My god dad was doing a good job at keeping his voice even, but he definitely was freaking out. He’d been leaving just as many voicemails as I’d been sending unanswered texts to my girl. I started to leave another, but my head shot up when a door slammed in the house. Almost instantly, Wolf and I shot up, and Ramses stalked toward the archway out of the living room.
Someone entered first, rushing the fuck inside, and nearly collided with Ramses when he did.
I think we were all surprised to see him.
Bruno Sloane had his keys in hand, his phone in the other, and when he and my god dad almost intersected, the guy just about dropped both. “Ramses. Sorry.”
Ramses blinked. I did too, and Wolf angled around the couch. Wolf braced his arms. “What are you doing here?”
Right away, Ramses shot him a look, but Wolf raised his hands.
“No shade. Just an honest question,” Wolf said, and I believed him when he said it. He’d felt terrible for the way Bru had ended up leaving, and though it hadn’t been his fault, he’d taken responsibility.
I was seeing a lot of change in my friend, good changes mostly, and I had all but put away my research regarding Sloane’s adoption. I’d done it out of respect and because he’d asked me to, yes, but also, I wanted to enjoy some of this happy too. Things had also been tense when Bru had left, and I hadn’t wanted to aid in that.
Even with what Wolf said, Ramses took a second before letting up his look. He studied Bru. “Everything okay?”
“Yeah, and I used my key,” Bru said, raising them. “That okay? Dorian texted. Said you couldn’t find Sloane.”
I had texted him, but when he hadn’t seen her, I’d believed that was the end of the conversation. He had sounded concerned when he’d texted back, but I’d told him once we found her, I’d message.
I suppose he hadn’t wanted to wait. I angled around the couch too. “Yeah, I did. We still haven’t heard from her, bro. You hear something?”
“Nah, no.” He frowned. “When was the last time you heard from her or Brielle?”
“Before school let out,” Ramses said, back on his phone again. He put a hand on Bru’s shoulder. “Try not to worry, okay? I’m sure they’ll both turn up. Why don’t you hang with us for a bit until they show? And of course, it’s fine you used your key. It’s yours and always will be.”
