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A small chuckle escapes me. “That’s what they all say.”
“I’d hire you,” Ruby admits.
“Yeah, and I would too,” Everleigh tells me. “I’ve been wanting to redo some cabinets in my kitchen for years. I’m imagining it now.”
“He’s expensive,” Tyler says. “And you’re too cheap.”
Our group of friends bursts into laughter.
“I am not cheap. I’m just smart with my money. Well, unless it comes to shoes, purses, and wine, then all bets are off.”
“Nice save,” Gemma tells her before she’s pulled away by someone asking about memberships. Tyler excuses himself too, and I check the time on my phone. It’s been at least fifteen minutes since Katie left, and I begin to grow concerned. I tell everyone I’ll catch up with them later and walk outside to call her. It rings and then goes straight to voicemail, so I try again. Immediately, I walk through the crowd and start searching for her. When I pass Mrs. and Mr. Walker painting ceramic jars with Owen, I ask if they’ve seen Katie. They shake their heads, and I force a smile though I’m internally freaking out.
After her phone goes to voicemail another five times, I start to lose it, and Eric rushes toward me, noticing there’s an issue. “What’s wrong?” he asks.
“I can’t find Katie. She’s not answering her phone. She was going to her car to grab some medicine, but she’s been gone for at least twenty minutes now.”
Eric’s calm as we walk toward the deli where Katie said she parked. The entire time, I keep calling her phone, not giving up hope. I keep telling myself that maybe it died or something else happened, but I also can’t stop from thinking the worst. Eric abruptly stops, and when I see Katie’s car, anger floods me. All four of her tires have been slashed, and immediately, I know something terribly wrong has happened. She’s nowhere to be found.
“There are cameras,” Eric says, pointing up at them. “We might have some hard evidence if there’s foul play.”
“Fuck,” I whisper-hiss, calling Katie again.
“She might be back at the gym. We should look around one last time to make sure,” Eric suggests, and I agree but also don’t want to waste any time.
As soon as we return, I spot Gemma and Everleigh eating snow cones. I rush over to them. “Have you seen Katie?”
They both shake their heads. “Is everything okay?” Gemma asks, concern filling her tone. She makes eye contact with Eric, and though he doesn’t say anything, Gemma knows what it means. I watch as she drops her cup and bright red ice splashes across the concrete.
“I don’t know,” I tell her truthfully. “I—”
Before I can get any other words out, my phone rings, and rage fills me when I see Brittany’s name on the screen.
I walk away from all the noise with Eric hot on my trail and answer.
“Noah,” she purrs. “How are you?”
“Cut the shit,” I snap.
“Ah. Okay. Playing hardball. Got it. Well, as you’ve probably figured out, I have your girlfriend.”
I put her on speakerphone so Eric can hear what she’s saying. My hand trembles with fury, but I try to keep control before I say something that could get Katie hurt.
“If you touch her—”
“We’re not playing macho man today, Noah. You’re not in control here; I am. Now you’re gonna listen to me very carefully and follow every fucking one of my directions, or I’ll kill her. And trust me when I say it would satisfy me beyond belief to end this cunt’s life.”
My heart races.
“So if you want your precious girlfriend back, I need you to meet me alone at the storage units outside of town,” she says. “You know which ones.”
Eric immediately starts walking and waves me to follow him.
“Why are you doing this?” I ask, trying to stall her for just a little longer.
She’s so quiet I think the call dropped. “Because I want you to suffer for murdering the love of my life. This is only fair, Noah. There are consequences to every action, and this is yours. You took away the only man I loved, so I’ll take away the only woman you’ve ever loved. At first, I wondered how I’d be able to pull this off. Honestly, you made it too easy.”
It’s obvious she’s using Katie as bait. She’s not her main target. I am. I’ve always been. “So if I show up, you’ll let her live?”
“I’ll tell Nicolas to let her live,” she says.
“Who the fuck is that?” I ask.
She laughs. “Don’t worry about it.”
“How can I even trust you?” I seethe.
“Oh, I’d much rather see you bleed out than her. You have thirty minutes. If you arrive a minute late, she’ll have a bullet in her head. And I won’t stop until you do too.”
The call ends, and all of our conspiracies about Brittany make perfect sense.
