I blinked at it. “I-I don’t know.”
“Come on. Think!” Anson said, his voice rising. “Please. She had to have said something to you. Please. Just think.”
I frowned, racking my brain for anything. Nothing came up.
“I-I don’t know, man. I don’t remember anything like that.”
“Fuck.” Anson let out a soft cry. “Fuck, man. Nothing?”
“I-I don’t think so. Give me some time, OK? We-We had this little code thing worked out that we always did.”
“What?” I could hear the frown in his voice.
“It was just stuff she didn’t want you to worry about, so we’d say code words and shit.”
“Since when?”
“I don’t know. Since always? Anyway, just give me some time. I’ll think it out. Maybe something will pop up.”
He sighed. “OK. Just…please…”
“I know, man,” I said softly. “I’ll really try to remember. My-My head’s been shit since that concussion.”
“I know,” he said grimly. “It’s OK.”
“It’s really not.”
“It is, Ry. It’s OK. We’re headed out to poke a few more bears tonight. Please. Call me if you can think of anything.”
“I will,” I promised. “Anson?”
“Yeah?”
“Was she OK? Did E say she sounded OK?”
“He said she told him she’s hurt. Something happened to her ankle, and she can’t walk right now, but E said she told him she was OK and hadn’t been hurt past that.”
I ground my teeth. “OK.”
“I’m worried too, man,” he said, his voice low.
“I’ll think on her words,” I said softly.
“Thank you. Talk soon.”
“Talk soon.”
I disconnected the call and sank back in my seat.
What the fuck did that message even mean?
All I knew was that it would keep me up tonight as I tried to figure it out.
17
ETHAN
“What are you doing?” I asked Cole as he rummaged through my drawers in my office.
