And it had continued.
All the way into the night.
I was pretty sure they were fine. Tripp was an actor, not the badass he often portrayed. I doubted he was dodging bullets in a getaway car. But the fact he’d been gone so long still had me nervous.
Mads had been amazing. Knowing that I hated being kept in the dark, she’d filled me in on the strong resurgence of online stories about Tripp without letting me see them.
That was fine by me.
Like my boyfriend, I would rather scoot bare-assed down the road than look at the comment section again. I would even do it on Rodeo Drive during seasonal clearance sales.
She’d done her best to distract me with cheese, tequila, and movies, but my anxiety was getting worse.
And it wasn’t just our missing men—though I would feel a lot better once they showed.
Grabbing the remote, I paused the campy comedy and turned on the couch to look at Maddie. “I don’t think Wren is going to show.”
“I don’t think so, either,” she admitted softly.
Her confirmation that something was off raised my concern another notch. I wasn’t hurt that Wren wasn’t there for me when I could’ve used both my besties. I was worried.
“Maybe she fell asleep,” Maddie said. “Kiddie school is back in session, and those early hours are brutal.”
It was plausible.
I still didn’t think it was true.
“Want me to ask Hank to take us on a side quest?” I suggested.
“Usually, my answer to hijinks and mayhem is always a resounding yes, but there’s been enough of that today.” She crossed her arms as her lip jutted out. “Even if I missed out on it.”
Since Maddie hated Josh more than I did, and her poker face was equally bad, she’d been forced to stay home and miss the excitement.
Otherwise, she likely would’ve blown the whole plan to hell. Or she would’ve gone at him with windmill fists before trying to drown him in the guppy fountain.
Either way, it would’ve been bad.
“Anything from Easton or online?” I asked to distract her.
“Yes and…” Her brows lowered as she scanned her phone. “No.”
“Which for which?”
“Yes from Easton. They’re on their way. No online.”
“Nothing new is good.”
“No, there’snothing. I mean, there’s still stuff. The internet isn’t down. But a bunch of the bigger sites aren’t showing the earlier Tripp pictures and articles they had plastered across their homepage. Screenshots live forever, but…”
Hope bloomed in my chest. “That must mean they figured it out.”
“It seems likely.” A wicked smile curved her mouth. “I bet Easton used all kinds of sexy legal jargon. I’ll have him tell me. While he’s wearing his glasses.”
“You’re a freak.”
“You have no room to talk.”
I really didn’t.
