Page 150 of Sinners Reunion

He shrinks in a cloud of dust in the rearview mirror, and I bump along toward the head of the driveway.

“I’m coming, King. Even if you’re gone, I’m coming to say goodbye.”

Roots snake across the ground as I pick my way through the forest, taking the same path Blayne led us down before. The vehicles can’t go all the way in.

I also want my arrival to be a surprise. If Jim ordered them to keep me away from here, he won’t be too pleased when he sees me. I’m not leaving until I see King, though, regardless of what state he’s in.

A light rain has started again. It’s not as intense as the earlier storm, but it’s enough to give me a chill. I brush water from my arms and push on.

The trees break apart at the clearing by the shore. I stay tucked in the shadows while I assess the situation. My eyes leap to the floating docks first. They’re empty, but not far from them, the little rowboat sits in the water, right where it was before. Bennett is no longer in the tiny wooden vessel. Aven mans the oars now.

A sharp ache squeezes my heart. They’re still searching for someone.

“Come back to me,” I whisper into the rain. “I said I’d never say it again, but I’m begging. Come back.”

It isn’t Blayne they’re searching for. I spot him on the rocky beach, lying on his side with his hands secured behind his back. Dried blood mats his curls to his head, but his sides rise and fall. He’s still alive, that bastard.

A little further down the shore, the girls are huddled together, and it looks like they’re crying. It’s hard to tell from this far away, but Cat keeps swiping her eyes.

Jim and Bennett stand closest to me. They’re discussing something, but I can only catch snippets. I close my eyes and tune my ears toward them. King referred to them as satellites, and I only hope they work that well now.

“He won’t stop,” Bennett says. “Not until he . . . Ice Pick.”

A splash breaks the water, cutting off part of his sentence, and I look toward the little boat. King’s head rises from the surface like Poseidon. He grips the edge of the vessel and . . . Aven helps him inside?

I lean against the tree for support. My excitement at seeing him alive is dashed when King gives Aven a sad look and shakes his head.

“No,” I whisper as tears fill my eyes.

The crying. The way Bennett said King wouldn’t stop searching.

The fact that he’s nowhere on this beach.

They couldn’t save Ice Pick.

They’re looking for his body.

I place my hand against my stomach and shrink to the forest floor. There’s no way I can rush out there with a smile on my face while knowing our friend is gone. I can’t find any joy right now. My relief is crushed under the weight of a surprising amount of grief. For only knowing him such a short time, he wiggled into my heart.

My eyes close, and I sniffle as quietly as I can. I’m about to turn back for the RV when I hear footsteps beside me. I don’t have the strength to look up and see who’s about to fuss at me for leaving the house.

“I told him he didn’t have to keep looking for it.”

My head jerks to the side. I open my eyes and rub them, not believing what I’m seeing.

“Ice Pick?”

He looks down at me. “Yeah. Who else would I be?”

I leap from the grass and wrap my arms around his thick neck. “I thought you were dead! I thought you drowned!”

“Me? Nah, I just stepped into the woods to take a piss.” He hugs me back, and I melt into his teddy-bear hold. I don’t even care if he couldn’t wash his hands out here.

I pull back and look at him as everyone else starts wandering over. “But if you’re here, then what is King searching for in the lake?”

“His ice pick,” Jim says. “It was in his pocket when he fell in the water, and now it’s gone. It’s very important to him.”

Ice Pick goes to turn out his left pocket to prove his point.