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I hold up a finger. “Give me a sec.”
I run back to the bus and move through the aisle, stopping in front of Preston. “Can you call Bex? Briana disappeared, and I think Bex was the last person to see her.”
“Yeah.” He peeks up at me with a strange look on his face as he removes his cell phone from his pocket and calls his girlfriend. “She never came back,” he says after he asks her about Briana. “Some guy stopped her? What did he look like?”
Preston describes the man to me, and I want to punch a hole in the ceiling of the bus. “It’s my dad.”
He hangs up with Bex and shoves his phone into his pocket. “What’s going on?”
Jamie, Drake, Trent, and Tucker crowd around Preston. The five of them are always together. Knox, Harker, and Nash are on the other side of the aisle. Harker gives me a worried look. He knows better than anyone what this means. Once my dad gets involved, he doesn’t stop until his problem is solved.
“Bex said your dad stopped Briana,” Preston says. “And then she handed her Jemma’s food and never came back to her seat.”
Fuck, fuck, fuck.
“He didn’t.” My anger shakes through me, the force so uncontrollable I can’t help myself and kick the vacant bench next to me.
“Is there a problem, Rivers?” Coach Bryant growls from the front of the bus.
Yes.
“No, Coach. Sorry.”
“Take a seat,” he says, and then plops down on the front bench closest to the driver.
“Your dad kidnapped your girl?” Tucker says.
“I don’t know.” I sink to the bench next to Harker and pull out my phone. “But I can’t get a hold of her, and no one has seen her.” My father answers on the third ring. “What did you do to her?”
“Oh, hello, son. Nice to hear from you.” The condescension in his tone makes my blood boil. “Whom are you referring to?”
“You’re the last person to see Briana. Where is she?”
“She’s probably halfway to Hawaii by now.” He laughs in my ear, a wicked cackle that chills me to the bone.
“You didn’t,” I snap.
I can hear the smirk on his lips. “She’s not like us, son.”
“Yeah, and that’s a good thing.”
“She took my check, Julian. Do you want to know how much you’re worth to your little girlfriend?”
I ball my hand into a fist and try to stifle my anger. “I’m gonna fucking kill you.”
“You win some, you lose some. But we’re winners, Julian. You’ll bounce back from this. How about I send the new Sports Illustrated model over to your house? Would you like that? I met her last week. I told her about you. She’s dying to meet you.”
“You’re fucking sick,” I shout, drawing the attention of my teammates in the front of the bus. “I know Briana. She didn’t take the money.”
“Yes. She. Did.” He annunciates every single word. “And you’d be wise to leave her alone. She’ll have a better life without you, and you’re better off without her.”
“No, that’s not true,” I challenge. “She would never do that. I know you would, but Briana would never…”
“You should have seen her face when she looked at all of the zeros on the check I handed her.” He breathes into the phone and takes a sip of something, probably coffee, his favorite. “You would have thought she had a billion dollars in her hand.” He laughs at the memory. “You deserve better, Julian. She knows it. I know it. At least she’s gone. Now, you won’t have to deal with her later.”
“I’m going after her,” I promise. “And you can’t stop me.”
“Good luck finding her,” he shoots back with venom in his tone. “I’m sure she’s long gone by now. And if by some chance, she doesn’t cash that check and comes running back to you, you had better keep in mind that you’re cut off. Done. You’re no longer my son. You don’t exist.”
