Page 54 of Bear and Book

The walk to the bookstore wasn’t long, but every step tightened my nerves. I kept checking my phone, firing off another text as I went.

Leo: Hey, fox, just checking in. You okay?

No response. I typed another.

Leo: Seriously, even a one-word answer would work here. Don’t leave me hanging.

Still nothing.

By the time the bookstore came into view, my pulse was hammering. Relief flooded me at the sight of the familiar shop front, but it fizzled the moment I noticed the sign.

Closed.

In the middle of the day.

I stopped dead on the sidewalk, frowning. Elias wasn’t the kind to randomly shut the store unless something was wrong.

He lived by his routines with his books catalogued just so, hours kept like clockwork.

I’d teased him once that he was the human embodiment of “same shelf, same spot,” and he hadn’t even denied it. I tried the handle, even though the Closed sign practically screamed at me not to. Locked.

“Elias?” I called softly, peering through the glass.

The lights were off. No movement inside. A cold weight settled in my gut.

I pulled out my phone again, thumbs flying.

Leo: I’m at the store. Door’s locked. Where are you?

No dots appeared. No reply.

“Okay, maybe you just left your phone at home,” I muttered to myself, though my voice sounded thin.

I hit call. The ring tone buzzed in my ear, dragging on far too long. Then voicemail. I tried again. Straight to voicemail this time.

My bear shifted uneasily beneath my skin, pacing, restless. Worry edged into something sharper, something that felt a lot like fear.

Elias wasn’t the type to vanish. He wasn’t the type to ignore me either, not after the way we’d been.

Something had to be wrong.

I pressed my palm against the cool glass of the door, staring into the darkened shop. The shelves loomed like silent sentinels, and the place felt emptier than I’d ever seen it.

Elias’s absence throbbed in my chest, louder than anything else.

“Where are you, Elias?” I whispered.

But there was no answer.

Chapter 16

Elias

I wasn’t sure what possessed me to bring Jason back to my apartment. No, scratch that. I knew exactly what it was. Fear. Not of him, not anymore. But of Leo.

If Leo had walked into the bookstore and seen Jason sitting there with that smug expression, sprawled across my space like he belonged…

I didn’t want to imagine what that would have done to him. Or to us.