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I come to a screeching halt just outside of a crowd of staff members. They are all huddled together and watching as one of the cottages is being doused with water by the fire brigade.
My eyes search through the crowd, looking for my guys and not finding them.
There are several fire trucks parked where the road ends alongside an ambulance. Men and women dressed in their protective gear are discharging water onto the building with long hoses attached to the trucks.
It’s chaos everywhere, but there is one group of people huddled along the path who don’t seem bothered by any of this. They appear lazy and unaffected.
When Tristan, who is standing with his arm over my sister’s shoulders, turns to wink at me, my stomach sinks. Surely he had no part in this. And why is my sister here? Our eyes meet for a second, but she averts her gaze, her lips tightened in an angry line.
“Baby, where is Drew?” Brady asks with urgency as he and Matt suddenly crowd around me.
“How should I know? I just woke up.” I pant, my chest still heaving from running here.
“Fuck, this is his place!” I hear Brady shout.
At this horrific announcement, I find I can’t breathe, and my knees are about to stop supporting me.
Matt wraps a protective arm around my shoulders, and I sink against his strong chest. “I don’t fucking get how the cottage could have caught fire. It was wet from last night’s rain,” he laments.
The explanation comes from one of the firefighters who comes to stand by our side. “The outside of the building was just starting to burn. The fire started inside the cottage, and as far as we can tell, everything inside it is burned to ashes. If the building is still standing, it’s because it rained last night. We’re about to go in to look for any casualties, because if someone was inside…” He shakes his head. “There was no way they survived that.”
Matt tightens his hold on me. “Brady,” he says, and his voice sounds as if it was coming from miles away. “We need to find Drew.”
Brady nods. “I’ve been trying his phone and it keeps going straight to voicemail. I just hope he wasn’t in there, or if he was, that he woke up and left without trying to be a hero.”
I don’t understand what he means. “Why would he try to be a hero? Was he with someone last night?” I hate the jealousy that constricts my throat with my fear for Drew’s safety.
Brady shakes his head. “No, as far as I know he was alone. But we tried our new surfboards last night, the ones we got with your help. We couldn’t keep them with the resort’s equipment, so we stashed everything in Drew’s cottage, since he’s the only one who has a whole bungalow to himself and he has a whole spare room.”
Matt catches what his best friend is afraid of. “Fuck, I hope he didn’t get trapped in there while trying to save the new surfboards.”
Brady agrees. “Yeah, losing our new boards is a fucking disaster, but I can’t even think about—fuck, I need to get in there! Drew!” he yells, trying to get through the crowd and past the firefighters who stop him.
My heart is hammering in my chest, and my ears are roaring with blood. All I can see is Tristan winking at me, and I can hear his voice in my head telling me that their time was running out.
Could Tristan have set fire to Drew’s cottage?
As I’m about to follow Brady, I meet Chelsea’s eyes.
She looks between Brady and me with unmistakable fury in her blue eyes. Did Tristan tell her that he saw me with Brady?
All of those questions will have to wait, because there’s one question that’s way more urgent right now.
Where the fuck is Drew?
