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I know she’s probably right, but I still can’t seem to shake myself of this feeling that something isn’t right. There hasn’t been a day since he told Cam about us that he hasn’t responded when I text him. Not answering his phone is just not like him. Not anymore. And being as he was supposed to leave the lawyer’s office with a large check—I don’t think I’m wrong to be worried.
It only takes another ten minutes before I decide to call the lawyer’s office, but when they tell me that the gentleman I’m looking for left about an hour ago, it doesn’t help me feel much better.
“Okay,” I say to myself as I sit on my bed. “He’s probably just driving home, with music loud enough to not hear his phone. Don’t freak out.”
BY HOUR FOUR, MYpep talk goes flying right out the window. Both his mom and his sister have tried to call him, but they went unanswered. They said that this isn’t unusual for Hayes. Disappearing when shit got a little chaotic is apparently his specialty. But he has never done that with me.
“I’m telling you,” I say to Mali as I try to log into his Apple ID to check his location. “Something isn’t right.”
Invalid password.
When I go to try again, it locks me out for five minutes. My grip tightens on my phone and I move to throw it out of pure frustration, when Mali intervenes.
“Laiken, stop.” She grabs my phone from me and puts it down on the counter. “You need to breathe.”
“Don’t you get it? I can’t breathe.” Tears start to well in my eyes. “What if something happened to him? What if he’s out there somewhere, hurt and needing help, but no one is looking for him?”
My panic isn’t getting any better, but Mali is used to this with me. She takes my hand and puts it on the center of her chest.
“You’re going to breathe with me, okay?”
I nod, and she slowly starts to take deep breaths. Closing my eyes, I focus on the movement of her chest as we breathe together, until I finally feel like I’m in control again.
“Thanks,” I tell her.
She hugs me and holds me close. “Just relax, babe. I’m sure everything is fine.”
Cam comes down the stairs just as I’m wiping the tears from my eyes. “What’s wrong withyou?”
“I can’t find Hayes,” I choke out. “He won’t answer his phone.”
He scoffs, shaking his head with a humorous look on his face. “This is why I told him not to touch you. This shit—theonly-answers-you-when-he-wants-somethingthing—it’s what he does with girls.”
I shake my head. “No. That’s not what this is.”
“Okay,” he grunts. “Don’t listen to me then. Suit yourself. But I don’t want to hear it when he breaks your heart because he got bored.”
Yeah, I am definitelynotin the mood for his shit right now.
“Can you shut the fuck up?” I snap, not caring as my mom chastises me on my language from the other room. “You have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Oh, I don’t? I’m his best friend,” he argues.
Crossing my arms over my chest, I level him with a look. “Are you? Because from where I’ve been standing for the last two weeks, you haven’t been fucking acting like it. I bet you don’t even know his dad died, do you? Or that today he went to pick up an inheritance check and that he was answering me all the way up until he said he was at the office and he’d call me after before he went radio silent? You claim to be his best friend, but you’ve been a really fucking shitty one lately, if you ask me.”
“Laiken Rose!” my mother yells. “Watch. Your. Language!”
“Watch your language,” I mock, fed up with all of this shit. “Fuckity fuck, fuck, fuck.”
“What the hell did you just say?” my dad roars.
Mali quickly moves to cover my mouth. “Nothing! She said nothing.” After a moment, she removes her hand and sighs. “You’re going to get your ass grounded, and then it won’t matter if you can find Hayes or not.”
My attitude makes me roll my eyes, but deep down I know she’s right. She’s only looking out for me. And when my emotions die down, I’ll thank her for it.
In the meantime, I look around and notice my brother is gone.
“Where did Cam go?” I ask.
