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Eventually it’s Max who speaks.
“Okay, I need to call the police and my parents,” he says, pulling his phone from the pocket of his sweats. “Del, can you call Elissa and maybe ask her if she’s spoken to Zoey?”
“I’ll call the police,” I snap.
“What?” Max says, turning to face me.
“I said, I’ll call the police. It was me she was coming to see, so I should call them.”
Max shakes his head. “With all due respect, Ethan, she’s my—”
“Be really fucking careful what you say to me right now, Max,” I growl, my jaw tightening as I hit him with a hard stare. My body is completely wired, every muscle tense and ready to snap.
Max matches my stare, not backing down as he says, “You know, I’d heard the rumors about you two. Heard what people were saying, but I never believed them, never thought—”
“It was no one’s fucking business!” I shout, the anger overtaking my fear in this moment.
“But you can imagine how it looks for her,” he continues, apparently oblivious to the rage that’s currently churning inside me. The rage that I suspect is simmering in him too.
“Which is why we kept it quiet,” I say through gritted teeth. “I wanted to protect her from this bullshit, from all of it. I would doanythingfor her.”
“Right,” he says, and I swear it takes everything in me not to punch him in the face right now.
“Max,” Delaney says, stepping closer as she puts a hand on his arm. “Ease up, the main thing is we find Zoey, find—”
“I love her,” I blurt out. “I fucking love her, Max and fuck, I can’t lose her, can’t…” I trail off as a sob catches in my throat, cutting off the rest of my words.
“You love her?” Delaney repeats and I nod. “And does she…?”
“Yeah,” I say, scrubbing a hand down my face as I swallow hard. I can’t lose my shit now. “She does,” I confirm, letting out an exhale as memories of that night flood my brain. How fucking perfect it was and how happy she made me. “We were actually planning to tell you guys tonight. All of you.”
Delaney glances at Max, a worried look on her face as she tips her head at his phone. “Max, why don’t you call your parents while Ethan calls the police? Alex?” she says, taking control of the situation and not giving Max a chance to argue.
“Yep, yeah, what do you need me to do, babe?” he asks, stepping toward her.
“Can you grab my phone so I can call Elissa? Maybe get everyone a drink too?”
“On it,” he says, before disappearing into the bedroom.
I turn to Max, my face hard and prepared to stand my ground here. I don’t give a shit that none of them know we are together. Don’t give a shit what any of them think about it either. None of it matters to me and none of it takes away my right to be here right now, to be doing this.
Zoey is my world, my everything and I will do anything I can to get her back.
“Okay,” Max eventually says, exhaling. “Let’s do this.”
CHAPTER2
ZOEY
Everything is black. Dark as night as my head throbs, the blood pulsing hard in my ears, drowning out all thought and sound. It takes me a second to realize that I’m moving, the road is bumpy and when I force my eyes open, everything remains black.
There’s a blindfold over my eyes and my hands are tied behind my back with what feels like a plastic zip tie. It’s bound tightly around my wrist, cutting into my skin as I move. I wiggle around, trying to find a way to move the blindfold, the cuffs, anything, but nothing is working. The seatbelt begins to cut into my neck, and I don’t want to cry, but the tears begin to stream down my cheeks.
I can’t stop thinking about Ethan. He’s waiting for me, wondering where the hell I am, and the worst part is that no one knows we’re together. He’s going to have to tell people all while trying to process what the fuck is going on. I’m still processing what the fuck is going on.
I want to ask the driver where they’re taking me. I want to scream out hoping someone can hear me, but I know these are terrible ideas. I don’t want these people to see my fear, even if my entire body is shaking and my heart is beating so fast it feels like it might explode. I can feel the sweat build on the palms of my hands, the fear that I want to keep hidden is dying to get out.
The driver takes the corner fast, catching me off guard and my head bounces off the window, sending a searing pain radiating through my whole body.
