AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“What?” Aunt Molly sputtered.
“I’ll find her,” I said, pulling away. “I’ll bring her to you, okay?”
I left her without another word, but I heard her behind me, following me outside. From the step right outside the door, I searched the crowd for Nova but didn’t see her anywhere.
“Olive,” I called, hurrying across the yard. “Have you seen No?”
Olive shook her head.
“She just left,” Meg said, glaring at me. “She and Bird. What did you say to her? She was fine until you went chasing her across the yard.”
“She left?”
“Yeah,” Meg said, raising her eyebrows as she nodded. “She barely even said goodbye.”
I looked over the crowd again, hoping Meg was wrong.
“Rumi,” my mom called from behind me, her hand wrapping around my bicep. “Sweetheart, come here for a sec.”
“I can’t, Ma,” I muttered, barely glancing at her. “I need to find Nova.”
“Rumi,” she said again, her voice a little more firm. “Come with me.”
“Mom—” Before the word was even out of my mouth, I saw the look on her face and stiffened.
“Come here,” she said, her voice almost gentle. She towed me across the yard to where my aunties and Brenna were standing in a little huddle, talking quietly.
“I need to go find Nova,” I said dumbly as they all looked up at me. “I’m sorry, Ma. Can this wait?”
“Honey, your dad is on his way to Nova now,” she replied, her hand still gripping my bicep. “Okay?”
“Not okay,” I replied in confusion. “What do you mean? She’s hurt, Mom. And she won’t tell me who did it, but I’m going to fucking find out—”
“We know,” Brenna said, taking a single step toward me. “We know who hurt her. The boys are going to take care of it. They’re on their way now.”
“What the fuck are you talking about?” I asked in confusion, looking around at their concerned faces. “I’ll take care of it. It’sNova. It should be me.”
“Honey,” my mom breathed.
“It was Samson,” Brenna said, her eyes still staring into mine.
That didn’t make any sense. It was completely out of the realm of reality. SamsonlovedNova. She was his little princess. Samson would never lay his hands on Nova. Never.
“Something’s been going on with him, and we don’t know what,” Brenna said, her voice still infuriatingly calm. “But we’ve been watching.”
“You’ve beenwatching?” I spat incredulously.
“We didn’t know he was going to hurt anyone.”
“What the fuck?” I yelled, looking around the group as I backed up a step. “Where is he?”
“Rumi, you need to calm down,” my mom ordered, setting her hand on my back. “Calm down, son.”
“Where the fuck is he?”
“He left right after Nova and Bird,” my auntie Rose said, her voice softer and more sympathetic than I’d ever heard it before.
“Fuck!” My heart started racing and my palms felt sweaty and I didn’t know what to do for a solid two seconds. I just stood there, frozen, while my gaze raced over the yard and the forecourt.
