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I strolled around the pool deck, through the house, and then down to the beach. It wasn't like him to go far without letting me know, not that he had to check in with me, but he usually did.
Twisting back to the house, I froze when my gaze landed on the third-floor balcony of the house next to the pool party.
It was Christian, and he was with Alexi. Alexi leaned into him as her hands touched his bare chest.
I stood there paralyzed as my heart shattered into a million pieces.
"Hey, Harper," a voice said from somewhere behind me, but I didn't bother looking to see who it was. I needed space.
I stormed down the beach, rage mixed with pain coursed through my chest, sucking the air from my lungs.
"Hey," a deep voice called out. "Are you okay?"
I stopped twisting to see Mike. I knew him from school. "I'm okay."
"You don't look okay." His brows pinched with concern. "Where are you headed?"
"Um." I didn't know where I was heading. "For a walk."
"Okay, how about I walk with you? It's kind of dangerous to walk the shoreline alone at night."
"Yeah, sure," I murmured. I didn't really want the company, but I also didn't want to be alone.
"I need to change. My house is right there." He pointed to an ocean-blue house just down from the boardwalk. "We can do that and then head over to the boardwalk."
I nodded and followed him to his house.
Chapter 31
Christian
Looking over the terrace, I scanned the pool for Harper, but she wasn't there. After checking our house, the pool, and the beach, I found Chloe.
"Where's Harper?"
"She went looking for you." She pointed toward the beach.
"How long ago?"
"Right after Aiden disappeared. Maybe she went to bed." I shook my head no.
"Hey," I stopped a random person passing by. "Have you seen Harper Brooks?" She shook her head.
"What's going on?" Julian asked.
"Have you seen Harper?"
"No." He shook his head.
"Hey, man," someone yelled from behind me. I spun to see Ben Davis walking up to me. "I saw Harper." He threw his thumb over his shoulder towards the boardwalk as he pulled his blunt to his lips and inhaled. "She took off after she saw you up there." He pointed Alexi's third-floor balcony. "Making out with Alexi. She was pretty upset."
Fuck! "She took off alone?" I shoved my hand through my hair.
"Uh, no, man," his friend Josh said, grabbing the blunt from Ben. "She bumped into Little Mikey, and he invited her to the boardwalk."
"Little Mikey is here?" Little Mikey graduated last year. He had a reputation for being too handsy with girls, but that probably wasn't something Harper knew because she didn't hang with the Valley kids.
"Who invited him?" Julian asked. Ben and his friend shrugged.
