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Her smile fades. “What’s going to happen with Mariana? Are you going to keep…dating her?”
Hearing her name makes a rope coil around my lungs. “No, that’s over.” I frown. “She didn’t tell you?”
She averts her gaze. “None of us have talked to her in days. I think she’s staying with Livvy.”
“You think?”
When she flinches, I realize that must have sounded like an accusation.
“She told us all she needed space,” she says, her tone defensive. “My family can be a little intense during a crisis.”
“But you don’t know where she is?”
She shrugs. “She’s very social. She has plenty of friends she could be staying with.”
“Have you talked to Livvy?” I clip out.
“No, but Livvy’s fiercely loyal to Mari. I think she’s mad at all of us…”
Sofia keeps talking, but I hardly hear the words. A cold dread wraps around my heart. Mari might not even be with Livvy for all we know. She could have gone anywhere.
She’s adrift, and it’s all because of me.
God, keep her safe.
ChapterThirty
Brandon
Mariana is still nowhere to be found.
I’ve called her sixteen times in the last twenty-four hours and heard nothing but her voicemail.
That sweet melodic lilt of her playful voice and that little giggle at the end. Fuck, I love her laugh.
I’ll die if I can never hear it in person again.
Restlessness courses through me like a flock of startled birds. The silence of my house closes in, pressing against my ribcage.
Fuck, I can’t live like this.
Here I am prowling through the suitcase I never emptied after the trip to Big Sur, an animalistic desperation driving me. I’m looking for something of hers. I know that’s what I’m doing, even though I’ve felt disembodied from my actions since I heard she was missing. I’m going mad.
Finding something of hers won’t make me feel any better. Her things aren’t her.
I need to take action. Even when it’s not my place to do it.
I frantically pull out my phone. My hand shakes as I press Livvy’s name on the screen. Thankfully, she picks up immediately.
Her tone is light as we exchange a bit of small talk about plans for the rehearsal dinner. A prickling sensation begins at the base of my skull, slowly creeping down my spine like a spider. Does she sound this way because she knows where Mari went?
“Oh, and one more thing,” I say, unable to wait any longer. “I talked to Sofia yesterday, and she was a little worried about Mariana. She says she hasn’t heard from her in days.” I swallow. “Is she with you?”
There’s a long pause.
Too long.
“Why hasn’t Sofia called me if she’s worried about Mari?”
