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“Luke, you need to talk to them,” my mother said, glancing over her shoulder.
“Talk to who?” I approached the door and stopped just in front of my mother, my heart freezing at the sight of several resort security guards standing on the porch. “Can I help you?”
“Mr. Luke Ellis?” The resort security captain stepped forward.
“Yes.”
“Can we come inside?”
Every alarm bell started ringing in my mind. “What’s this about?” I wasn’t ready to let them in just in case this was some sort of trick from Marina.
“Sir, we’ve been informed of an illegal drug stash on the premises, and as per resort policy, we need to investigate. Please, step aside.”
32
SUMMER
It was crumbling.
My dream-like life was turning to ash in my fingers, and there was nothing I could do to stop it. Hanging back from Luke and Jax, I peered through the gaps in their bodies at the security staff waiting out in the cold.
“Drugs?” Luke choked on the word, he was so surprised. “You can’t be serious. Stephen, youknowus.”
“I do,” the captain—Stephen—replied, “but this claim comes from someone higher than me.”
“Higher than you? Who would ever…” Luke trailed off and both his hands curled into fists. “Marina.” Her name was uttered like poison, and his stance stiffened even as his shoulders dropped. “Alright. Do what you have to do.”
“But if you even think of scaring any of those kiddies,” Tabitha remarked sharply, pointing a finger at the men. “You’ll answer to me!”
“Absolutely, ma’am,” Stephen replied.
As they talked, my mind raced. Drugs? Here? This was too much of a coincidence after my fallout with Felix yesterday, but at the same time, that had nothing to do with Marina. Were we really being attacked from both sides? My heart raced as fast as my mind, and as Luke stepped aside to let Stephen and his men through, Jax touched my arm and pulled me back in time to avoid the smaller member of their team.
A sniffer dog.
“You’ll find nothing here,” Jax hissed, “just wasting time.”
“I have a protocol to follow, Jax,” Stephen said and to his credit, he did seem uncomfortable. “I’m sorry. We’ll be in and out.”
Jax rolled his eyes and I shrugged off his touch, unable to handle how the walls were closing in around us. Stephen’s gaze lingered on me as he passed, then his attention turned to the dog dressed in a vest.
“Seek.”
Immediately the dog’s nose was on the ground, and it began sniffing every inch of the lounge. I watched, worrying my nail with my teeth. Jax paced to my left while Tabitha followed Stephen like a protective hawk, ready to strike the second she thought the children would be affected.
Then the dog barked and Stephen straightened up.
“Seek,” he instructed again, and the dog took off up the stairs with its trainer right behind. We followed like a snake, weaving up the stairs and through the halls all certain that the dog would find nothing.
Blood burst over my tongue when I bit too hard into the flesh of my thumb as the dog came to a stop outside a closed door and began scratching at the bottom.
The outside ofmydoor.
My heart plummeted like a rock and a tremble settled into my limbs. What the fuck. What the fuck?! I didn’t have anything, yet the dog was acting as if an entire chemical factory was behind that door.
“Are there any children in here?” Stephen asked, adhering to Tabitha’s earlier request. Everyone turned to look at me, and the air punched out of my lungs at the weight of their confused and concerned gazes.
“No,” I managed to answer. “They—they’re with Theo.”
