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“Excuse me?”
When his anger flickered behind those navy eyes, my throat constricted. I had to get out of this.
“We need to talk, sweetheart. I have so much I need to tell you. It will all make sense, I promise. I’ll bring her back when we’re done,” he casually added to Kara before pulling me onto the sidewalk.
TWELVE
JAMESON
“Jesus fucking Christ, answer your phone.” Something was wrong. Like, pit in my stomach, pine branch to the face, knife to my balls kind of wrong. Noel had called me twice in a sixty-second period, but when I’d answered, there’d been muffled voices for a second before the line went dead.
“Probably just a butt dial, dude,” Maverick insisted for the tenth time.
“Bullshit,” I growled, patting my fishing blades where they were strapped to my body. Axel had been oddly quiet as I called her on repeat. His blond hair was tied into a low bun, but his signature smile was nowhere to be found.
“Ax?” I demanded.
“I don’t know, man, it might just be that you’re freaking the hell out, but I’m kinda anxious.”
“Fuckingfuck,” I groaned. That was all I needed. Just one confirmation: this wasn’t in my head. Something was wrong. I leapt over the rail onto the dock and bolted as quickly as I could in boots and all my gear. Clunky fucking things. I needed a new goddamned profession. Some rational part of my brain was reminding me I didn’t really know this girl. That she’d fallen into my lap because my big brother had a big mouth. But my instincts were dominant motherfuckers, and they were out for blood.
The thud-thud of my brothers following me made me thank every deity man had ever known that my parents screwed like bunnies, because if something happened to one of our girls, we sure as shit would bring hell with us.
Noel was one of our girls.
Brexley’s.Mine. Whether or not she even knew it. I wanted the little kaleidoscope that brought color to the dreariest island known to man. Maybe that was fucked up. Maybe it would put us in one of Broderick’s never-ending moral circles. Maybe it was booking me a one-way ticket to hell for being sick in the head, for wanting what I shouldn’t. Broderick’s words had looped in my mind all day yesterday, through the wedding and car ride home.You’re a fucking dumbass if you let a girl get under your skin like she does, and you don’t make a move. Age difference be damned. Life is way too short to not chase what sets our souls on fire.
Maybe I didn’t know what it felt like for anything—or anyone—to set my soul on fire. Okay, yes, I would've kissed her last night if she’d just been sober. And that left me with the sinking feeling that I'd regret it indefinitely if I didn’t say something. I’d almost gone for it, almost spun her around in my arms and kissed her breathless last night on Rhyett’s damn porch. But if I let myself kiss her, I’d need to touch her. And if I allowed myself to touch Noel McShane, there would be absolutely no stopping. Not unless she told me no. And I would take and ravish until she was screaming my name into her pillow. But then sense had returned, reminding me of all the risks: of alienating my new sister by screwing things up with her best friend, of inevitably adding more weight to the baggage she was carrying when we went our separate ways. I didn’t want to hurt her or make her question herself in this new life she was building.
I’d never cared what society would think. I cared what I would think. I cared about whatshewould think.
But as the idea of something happening to her crossed my mind, I realized I no longer cared about risk. I cared abouther. The embodied Skittles bag, with her color explosion, her quick tongue, and her apparent inability to arrive in a timely manner.
My phone had barely buzzed in my palm when I flipped the answer button and pulled it to my ear. “Noel?”
“Mr. Rhodes?”
I blinked, disoriented with who was on the other end. “Yes, who is this?”
“Kara at The Grizzly Grind, Rhyett told me to call you after I call Charlie in an emergency.”
Jesus. Kara Bronson. She was Rhyett’s kid barista, the one Noel and Brin both liked so much. “Yeah?”
“Well, I don’t know if it’s an emergency or not, but I think you’d like to know what just went down, and Rhyett is in airplane mode.”
“Cut to it, Kara. What’s going on?”
“A man just came into the shop and wanted time with Elizabeth.”
“Yeah?” I ground between my teeth, fear and impatience both bidding for space in my brain.
“She didn’t seem like she wanted to go, and he kinda snatched her, anyway. He seemed nice at first, but he was super aggressive about getting to talk, and I don’t know, I might be crazy, but she seemed scared, which isn’t like her.”
“No, it’s not. How long ago was that?”
“Just now.”
“Give me a physical description.”
