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"Dude." Ko turns around to steady me. "You good?"
Blinking a few times, I nod. "I'm fine. What's going on?"
"I don't know. First, we are running like snakes are nipping at our heels, then I'm being jostled about by you." He shoves me a little and turns back to the front of our group.
Dismissing the small path, we converge at the stopping point marked by two pale as fuck detectives.
"What?" I snap. I'm about fed up with running around with no real fucking answers.
Just as they step aside to show off the dirty scrap of black fabric, the most chilling voice rings out through the forest.
There's no chance for me to vomit all over the evidence of Eve's dress that we just found because the detectives immediately launch their asses up and take off toward the sound of Kyle's voice.
Still in shock, I stay still and look down again. Fingering the nasty fabric, my eyes catch on the continued trail veering off from the bush that ripped her dress. They ran off in the opposite fucking direction.
Ignoring the hushed argument around me from the guys, I throw myself down the path, stumbling over my feet, knowing that I am so fucking close to Evelyn. I have to find her. Kyle is out there looking for her, and the detectives dipped out to capture him instead of getting Eve to safety.
Fuck them. I am all she needs. I will help her. I will save her; I have to. She has to be okay because I can't fathom a world where we were too slow to get to her in time. I tune out the yells of my brothers and Ryan, my focus solely on reaching the end of the track Eve carved out.
I'm so focused on reaching her that the arms looping around my legs don't register until my breath wooshes out of me and my elbows scrape on the unruly ground.
"What the fuck!" My anger is palpable; so thick in the air at the betrayal of someone stopping me.
So close, I know it. I can feel it in my racing heart, my tingling fingers, and my singing soul. My best friend is so close, yet Korren decided to tackle me to the ground instead of helping me fucking get to her.
Trying to shove myself up, I'm stopped by his body weight settling on me. "Get off!"
"No. Look. You almost ran off a fucking cliff, Nolan." His voice is harder than steel. He's pissed and...scared.
It takes a beat for his words to register in my fear-addled brain, but when they do, my head whips up, nearly taking out his nose behind me. Just like he said, I almost threw myself off a damn cliff because I wasn't paying attention.
Holy fucking shit. The sounds of pebbles tumbling over the edge is an eerie background noise to my near death.
A few feet in front of me is the rocky edge with the tops of more desert trees as a backdrop. The forest is far more vast than I thought, and the cliff is taller than I ever could have imagined.
How will we ever find her?
Ryan
Mother fucking, son of a..."Nolan!"
Oh my hell, he almost launched his ass right off a damn cliff. Skidding to a stop next to his stunned form sprawled out on the sand, I nudge Korren off his back. My nod of appreciation for saving my boyfriend's life isn't enough right now, but I can barely form words at how terrifying it was watching as he sprinted for the edge with no sign of hearing us calling out to him.
I was too slow to reach him...this is why family is stronger together. Fuck. I almost lost him. Dropping to my knees next to his shaking form, I bring my shaking hands up to his face and force his gaze on mine.
"Nol," I say his name on an exhale of relief. I almost lost him too. His wide eyes meet mine before I pick him up and throw his legs over mine so he straddles me. "Damnit, you scared me, Nolan." I can't help the quiver in my voice; anxiety and horror still coursing through my body. His arms shudder in time with my shoulders when he wraps them around me.
"I'm sorry." The tickle of his breath skittering across my neck and the press of his warm body against mine settles some of my frayed nerves.
"Don't do that ever again, do you hear me?" He nods, but it's not enough. "Do you hear me?" I say a bit louder, not allowing this to slide.
"I won't do that again. I'm sorry, I just-"
His voice cuts off with a soft whimper, "I know, baby. I know."
The pitter-pattering of my heart slows the longer I have him safely in my arms. Gunfire off in the distance has us jerking slightly and pulling away. Well, shit, I hope they caught him, or killed him. I'd rather have the honors myself, though. That dipshit deserves a slow and painful fucking death.
Eve.
