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My head snapped around as soon as I read those words.
Oaklynn reappeared in the window once more with her phone in her hand, and when she saw me just standing there, staring dumbly, she waved me forward.
For a brief moment, my heart stalled, then it jerked back into motion, beating rapidly.
No longer frozen in place, I lurched toward the front door.
Repocketing my phone, I pounded up the steps and knocked abruptly. The lock clicked almost immediately, and the sound of a deadbolt sliding open ignited my hopes just as the latch turned.
I pressed a fist to my chest, almost nervous to see my sister again after all this time. I had honestly thought I never would, but Oaklynn’s text had me keyed up.
The door began to open. I eagerly lifted my gaze to meet Oaklynn’s brown, brown eyes.
“Damien!” she greeted in fake shock as she flashed me those jockey-dropping dimples of hers with a warm smile. “What a surprise to see you. Come in. Come in.” She stepped back, drawing the door farther open to let me in. “Hey, Thalia,” she called. “You’ll never guess who—oh!”
As soon as she glanced over her shoulder into the rest of the room, she pulled up short.
I stepped inside and took in the wrap-around couch first, then furrowed my brow in confusion. The entire room was empty except for us, while on the television, the first Avengers movie played loudly.
Next to me, Oaklynn scratched her head as if puzzled. “Where did she go?”
I turned toward her slowly, my gaze accusing, because I hated getting scammed.
“She was sitting right there, like, half a second ago,” she insisted, jabbing her finger toward the couch, only to blink and straighten when she turned back to me. “And why the hell are you looking at me as if I’m lying.”
I lifted a single eyebrow. “Are you?”
With a gasp, her mouth dropped open, and she took a moment to gape in righteous indignation before her eyes narrowed and she stamped her hands to her hips, pulling out some seriously hot, Latina sass.
“Why the hell would I lie about a thing like that?”
“I don’t know,” I countered, taking an angry step toward her. “Whywould—”
Before I could finish the accusation, a door slammed sharply at the back of the house. Oaklynn yelped out a startled scream, and we both jumped in surprise as we glanced that way.
“Son of a bitch,” I breathed. A heartbeat later, I scrambled into action and sprinted toward the back hall, yelling, “Thalia?”
When I reached it, however, it was locked.
Which took me too preciously long to turn the bolt and whip the door open before I leaped outside, hopping right over the steps and landing on the patio before dodging around what must be Oaklynn’s silver Kia Forte and racing out to see past the corner of the building.
But there was no one around, not from either side.
“Motherfucker!” I hissed, fisting my hands in utter frustration and lifting them to the sides of my head in the hopes of relieving some of the insistent pressure building there.
But it didn’t help, so I gritted my teeth and growled irritably.
I turned in a circle, still looking for my sister, oranyone, but all I found was a wincing Oaklynn stepping barefoot from the back door of the brownstone. “She got away?”
I bobbed my head, unable to speak, and she lifted her eyebrows.
“Wow. She was really moving.” Hissing out a breath, she turned back to me to fold her arms over her chest and send me an arch look. “So… are you ready to believe that she was really here?”
“Yes, ma’am, I think so,” I said, my voice breaking as I glanced around for a glimpse of Thalia one last time. “But I don’t get why she ran from me.”
“I…” Losing her anger, Oaklynn hissed out a breath, dropped her shoulders, and sent me a sad glance full of apology as she shook her head. “I don’t know either. I mean, when I came downstairs for breakfast, she was sitting on the couch watching that movie in there and talking about how the two of you had gone to see it together at the theaters the night it released and how you stole a tub of popcorn from the guy sitting in front of you when he went to the bathroom.”
I blurted out a hoarse sound, remembering that night, and my eyes started to burn. “Shestole the popcorn,” I corrected.
