Total pages in book: 87
Estimated words: 83520 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 418(@200wpm)___ 334(@250wpm)___ 278(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 83520 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 418(@200wpm)___ 334(@250wpm)___ 278(@300wpm)
A fucking barrage of it.
“It’s nothing like that.” I pause before admitting, “I need to find Delilah. Have you seen her this morning?”
“No, I just got up.”
“Okay.” I huff out a breath. “Let me take care of this situation and then I’ll find you.”
Her teeth scrape over her lower lip. “All right.”
She falls silent as I stride down the long stretch of hallway. My heart picks up its tempo when I twist the handle and shove open our bedroom door. Once inside the sun-flooded space, I glance around, hoping that she’s returned from her walk. My gaze slides over the room only to find it empty.
Fuck.
I gravitate to the window and search the beach. There are a few people strolling the sandy shoreline, but none are Delilah. I would recognize her blonde head anywhere.
Maybe she’s in the kitchen grabbing breakfast.
The longer it takes to find her, the more tension floods my muscles.
As I swing around, ready to stalk downstairs, my gaze lands on the place where her duffle had been shoved up against the far wall by the closet. My step stutters when I realize it’s no longer there. That’s all it takes for a trapdoor to spring open.
And then I’m in free fall.
Why the hell would she just take off?
Sure…she locked me out last night, but we worked through it. We had sex and afterward, she’d slept curled up in my arms.
Air gets trapped in my lungs as I head to the ginormous bathroom and peek inside the opulent space. Already I know that all the girly stuff strewn across the countertop will be gone. Every trace of Delilah has been wiped away, as if she’d never been there in the first place.
It’s so tempting to punch my fist through the wall. Instead, I swing around and stalk from the bedroom into the hallway before meeting Summer’s dark gaze. Kingsley stands behind her with his hands resting protectively on her shoulders.
They’ve become a solid unit in a short span of time. It’s strange. Since we were born, it’s always been the two of us against the world and sometimes, even our parents. We were a team. And now...that’s how it is with him.
It’ll take time to come to terms with this new dynamic.
I shake myself out of those strange thoughts as my gaze slices to Kingsley. “Have you seen Delilah?”
There’s a heavy moment of silence as Summer tenses beneath his hands.
“She took off about ten minutes ago.”
I blink, unable to process the words coming out of his mouth. They doesn’t make sense.
There’s no way she’d leave without talking to me first.
No.
Damn.
Way.
“Yeah.” He shifts before dropping another bomb. “With Duke.”
This time, when the urge rushes through my veins, I turn and slam my fist through the drywall as a string of curses falls from my lips.
AUSTIN
By the time I roll into Hawthorne, I’m clutching the steering wheel in a death grip and my head is spinning. Nothing about Delilah’s behavior makes sense. I’ve tried more than a dozen times to call her, but it goes straight to voicemail.
Every text remains unanswered.
Her message is loud and clear.
She’s cut off contact and wants nothing to do with me.
Instead of going home, I head to her house and park in the drive before slamming out of the G-wagon and stalking to the front door. I rap my knuckles against the thick wood and impatiently wait. When a handful of seconds tick by, I cup my hands around my temples and press my face to the small window. From what I can make out, it’s dark and shadowy. There’s not a flicker of movement from inside.
My brows draw together.
If Delilah didn’t get dropped off at home, where the hell is she?
I push the bell for a second time and shove my hands into the pockets of my jeans. I might have driven home like a bat out of hell, but there’s no way I beat them. I glance up and down the narrow, tree-lined street as if they’ll turn the corner any moment and come into view.
Five minutes that feel more like an eternity slide by and there’s still no sign of them.
Where the fuck would he have taken her?
Only one other place comes to mind.
His house.
My muscles tense as a wave of anger crashes over me.
I stalk back to the SUV before sliding behind the wheel and searching the online HP student directory. After plugging his address into my phone, I reverse from the drive and follow the turn-by-turn directions. I don’t know much about Duke except that, like Delilah, he’s at Hawthorne Prep on scholarship.
Two minutes later, I’m pulling into Hawthorne Estates, a rundown trailer park on the outskirts of town. I spot Kingsley’s Mustang parked outside one of the trailers and cut the engine before slamming from the vehicle. Within seconds, I’ve yanked open the dilapidated screen door and am pounding my fist against the metal. It takes every ounce of self-control not to rip the damn thing from the hinges and force my way inside.