Total pages in book: 128
Estimated words: 120230 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 601(@200wpm)___ 481(@250wpm)___ 401(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 120230 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 601(@200wpm)___ 481(@250wpm)___ 401(@300wpm)
“I won’t say a word,” I promised, and this secret, too, I’d take to my grave. “There’s no point now.” Let my best friend and Phoenix’s parents remember him as an accomplished doctor who would one day have become a stellar surgeon.
Aaron stared down at the hands that hung between his knees, his elbows on his thighs. “After Bea died, I didn’t know how to handle it. I never knew anyone who died by suicide. Nix was the one who talked it through with me, who made me see that it wasn’t anything I’d done or hadn’t done—because I was going over and over that in my mind. Should I have reached out? Should I have done more to find her after she vanished?”
“I had the same thoughts.” They haunted me to this day.
“Nix said he did, too, but he’d also started a psych module at the time, and he’d gone and spoken to the professor, and he shared a lot of his professor’s advice with me. He was a good friend. A good guy.”
A small sob escaped his throat. “He always said that when he was a surgeon and swimming in money, he’d invest in my restaurant. Not as a loan, as an investment—because he knew I’d make a profit.” His voice shook. “He meant it, too. Nix didn’t joke about finances.”
The two of us just sat there leaning into each other until we heard footsteps approaching from the other end of the house. One look at Ash’s and Grace’s faces and my stomach dropped.
“Nothing,” Grace said, her voice small. “No bars. No data. Dead air.”
Hands on his hips, Ash paced in a tight square. “I keep telling Darcie we need to get a satellite phone for out here, but we’ve never quite got around to it.” Anguish was another square, then another. “It’s too fucking late now.”
Grace touched his forearm. “No one could’ve prepared for this. And the snow, the storm, that came out of nowhere. No one’s to blame.”
Ash’s eyes were red, and I realized he’d been crying, too. “We should take him to the cellar.” His eyes went to Aaron. “Before V . . .”
Aaron moved his head in a jerky nod.
“I’ll go find some sheets.” Grace moved off in the direction of the linen closet without waiting for a response.
“I’ll photograph the move,” I said. “Just to cover us.” Then I shared what I’d found upstairs.
Ash blew out a breath. “We should’ve thrown away that runner the first time someone tripped.”
He seemed to not even have heard that I’d rolled and put it away, and I decided now wasn’t the time to ask questions on the point. Because chances were that it was either Ash or Darcie who’d unrolled the rug—just putting things back to how they usually were in their house. They might even have been irritated that one of us had made the unilateral decision to alter the décor.
Ash nodded toward Phoenix without looking at him. “Shall we . . .”
“Wait.” Rising with Vansi’s silk underwear bag in my hand, I walked into the living room.
My friend sat hollow-eyed not with Darcie but with Kaea, who’d got himself into a seated position and was cuddling her against him. He looked like death, his cheeks gaunt and his eyes having a yellowish cast.
Shit, looked like he was getting sicker, not better.
Darcie, meanwhile, was by the fire, pacing back and forth.
“V,” I said, my voice gentle. “I got you what you need. I don’t think any of us should go upstairs.”
She looked blankly at the bag I was holding out.
Touching my fingers to her cheek, I leaned down to whisper against her ear. “I put the tampons inside.”
A shudder rocked her, and then she was rising to throw herself in my arms. I held her tight, my best friend who’d been in love with Phoenix from the first day she’d seen him. The best friend for whom I’d stood as maid of honor. The best friend at whose bachelorette party I’d drunk so many margaritas that I’d sworn off tequila.
I didn’t know how long we stood there, but Vansi was ready to go take care of herself by the time we were done.
I glanced at Darcie. “Can you show V to a bathroom?” Because no way was she going out into the hallway while Phoenix lay there.
Darcie swallowed, nodded. “We can go through the kitchen and out via the veranda to reach one.” Her face quivered. “We won’t freeze if we hurry.”
I waited until the two women had left before looking down at Kaea. “How are you doing, Slick?”
“Bad.” His eyes were heavy lidded, his voice as heavy. “Like my insides are being scraped by a serrated blade. I need a hospital.” He turned his head toward the hallway. “That wasn’t an accident, Luna. I don’t care what the fuck it looks like. Something is wrong.”