Page 43 of Hurry Up And Wait

Soot.

There was a fire in my kitchen.

A bomb in my fridge.

“Someone tried to kill me,” I murmured.

“You’re lucky,” he muttered. “The door blocked the worst of the explosion.”

For some reason, that made me laugh. A hilarious chuckle slippedfrom my lips, but I quickly tamped it down. This was not the time to laugh.

My eyes drifted up to meet his. “I know you.”

His eyes flicked to mine for a moment, holding me tight in his gaze, but then he looked away. “You’re okay,” he said calmly, almost like he was trying to convince me.

Was I okay? I hurt everywhere, though it was like it was all pushed to the background, refusing to let me feel the full strength of it. But the shaking…I couldn’t stop shaking. And my teeth started to chatter as if I was a set of toy teeth that rattled around the table when wound.

I tried to grasp the edge of the blanket and pull it tighter, but my hands wouldn’t work. I couldn’t stop shaking.

There was a bomb.

My fridge exploded.

My sister could have been here.

“Riley…”

My eyes drifted to meet his. Blue eyes stared at me. That was all I could see. His features were lost on me as I focused solely on his eyes. They kept me grounded. I knew I was on the verge of losing it, but as long as I watched him, everything would be okay.

It would be okay, right?

“Isla,” the man demanded. “Where’s your sister?”

“She’s…”

“Isla, focus. Where’s Riley?”

I heard his words. I knew I was supposed to answer. But somewhere deep down in the pit of my stomach, I felt like answering was a bad idea. I didn’t know this man.

I knew his eyes.

But that wasn’t the same thing. This man entered my house, knew my name, was demanding to know where my sister was. I started shaking harder and squeezed my eyes closed. This couldn’t be happening.

“Shawn,” I whispered.

“Your sister is with your ex?”

How did he know these things? No, this was wrong. This was so very wrong. I pushed to my feet suddenly, the blanket falling from myshoulders. I paced the room, swiping my hand over my forehead as I tried to piece together what was happening. There was a man in my house who knew my sister—knew my ex! Why was he here? Why was he staring at me with those blue eyes?

And why the hell was there a bomb in my fridge?

I rubbed at the growing ache in my chest, trying to push it away. My shaking legs became harder to move. I felt like I was walking through quicksand, slowly being dragged into the pit of hell that refused to release me.

“This can’t be happening.”

“Isla, where is Riley?”

Suddenly, he was standing in front of me, his eyes bright and determined. Who was this man? Why was he demanding these answers from me?