Page 62 of Like You Know
The next drag was harder to force past the lump in my throat.
“You didn’t wake me up anyway,” my best friend said, and I remembered that everyone had been at Nicola’s afterparty.
“Shit, should you even be driving?” I knew for a fact she’d been drinking at the party.
“It’s fine. I haven’t had anything to drink for hours. I’m sober as fuck.”
Hours. It had been hours since my mom was kidnapped. She could be anywhere by now.
CHAPTERTWENTY-TWO
Dawn was breakingas we pulled into the Meads’ driveway. Everything had that muted bluish tinge to it—a new day around the corner.
I didn’t want it to be a new day. I had no fucking clue what to do now, and every bit lighter that it got, the more stark that reality became.
Donna and I walked into the house through the side door to the garage—only to find a crowd of people waiting for us.
“What the fu ...” I trailed off to swallow the lump in my throat. Harlow and Mena immediately stood from where they’d been sitting together at the bottom of the stairs. I’d known they’d be here—we’d planned to all spend the night—but I hadn’t expected the others.
Hendrix was leaning on the banister, Turner was sitting on the stairs behind Mena, and Drew sat in the accent chair in the corner. Even Easton was there, still in his nice slacks and shirt. The others had changed into casual clothes, but they all looked exhausted. The girls still had their makeup on.
“Jesus, guys. You have no chill,” Donna grumbled.
“Yeah, well, you’re the one who wouldn’t let us come with you to pick her up.” Mena huffed.
“Like you had any chill when you were playing dictator and telling us all what to do earlier?” Harlow raised a brow.
The two girls went to pull me into a hug, but I took a step back, acutely aware of the drying blood all over me.
That was when they saw it too. Harlow gasped and Mena’s eyes filled with tears.
“It’s not her blood,” Donna said softly.
“What are you talking about? Why’s everyone here?” I asked.
“We’ve all been out looking for you, A.” Drew slumped forward to rest his elbows on his knees.
“You have?” I gaped at them as the girls decided they didn’t give a shit about the blood and pulled me into a hug anyway. I extracted myself quickly. It was hard to fight the emotions welling up when they were hugging me like that.
“Nicola saw you running out of the party looking panicked with Jet chasing after you,” Hendrix explained. “And no one could get a hold of you for hours. We were worried.”
“Oh.” I didn’t know what to do with this. They’d all been so worried that they ran around town looking for me. And now these amazing people were all here, making sure I was OK after a sleepless night.
I took a shuddering breath, struggling again to keep my emotions under control.
“Where’s Jet?” Donna asked, her expression not giving anything away.
“At the police station still, I assume,” I said.
There was a loaded pause, and a few of my friends couldn’t help looking at the blood all over me.
Easton broke the silence, surprising me with his question and his deathly calm tone. “Did he hurt you?”
I shook my head but had to take a moment before answering. Because he had hurt me, just not in the way they were concerned about. “No. He saved me. But he lied ...”
“Lied about what, hon?” Mena asked gently.
“Uh ...” I suddenly felt so fucking overwhelmed. I looked around wide-eyed at the people who cared about me most, and stuttered. I didn’t want to say it. If I didn’t say it, I could pretend for just a little while longer that none of it had happened.