Page 21 of Lawless

I storm into Reid’s room like a barely-contained tornado.

“Where is she?” I demand, giving zero shit about waking him. “I can’t find her and I think—”

My words shrivel up and die when I find his bed empty. Although, unlike Mav’s room, at least there is evidence that he’s been in it.

“Reid?” I bellow, inviting myself into his bathroom.

But again, it’s empty.

“What the fuck is going on?” I hiss.

The second I’m back in my room, I scan the mess for my cell, desperately trying to remember where I might have abandoned it.

The notebook catches my eye again and I dive for my desk, erratically searching for the device.

There has to be a reason behind all this. Something sensible that doesn’t need me to freak out.

But that’s easier said than done when I don’t know what the fuck it is or where everyone is.

I give up on my desk and spin around, searching for the pants I was wearing yesterday.

Shoving my hand into the pocket, I come up empty.

“For the love of God,” I bark, frustrated at myself that I’m such a fucking disaster I can’t even find my own goddamn cell phone.

I turn my room upside down, making it even more of a war zone. But still come up empty.

With my chest heaving and my brain running at a million miles a second with thoughts, I collapse onto my bed.

It still smells like her. But I’ve no idea if it’s a good thing or not.

Burying my face into her pillow, I scream as loud as I can, hoping to scare the ants away, to make them disappear as fast as they emerge.

But they don’t go anywhere. If anything, the itching only gets stronger.

Do something, Julian. Make it stop.

“FUCK,” I bellow, before flipping over to stare at the ceiling, hoping it’ll hold all the answers.

I kick my leg out and my foot collides with something under the sheet.

Sitting up, I shove my hand under and search it out.

“Yes,” I hiss, although any excitement I might have felt at finding it quickly dies when I find an angry red battery flashing at me.

I make quick work of plugging it in and wait for it to power up, confident that there will be something from Reid.

But when it eventually comes to life, there’s nothing. Well, not nothing. There are a stream of memes and gifs from Devin and Ezra, a ton of bullshit spam emails, and a weird message from an unknown number asking for me to reply.

Ignoring it all, I open my contacts, find Reid’s name, and hit call.

But nothing happens. It doesn’t even take me to his voicemail.

“Fuck.”

I try again, and again, but nothing.

My hand trembles as I pull my cell from my ear as I try to piece all this together.