“I said I will.”
Another pause.Longer this time.“We’ve got calls out,” he said carefully.“Northbound Reapers included.Haven’t heard back yet.”
That name hit something cold in my gut.“They got reason to grab her?”I asked.
“No,” he said.“Which makes me think this isn’t them.”
“Then why call them?”
“Because I don’t know who else would do this.Clove doesn’t have anyone who would do this to her.”
I nodded even though he couldn’t see me.“You think she is still alive?”
“Yes.”
I closed my eyes briefly and felt the same.“How do you know?”
“Because if she wasn’t,” Wrecker said evenly, “we’d already know.”
That was the truth of it.“She wouldn’t disappear without a message,” I said.
“No,” he agreed.“She wouldn’t.”
I heard movement on his end.Voices.Freak’s voice, tight and clipped with something I didn’t want to name.
“Ender,” Wrecker said.“We’re doing everything we can.”
“I know.”
“You can’t burn yourself out on day two.”
“I’m not.”
“That’s not what Kingston says.”
I glanced over at Kingston, who was pretending not to listen while doing a terrible job of it.
“I’m fine,” I said.
Wrecker sighed.“Come back.Church in the morning.”
“I’ll be there.”
The line went dead.
I stared at my phone for a second, then shoved it away and swung back onto my bike.
Kingston didn’t comment as we rode back toward town, but I could feel his awareness like a weight at my back.
We pulled into the clubhouse lot with the sky still dark.I killed the engine and sat there for a second, hands still gripping the bars.
“You coming inside?”Kingston asked.
“In a minute.”
He nodded.“I’ll be around.”
He left me there, alone with the sound of my own breathing.