I massage my jaw with my palm and wince. It feels like it took a punch last night. “No.” I stand again. “I need to find her now. Today.”
Jax puts a hand on my shoulder again. “Konnor, you’re not thinking straight?—“
“I don’t expect you guys to understand!” I snap, feelingthatbarrier. The one that separates me from everyone who was never stolen, never kept in darkness, never handed a new name and told to start again. It snarls to life inside me. “But I need to find her. Now!”
They stare at each other.
Elise looks at me. “She said?—“
“I don’t care what she fucking said!” I yell.
Elise’s smile drops.
Jax narrows his eyes on me. “Seriously, dude? Don’t talk to Elise like that, man. She is just helping.”
Fuck.I sink onto the couch and stare at the floor between my feet for a moment before I look at her again. Shaking my head, I say, “I’m sorry, Elise.”
She feigns indifference with a shrug. “Don’t be silly; it’s fine. I’m glad you care so much about her. I’m sure it is the whole beating you with your own leg threat, so... I’m going to take complete credit.” She laughs again, and Jax chuckles.
I press the heel of my palm into my eye socket, kneading an ache I can’t reach. I try to shake the noise away, but it just vibrates louder between my ears.
“Elise.” There is desperation in my tone, and I don’t try to hide it. “What happened? Did she tell you? Was it something that I did? I?—"
“She didn’t tell me.” She cuts in, then pauses. I watch her reach for words, careful and considered. “But… she sounded concerned about you. So I don’t think it was somethingyoudid.”
I turn to Jax. My head is splitting open, and I can feel the sweat on the back of my neck, but I hold his gaze. “I need to look for her, mate. I’m going with or without you.”
Jax opens his arms. “What? You don’t even know where she is, Slater. Are you just gonna run around the campus again? We did that last night.”
Fuck.
He’s right.
And yes, that’s exactly what I’ll do. I’ll run around the campus. I’ll catch every bus. I’ll hunt down everyone who could have seen her. I’ll search until I physically can’t and?—
“Well…”Elise crosses my apartment to the kitchen bench and reaches into her bag. She pulls out her phone, turning it over once in her hand before looking up at us with an expression caught somewhere between reluctant and pleased with herself. “As long as she keeps her phone on… I may knowexactlywhere she is.”
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
konnor
We hit the road.
According to Elise, Blesk appears to be on the opposite side of my hometown—The District. Not gonna lie, pretty freaked out about that. I know Erik is from The District, never really put together that she is, too.
Jax drives while Elise sits in the back seat, watching the world go by. According to Erik’s phone, he’s on the highway headed north.
I put my feet up on the dash and lean my seat back slightly. Old jeans, hoodie pulled down over my stinging eyes. I should be thinking about what I’m going to say when I see Blesk, but every time I try to land on something, it slips. What am I even doing in this car? Erik is her brother. She didn’t call me. Elise brought Blesk a change of fresh clothes, which is more than I’ve managed…
“I’ve never been on a road trip before,” Elise says, drawing me out of my self-deprecation.
“Really?” I pull back my hoodie and sit up, twisting in my seat to look at her. She has her legs scooped up to the side as she leans against the door and stares out the window.
“Never?” Jax glances at her in the rear-view mirror.
“Nope.” She drops the p hard.
“What about with your family? Vacations or something?” He keeps both hands on the wheel and a keen eye on the road, but glances at her every so often.