Page 80 of Trade It All

Every few minutes my mind flashes through some worst-case scenario I can’t seem to shut off. Tyler saying something. Tyler getting too close. Maddie freezing. Maddie pretending she’s okay when she isn’t.

I need to see her. Need one look at her face so I can tell myself she’s still steady.

Still breathing. Still mine.

“Dean?” One of the assistants says my name.

I blink. “What?”

He points at the screen. I don’t even know what the hell we’re reviewing.

“Right,” I mutter, not bothering to fake it anymore as I push away from the table. “Be back.”

No one stops me. I’m already out the door and down the hallway before they can.

My pace is too fast to be casual, but I don’t care. I know exactly where she should be.

Outside the locker room. Waiting for Jake to come grab her so she can do the pregame social clip with him like she always does.

I round the corner—and my steps falter.

Because she isn’t there. Luka is.

Just Luka.

Standing against the wall with his arms crossed like he’s waiting on someone.

My pulse spikes so hard it feels like a punch.

I’m on him in three strides.

“Where is she?”

Luka’s brows pull together.

“I don’t know,” he says, glancing toward the locker room doors. “Jake told me to come grab Maddie because he was going over something with Jasper. I’ve just been waiting for her.”

A cold unease slides down my spine.

No. That doesn’t fit. Maddie is never late.

Never careless. Never the girl who makes one of the guys stand around waiting on her because she lost track of time. If Jake asked for her, she would have been here five minutes early with her camera already rolling.

Something is wrong. I see the same realization hit Luka because he’s already yanking his phone out.

My chest feels tight. Too tight. “Put it on speaker.”

The words scrape out of me. Luka taps her contact and lifts the phone between us.

It rings.

Once.

Twice.

Three times.

Every ring digs deeper under my skin.