Page 61 of No Hope of Rescue

“Jace, get Carter to help next door. Mom and Codie are both napping.”

“All of us? Isn’t that overkill?”

“Just do it. And don’t leave the house until you hear from me.”

After quickly texting Ross and Riley to return, I set my phone down on the table and turn to Crystal.

“You need to leave.”

“But—”

“Ryan, can you walk her? She wants to help with Codie.”

“Sure thing,” my brother says after grabbing a handful of peanuts from a bowl on the kitchen counter. I notice Jace scoots out ahead of them.

Crystal quickly retrieves the ring box and slides it back into her pocket. This move doesn’t escape either of my brothers. If there had been a piece of that wall left, it would have fallen away then.

It’s not until later that I realize that rush never came. Those walls never rematerialized.

Just as the door closes behind them, the phone vibrates. The other phone.

The burner phone.

Chapter Eighteen

Riley Delgado

When Brock steps out with Crystal, I don’t know what to do with the pit in my stomach. She returned. Of course she returned. That’s so Crystal.

“Always played him by his short hairs” is what Carter had said. That was before we all stopped talking about her.

I stand there for a moment as if struck on the side of the head, when Ross shoves off from his place leaning against the counter.

“So that’s the ex?”

I fumble for a much more nuanced answer than “Yeah.”

“High maintenance?”

I shrug. How can I not seem spiteful or catty?

Ross makes a grunt. “I bet she was, a little.”

I try to laugh. “Yeah. I guess.”

“And this, for you, has been a slow burn?”

My face flushes hot. I’m not used to talking to men about my feelings. I’m not used to talking to anyone about my feelings except maybe Codie and Kelly. And when it comes to talking about feelings for Brock—never.

“Bingo,” he says and grins. “You got nothing to worry about.” He pauses. “There’s a lot below the surface with Brock. Those waters run deep.”

I say nothing.

“Do you think he trusts me?”

This surprises me. “Yes. I mean you’re former Air Force. Why?”

Ross shrugs. “Just asking.”