With him.
Nausea rolled over me as the bitter irony of this whole fucked-up situation hit me. The people I’d pushed away because of lies and betrayal were the only people who could save me, and every last one of them was oblivious to the fact that I needed their help at all.
Bowen
I couldn’t put my finger on it, but something was wrong. At least, that was my rationale as I drove nearly double the speed limit, barely slowing at the stop signs that seemed to be on every fucking corner between my place and Remi’s.
She would be pissed as all hell that I’d once again ignored her wishes and inserted myself into her life, but I didn’t give a damn. The rock that had cemented itself in my gut told me that I needed to get over to her house. Fast.
“Call Remi’s office!” I shouted for what felt like the hundredth time. The robotic Bluetooth voice took an eternity to connect the call.
It didn’t make sense that she and Mark would have gone to chat at her office, but desperation rarely made sense. I’d alternated between calling her office and Mark, a silent prayer sent up every time the phone rang. But just as quickly as the flame of hope flickered, it died again when her sunshiny voicemail told me to leave a message.
I’d one, but when the beep sounded, I pled, “Remi, please. If you’re ignoring me, that’s fine. Just fucking pick up and tell me to fuck off. Something. Anything.” I stabbed the disconnect button on the screen in my truck and let out a frustrated growl.
I couldn’t make sense of how Remi would be so angry with everyone involved in the deception after the plane crash and then choose to leave with Mark. It was his fucking idea in the first place to keep the truth from her. I hadn’t told her that, but I suspected Aaron hadn’t sat on the details for long after she cut him off. Mark had led that siege, so why would she overlook it when she couldn’t even stand to face anyone else—myself included?
I wasn’t blameless, and though I stood by the fact that I would do it all over again for her, I still owned up to my responsibility in the disaster we had created. Even after we’d had desperate and frenzied sex against the door in my house, she’d made it clear she was still livid with what I’d done. What all of us had done. So why would she hop into the truck with Mark leaving her purse, phone, and most shocking of all, Sugar behind?
Something was way fucking off. I felt it in my bones.
My phone rang, and before the caller ID could register who it was on my screen, I snatched it off the passenger seat. “Remi?”
“Aaron,” he corrected.
“Fuck,” I breathed as the optimism that had sprung to my chest vanished. “Any news?”
Aaron’s flustered exhale told me the answer before he even said a word. “Mark didn’t answer. I’m assuming you didn’t get ahold of Remi?”
“She’s not at the office. Did you talk to the neighbor again?”
“He didn’t have anything more to add. Said he barely glanced over here before he left for the grocery store.”
“What about her car doors? Were they unlocked? Did Sugar seem overheated? You said her purse was on the seat. Was it knocked over, like maybe someone went through it? What about the house? Everything locked up? Did it look like she’d been inside?”
“Whoa. Okay. Slow down.”
I couldn’t slow my racing mind any more than I could have commanded my foot to let off the gas pedal at that point. “This feels wrong, Aaron. Really fucking wrong.”
“I agree. It doesn’t look like anyone went inside the house. Sugar was fine, purse was fine, everything looked…fine. Where are you?” His voice might have been even, but concern laced every word.
I looked around for the first time since I’d climbed into my truck. I’d driven the route between our houses so many times I could have done it asleep, but I’d been on autopilot. “Turning onto your street now. I’m gonna try Remi’s office one more time.” Without giving him a chance to respond, I disconnected the call, immediately pulling up Remi’s contact. The goofy selfie of us I’d programmed into my phone flashed on the screen, twisting my stomach. And after four agonizing rings, I hung up and tossed the phone onto my passenger seat. “Where are you?” I groaned.
Aaron was waiting for me in the driveway as I whipped in behind her car, the tires letting out a squeal that echoed my thoughts. The truck was barely in park before I was out and bounding up to his side.
“You have Remi’s phone?” I snapped.
With one hand squeezing his neck, he gestured toward her SUV. “Still sitting on the seat. As soon as I saw Sugar in the car, I grabbed him and called you. I didn’t touch anything else.”
