“I didn’t know.”
“I know,” I tell him. “Now let it go.”
“Okay.”
I’m sure it doesn’t help that his mom was murdered by a psychopath that was stalking his aunt. Life sure seems full of sick fucks, and Eric has seen more than his fair share of them.
We find Manny and jump in his SUV. I start trying to track Adrienne’s phone through the app while Eric keeps trying to call her.
She doesn’t answer, doesn’t answer… and then she does.
“Adrienne?” Eric breathes. “Are you there?”
“Yeah, Eric,” she says, her voice coming over the speakers, and she sounds groggy as hell. The icon for her phone on the app is still blinking like it doesn’t know where she is. If it doesn’t come up, I’ll have to call Hacker back at base and get him to look into it, but I don’t want it to take too long and waste precious time.
“We’re on our way, honey,” he says.
“It’s going to be too late,” she replies, and I want to scream.
“It won’t,” Eric says. “We’ll find you. We’ll get there in time.”
“You won’t,” she assures. “Listen. I was wrong to tell you that it was a mistake to fall in love. I’ll never regret falling for King, no matter how little time I have left. I love him, and I’m glad he knows, even if he doesn’t love me back.”
“He loves you, Addie.”
“I don’t think so, but that’s okay. Find Campbell,” she says. “Promise me, Eric, that you’ll find her and you’ll make things right.”
“We’ll talk about this when I get there.”
“Promise me.”
“I prom—” But then the line goes dead.
And the screen of my own phone lights up. “I got her.”
Chapter 18
The End
Adrienne
I’m not going to lie. Even when I took the threats seriously, even when King blurted out how awful they really were, I never thought I would wake up with a pounding headache, taped to a chair in a house in the suburbs of Henderson, Nevada.
Apparently, this is the end.Fin. No more. The end of the road. Also, I think the bump on the head Bobby gave me shook some screws loose. Or maybe I just don’t care anymore, because this has been the worst day of my life. Who knows?
I knew the day of the explosion that something was wrong. I should have trusted my gut; I just didn’t. I wouldn’t know how much I’d regret that until today, when he coldcocked me with a gun.Let’s all add that one to Things I Don’t Ever Want to Do Again for a thousand, Alex.
I was out cold until someone meanly slapped my face. I figured it was Bobby, and it was, sort of. I mean, he’s here too after all, standing in the background. What I did not expect was my stepmom, Candy, to be the mastermind behind all of this. Quite frankly, I didn’t think she was smart enough. It would appear today is also my day to learn not to underestimate anyone either.
“Time to talk to your friend,” she says as she slides her finger across my phone to answer it.
“Adrienne?” Eric says through the phone. “Are you there?”
“Yeah, Eric,” I reply.
“We’re on our way, honey,” he tells me, but in my heart of hearts, I know it’s too late. He’s not going to find me, and if Candy and Bobby make good on their threats, I don’t want him or anyone to see me like that when it’s all said and done.
“It’s going to be too late.”
