Delete. Music instead. Ethel Cain’s voice fills the room, but before I can hit Do Not Disturb, Jake’s name buzzes across my screen. My stomach flips. Iwantto talk to him.
I answer.
“Ada!”
His voice is so loud I nearly drop the phone. “What the fuck man? Relax!”
“Where are you?” He roars. It sounds like he’s in a car. “I’ve been losing my fucking mind worried about you!”
“Why?”
A sound like he struck the dash. “ I can’t even begin answering that question. Where are you? At a hotel?”
“Yes. But?—”
“Which hotel? I’m coming to you.”
“I’m here too, Ada,” Davis calls down the line.
I frown at my phone. “Why the hell are you two?—”
“We’re not getting into that. We’ve been driving around looking for you fuck knows how long, and I’ve had it.”
“You’ve had it?”
“Yes. Do you not remember sending me a voicemail saying you got your fuckin’ tyre slashed?—”
“It was Cece’s tyre.”
“I don’t give a fuck whose tyre it was! Aggie told us you’ve been looking into Thompson Farms, and I called Colin and he says you’ve got the whole place losing their shit. I can’t fucking believe you went there on your own.Jesus fuckin’ Christ, Ada.”
I turn and lean against the bathroom wall, sliding down onto the floor. “You don’t have to get involved.”
“The fuck I don’t. What are you doing now?”
“Getting ready for the cocktail party.”
“No. You can’t go to that. It’s not safe.”
“Fuck off! You can’t tell me what to do. Do you know how sick I am of the men in this town telling me what to do?”
Jake makes a noise like an angry bear. “You don’t understand?—”
“Maybe I do, Jake. Maybe I just don’t fucking care.”
“You don’t care about being hurt?”
“No. So I’m going to the cocktail party. If you want to go too, I can’t stop you, but I’m not leaving this alone and that’s a promise.”
He sucks a breath through his breath and I know he’s too furious to respond.
“Ada,” Davis cuts in. “Jake’s been calling everyone he knows, and no one who works at the farm besides Colin will talk to him. The bloke’s shitting himself, reckons whatever you’ve done, you’ve kicked the hornet’s nest.”
“Who cares?” I yell at my phone. “That doesn’t change that I’m the only one who seems to give a shit this is happening. And I’m not scared of hornets.”
“You should be,” Jake snarls. “I would be.I am.”
“Where are you?” Davis asks. “What hotel?”
