I’ve drifted to the kitchen, my tired mind on the hunt for caffeine and food.In that order.Internally debating on ordering in a huge spread for everyone as I get the coffee pot going. The smell of the beans wafting through the air kick starts my senses, and as I turn to grab the cups, the flicker of paper on the counter snags all of my attention.
Normally, a random paper sitting on the island wouldn’t even register, but I was the last one upstairs last night. When I headed to bed, I made sure there was nothing left out. Worried Mikayla might think less of us for leaving the house in disarray. Whatever it is, it’s new and out of place.
So, naturally I must touch it.
My hand slides over the folded corpse of a tree, picking it up as a keychain falls out from between the edges. Clanging with a twang against the counter beforecrashing onto the floor. The trinket is the least of my concerns as I read the words Bear has put in ink.
Zane, Kade, Max, and Ry.
I’m sorry it had to be this way. Especially after the last few days of us together. I hope with enough time you’ll forgive me. Please know that I’m okay, and it has nothing to do with any of you. Nor would anything you did change my decision to leave. There are things I need to complete, actions I need to take before it will be safe to have anyone close to me. And you all mean too much to me to put you in any sort of risk. When the time comes, and I am no longer a danger to the ones I love, I’ll look for you again.
With all my love & heart,
Mik.
No… This seriously can’t be happening. Not again…
My head is thrown into a state of utter panic, stumbling over itself trying to figure out what to do. My feet don’t want to move, my mind doesn’t want to accept her words, and my empty stomach feels like it’s going to eject acid.
The others, I need to tell the others.
I crash and crawl my way up the stairs to the second floor. Lumbering around like I’ve been on a full week bender and only just decided to come home. Ry’s room is the closest to the stairs, my arms barely stretching out to open the door before my face makes contact with the solid wood.
Barreling into his room, the door bangs loudly against the wall as my ragged breathing and sharp shrieks of what I think is supposed to be a scream, snap him out of his sleep. He jumps up, hands clutching his chest and eyes blown wide, staring at me like I’ve lost my damn mind.Maybe I have. It sure feels like it.
“She… note… gone….” The edge of a panic attack is creeping closer, the terror building low in my gut from losing her all over again.
Still laced in a haze of sleep and confusion, Ryder rubs his eyes with the heels of his hands. “What the hell are you grumbling about?”
It’s as though my tongue has grown three sizes in a matter of minutes, swelling so that I’m unable to make them all aware of the suffering starting all over again. With the threat of her getting too far away to catch being the most important right now, I do the next best thing when you can't speak. I throw the note at him.
Which, because it’s paper, falls to the floor two feet short of the bed.I’m really winning at this whole let’s-not-lose-her thing.
Moving closer again, I snatch it from the ground and toss it into his lap. Storming off to barge across the hall and alert Max. The second I get to his door, a growled “What. the. FUCK!” reverberates from Ry’s room.
In less than two minutes, he’s rushing past me through Max’s door, screaming for him to get up. My head is still spinning as Max’s eyes flutter open. A groan pulling from his chest.
“What the fuck is your problem?”
Ry, being of a sounder mind than I apparently, briefly explains before shoving the note into Max’s chest.
Good, don’t throw it, it doesn’t work.
He takes a second to read it, turn it over in his palm, and then read it for a second time, before he looks at us. Tears welling in his broken eyes. They don’t fall, but they don’t need to. Flashbacks of the grief and pain we all went through are undoubtedly fresh in all of our minds right now. All except one.
Turning on my heels, I march towards Kade’s room, determined to drag him to the computer room if needed.Why did we think putting him the farthest from the stairs was a good idea?He needs to get on her movements. If anyone is able to see what time she left and where she went, it’s going to be him.
I open the door with a bang. Max and Ryder directly behind me as the three of us push into the small hallway opening of Kade's room. I need to pump some adrenaline or caffeine into his system and get—
Holy fuck-balls.
Startling awake, is not only a pissed off looking Kade, but fucking Bear! A naked and grumbling Bear at that. The sheet has fallen, covering her lower half but her perfect, perky breasts are on full display. She quickly catches herself, pulling the sheet up to her freaking chin, blush crawling up the lines of her neck and cheeks. If I wasn’t so confused, panicked, and now incredibly hard, I would jump into this little skit they have going on. But I still have yet to form a sentence, nevermind making my brain wrap around whatever you want to call this.
No one dares say a word, I think because no one actually knows what to say. We all just stand here in some sort of awkward, and embarrassing staring contest. Max, the last to wake, seems to be the first to get his shit together.
Her letter still within his firm grasp, he charges past the two of us, heading straight for her. He stops next to the edge of the bed, glares and then throws it against her lap. The crumpled piece of paper, gently lying on her thigh as she throws him a defying glare, before schooling her face into the passive aggressive expression we’ve come to recognize over the past few days.
“What the fuck is this shit, Addison?!” he screeches, the spittle flying from his lips and landing on her face and chest. Kade looks up at him, his hand moving to grab for the letter. She pays him no mind, as she narrows her gaze, piercing into Max’s soul with a stare that would make the sun shiver.
