“Okay, new plan. We’re on our way over. Ford can stay with the girls just in case they wake up, and you and I will go hunt down Cade and beat some sense into him if necessary.”
“Um—”
“I’m kidding about the beating, obviously,” he interrupts me. “Mostly.”
“I didn’t mean to like, put you guys out though. I’m sorry.”
“Silas, you called me in the middle of the night because you were scared and needed help. Do you need help?”
“Yes.”
“Okay, then you have to let us help you. We’ll be there in a few minutes, try not to freak out in the meantime. Drink a glass of water and text anyone who might be with Cade to see if they’re still awake. Got it?”
I let out a big breath, because just having a series of tasks given to me along with a semblance of a plan has really chipped away at all of that mounting anxiety.
“Okay. Thank you. Really, thank you.”
Tristan hangs up without saying anything else, and after I take a few deep breaths, I get to work on doing what he suggested.
Wish doesn’t answer. I’m assuming she’s asleep, and when I think about it, I realize she might not even be back in town from her trip yet. Gunnar does answer, which makes sense. After a few minutes of tense silence, he tells me that Cade was at the Feral Possum tonight, but left hours ago and seemed mostly sober. Or at least sober enough that no one felt the need to investigate.
I text his mom, I text anyone from high school whose number I still have, which isn’t a lot of people. I even text Micah, whose number I am surprised I have, but who says he hasn’t seen him in the ER tonight but will keep an eye out. Which was a long shot, but still eases my worry a little.
I’ve barely gotten through the list by the time I hear the rumble of a car engine in the driveway. I throw open the door so they don’t wake the girls by knocking, and watch them both lumber up the driveway and into the house. The night air is colder than it’s been all year, and I start shivering right away.
Tristan looks as bright-eyed as usual, dressed in his day clothes. Ford looks half-asleep and is wearing sweats and a hoody with his feet shoved into unlaced boots.
For a second, adrenaline dumps into my veins wholesale when a series of anxious thoughts hit me.
I’m selfish for pulling them over here.
Everyone’s going to be pissed when this turns out to be nothing.
I don’t know how I’m supposed to express how grateful I am for their help.
I’m going to shut down because I’m uncomfortable, and that’ll make them even less aware of how grateful I am.
Nothing I say will be effusive enough for them to understand, and it’s going to be weird no matter what.
None of these thoughts help me, so I kind of freeze up as they walk inside and don’t really say anything at all. The guys don’tseem to mind, though. Ford nods at me in passing, while Tristan claps me on the shoulder. As soon as they’re inside, I close the door and start to mumble something, but Tristan cuts me off again, thank fuck.
“No time for thank yous. You can be eternally in our debt later. Did anybody you texted answer?”
I give him the rundown of the little I know, and he nods solemnly the whole time.
“A’right,” he starts, before being interrupted by Ford yawning ostentatiously, making him smile. “This big fucking teddy bear is going to sleep on your couch so the children have someone around if they wake up. Hopefully they won’t, but fortunately for all of us, Cade’s sisters are about the only people in town who are not justnotafraid of him, but actually think he’s fun to be around. Which shows they have the same poor judgment as their brother, but whatever.”
The fact that Tristan’s teasing Ford while we’re all whispering in my entryway in the middle of the night helps ease my tension even more. Ford fake glares at him, Tristan laughs and then pushes him toward the living room, and it all feels so mundane. Like the world can’t be ending if everyone’s cracking jokes.
“Thanks,” I say to Ford, signing at the same time, before running to grab him a blanket and a pillow.
I’m going to fuss more, but he waves me away before he throws his phone onto the table, collapses his big, bulky body onto the couch with a sigh, and closes his eyes. Tristan jerks his head toward the door, so I grab my jacket and follow him out the front door.
In the car, we talk a little about what happened in the past couple of days. Well, I talk, while he asks prompting questions. It goes on for a while before I realize I don’t even know where we’re going.
“Do you have a plan, or are we just driving?”
Tristanpfffft’sme loudly.
