Whoever got through it knew exactly what they were doing. I pull my phone out of my pocket and dial Jeremy because I know Kalen is with Juniper.
The call starts, and behind me, Livy shifts slightly. I hear the soft sound of her steps moving across the floor and instantly reach back, grabbing her wrist and pulling her closer to me again.
“Stay with me, please,” I murmur.
She complies, but then she leans around my shoulder and points down the hallway.
I follow the direction of her finger.
Jeremy’s door is open, just barely.
Then I hear it.
A faint buzzing sound echoing down the hall.
I end the call immediately, and the noise stops.
“Go into my bedroom,” I say quietly. “Lock the door.”
She shakes her head and her hand wraps around my bicep instead, her fingers curling into the fabric of my sleeve as she looks up at me.
“I’m the safest I’ll ever be with you.” I lean down and press a quick kiss to her mouth before pulling her with me. Two fast strides take me back into my room. I open the drawer beside my bed and pull out my gun, checking it out of habit before turning back toward the hallway.
I hold my girl’s face in my hands, brushing my thumb lightly across her cheek before leaning down to kiss her again.
“Stay behind me,” I murmur softly. “I don’t know what we’re going to find.”
When I step into the hallway, she follows exactly where I told her to, just behind my shoulder. Jeremy’s door hangs open in front of us, and I pause there for a moment, listening.
I take a slow breath, lift my foot, and kick the door all the way open.
It slams hard against the wall.
I step inside immediately, my gun raised as my eyes sweep the room.
Empty.
Jeremy’s phone is lying in the middle of his bed, vibrating against the rumpled sheets. The blankets are twisted like he’d been sleeping there, but the bed is otherwise untouched.
No Jeremy, but there’s three of his neckties tossed on the floor.
My jaw tightens as I lower the gun slightly, and then I hear voices echo from the front door. I spin around instantly, grabbing Livy and pulling her behind me again as I raise the gun back up.
Three figures step into the doorway.
I see Kalen first, then Juniper, and finally Sprinkles who lets out a yawn. I can only assume Kalen slept at Juniper’s last night, and the dog is annoyed that they woke her up to come over here this early.
My shoulders relax just enough for me to lower the gun, but my eyes keep moving between them and the wrecked living room behind us.
“What the hell happened here?” Kalen asks, and I hold my hands up as if to say I don’t fucking know, man.
Livy shifts again behind me, and I move her to stand at my side after I put the safety on my gun.
“Where’s Jeremy?” Kalen asks.
I run a hand through my hair, glancing toward the hallway again.
“When we got up this morning,” I say, “the front door was open. Doesn’t look tampered with, by the way. Jeremy’s door was open too, and his phone was still in his room.”
