She sent the message and set her phone on the table before taking a bite of the hamburger.
“Good girl,” I said.
She picked up her phone when it vibrated. “Oh,” she said, her face falling. “Rose can’t come.”
“Why not?” Henry asked.
“She said Luke will be home early for once and so they want to spend the evening together. He doesn’t like the fair.”
“Of courseshegets out of going when it was her idea,” Henry muttered.
“What, are you not excited about going?” Westin asked, looking at Henry with concern.
“Yeah, Henry,” I said, crossing my arms. “You don’t want to go?” I couldn’t stop my grin at seeing him squirm.
“No, no, of course I want to,” he said quickly.
Westin narrowed her eyes at him, but let it drop as she sent another message.
72
WESTIN
When I’d turned on my phone to text Rose, I saw a barrage of missed calls from Josie. I already felt guilty at how sporadic my texts had been to her during the road trip, and now a panic rose inside me at all the missed calls. Had something happened?
The moment we got back to the guesthouse, I stepped into the back courtyard to call her. The phone only rang twice before she answered.
“Westin, are you okay?” The panic in her voice made me feel like an asshole for not responding to her.
“Yeah, I promise I’m fine. I’m sorry I haven’t responded. I turned my phone off.”
“You’re all over the news,” Josie said, her voice low.
My brow furrowed. Had I heard her correctly? “Wait, what?”
“Shit, hold on.” I heard the sounds of the bakery in the background. “I’m going in the back,” she told someone, then the noises quieted down. “Sorry about that. But yeah, your face is plastered all over the TV. Your uncles went to Wolf News and said you’ve been kidnapped by a group of alphas. They said the Sol police aren’t doing anything to save you, and that’s why weneed more laws around omegas leaving the province and lots of other bullshit.”
I started shaking with rage as her words sank in. “I’m going to fucking kill them,” I snarled. “Yesterday, two Sol police officers came to investigate the report that I’d been kidnapped. They ended up leaving when it was obvious I was here by choice.” I was pacing around the garden now.
“I knew it wasn’t true,” Josie said. “But I also didn’t know if something had happened that I didn’t know about…” She trailed off and my chest tightened at how concerned she was for me.
“Thanks for checking on me.” I forced myself to sit down in one of the courtyard chairs. “I’m surprised my guys don’t know about this yet.”
“It only broke like an hour or two ago.”
“That makes sense.” I sighed and ran my hand through my hair. “We’ve been at the hospital.”
“That’s right,” Josie said. “I’m sorry, I forgot. How did it go?”
I bit my lip. “It was okay, I guess. The doctor was nice and took me seriously. I’m going back tomorrow for tests.”
“How’re you feeling about it?” Her voice was gentle, and it brought a lump to my throat.
“I don’t know,” I said, resting my head in my hand. “This whole time, I’ve wanted answers. But now I’m scared to get them.”
“I get that,” Josie said. “Are your guys being good to you?”
I grinned at the warning in her tone. “Stand down. They’re being great. I convinced them to take me to the local fair tonight.”
