“Elijah’s on it, but let’s go. We can split up and check around. Ace, you take Robinson over to Kolt and make the block around back to the school. Connor, you’re taking my truck and I want you to go to Thomas and back towards thehighway. Jericho, you’re with me. You’ll drive and I’ll keep us all in the loop with Elijah. Does everyone have their phones?”
At all of our nods, Hollis nods. Gone is my friend, and in his place is the private security company owner whose main focus is keeping people safe and protecting those he loves. He might not love Raiden, but I do and that's a good enough reason for Hollis.
I’m sure when we get back I’ll get the third degree about my relationship with Raiden but that can wait until he’s safe in my arms.
My parents come around the corner with Ema and Rodney flanking their sides. Ema and Rodney, even with their slight stumbling to get into the living room, have worry lining their faces.
“We’ll find him,” I reassure them, just as much for them as for myself. Because Iwillfind Raiden. There’s nowhere he could go that I wouldn’t find him.
We brace ourselves with an extra layer of jackets from the hallway, and take our positions in our respective vehicles. Hollis is posted up beside me with his laptop in his lap. He’s on the phone with Elijah getting live updates, but there’s been no sight of Ema’s car yet. No sign of the car means no sign of Raiden.
My hands are clammy on the steering wheel as I back out of Ema and Rodney’s driveway and pull on the road to lead us out of the neighborhood. Connor is behind me, and Ace is behind him.
Where the fuck are you Raiden?
28
JERICHO
“So, is there anything you want to tell me?” Hollis breaks the silence when we loop around downtown. I squeeze the leather of my steering wheel and hear the resoundingcreakfrom the pressure. “You’re going to have to tell me at some point, so you might as well do it now.”
“Can it wait?” I bark out, whipping my truck around the corner and splashing water against some poor, unsuspecting person’s yard decorations.
“It can, but you could tell me now and I’ll leave you alone about it faster.”
I know what he’s trying to do, he’s trying to distract me so my mind won’t race through every bad thing that could be potentially happening to Raiden. Not like my mind hasn’t already come up with the most revolting images. If my mind had it the way it wants, I could describe in gory detail every bad thing that could have happened. And I don’t want to do that right now.
“I love him. Is that good enough?”
“No, but it’s a start.” Hollis is typing rigorously on his laptop,the fastclack clack clackkeeping the silence from weighing down on me.
“What else do you want to know?” I make another sharp turn onto a street and the streetlights are bright enough that I don’t have to worry about not being able to see through the rain beating down on my front windshield. Every minute we’re out here is another one that the storm gets worse. It has to do with Raiden, the ability for his emotions to affect the storms. He’s been able to do it for as long as I’ve known him. The sky bends to no one's will, except his.
“Is what your mom was saying true?”
“Depends, she was pretty drunk so it was probably hit or miss.” Where the fuck is Raiden, and why hasn’t he called me back? He has to know I’m worried sick about him.
“She said you’re in love with him, and you have been for the past 12 years. So if you’re twenty five now that means…” Damn my mother and her big fat mouth. “You’ve been in love with him for longer than I’ve known you and I only recently met him. You’ve been holding out on me.”
“We had a big falling out right before I enlisted. But she’s right. I think there’s a part of me that’s always loved him and that always will. I can’t change it.” Idon’twant to.
“I’m not asking you to, I support you. It sucks about Liam though, but you don’t need me to tell you how shitty that was.” His laptop dings with a new hit and I’m saved from having to go into the topic of Liam right now. My head can only take so many more bad things happening tonight before I go off the deep end.
I don’t even know how I’m truly staying sane right now, except the only thing on my mind is finding Raiden. I’m sure once we find him the adrenaline crash will hit and I’ll be irritated with him for running away but so grateful that we were able to find him.
“Jericho, pull over.” Hollis demands and I whip my headaround to look at him. His eyes are set and determined. My initial response is to ignore him, to keep doing what we’re doing until I find Raiden. But I know this is Work Hollis not Friend Hollis and he’s taking this seriously. I check my rearview mirror and I don’t see anyone behind us, so I quickly pull over the truck in front of some random person’s house. Clicking my flashers on, I jump out and round the truck while Hollis does the same thing.
He buckles in and we’re off. His laptop is sitting on the console facing me, but the screen is black. I move my fingertips over the mouse pad, trying to wake it up but it stays black.
“Did you turn the laptop off?”
“Yep.” Hollis pops thepdramatically. I stare at him, waiting for an explanation. It’s obvious one isn’t coming when it whips a u-turn in the middle of the street and starts going back the way we came.
“Where are we going?” I watch the scenery pass by that I’ve already seen once. We’re retracing the same steps we already made. “Hollis, what the fuck is going on?”
“If I tell you, you’re going to freak out. I’m trying to minimize it until we can actually do something.”
My pulse pounds in my throat and the rock settling in the bottom of my gut warns me that whatever Hollis is trying to protect me from is something out of my worst nightmare.
