“Have you lost your—”
“Listen to me.” Satori cuts Zeke off, and just when I think my brother might lunge at him, Carter reaches over me to griphis shoulder—stopping him from actually doing it. “Think about it. Why else would his clothes be packed up? His phone is off, which is apparently a once-in-a-lifetime occurrence for him…andthe location on his motorcycle is inactive? Since when does that fucking happen?”
“It could’ve easily been turned off by someone else!” Zeke yells, and my chest puffs out some. There’s just a tiny spark of confidence that flickers at my brother’s assumption, because at least that means I’m not the only one that thinks this is crazy.
“Oh yeah, tough guy? Like who?” Satori yells back.
“You, mother fucker!” Zeke jerks away from Carter’s hold and steps up to Satori, but he doesn’t wait for Zeke, and meets him halfway instead. Daisy starts barking aggressively and rises on all fours. She moves to stand over me sideways, with two paws on each side of my body, like she’ll throw herself into the mix if they get too close.
“Yeah? And how the hell would I do that?” Satori yells back.
“Alright, you two. Calm down! I’m checking the activity log now!” Carter yells back and circles the couch to sit next to me. He lays his laptop on the coffee table, and after some manic typing, he abruptly stops. His eyes remain glued to the screen, like he’s stuck in place, and it’s when his breathing deepens that my stomach plummets.
“Carter?” I call to him curiously, and when he doesn’t turn back towards me, I scoot forward a little more—literally on the edge of my seat. Daisy doesn’t move, though, and I find myself leaning into her strong form. He audibly gulps, and when he looks back up, it’s not at me. My stomach flips. He looks at Zeke like he can’t bear to look at my face.
“It says Damien was logged in, and the log says he’s the one that terminated his location…” he says so softly, so lowly, that I’m not sure I heard him right. There’s absolutely no way whathe just said is true. The urge to crash out and scream comes back, and I just want to throw that damn laptop across the room.
It can’t be right.
“Bullshit! Let me see that!” Zeke storms back over and jerks Carter’s laptop off the table before I get the chance. His face morphs into one of disbelief as he reads the screen, and then like a snap of the finger, he drops the laptop and moves swiftly in Satori’s direction.
Hatred turns his pupils to points, and it’s as if something otherworldly takes over my brother.
“What the fuck did you do?!” Zeke screams, and lunges at Satori. I instinctively stand up, not sure whether to jump out of the way or into the action. Daisy swiftly hops down to stand at my side, but before I can move anywhere, Carter is in front of me. Alex is diving after Zeke while Satori moves in sync to buck back at him, but Kade and Darnell are already holding him back.
“I didn’t do anything! I’m pointing out facts! Everything adds up to him leaving!” Satori screams back at him, and the room comes to a halt. I barely register the garage door opening and closing until Ser runs up to me and wraps her arms around my shoulders. It’s like she’s barely here, though. Her touch is only as effective as a ghost’s. I can hardly feel it. Everyone is standing still now, with nothing but heaving breaths taking over the space. Satori jerks out of their hold, like their attempts to hold him meant nothing, and continues his rant. “I know that’s hard for you to hear, but maybe you all needed a neutral pair of eyes! Is thereanyevidence that says he was hurt or taken? Anything at all?”
The room goes silent again. Shadows overtake the living room, and the floor shakes beneath me. Serena tightens her grip to hold me up, and then she speaks softly into my ear as she pulls me close. Soothing words caress the shell of my ear, but it does little good. She gently sets me back on the couch. It feels evencolder than it did before, and that tingly feeling comes back full force.
He left me?
No.
No.
No. No. No.
There’s no way.
He would never leave me. I know that deep down. Not after everything we’ve been through, not with how much we love each other, and hecertainlywouldn’t leave our unborn child. I don’t care what Satori says. I don’t care what that fucking computer says. Every bone in my body is screaming that Satori is wrong, but then there’s the paranoia that lies beneath them.
A high-pitched ringing suddenly fills my ears, and the room starts to sway. My pulse is racing, and I can feel it thumping away beneath my skin. How could someone get into the house, and we were none the wiser? There were no camera notifications, and they were never shut off. Plus, how could someone log into the system under Damien’s name? It requireshishandprint…
“It’s going to be okay, Ash. Just take a deep breath,” Ser whispers in my ear and runs a hand over my hair. I don’t even notice I’m borderline hyperventilating until she spoke to me. At the snap of a finger, everything goes from completely still to moving at lightning speed. Her hand leaves my back for a moment, and I shiver as an ice-cold fabric is draped across my neck and shoulders. Zeke is handing Serena a bottle of water, Carter comes back into view, and Alex is standing in front of Satori like if he took another step, he’d pummel him. “Maybe you guys should take this conversation outside.” I know she directed that statement towards everyone that isn’t me, but I respond anyway and shake my head.
“No. There’s nothing to talk about,” I say quietly, still trying to process what they want to discuss.
“Ashia, I know how difficult this must be, but you need to try and think clearly here…” Satori says to me in that degrading ass tone, and I snap my gaze to him.
“What did you say about him last night?” There’s a perfectly-still moment as he tries to work his way around my question. It’s so quiet and stagnant that I could hear a pin drop if one fell. His eyes narrow, but not in a confused manner. It’s almost like he’s surprised I had the guts to ask him that question.
“I’m not sure what—”
“After my brother bashed your face in, what did you say about my husband?” I ask again, and it’s back to silence. Crickets. Mister ‘my balls are bigger than yours’ has nothing to say now? “Let me make myself very clear. I don’t give a single damn about what that computer says, or what our bedroom looks like. Damien wouldneverleave me.” I turn my head to Darnell and look back and forth between him and Zeke. “Get any evidence from here that you can. Leavenothingunchecked.” I shakily stand, having to hold onto Serena to step without falling over, and steadily walk with her towards the back door. Daisy follows suit, and her body presses against my legs like she’s leading me.
They continue to argue as I walk away, and I can’t bring myself to care about anything they’re saying. There’s only one person that’s missing here besides Damien, but I know exactly what calling him would mean. He’s exactly like my husband in two ways.
The first is their devotion to their families.
