Page 28 of Pieces of You

Either way. I don’t want you to feel any pressure. We will wait. We will have all the patience in the world for your recovery. If you want to see us one by one, go for it. If you want a quick five-minute reunion before you kick us out of your house, by all means. Don’t let anyone else set the pace. Your comfort comes first. Same goes for messages and online activity. I’m sure the moment we hear of your rescue, we will reach out and express our utter joy. Don’t feel pressured to respond to anyone.

Thinking of you,

Tate

“Daddy?”

“Yeah, honey?”

“I want bweakfast.” Okay, that was Zoe. She hadn’t mastered the Rs yet.

“Breakfast is a great idea,” I replied.

I stared at the words in the notebook. I was done for the moment. But it felt like so much was going unsaid. Things we didn’t wanna voice. Worst-case scenarios and worst fears.

I believe, I believe, I fucking believe.

Unsure of how many had stayed the night, I got to my feet and went over to raid the fridge. It would be good to get rid of some leftovers—and we had a shit-ton of yogurt, I noticed. So that settled it, leftovers and yogurt. We had plenty of cereals, fruit, nuts, granola, and muesli. I could set up a yogurt buffet with minimum effort and throw leftovers in a skillet or into the oven.

Lucas Carter

“Darlin’, your phone’s ringin’.”

Fuck. I’d hoped I was dreaming that.

I yawned and reached blindly for my phone on the nightstand. “Where’s Kit?” He’d been in front of me not too long ago.

“Outside,” Colt yawned. “He’s clearly not on board with daytime sleepin’.”

Ugh. But I was. We hadn’t slept at all last night, so this was my plan for the entire day. Takeout and naps.

I squinted at the screen—and that sure did it. Seeing Greer’s name on the display woke me right up, and I answered.

“Greer, how are you? You’ve landed, I take it.”

“Aye, we’re in LA.” His voice filtered through. “Listen, we’re about to board our next flight, but I wanted a word wit’chu before.” He cleared his throat. “Can you keep an eye on Sloan for me? He’s gonna put all his focus on Archie and Corey.”

“Of course,” I said right away. “Of course I will. But can we circle back to the next flight? I know I’m not Colt, but it’d be nice to know where you’re going.”

Colt pressed a kiss to my shoulder.

“He’s here if that matters.” I threw that out there, just in case.

“It’s fine,” Greer chuckled. “This actually works out, ’cause I don’t want this in writing anywhere. And youse keep this to yourselves. Don’t tell anyone else. Colt knows what information he can share later on.”

I glanced over my shoulder, and Colt nodded with a dip of his chin.

“We won’t say anything,” I confirmed.

“Aight, good. We’re goin’ to Colombia.”

Oh, Jesus Christ.

“The good news is we have every reason to believe Shay is alive and kickin’,” Greer went on. “You can share that part with the group.”

The relief definitely hit me, but it was cushioned by the knowledge that they were all going to fucking Colombia. It wasn’t as if they were heading that way for the culture, the food, the history—they were going because a goddamn cartel was involved in Shay’s kidnapping.

“Be careful,” was all I could say. “Just…be careful, Greer.”