Page 123 of Axis of Fire

By instinct, my hands searched the pockets of my jeans for my phone—

then froze when I remembered it wasn’t there.

Fuck.

I couldn’t contact anyone.

It felt like I was trapped behind an invisible wall.

My eyes immediately landed on Airis’s phone—the one Lars and Bax had left in the car for him.

But I didn’t know a single number by heart.

Not my parents’.

Not Adeline’s.

Not Gwendolyn’s, Dwayne’s, or Mike’s.

I grabbed the phone from its holder and quickly typed in the address of the apartment where I’d lived for the past seven years—

the apartment I’d shared with Gwendolyn, Dwayne, and Mike ever since our first year at university.

We’d always wanted a real-life version of Friends.

And splitting the rent on a huge two-story apartment had made it affordable.

Right now, I just prayed they were there.

Alive.

Safe.

******

I burst into the apartment so suddenly that Dwayne and the guy sitting beside him on the couch practically launched themselves away from each other.

Suspiciously fast.

My eyes immediately swept over Dwayne from head to toe, desperate to make sure he was unharmed.

Only after confirming he was okay did I finally breathe again.

As if snapping back to reality, he shot to his feet and headed straight toward me.

His gaze moved over my face, my clothes, my body.

Checking me for injuries too.

That was exactly who Dwayne was.

The moment he realized I was unharmed, his blue eyes locked onto mine and his thick ginger brows furrowed.

“Ria, where the hell have you been? We were losing our minds.”

“Where are Gwendolyn and Mike?” I asked immediately, realizing my body was still wound painfully tight.

Normally, by now, all the pressure inside me would’ve exploded outward.