Page 58 of No Control

I let out a sigh of relief. “Where have you been? I haven’t heard from you. Are you out here yet?”

Silence.

“Um, actually, I haven’t left yet,” her voice drops. “I’m hoping to leave soon though. I just…”

“It’s Jared, isn’t it?”

“You know how he can be.”

“Yeah,” I say through gritted teeth. “You should just leave him and come anyway, Em. You don’t have to let him lord over you. He signed a prenup.”

She sighs. “I don’t know. It’s not that easy.”

“Emma…” I want to argue with her, tell her to just pack a bag and fly across the country to join me. She’s part of the reason that I gave this place a chance, and while Henry might be mysterious and sometimes frightening, he’s much better than living in fear of Mason.

Plus this view? I cast my eyes across the blue waves and glimmering waters. It's par none.

“I’m figuring it out,” Emma tells me, her voice low. “And I’m sorry I didn’t make it, Lydia. I thought he wouldn’t care, but he did.”

“It’s okay. I understand.”

“How’re things there though?” Her voice lifts the way it always does when we change the subject. She’s closed off most of the time, and I wish I lived closer so I could show up and see for myself.

“They’re fine,” I tell her blankly, walking behind Duke. “Things have um…escalated. Again. In a different way.”

“Uh, what?” Emma bursts into a fit of giggles that eases my worries about her. “You mean you slept with him, right? Please tell me you did and it's not more stalker problems.”

“I did.” My cheeks grow hot.

“Oh my gosh, that’s incredible. What a way to stick it to Mason. I’m so proud of you for getting out there and living a little.”

“Thanks,” I mutter, glancing back to the house. “I’m just trying to not…Um…”

“Catch feelings?”

I make a face. “I guess. I should know better by now to let it be, but things are intense between us.”

“Gotta love some sexual chemistry.”

“Yeah…” My voice trails off as my phone begins to beep in my ear. “Hang on.” I pull it away, surprised to see my mother calling me. Again. I ignore it. “Sorry.”

“It’s fine, so what's he like?”

“He’s difficult to read,” I admit. “But he’s made his interest in me clear—and that’s about the only thing he’s made clear.”

“Ooh girl,” she giggles as my phone vibrates against my ear again. I pull it away from my ear, this time seeing a message.

Mason is missing! Call me!

My heart drops at the message, a cold chill running through my body despite the warming of the sun. “I gotta go,” I tell Emma blankly. “I’ll call you later.” I hang up before she can say anything. Something feels all wrong in the moment, my head going light as I replay the events of the last few days.

But I can’t put my finger on it.

I mean, maybe I’d fallen out of love with Mason, but the news of him going missing for real is still shocking. I stop Duke and go to the browser on my phone, typing in Mason Prewitt.

Multiple articles pop up from both Vermont and Oklahoma. I click the first one, pouring over the words.

Oklahoma man now considered missing and endangered after leaving Jackson’s Pool House. Surveillance footage shows the thirty-two-year-old man leaving the bar just past one o’clock in the morning with an unidentified male.

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