Page 92 of Bones

But so was I.

Tears stained the pillow while I cursed fate, Pastor Gideon, the powers-that-be.

And Deke.

CHAPTER NINETEEN

MAGICAL COCK…TAIL

AURORA

Where is he?

It’d been a day and a half since Deke had disappeared while we were in the middle of…

Yeah.

At first, I’d been blinded by rejection while waiting like a simpering fool for him to return. Knowing how gnarly the scar was and what it represented, I’d been willing to extend the benefit of the doubt to him.

With memories of Ryan staying out for hours or even days at a time still fresh in my scarred heart, I’d stewed in my anger while contemplating my revenge. But as the hours ticked by, unease had begun to dilute it. I’d taken Deke’s big truck to check Mabel’s, his preferred grocery store, and Black Horse.

He was nowhere to be found.

After a second sleepless night and still no sign of him that morning, my worry had fully overtaken my hurt feelings.

Something was wrong.

I grabbed his cell from where I’d plugged it in and unlocked it. Scrolling his contact list, I looked for one of his siblings, but they hadn’t exchanged numbers.

Maybe he left because something was wrong with one of them.

Or those evil soul-stealers returned.

Guilt and disgrace prickled at me that I’d allowed more than a day to go by. If something happened to him because I was wallowing, I would never forgive myself.

It didn’t take much searching on Google to locate Juno’s neighboring stores since Novel Idea was a pretty distinct trio. I pressed the call button, but it just rang.

“What do you think, girl?” I asked Victoria as I paced the downstairs.

She trotted next to me, though she didn’t seem overly concerned. I wasn’t sure what it said about my mental well-being that I took that as a reassuring sign rather than the more likely option—that she was still being fed and thus hadn’t noticed or cared that the big, burly lumberjack was gone.

I eyed his keys.

Victoria barked.

“Yeah, that’s what I think, too.”

Going up to the loft, I opened Deke’s closet to see a variety of clothing.

Flannels in blue.

Flannels in black.

Flannels in gray.

Jeans in blue.

Jeans in black.

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