Page 120 of Broken

A yawn escaped me. I’d shut out those thoughts and all of my feelings for weeks now, and allowing myself to think about it all was exhausting. More than I was capable of dealing with, and I closed my eyes, letting my mind drift over lingering thoughts.

Chapter 32

TUCKER

I gave up on finding Izzy anywhere in Breaker Ridge after the church. Annie had texted that she and Jet had just checked the beach, so I knew that was a bust. I was running out of places to look.

The studio!A fresh burst of excitement hit me. Suddenly relieved Leo had insisted I take his number, I used the system in my truck to give him a call, waiting anxiously through every ring. It was a longshot with the current time, but I had to try.

Voicemail. I left a quick message and hung up, going to plan B.

The drive to Outer Ridge would take up a chunk of time, butifIzzy was there, I had to get to her. I was only about five minutes out of town when Leo’s text came through.

Leo: Jumping in my car now. Five min. If she’s not there, I’m searching, too.

Fuck, I knew I liked this guy.

I started searching a few backroads Izzy might be taking while I waited for his reply. It felt like forever but was only minutes when the text popped up on my truck’s screen.

Leo: Not there. I’m checking a few of our hangouts. Keep me posted.

Groaning, I smacked the wheel in frustration. Ihadto be missing something.

The beach!Hope burst through me again.

Annie hadn’t saidwhereon the beach they’d looked. If they’d checked just our regular hangout in the public section, Izzy wouldn’t have been there. It was another stretch that was special.

Pressing my foot against the accelerator, I sped across the deserted streets to reach her, tearing across sand when I made it to the beach, praying my tires didn’t get stuck. But I could see long before I approached that her old Ford wasn’t there. Not even where we’d last parked just staring out at the old beach house.

Tonight, there was just the open expanse of sand, the pier, and water reflecting in the moonlight. I’d been almost positive I’d find her near here, where some of her last truly happy memories with her dad were made.

Deflated that I was wrong again, I turned around. Maybe it was time to call Annie and Jet to compare notes. It had been hours now that I hadn’t found her, time that Izzy was upset and alone and under the impression that what we had was dead. I shook with repulsion at the thought. Therehadto be a way to fix things. I refused to give up until I had.

I just have tofindher first.

I’d just pulled out onto the main road when something silver glinted in my headlights up ahead. Speeding up, my stomachtightened, recognizing the rust spotted bumper of a familiar old Ford.

I was out of my truck nearly the moment it stopped, my worry outweighing my relief when I realized her truck wasn’t even on. Running up to the driver’s side, I peered through the window, but she wasn’t there, not that I could see. I crossed my fingers that she was just lying down and yanked the door open, air catching in my throat as a new state of panic took over. Fears I hadn’t even thought to consider before being confirmed.

This is bad. Correction. This is fucking horrible.

I pushed the panic aside to try to think, maybe understand what could’ve happened, to find something to explain why Izzy wasn’t here. Why she would’ve left the truck when one of the coldest fronts of the season had blown in.

My eyes quickly searched the empty area, the seats, the floorboards, the dash, every surface I could see until I caught sight of her keychain dangling from the ignition. I reached in and turned the key, but nothing happened.

“Shit.” She really needed a car that worked.

A blast of wind came at me then that caused goosebumps to ripple across every last inch of my body, and I shivered at the freezing cold that no native south Texan would be used to as I slammed the door shut. Whatever reason Izzy had for leaving the confines of her truck, it didn’t matter. What mattered was that shehadleft, and she was somewhere out in this inhumane cold.

But where?I looked up to the sky as I begged.

You know where…My gut insisted.

“Shit.” I’d been right. I knew it. Ihadto be.

I paused just long enough to grab the blanket and flashlight from my Chevy, thankful Dad had thought ahead, then turned and shot off down the long expanse of beach.

Digging the toes of my shoes into the loose sand, I ran as fast as I could back to that significant section of shore. The wind from the water blew wildly around me. Shells crunched under my feet. My injured ribs ached in protest with the quick, heavy expanse of my lungs. But I barely felt it.

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