Page 163 of Rules

“I know.” She smiles through her tears. “Ignore me! We should celebrate. I’ll go and grab…”

Her words die down as she runs out to get whatever she set her mind on. My eyes fall down to the acceptance letter.

I’ve been working toward this my whole life. I busted my ass this whole year, juggling hockey and school. I should be happy. Ecstatic even. But all I feel is empty.

Empty because the one person I wanted to run off and tell, the one person who’s basically responsible for me even getting into college, isn’t here. And I don’t know where to find her. All the messages I sent were left unanswered; all the phone calls went straight to voicemail. Googling her name proved pointless, just as much as calling all the Brook Taylors in the phonebook.

The hollow in my stomach grows bigger.

Pulling out my phone, I look at the string of unanswered messages I’d sent her since she’d been gone. From worried to angry back to worried to, finally, pleading. My life has been a rollercoaster of emotions, and I’m still not sure I have a hang on them, but at this point, I just want to see her. I want to hug her and fill this void that’s only been growing since she left. Nothing else matters.

The ache in my heart takes over as I remember every single moment we spent together. My eyes fall down to the letter again, and I can clearly see her jumping in my arms when I told her I got my highest score ever after she helped me, my fingers itching to send her another message.

She’d be happy for me. Proud.

“Found it!” Jeanette says, triumphantly rising the bottle of whiskey. It’s one of our dad’s finest.

I eye it for a second, putting my phone away. “What the hell.”

If I can’t erase this emptiness, I can at least dull it with alcohol.

* * *

ANDREW

A constant buzzing brings me out of my stupor. I answer the damn thing with a barely intelligible grunt.

“I have her.” The words I’ve been waiting to hear for weeks have me jumping out of bed more efficiently than a bucket of cold water ever could.

He found her.

“Text me the address,” I mutter, already pulling on some clothes.

I’m about to hang up to finish getting ready when his next words stop me completely. “There is a problem.”

Running my hand over my face, I sigh. “What now?”

“Took me a while, but I found out why she disappeared.”

“Why?” I grit, not really caring. He knows where Brook is, and one way or another, I’m going there, whereverthereis, and bringing her back.

“It appears that her mother, who by the way is a train wreck waiting to happen, has accumulated some pretty heavy debt. The guy went to Brook and made some comments.”

“You mean threats,” I clarify, my hand clenching into a fist by my side.

“He made sure she understood he’d be collecting the money one way or another.”

Fucking hell.

It’s not even surprising she decided to run away. Not after what I’ve seen of Brook’s mother.

“Deal with it,” I say. I’m not having those fuckers get in the way of getting Brook back home. Not after I found her. “Both of them.”

Not bothering to wait for his reply, I hang up. Seconds after, my phone beeps with the address.

It’s time to pay my sister a visit.

* * *

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