Page 103 of Strictly Pretend

“Dad shouldn’t be smoking anyway,” I fume. “But fine. Give me that phone.”

“Hello?” A tremulous voice echoes down the line.

“Mark? It’s Brooks Salinger. Your landlord.”

“I know who you are.”

Well that saves some time. “I’m trying to find Emma Robbins. Do you know if she’s in the shop?”

“No, she isn’t,” he says shortly. “But while I have you, I have a bone to pick with you.”

I grit my teeth. “I don’t have time for this, Mark.”

“And I don’t have time to find another office within a month. What were you thinking? I have clients. They need me…”

“Mark,” I say, trying to push the annoyance down. “Is Emma’s granddad in the shop?”

“No, he’s not there either.”

I bite the inside of my cheek. “Do you happen to know where they are?”

“At the hospital, of course.”

His words blindside me. I look up and catch Linc’s eyes and he frowns. I try to breathe but I can’t get any air in.

“Why are they at the hospital? What happened?” I ask, my voice thick. Linc’s eyes go wide as he hears my words. All of my brothers crowd around me. “Is Emma okay? Is she hurt?” Linc whispers.

“She and her granddad just went off in an ambulance. That’s all I know. I have clients, I’m busy. And now I have to find somewhere to move to?—”

I pinch my nose. “Which hospital did they go to?”

“I don’t know,” he says, sounding almost whiny. “But the nearest one is Mercy.”

“Mercy,” I say to Linc.

“I’m on it,” he says, typing something into the screen on his own phone. From the corner of my eyes I see all my brothers doing the same. If I had a fucking beating heart right now, it would be full.

Because they’re trying to help me find Emma. Myles is barking directions down the phone to his assistant, while Holden calls the girls and fills them in. The others are busy doing whatever they can to help.

I think I’m about to scream. What if she’s hurt?

“If Emma or her granddad call you, you call me right back, okay?” I tell Mark. “I need to know what’s happening.”

“I don’t have your number.”

“It’ll be in your call history. For god’s sake just call me, okay?”

“You don’t need to be rude.”

I wince, because he’s right. But I’m on the edge right now.

I hang up and look at my brothers.

“The helicopter will be landing in the meadow in thirty minutes,” Myles informs me. Liam puts his hand on my back, his face full of compassion. “Let’s head out there now.”

“I just called Tessa,” Linc says. “She’s gonna come take the baby. So we can all go with you.”

And this is why I love every damn one of them. They’re pains in my ass but they’re the biggest support I’ve ever had. It’s getting harder and harder to remember why I’ve been pulling away from them for so long.

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