Page 158 of Tag

I was halfway to setting the phone aside when the urge hit. Call it a hunch or a pit in my stomach. I tapped back to see if my Huntsman had sent anything else. Sure enough, they had.

I almost ignored it.

I wasgoingto ignore it.

I’d gotten good at pretending these messages didn’t make my skin crawl, but before I could expand the thread, my eyes caught on two words sitting right there in the preview.

Pool house.

The blanket suddenly felt too warm. Too heavy. I clutched the phone tighter, pulse kicking up into that familiar, sickening rhythm of dread. They knew where I was. That wasn’t a general"you're in town."They knew exactly where I was. I swallowed hard and forced myself to breathe. Deep. Steady. I mentally called a meeting of the minds before I flew off the handle.

The side of me that wore metaphorical glasses and believed in logic, facts, and psychology textbooks told me this wasn’t something to spiral over. It wasn’t hard to figure out I’d behome this weekend. The far more reactive, slightly unhinged counterpart pointed out the obvious. Sure. Maybe they knew I had come home with the Voss brothers. How the hell would they know I was in the damn pool houserightnow?

Unless it wasn’t a guess.

Against every shred of better judgment I had left, I tapped the message, bracing for static, a scream, or something cursed straight out of a horror movie. All I found were two texts, and both were worse than any of those things.

1031

Beautiful home. Nice view too.

And below it:

1031

You’re safe for now. But what about when you close your eyes again? You can’t stay awake forever.

I sat there completely still, heart jackhammering beneath my ribs while my brain scrambled, some thoughts rational, others far-fetched scenarios. My eyes darted around the room, landing on every corner, every shadow, every possible hiding spot where a Huntsman-shaped nightmare could be waiting.

“Breathe. Just breathe,” I whispered to myself, clutching the blanket tighter like it was body armor. As if it could actually shield me from everything. I could’ve cried right then, full-on panic, sobbed. I didn’t know what I was supposed to do. Creep out into the living room like I was six again, dragging my blanket and whispering to Ryder or Cade to check the closet?

A soft thud echoed from somewhere beyond the bedroom, making me jump. My breath caught, lungs suspended in place as I listened. All I got was silence. Seconds ticked by like hours. I was moments away from flinging open the bedroom door and sprinting through the Voss backyard and down their driveway tomy house, demanding Ryder and Cade wake the hell up and run too. But that would be top-tier idiotic. Yes, let me run outside, barefoot and unarmed in the middle of the night, where a stalker probably is.

Genius, Sanj.

Absolutely genius.

Just as my pulse was reaching DEFCON 1, I heard a snicker I could recognize anywhere.

Cade.

I nearly had a full-body stroke from the relief that hit me. My muscles sagged, but the adrenaline didn’t ebb. My heart was still pounding, and the texts didn’t magically disappear. Someone still knew exactly where I was. That wasn’t something I could ignore. I moved to slide out of bed quietly, my feet brushing the floor. I caught the low hum of voices beyond the cracked door. I stopped, hyper-aware of how sound was carried in the pool house.

Ryder’s voice was low, too soft to make out clearly.

Then Cade said something in response, and Ryder replied again, quieter now. Still, I caught one word.Ellie.What the hell were they talking about her for? I leaned a little closer to the door, careful not to let the hinges creak. Now I wasn’t just anxious. I was curious and anxious.

Worst combination ever.

I didn’t want to waltz out there and make a scene, but there was no way I was falling back asleep. Not after that text, and my pulse still jittering like I’d mainlined caffeine and fear. I reached for my phone again, hesitating for just a second before typing.

Are you up?

As if I didn’t already know.

A second later, I heard his phone go off. Silence followed, and my message turnedread. I climbed back into bed, staring atthe screen with irrational irritation swelling beneath the nerves crawling across my chest.Say something.

Another minute passed. Then, the door eased open, and Ryder stepped inside. At some point, he either abandoned his shirt or never put it on because he was most definitely without one. The rising panic I’d just been drowning in stuttered, scrambled, and rewired into something completely different. It wasn’t just his body, though God, that was its own kind of distraction. It was the way he moved. He owned the space by simply existing inside it. His tattoos stood out against the firelight, art I’d seen a hundred times before, along with a few new pieces.

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