Page 47 of Gorgeous

I tip my chin in acknowledgement and elaborate on what I know about the situation. “Cade didn’t get up in time to wake everyone up.”

Not that Tim has anywhere to go. He stays with Cade most days and helps around the plantation. No one has confirmed it for me, but I think he struggles with his hearing loss.

Tim looks behind me and then mutters that he’ll be out soon. I nod and move to the next door in line. Hayes. I knock, but no one answers. Pushing open the door, I brace for an eye full of nakedness, but he isn’t in there.

What the hell is going on around here?

I pull my phone out of the waistband of my shorts—yeah, I’m classy like that—and text Hayes.

Are you okay?

He responds immediately with a selfie of himself sandwiched between two women. The caption under the picture says,Very much okay, B.

He’s incorrigible but seriously adorable.

I type out a response while heading to Cade’s room.

Cade didn’t get the guys up this morning. I haven’t seen him.

Hayes calls me instead of texting back. Obviously, he’s just as concerned about Cade missing his routine as I am.

“Hey,” I breathe shakily into the phone.

“Have you checked his room?” Hayes doesn’t even bother to greet me. “On my way now,” I return, rapping lightly on Cade’s bedroom door.

When Cade doesn’t come to the door, I grow even more concerned. “He’s not answering. Maybe he’s out in the barn? I haven’t been outside yet.”

“Is his door locked?”

I try the handle. “Yes, it’s locked.”

“Fuck!”

Hayes’ response sends a shooting pain straight to my chest. “What do I do?” I plead, trying the handle again like it might somehow magically open now when it didn’t a second ago. I hear keys jingle on the other end of the line. “I’m on the way, but in the meantime, go to Anniston’s room. She keeps a set of keys in her bedside table.”

I’m already sprinting down the hall to Anniston’s master bedroom. Her door is unlocked and I’m digging through her nightstand before Hayes can give me further directions. “I have them,” I say, out of breath, already heading back to Cade’s room.

“Good girl. Now, B—” Hayes takes a deep breath and what comes out of his mouth next nearly drops me to the floor. “Whatever you find in there, know it’s not your fault. You couldn’t have stopped him.”

My fingers falter and I nearly drop the key. “What are you saying?”

Hayes sighs, the engine of his car nearlymasking the sound. “I’m saying we aren’t supposed to lock the doors. The fact that it’s nine o’clock and Cade hasn’t been up and has his door locked … it’s not good, B. I want to prepare you. Suicide is always a concern for guys like us. It’s hard for us to adjust to the normality of everyday life. Especially with the demons Cade has.”

I don’t know when I started crying, but here I am, scared shitless to open this door, with tearspouring down my face. All I can say in response is, “No.” Cade cannot be dead. We were making progress. He was happy.

Wasn’t he?

“I’ll call you back,” I tell Hayes against his protests, and hang up.

Whatever you find, B. It was not your fault.

But for some reason, I feel like it is. How did I miss that he wasn’t up this morning? Maybe if I had noticed earlier, we wouldn’t be in this situation.

Slowly, I push open Cade’s door. It’s dark, his blackout curtains pulled closed. The good news is, blood isn’t splattered on the wall and he’s not hanging from the ceiling fan, but he’s probably a considerate jerk and slithis wrists in the tub so Anniston wouldn’t have to do a whole lot of cleaning.

Oh God.

His bathroom door is closed. Bile rises in my throat, and I feel about ninety-nine percent sure I’m about to puke on the carpet.

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