Page 77 of The Summer Inn on Plum Island
As she went through her plot points, her brow furrowed, and her eyes widened. Dawn, journal in hand, jumped off her bed and rushed through the living room. Her eyes scanned the dining table where she usually sat and wrote. It wasn’t there. She opened the balcony door and looked at the table, but there was nothing there either. Dawn tore through the suite, going through her room and Harper’s room, until she eventually stood in the middle of the living room. A cold feeling laced through her—her laptop was gone.
The last time she’d used it was two nights ago with Liam. Dawn’s full manuscript was on there. She swallowed and rubbed her eyes. Luckily, the work for the studios she worked for was saved onto the cloud and not her laptop. They were heavily encrypted. But her own personal work wasn’t—Scott was going to have a field day with this. Dawn could hear him now. But that was the least of her worries. Someone had turned Dawn’s life into the plot of her book—and that wasbad!Not only did it mean that now everyone was going to know how Dawn secretly felt about Liam, but this was only the beginning of what was in store for them if whoever was doing this was following Dawn’s plot.
While on paper, a brush with death held the reader in suspense, you could always get the character out of that tight spot. Real life didn’t work that way, and that’s why in the movies, there were safety precautions and trained professional stunt people. There were no stunt people to step in for her or Liam. Her eyes widened even more—or Lila and Harper.
“Oh no!” Dawn’s heart started pounding in her chest so hard she was sure it was going to crack a rib.
She looked at her journal and the door to her suite. Everything that was going on here was Dawn’s fault. She was torn about going to Liam. He’d been dragged into her family’s drama enough recently. Liam had also told her he was going home for a few hours of sleep. But this was also important, and Dawn needed help. She turned toward the wall that separated her and Wade. He could help her. Wade was excellent with computers and could maybe even locate it for her. Scott had put whatever it was he put and enabled on her laptop, in case it ever got stolen. If Wade could locate her computer, then they’d be able to find out who was trying to direct her life at the moment.
That way, they may be able to stop whatever was going on before the phantom director got to the next chapter in her book, and they’d catch whoever was doing all this.
“Let’s hope this works, Dawn,” Dawn muttered, getting her phone and room card key before hurrying to her brother’s room next door.
Dawn was surprised when it only took three knocks for Wade to answer the door.
“I thought you were sleeping?” Dawn said to him.
Dawn hesitated at the doorway, taken aback by Wade’s appearance. His usually vibrant eyes were dulled, shielded beneath dark, bruised-like circles that spoke of pain rather thanfatigue. His skin was an unnatural shade of pale, almost ghostly, contrasting sharply against the stark shadows under his eyes.
“I thought you were, too,” Wade answered.
“Are you okay?” Dawn asked, concerned.
“Just a slight headache,” Wade said with a shrug.
The forced smile he mustered did little to mask the glassiness of his gaze, a clear sign of his discomfort and the strain he was attempting to conceal.
“You don’t look okay,” Dawn told him, her eyes not leaving his face.
“Just tired but unable to sleep,” Wade said, stepping aside so she could enter. “Come in.” He waited for her to enter and closed the door. “Do you want some coffee? I was just about to make some.”
“Is that wise?” Dawn asked, concerned for her brother. “Don’t you have some herbal tea?”
Wade shuddered. “You know how I feel about that stuff. It’s like drinking boiled grass.”
Dawn sighed. “I’ve told you to try it with some honey.”
“You know I don’t like honey either,” Wade reminded her. “Coffee?”
“How about we have some water instead?” Dawn replied. “Liam’s chef has his own infused waters in the refrigerator.” She went to the one in Wade’s kitchenette and looked inside. “Oh look, berry bliss.” She pulled it out and handed it to him. “Here, and step away from the coffee.”
“Fine,” Wade said, stopping the coffee-making process and taking the bottle of water from her. “As long as it will stop you nagging me.”
“Thank you,” Dawn said with a smile. “What did the doctor prescribe for your headache?”
“I don’t know, I didn’t really look at them,” Wade said, nodding toward the dining table before taking a seat on the sofa and opening the water. “Your boyfriend insisted on stopping and getting the stuff on the way back to the hotel.”
“Liam isn’t my boyfriend,” Dawn told him once again before moving toward the table and picking up the bottle of pills.
“Did you come to check up on me?” Wade asked, taking a sip of the water while watching her. “Or did you need something?”
“No, just checking up on you,” Dawn said absently as she read the label on the pills. “Wade, you need to take these.” She walked toward him. “It says for pain and inflammation.”
“I’m fine,” Wade told her. “You know I don’t take pain medication.”
Dawn shook her head in frustration before demanding and shoving the bottle at him. “Take two as instructed, now.”
“No!” Wade said stubbornly, shaking his head, then wincing. “I’m not taking pain pills.”
