Page 44 of One Little Lie
“Okay, that’s good, Halt. That’s really good. If someone had taken her, there would have been a struggle. Your girl wouldn’t go down without a fight,” Loki chimes in.
Your girl.Fuck if those two words don’t feel right all the way down to my soul.
“Are we in danger here, Loki? Is it possible that Pacen’s father is out for revenge? Could someone have taken her?”
Preston lowers the phone, and I hear whispers but can’t make out words.
“Answer me, goddamn it.”
“No,” Ash crackles.
“I have no reason to believe Patrick Macomb would be after you or even have any clue you’re there. He has his own shit to dig out of right now,” Loki explains from the background.
“I wouldn’t put you in danger, Halt.”
Ashton’s words are so sincere, guilt slaps me in the face. I know he wouldn’t.
“I know, Ash. I’m sorry. I-I’m just scared. Really fucking scared. It’s like a tropical hailstorm of shit here right now, and I don’t know where she is. The rain is so cold, Ash. What if she didn’t find shelter?”
“She’s a smart girl, Halt. But we’ll find her, okay?”
Staring into Preston’s eyes, for the first time I realize how similar he is to our dad, and I give a jerky nod of my head. Words hurt too much right now.
“Does she wear any smart devices?” Loki asks, shaking me from my thoughts.
Fuck. Does she?Closing my eyes, I picture her in the car today and can almost feel her hand on my forearm again. That’s when I see it.
“She has an Apple watch.”
“Okay, that’s good,” Loki soothes. “That’s probably why she didn’t take her phone. If it’s one with its own service, she wouldn’t need her phone.”
“I’ll call it,” Preston informs us as he hands Ashton’s phone over to Loki.
“Ash is already on his computer. He’ll use her watch to track her down, but it will take some time because the infrastructure there is so old. Just hang tight. We’ll find her,” Loki promises.
The Chainsmokers song, “Family”, pierces the quiet, and it takes me a minute to realize it’s coming from Rylan’s phone in my hand. Glancing down, I see Preston’s name, and my chest warms. A crooked smile forming even in the midst of an all-out crisis because she still considers us family. Or at least some of us.
Does she have a song for me? Do I want to know? Of course you want to know, asshole.
I’m so tempted to see what song she has for me, if anything, but I force my focus to stay on finding her first.
“She didn’t answer,” I finally mumble.
“It’s a small island, Halt. Her service may have cut out, but Ash will track her to the last known location, and we’ll go from there. Just be patient.”
Be patient?I want to scream. Is he fucking kidding me?
“Would you be patient if it were Sloane that was missing?”
Loki holds the phone closer to his face. I know he’d do anything to save his wife, Sloane, and I need him to understand how serious I am, but Preston takes the phone.
“Are you ready to admit it?”
“Admit what?”
“That whatever you did to push her away was a mistake?” His cocky grin is in place, but his eyes are full of love.
“Easton is the one with mistakes. I just have lies. Call me back when you have an answer for me. I need to conserve my battery until I can get the generator running.”
