Page 67 of Together We Burn
My heart pulsed as I thought about Emilia having Nate. I needed to get to Stefany, and we needed to formulate a plan before it was too late.
Chapter twenty-six
Stevie
Thesoundofkeysdropping on wood and the call of my name had me stirring from my nap. Rocky’s huge body lay across my feet, and he moved his head to the back of the sofa and watched, his heavy tail thumping against the cushions as the end whipped my leg.
“Stefany?” Jake asked again, this time loud enough to wake me. I glanced across to Alex sleeping on the armchair, head tilted backward, his mouth wide open as he snored. Things between us weren’t back to normal, but at least I no longer wanted to gut him.
Stretching my arms in the air, I yawned and pushed up to look at Jake, smiling widely at him. I’d set my alarm for an hour, so I wouldn’t be asleep when he arrived home, but maybe I hit snooze or something.
“You’re back early?” I asked sleepily. The muscles in my shoulders felt sluggish and heavy as I slowly woke up.
“Stefany…” he said again, his voice low and serious. My smile dropped as I read the urgency on his face, and his long rigid strides ate up the length of the hallway to his open-plan living room.
As he paced, I watched warily, a slow sense of unease prickling my stomach. He walked around the sofa and stopped, dropping to his knees and wrapping his hand around the back of my neck. His eyes were filled with a pain that only appeared when he spoke about his brother.
“What is it? What’s wrong?” I asked, my heart racing and my hands starting to become clammy.
“Emilia knows where Nathan is.”
All hints of tiredness disappeared as every nerve-ending became alert, and my body turned to ice. I could practically feel the blood drain from my face. How… how had she found him? I didn’t even know where she was–a point Alex, Chris, and I had all agreed on years ago to keep Nathan and Chris safe.
“She said she’d hired some private investigators a while back, and I guess they found him.”
I shoved his chest hard, forcing him to drop his hold and topple backward.
“Why didn’t you tell me about the investigators, Jake?” Fear began to consume me as I got louder, and I couldn’t control the shaking in my voice. “Why didn’t you tell me she had professional people looking for her?”
“Stefany…”
“No,” I yelled. “She could be in trouble, and it's all your fault.”
“I just found out now, Stefany,” he said, his voice raised to match mine, hurt evident in his tone.
“Shit,” I whispered, pushing back the strands of hair that had fallen out of my braid. Stepping over him, it was my turn to pace. “Shit!”
Time slowed as my heart thundered beneath my rib cage. Darting to Alex, I shoved at his shoulder, waking him with a start as he jumped to his feet and held me by the arms. Alarmed, his eyes darted back and forth between Jake and me before his grip tightened around my biceps as my lower lip trembled.
“Stevie?” he asked, confusion washing over his face before it was quickly replaced with worry. He pushed me behind his back, protectively shielding me from Jake as he snarled, “What happened? What did you do?”
“Why do you think it’s anything I’ve done, asshole?” Jake spat, and I turned to glare at him from over my shoulder. I didn’t need this macho who-could-protect-Stevie-more bullshit right now.
“Alex, please, we don’t have time,” I croaked, touching his arm to calm him down. “I need you to call Chris.”
“What? Why? What happened?” he questioned, pulling his phone from his sweatpants pocket and tapping her contact details. The same reason I didn’t know where she lived was the same reason I didn’t have her number; I hated that right now.
“Emilia knows where she is,” Jake filled in as I snatched the phone, clicked call, and waited for Chris to answer. Alex gaped and was about to speak, when Chris’s cheerful voice sounded from the loudspeaker.
“Hey, you,” she sang, and my nerves instantly calmed.
“Are you okay?” I rushed. I might have calmed marginally at the sound of her sweet, melodic voice, but she needed to say the words.
“Oh, Stefy,” she said in surprise. “I thought it was Alex.”
Alex shifted uncomfortably next to me, but I focused solely on my baby sister on the other end of the phone. Alex and his weird reaction would have to wait.
“Are you okay?” I asked again. Honestly, what was it with people trying to avoid my questions all the time?
