Page 80 of The Silver Fox Brother

My phone buzzes in my purse. Again. Again.

I pull it out. Three more missed calls. Two voicemails. Six texts from numbers I don't recognize.

All Rowan.

Kate sees my face. "Block them all."

"He has so many numbers."

"Then turn your phone off."

I stare at the screen. Another text comes through.

Unknown: I love you. Please just talk to me.

I turn the phone off completely. Set it face-down on the coffee table.

Kate squeezes my hand. "Do you want me to call Amy?"

I nod, unable to speak.

Kate pulls out her phone, steps into the kitchen. I hear her voice, low and urgent, explaining.

I sit on the couch, staring at nothing. My chest aches. My head pounds. Everything hurts.

Kate returns. "She's on her way. Fifteen minutes."

"It's almost two in the morning."

"She doesn't care. Neither do I." Kate sits back down beside me.

"You'd do the same for us."

I would. I know I would. Kate disappears for a moment, comes back with a blanket. Wraps it around my shoulders even though it's summer and not cold. The weight of it helps somehow. We sit in silence for a few minutes. Kate's presence steady beside me, grounding me when everything feels like it's spinning.

A knock at the door. 2:18 AM.

Kate gets up, opens it. Amy rushes in—brunette hair pulled back, still in pajamas with a coat thrown over, eyes wide with concern.

"Winter." She crosses the room in three strides, wraps her arms around me.

I start crying again. Can't seem to stop tonight.

Amy sits on my other side, and I'm sandwiched between my two best friends at two in the morning, crying in Kate's living room.

"What did he do?" Amy asks.

Kate fills her in while I cry. The phone call. Madeleine. The confession. Everything.

Amy's face goes through the same progression Kate's did. "I'm going to kill him. Actually kill him."

Kate nods. "Get in line."

"He's not worth it," I manage to say through tears.

"You're worth it," Amy says fiercely.

That makes me cry harder. Because they're here. At 2 AM on a Thursday night with work tomorrow. No questions, no hesitation. Just here.