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“You were saying?” I quip, nibbling on my lower lip to smother my laughter. It’s near impossible, though. It always is when I’m around Max.
“Honeybee, are you laughing at my misfortune?” he says. He sits up, then rests back on his palms.
“Yep.” I nod cheekily at him.
His arms wrap around my hips, then he pulls me down. I shriek as I land on top of him, and we fall back into the grass.
“You need to kiss my ego better.” He grins.
I push myself up on his chest, and my knees slide to land on either side of his hips.
It’s only been a few days since he confessed his feelings, and I agreed to give things a go between us. But he’s making it hard to enforce the grovelling when he’s lighting me up like this.
“Says who?” I whisper, leaning over him.
His eyes twinkle, but when my tongue wets my lower lip, his gaze flicks down to it. His sharp inhale is loud between us.
“I desperately need it, honeybee. Your kisses, your touch, your smiles…they’re the oxygen I need to survive.”
The memory fades before I’m ready to leave it, and coming back to the present feels groggy. My body is too sore and exhausted to have the energy to keep me tethered, so I drift in and out of consciousness. I’m thankfully alone again, but the light’s changed. The window no longer shows any light, only a darkened sky.
Another day lost to this new life.
TWELVE
NOAH
“Yes, Mrs Herzinger. He’ll be fifteen minutes. Until he takes a look, we won’t know what the problem is,” Nate says into his phone, placating her more before he ends the call.
He should be at work—we all should be—but we’ve all taken time off until we find Rosy. None of us can concentrate while we don’t know where she is. Bry’s still sending out orders since he’s able to do it at home. Nate’s been mostly on the phone running what he can of his business here. Max and I haven’t been able to do much. My job requires students, and his involves building houses.
It’s not been easy for the last two days, all of us here together. The tension is increasing as we wait to receive an update from Logan and Felix.
Nate’s jaw twitches as he leans back into the sofa, knuckles white as he stares at nothing. I’m not doing much better. I’ve reread the same page multiple times, unable to recall any of it.
“If you need to get to a job, we can update you when—”
“I’m fine here,” Nate interrupts. He gets up and heads into his room. My brows rise when he reappears, something furry bundled up in the crook of his arm.
“Is that—”
“Yes.”
He leans back into the sofa, and Moshi warily looks around at us before he creeps up Nate’s chest then curls up on his shoulder, nuzzling into his neck.
Max decides to join us before I can probe Nate any further. He hops over the back of the sofa opposite Nate and slides down the cushions.
“Did you know you have a pussy on you?” He sniggers. It’s the first time I’ve seen a sliver of the Max we’re used to since Thursday.
Nate lifts a finger and crudely gestures instead of responding.
My phone rings. We all automatically tense, and Bry rushes over from the kitchen with a chocolate-covered spoon in hand.
“Hi, Logan. You’re on loudspeaker. We’re all here.”
“Hey. Good, good. Sorry for not getting back sooner. These things take time to go through. We’ve got people out looking. Still no trace of her car yet. Felix has gone through both Rosy’s laptop and phone, and he didn’t find much. He did see some messages from an unknown number, but he hasn’t been able to trace it yet. Did she mention that to any of you?”
We glance at each other; confusion reflects across all our faces.
