He nodded grimly. “She knows how upset I am. I shouldn’t have overreacted.”
“Right,” I said. “Come on, I’ll help you explain.” We jogged up the stairs to Nick and Megan’s hut as I played out the explanations in my head. What was I going to say? How would I make it make sense? And then, a much worse line of questioning… What if Nick was right? What if Megan had done something to Laura?
I swallowed back bile as it rose in my throat, forcing the question down with it. It wasn’t possible. Laura was fine. She was safe. She had to be.
We walked into the hut, looking around.
No Megan.
“Megan?” Nick called, then looked at me. “Maybe she’s in the bathroom.”
“Maybe,” I nodded, glancing back at Jaren, who was waiting awkwardly in the doorway. “Want to go check?”
“Yeah.” Nick nodded without further coaxing. “She’s probably upset. Give me just a sec.” He jogged up the stairs, leaving my husband and me waiting in front of the bed.
“You okay?” I asked when we were alone.
Jaren nodded too quickly, then again slowly. “Yeah, I…I just don’t know what to think.”
“You know Megan couldn’t hurt a fl—”
“No,” he interrupted. “I mean, yes, I’m worried about Laura, too, and I don’t want to believe any of us could be involved in what happened, but…how can you be okay with Nick telling you he and Laura were having an affair?”
I stared at him, my eyes taking in every inch of his face, the dark freckles across the bridge of his nose and near his eyes, the oversized bottom lip, his thick brows, matching the tight ringlets of hair he kept buzzed short. My husband was a handsome man; there had never been any question. Why was it only now, when we were all potentially in danger, that I was learning to appreciate him?
He cocked his head to the side. “I mean, she’s your best friend. Aren’t you freaked out that you didn’t know?”
I should’ve lied. I considered it, briefly, but I was trying to do better. Be better. I wanted him to know the truth—every truth I could give him. I closed my eyes, bracing myself as I sucked in a breath. “I did know.”
“What?”
“Laura told me…years ago. It was nothing. I didn’t know about them hooking up here or whatever feelings she must’ve been having about that. She hadn’t talked about Nick in that way in years.” I kept my voice low, aware of Nick’s footsteps on the top floor. “Not since the girls were born at all, but really not since college. I thought she was over him.”
“How could you not have told me?” There was hurt on his face that I hadn’t expected, as if he’d been the one cheated on.
“Laura made me swear not to when it happened…” I trailed off. “I didn’t think you’d be so upset.”
He ran a hand over his lips. “It’s just…if you were keeping those kinds of secrets for her, what kind was she keeping for you?”
“Jaren, no. I didn’t—you know I would never—”
“She’s not here.” Nick’s voice behind us cut the conversation short, and I spun around.
“What?”
“Megan’s not here,” he said again. “She’s gone.”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Andy
When I made it back to where I’d left Brad, the rest of the group had joined him. What was left of the group, anyway. Natasha, Nick, and Jaren stood next to him, watching me.
“Did you see Megan while you were gone?” Brad asked.
Lie. I forced my brows down, feigning confusion. Lie better. “Megan? Wasn’t she with you, Nick?”
He shook his head, his face pale. Ashen. Terrified. “We had a, er, well, a disagreement. I went to talk to Natasha and Jaren, and when I came back, she was gone.”
I gasped. Too dramatic. “Oh no. Maybe she was in the bathroom?”
“I already checked. She’s not in the hut at all.”
I looked away, thankful to not have the scrutiny on my face for a millisecond. How good of a liar was I? That was being tested in the moment. I’ll take a crash course in deceiving your friends, please.
“Guys, I don’t like this,” Natasha said, running her hands over her legs. “This is starting to feel really, really bad. First Emily,” she said her name softly, as if to lessen the blow, but it didn’t help, “then Laura. Now Megan.”
“We haven’t found Laura,” Brad said firmly. “For all we know, she’s fine.”
“She wouldn’t have just left us here to worry,” Nick argued. “And where did Megan go? How did she manage to disappear? I only left her alone for ten minutes.”
“Well, she couldn’t have gone far. Andy went back to the huts just now. If she’d been walking outside, he would’ve seen her,” Brad pointed out.
“Yeah,” I said. A lie, but not entirely. “I would have. I didn’t.”
“Maybe we should check in with Manu again?” Jaren asked.
“No,” Natasha said, almost as quickly as I did. “If there’s one thing we know, it’s that we’re on our own in this. Manu said he’d sent out staff to look for Laura, but he hasn’t. Since Emily’s death, we haven’t seen him outside. He hasn’t joined us for meals. I don’t know what’s going on here, but we can’t trust anyone but ourselves. We have to search for her, for them, alone. And we can’t split up anymore. Not for any reason. We have to believe we’re safest together.” She looked around at each of us, assuming her role as the unofficial leader. “Deal?”
“Deal,” came the echoed responses.
She was trying to protect us, but she didn’t know how wrong she was.
I couldn’t tell her. Not yet.
We weren’t safe together.
Not even close.
Chapter Thirty
Nick
We walked through the jungle all afternoon, but there was no sign of Laura or Megan anywhere. When we emerged, my feet were blistered, and I’d run through every possible scenario—ranging from bad, she’d run off with an island man to live out her days, to horrific, she’d dehydrated on her run, died, and was being eaten
