I had twelve missed calls from Trent, six from Jax, and ten from Whitney—and that wasn’t counting the two dozen messages I had from them. My heart stopped. What was going on? With a trembling hand, I called Trent back.
“Chloe? Where are you? Are you all right? Where’s Abby? What’s going on?” He fired the questions at me so fast I could barely understand him, but his voice was downright frantic.
“Yeah, I’m fine, and Abby’s with me. What’s going on?” I started the car.
He sighed heavily. “Where are you?”
“Um…” I glanced around. “I’m not sure. Abby and I just sort of started driving, and we ended up at some dive diner off Route 73.”
With my free hand, I yanked my seat belt across me and hooked it. Abby gave me a questioning look, and I shrugged.
“You just started driving?” Disbelief mixed with a hint of anger laced his words.
“Yeah,” I said slowly, drawing out the word. “Abby was upset. Isach broke up with her. Can you believe that? I’m going to kill him.” I put the phone on speaker, set in the console, then backed out of the parking spot.
“Chloe,” he said, his voice controlled. “With everything going on… I had no idea where you were or what happened. I thought Felicity had gotten to you.”
All the air rushed from my lungs, and whatever joy I’d had when I walked out of the diner vanished, replaced with stark fear. “I’m sorry. I didn’t think…” I said.
My stomach sank. I never meant to make him worry. I’d been so focused on helping Abby that I hadn’t bothered to text Trent to let him know what I was doing. Not that I needed to tell him every time I went somewhere, but with a coven of witches after me, it was probably a good idea to tell someone where I was.
“Where are you now?” he asked.
“Headed back to town. We should be there in an hour or so.”
Silence.
“Trent?” I picked up my phone, worried the call had been dropped.
“Please hurry, and be safe, okay? And come straight to my house. We need to talk.”
I swallowed the sudden lump in my throat. “Yeah, okay.” I ended the call and gripped the steering wheel with two shaking hands.
With Felicity and the Zoya in Keene Valley, I needed to be careful. Other than Felicity, I had no idea what any of the Zoya looked like. How would I know if I encountered one?
“I just texted Mom and told her we were going to Whitney’s,” Abby said.
“Thanks.” I smiled gratefully.
“I don’t really want to go home anyway. Mom will know something’s wrong and ask me a bazillion questions I don’t want to answer.” Abby shifted in her seat and sighed. “Trent sounded really upset.”
“Yeah, I should’ve told him I was ditching school.”
Last time I’d taken off without telling him, Ivy had kidnapped me. Trent had every right to be worried.
“I really just want someone to love me like Trent loves you.” Abby’s bottom lip trembled, and she turned to stare out the window.
I wanted to tell her she did have someone like that, but now wasn’t the time to defend Isach to her, not when he’d shattered her heart.
The drive to Trent’s house was filled with music, but neither of us said much. What was there left to say? As soon as I pulled into Trent’s driveway, he was out of the house and opening my door.
I climbed out, and he yanked me into a suffocating hug, his face buried against my neck. His breaths were deep, as if he were trying to inhale everything about me. I hugged him back, taking comfort in his embrace, even if it was completely frantic and intense.
After several moments, he pulled back and searched my face. “You’re okay?”
I nodded.
“Thank God.” He took my face into his hands and slanted his lips over mine, kissing me with hard desperation. “Please don’t do that again.” He rested his forehead against mine, his eyes pleading. “I thought Felicity or the Zoya had gotten to you, that you might be dead.”
“I’m fine,” I whispered, realizing just how worried he’d been. Guilt swirled in my gut. “But if I was dead, you would be, too,” I reminded him.
He scowled.
“Which is exactly why we should just kill them now and be done with it,” Jax said. When his gaze met mine, he smiled faintly, and my heartrate kicked up. “Glad you’re okay.”
“Thanks.” I shifted uncomfortably on my feet and returned my gaze to Trent. “You said we needed to talk. What’s going on?” I glanced toward the passenger seat, and Abby wasn’t there. She must’ve gone in the house.
“Let’s go inside.” Trent took my hand and led me into the house.
Jax was right behind me, and my entire backside heated under his gaze. I didn’t need to turn around to know he was watching me. When I stepped inside, I found Abby crying again and hugging Whitney.
I dropped Trent’s hand and wrapped my arms around Abby and Whitney. I had no idea what Trent needed to talk about, but dealing with witches and vampires was the last thing Abby needed. I wished she would have gone home, though being alone probably wasn’t good for her, either.
Abby broke away from the group hug and wiped her face. “Sorry.”
“Don’t be,” I said.
She had every right to cry as much as she wanted.
“Tell them what you told us,” Jax said to Whitney. He stood near the front door, arms crossed.
My gaze lingered on his biceps, on how they always bulged with tension whenever he crossed his arms like that. Tearing my eyes from Jax, I sat on the couch, and Trent sat next to me.
He laced our fingers and gave my hand a gentle squeeze. Fresh guilt wiggled its way into my veins. I was engaged to Trent, yet I was just visually ogling his brother. I hated what the bond had done to me—to us—how it had forever altered what Trent and I shared,
