Total pages in book: 141
Estimated words: 143382 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 717(@200wpm)___ 574(@250wpm)___ 478(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 143382 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 717(@200wpm)___ 574(@250wpm)___ 478(@300wpm)
“Me three, I’m just across the courtyard,” Luna put in.
I would feel like a real asshole at how I’d kept these guys out if it didn’t feel so great having them in.
“Thanks, bitches,” I muttered as I pulled up in front of Joshua’s house.
I’d saved the best for last.
Joshua was Jeff’s longest-standing friend, and his closest one. If memory served, they’d been that to each other since they were twelve. Jeff was Joshua’s best man. Joshua’s wife, Katelyn, was super cool. She loved Jeff almost as much as Joshua did.
Most wives of husbands with friends who had troubles like Jeff wouldn’t be down to let him crash in their guest room for however long he needed.
But Katelyn was a nurse. Jeff did his best when he was with them because she helped him stay on top of his meds, she was careful about avoiding triggers, she also educated Joshua on that, and she busted her hump to make him feel welcome.
Even though Jeff resolutely stayed employed, no matter what shit jobs he had to take, and he insisted on paying rent, eventually, Jeff always decided he’d worn out his welcome, and I got that. I’d feel the same, obviously, since I very recently realized I hadn’t even allowed myself to unload the weight of my family issues on my chicks.
But in the end, if there was anyone Jeff would reach out to when he was in the wind, it’d be Joshua and Katelyn.
We trooped up to their cookie cutter, tile-roofed, xeriscaped, two-story house in Litchfield Park, and I rang the doorbell.
It took a while (the college games were on), but Joshua answered.
Instead of his face splitting into a grin, his usual response to seeing me, it curved into a cagey smile, something that told me Jeff was in contact with him.
But he didn’t want me to know.
“Hey, Jess! Wow! What a surprise!” He faked happiness.
“Hey, Joshua.” I turned and used my hand in a sweeping motion to the chicks, but I didn’t take my eyes off him. “Sorry to show without calling. These are my girls, Harlow, Luna and Raye. And we got some info about Jeff yesterday, so we’re out seeing if he’s checked in with anybody.”
“You got info from Jeff?” He faked not having his own info from Jeff.
“Yeah.”
“What’s that? Is he okay?” He faked not knowing Jeff was okay, or not, whatever the case might be.
I looked beyond him into his house. “Is Kat around?”
Katelyn would give me the skinny.
He didn’t move, which meant she wasn’t, and he told me why. “She’s at work.”
“Right, so, you haven’t heard from him?” I pushed.
He shook his head. “No. Not in a while. Still totally worried. Sucks you had to come all the way out here. You should have called.”
“Well, we were at David’s so…” I let that hang.
“Did you call David?” He was making a point.
“No. I just figured you’d all be in, you know, because of the football.”
“That’s what I’m doing. Watching U of A get their asses kicked.”
“Bummer,” I muttered.
“I’d ask you in, but…” It was his turn to let his words hang, probably because he had no excuse not to let us in, outside of us being totally rude and showing at his house unannounced, that was.
“Oh, we don’t want to bother you.” I could lie too. “I just…I have to ask. The thing I heard was that Jeff was something called a Street Warrior. Have you heard of that?”
His face paled (shit!), and he lied right back, “No. Never. What the hell is that?”
“I don’t know.” But you do! And you don’t like it! “I’m trying to find out. Because, you know, if Jeff isn’t taking his meds, he’s not really in any shape for much of anything. He needs seeing to.”
Joshua caught himself stretching his neck to release tension before he suggested, “Maybe, I don’t know, he got back on his meds or something.”
That meant Jeff was back on his meds.
I couldn’t deny that was a massive relief. Especially if Katelyn oversaw that situation.
Even so.
“Joshua, I really need to know where my brother is.”
“Jess, I really would tell you if I knew where he was,” Joshua replied.
I couldn’t read that.
Did it mean he actually didn’t know where Jeff was, even if Jeff was in communication?
Or was he still lying, and he did know where he was, and for some screwed up reason, he wouldn’t tell me?
I looked away and said as a veiled threat, “Maybe I should call Katelyn.”
“No,” Joshua stated firmly. “Kat doesn’t know where he is either.”
“Okay, Joshua, straight up, it feels like you’re keeping something from me.”
Shocking me, because Joshua was a good guy, I’d always liked him, he’d always liked me, and I’d never seen him do it before, nothing close, I watched his face harden.
He then replied, “Okay, Jessica, straight up. If Jeff needed me to do something for him, you know I’d do it for him, and you know I wouldn’t ask questions or deviate from his wishes. Even for you. But honest to Christ, I don’t know where he is. But if shit wasn’t right, you also know I’d tell you.”