Total pages in book: 74
Estimated words: 73664 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 368(@200wpm)___ 295(@250wpm)___ 246(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 73664 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 368(@200wpm)___ 295(@250wpm)___ 246(@300wpm)
“Austin…” Miles’s voice. “From the debris line on the side of her car, it doesn’t look like it was hit too bad. The mayor hasn’t gotten here yet. She was clearly closer to our place.”
“I’ll call the mayor.”
As soon as Chance brings the truck to a stop, I bolt. It’s barely raining now but the sky is thick and heavy with clouds and possibly more rain. The wind’s strong, but I don’t even feel it.
I run to the car.
“Carly!”
I pull on the door handle, but it’s locked, and she’s not in the driver seat. I pound on the window. “Carly! Carly! Carly!”
I’m shouting at nothing because she’s not inside. I’m not sure if that’s a good or bad thing.
Meanwhile, my brothers walk around the vehicle.
“Good,” Chance says from the back. He must’ve made the call with the mayor a short one. “Clearly, she wasn’t in a collision. The car is fine.”
“Fine!” I grit out and wave my arms. “What about this is fine? She’s not here. Someone… Someone took her. Someone fucking took her again!” I grab the sides of my hair and pull. “Fuck!”
Chance inches toward me. “Austin. No. What are the chances of—”
“The chances are good! They took her once, and they want her again! Damn it!”
Miles ambles toward us, and—
Crack.
“What was that?” He leans down. “Oh.”
“What is it?” Chance asks.
“A phone. A cracked phone now.”
“Let me see.”
He hands it to me.
I recognize it instantly. “It’s Carly’s. This is her case, with a golden retriever on it. Her phone. They made her give up her phone!” I throw the phone back on the wet ground, lean against the wet car, and bang my head on the roof as the rain continues to pelt me.
“Hey,” Miles says. “Here comes the mayor.”
“Yeah, he said he was almost here,” Chance replies.
I don’t care. He can blame me if he wants. Because I don’t care. If Carly is gone…
Fuck!
The oncoming car screeches to a halt, dredging up water and splashing the three of us.
I don’t care.
I don’t care about any of this.
“Where is she?” Vance demands as he exits his vehicle.
“There’s no evidence of a collision,” Chance says. “She’s not here, Mayor.”
“Damn it!”
I hear him stomp his feet on the wet road.
I don’t move.
“Damn it all, Bridger,” he says, although I’m not sure who he’s talking to. Until he gets in my face.
“Hey”—Chance’s voice—“you leave my brother alone. Can’t you see this is killing him?”
“Killing him?” Vance snarls. “What do you think it’s doing to Darla and me? We already lost her once.”
I don’t bother moving my head. I don’t bother facing Mayor Vance.
I don’t bother doing anything, because I have no will left.
I came back from Seattle for Carly. I chose her.
And now…
She’s gone. My Carly is gone.
“Let’s call the sheriff,” Chance says. “Get a search party started.”
“Search party?” Vance says. “No search party will find her. They couldn’t find her the last time.”
“Mayor, listen to reason,” Miles says. “It was a bad storm. She may have just left her car when the water— Wait. What the hell is that?”
“Oh my God,” Mayor Vance gasps. “Carly? Carly, are you all right?”
Carly?
Finally, I move, and I look toward their voices.
And I see an angel.
An angel coming down from the hillside the creek was carved from, the rain, a hazy fog around her.
“Carly!” Vance shouts.
I don’t say a word. I run. I race toward her, nearly slipping on the wet grass, and I grab her in my arms. “Oh my God, Carly. Thank God!”
She melts into me. She’s soaked through and chilled. It’s a warm morning, but she’s been out in the elements for a while and the wind is strong.
“What happened, baby?” I hold her tight and then pull back, hold her shoulders so I can trace over her body. Make sure she’s not hurt. That she’s whole.
“I’m okay,” she says. “I should have never tried to make that trip. I just didn’t want to miss breakfast with my dad again, you know?”
“None of it matters.” I yank her close again, kissing the top of her wet head. “All that matters is that you’re okay.”
“Of course I’m okay,” she says. “I know how to deal with a flash flood, although this is one of the worst ones I’ve ever seen.”
“What were you thinking?” This from her father, who has joined us. “Trying to drive in this?”
I loosen my hold. A little.
“I didn’t want to miss our breakfast again, Daddy. I didn’t want you to think… well, that happened anyway.”
“My God.” Mayor Vance rubs his forehead, droplets of water sliding down his cheeks from the action. “Carly, precious, I’m so sorry.”
“It’s okay.” She gives him a soft smile. “I’m fine. See? I was going to call you to tell you I wasn’t going to make it, but when I got out of my car, I dropped my phone. I couldn’t find it because the rain was coming down so hard it was blinding me. The water rose so fast, before I knew it was ankle deep. I knew I had to get to higher ground. There was no way I could drive. I tried to back out and my car started to lift.”