Total pages in book: 138
Estimated words: 136029 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 680(@200wpm)___ 544(@250wpm)___ 453(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 136029 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 680(@200wpm)___ 544(@250wpm)___ 453(@300wpm)
Akara folds up the map. “Banks, you’ll stay with Farrow in case he’s called for a med-run.”
“Right on,” Banks nods.
“Farrow,” Akara tells me. “Your uncle is staying at the villas, so you’re the only doctor on-site. Stay in touch.”
I nod, confident. My med bag is on my shoulder, and I sincerely hope no one needs me tonight.
Quinn asks, “Which clients are joining the search parties?”
There was no scenario where they’d stay put and just let security search alone. These families are too protective of each other. And it was almost understood that Maximoff would be leading the older crew.
Our heads turn to the nearby table where that discussion is currently happening. We go join our clients.
Maximoff looks around at his siblings and cousins. “I’ll take whoever wants to come with me.”
“I’m in.” Tom raises a hand.
His dad hears from across the courtyard. “No.” Connor shakes his head. “You’re not going anywhere. Neither is Ben or Eliot.”
“What?” Eliot gapes, his eyes glazed in a wine stupor. “Our little sister is missing, of course I’m going.”
“Dad,” Ben says. “Nona is out there too.”
“Security will find them,” Connor says smoothly. “We’re not debating this tonight.”
Lily comes closer, panting like she’s been running around. “Luna and Xander, you’re also staying. We need people here in case the girls come back.”
Quinn and Donnelly glance at the Omega boss for answers on where they should go. Stay with their client or join the search.
“Stay back at the villas,” Akara tells them quietly. “If anything is out of the ordinary, alert the team.”
Donnelly nods. “Sure thing, boss.”
Luna shrugs, fine with her mom’s declaration. “I can babysit Ripley.” She weaves around the table and raises her arms towards him.
Ripley blubbers in Maximoff’s hold.
“I promise, Moffy,” she whispers to her brother, then looks up at me. “I’ll just read him a story until he falls asleep. Just find Kinney.”
Kinney is missing. Her Rainbow Brigade incessant pride, blasé attitude, and death-glares are now a staple to my life. She’s become a little sister to me, and fuck, I’m pushing back the pressure on my chest. That uptight feeling is going to help no one.
I’m the most at ease bodyguard in high-stress situations, and that shit can’t change.
“We’ll find her, Luna,” I assure.
Maximoff nods, and it takes him a good minute before he hands Ripley to his sister. I don’t want to leave our son either, but it’s safer if he stays with Luna. Still a different kind of pain tries to throttle me. Separating from him is never easy. I kiss Ripley’s head, and then I wrap a casual arm around Maximoff’s strict shoulders. His arms crossed.
“The rest of us are in,” Jane declares, dressed in grannie jammies.
I take note of which famous ones are left for the search party.
Jane, Charlie, Beckett, and Sulli.
And Thatcher says, “Let’s push out.”
36
FARROW KEENE
None of the girls have a license and no cars were missing.
The two oldest (Winona Meadows and Vada Abbey) are only fifteen, and our search party travels by foot, since that’s most likely how they left the villas.
Trekking along dirt beside a one-way road, we point flashlights towards the rocks and sea on our left. The sound of water slapping jagged cliffs fills a void.
“Maybe we should run?” Sulli asks, antsy. “That way this’ll go fucking faster and we’ll find them quicker.”
“Or we’ll miss shit,” I say calmly, hiking a few paces behind Oscar, Charlie, Beckett, and unfortunately Beckett’s 24/7 bodyguard O’Malley. He’s on Epsilon and also not my favorite person, but he hasn’t been a prick tonight.
Maximoff is quiet beside me, stringent and ready to tap into his survival training. I keep checking on him.
“Our pace is good, Sul.” Akara tries to console. He’s been trying really hard to patch-up their friendship ever since the blow-up at the bachelor party.
Her eyes dart to him, then away.
It’s been fucking awkward. Everyone can tell.
Sulli doesn’t do well with confrontation and the “aftermath”—and according to Akara, this is ten times worse than any fight they’ve ever had. But he isn’t throwing in the towel that easily.
I do know that sometime after Key West, Sulli officially broke up with her wallpaper boyfriend—Will Rochester. So there’s that.
Banks looks down at Sulli. “Want a higher view, mermaid?”
Her eyes grow. “On your shoulders?”
He nods.
“Fuck, yeah…definitely.” She pauses. “Are you sure?”
Biting a toothpick, a crooked smile hikes up his lip. “Yeah.” He crouches down. “Ready when you are.”
Sulli swings her long, muscular legs over his broad shoulders. When he stands up at six-foot-seven, she has a better vantage than all of us.
Akara passes her a bigger handheld searchlight. “See anything?”
She flushes a little bit, glancing between Akara and the guy she’s sitting on. And then she flashes the light at the water. “It’s pitch-black.”
I stop tuning into whatever that exchange is, and I hang my arm over Maximoff’s squared shoulders. “You okay?”