Chapter 4
Chapter Four
RYDER
Crossing the threshold into the condo, I come up short when I see broken glass on the floor, a hole the size of a cantaloupe punched through the drywall, and a disheveled Julien.
“What the hell happened?”
Julien drops the roll of blue painter’s tape and rushes me, grabbing me in a fierce hug. My arms go around him, knowing he needs me just like I need him right now. We’ve both endured so much together this past year. He and Jay are the only ones who understand my pain because they both share in it.
He lifts worried, red-rimmed eyes. “Was it really her?”
“Yeah. It was her,” I rasp.
“How is she? How did she look? Is she okay?”
I pull away from him and wearily collapse on the living room sofa, my body exhausted but also amped up at the same time.
In the kitchen, Elijah empties the dustpan full of shattered glass into the trash, the sound it creates reminding me of Elizabeth’s tinkling laughter. Rubbing my hands over my face to wipe off some of the emotional fatigue weighing me down, I somehow conjure the words to answer Julien’s questions.
“She looks the same but different. God, I can’t even describe it.” I try to recount for him what happened even though I’m also trying to wrap my head around everything as well. “When I was at the student center, I heard laughter, and I just knew. I knew it was her. I had just been thinking about her. Like my brain magically materialized her right in front of my eyes. She was with this guy I know. Preston. When I called her name, she turned and looked right at me.” Noticing something is missing, I blindly look around the room. “Where’s Jay?”
Julien crouches at my feet. “We’ll get to him in a minute. Finish first. I need to hear it all.”
I can’t stop the tears from spilling over. “Jules, she didn’t recognize me. She had no fucking idea who I was. She ran away— from me . What happened to her? I…why…I don’t…”
And then I lose it.
Julien grabs my hands, his body shaking uncontrollably as he cries with me. A lifetime of months desperately missing Elizabeth comes tumbling out into the cramped living room, ripped from us in a torrent of anguish.
Barely articulate, I manage to say, “Fallon was there. She didn’t remember him either. What the fuck is going on?”
Elijah embraces Julien from behind, silently giving his support but knowing that Julien and I need this moment for ourselves.
“The PI called Jay. That’s why we were trying to get in touch with you. He told us she’s registered here as a freshman. We have her address and everything. We know how to find her again.”
Oh, thank god.
I wipe the wetness from my cheeks with the heels of my palms. “Where’s Jay? I need to talk to him.”
“I think he left to find her.”
The angry look I give him has his eyes widening.
“Why did you let him leave?”
“I didn’t have a choice,” Julien angrily retorts.
This entire situation is getting out of control. When Jayson’s upset, he does some really stupid shit. He’s the exact opposite of “think before you act.”
Whipping out my phone, I open my maps app. “Give me the address the PI found.”
“Jayson wrote it down and took it with him when he left. I tried to call him, but he’s not answering his phone.”
“Call the PI back. Get the address.”
Fuck it. I’ve got his number in my contacts. It rings and goes to voicemail. Jules tries with his phone. Same result. We both leave messages for the PI to call us back immediately.
“Don’t you guys have location sharing?” Elijah says.
I could kiss him. At least one of us has the ability to think clearly right now. I completely forgot we had that on our phones.
“Found him. Let’s go.”