CHAPTER 02
T he sound of my phone ringing incessantly was enough to drag me out of a deep sleep. Fuck, I was exhausted. Beyond exhausted. This constant travel thing was slowly killing me.
“‘lo?” I mumbled into the phone, eyes sliding shut all over again.
“ Ryder? ” That voice. I sat upright, and the world spun a little with my hangover.
“Tess?” I whispered. Running a hand over my face, I tried to wipe away the fog.
“ Yeah, it’s me, ” she said. “ I’m sorry. I know it’s been a while. ”
Fuck if that wasn’t an understatement. I hadn’t heard from my sister in… what? Four years now? Five maybe?
“Shit.” I groaned as I slipped out of bed. Gray was nowhere to be seen, the alarm clock read ten-thirty, and Olivia snored softly in the other bed. I took the phone to the bathroom with me. If Tessa was calling me, it wasn’t good. When the door shut, I asked, “What do you need, Tess? ”
“ No hi? Hello, Tess. How are you? ” There was no humor in her voice.
“You haven’t called in almost five years at this point,” I told her. My voice sounded like shit, and my tongue was uncomfortable. I needed water. “I can only assume this isn’t a social call.”
“ You’re right. ” She sighed. “ I’m sorry. It’s just been… there’s a lot going on, and Dad’s been a little harder to handle since the incident. ”
The incident in question was the last time I’d heard from my sister. Gray and I were set to meet up with her outside of Seattle. Until our dad caught wind and damn near caught me.
“What do you need help with, Tess?” I asked again.
“ Mal is missing. And so is my husband. ” Her… what? I said nothing as my dehydrated, hungover brain tried to comprehend that last part of her sentence. Tess had a husband? Tess was married? “ Ryder? ”
“You’re married?” I demanded. “To who?”
“ That’s what matters? ”
“Yes!” I snapped. “When? How? What the fuck happened?”
“ It was a quick romance, ” Tessa said.
“How quick?” I growled. “Don’t you dare tell me that fucker knocked you up. I’ll kill him.”
“ Christ, you sound like Mal, ” she replied. “ It was six weeks. ”
“Tess! You can’t marry a guy you just fucking met! What the hell were you thinking?”
“ Jake’s a good guy! ”
“Jake?” I scoffed. “I doubt that considering he asked you to marry him after six weeks!”
“ Not everyone takes ten years to decide maybe they like someone, Ryder, ” Tessa shot back. Okay, I deserved that one. But I loved Gray. It wasn’t the same thing. “ Sorry, that was mean. We’ve been married for three years. ”
Three years? Okay, maybe that made a difference.
“Fuck.” I blew out a breath of air as I scrubbed a hand over my face. “Are you happy?”
“ In general, yes, ” she told me. “ Right now, no. My husband and my brother are missing, and my other brother is being an asshole. ”
“Sorry,” I muttered. “ Fuck, I’m sorry. What happened?”
“ I don’t know. There have been a string of disappearances in Seattle. All men. Mal and Jake were looking into it when they went missing. ”
“How long?”
“ Two days .”
“And you’re sure they’re missing too?” I asked. Maybe it was a stupid thing to ask, but I had to be sure. Mal had no strings attached to him—ever. He was free-spirited. I had no clue if Jake was the same.
“ I know what you’re thinking, ” Tessa said. “ No, Jake wouldn’t leave us like that. ”
“Us?”
“ We have a daughter, Ryder. ” My heart sank. “ She’s one, and he loves our little girl more than life itself. He wouldn’t leave her. He wouldn’t leave us. Please, I need help finding him, and I don’t know who else to ask. ”
“Text me the address,” I replied, getting to my feet. “We’ll be on the road within the hour.”