Episode 200
HELLO IT’S ME
Misty
It’s Jake.
He’s alive.
And he’s here.
Alex took off with Sebastian so quickly, and I just stood here.
I stood here.
Jake.
Sebastian can only mean Jake my half-brother.
He was just a good guy, Brett told me. I know that sounds lame, but there’s no better way to describe him. He always did what was right. Or he tried to, anyway. And he loved fiercely. He was protective of his single mom, and of his girlfriend.
Brett claimed not to remember much more because it was so long ago, but his pained expression last night said more than words ever could.
Brett remembers.
And so do Sebastian and Alex, given how quickly they hightailed it away.
I’m left standing with Ariel.
They just left me.
Have they forgotten that he’s my brother?
Granted, I don’t know him. Didn’t even know he existed until recently, and when I found out he died all those years ago, I mourned a sibling I never knew.
They fucking forgot about me.
Forgot that this is my brother. My blood. The person I never knew existed until it was too late. Until I had to grieve him without ever knowing what it felt like to have him in my life.
And now he’s just…back?
The realization sits like a stone in my stomach.
I barely hear Ariel saying my name, her hand brushing my arm like she’s checking to see if I’m still here, still breathing. I blink, trying to shake the static filling my brain.
“I need to— I need to go,” I murmur.
“Where?” Ariel asks. “This is amazing news. Alex told me about their fifth friend who killed himself. The guys need to process this, and—”
I swat her away. “Stop, just stop. This is about me too.”
Ariel scoffs in that annoying Southern way. “Not everything is about you, Misty.”
“Fuck off, Ariel.” I turn and leave.
I follow the path Alex and Sebastian took back to the mansion.
I run inside. “Alex, Sebastian! Brett!” I yell.
Evangeline comes running out of the kitchen. “What are you going on about, Misty?”
“Where are the men?” I demand. “Tell me now, Evie, or I swear I’ll—”
She yanks my arm so hard I’m afraid she may have pulled it out of the socket. “Quiet, Misty. Stop it, already. I got you here. I’ve done my part, so quit throwing what you know in my face.”
I look at Evangeline, at her long dark hair pulled back into a long braid, her thick Goth eyebrows, her red lips. She’s quite a beauty if you like the type.
Definitely not my father’s type, though. Which means…
I can’t go there right now. Not when my long-lost brother has come back from the dead.
Jake is alive, but I don’t know where he is. Alex ran off with Sebastian, and I don’t know where they went. I don’t know where I should go, except…
“Evangeline,” I say, “please. Just tell me where the men went.”
“How am I supposed to know?”
“Uh…because you’re running this event? Alex and Ariel were scouting wedding sites when I ran into them on the beach, and then Sebastian came running, said Jake was alive, and he was here.”
Evangeline raises her thin eyebrows. “Who the hell is Jake?”
“Evie, damn it!” I throw up my hands and walk briskly through the first floor of the mansion, looking in every room. Nothing.
Some of the women are on the deck eating lunch, but not a man in sight.
I run past them and check the pool area and changing rooms.
Again, nothing.
The island isn’t huge, but they could be anywhere. I run back to the beach and follow the shoreline.
I run and I run and I run until my chest burns the way it used to when my father forced me to stay underwater.
And I do what I did then.
I keep going.
Keep running.
Until in the distance…
I see them.
Five figures.
Five men.
Three with dark hair—Alex, Sebastian, River.
And two blonds.
One is Brett, and the other…
The other can only be my brother.
“Jake!” I yell, sucking in air as I race toward their huddle.
As I near them, they turn as one, their expressions ranging from shock to incredulity. Brett is the first to break away from the group, rushing toward me with a horrified look on his face.
"Misty! No!" He bellows as he tries to intercept me, but he's too late.
I stumble and fall into the sand just feet away from the group, my breath coming in harsh gasps as I struggle to fill my burning lungs with air. But I don't care about that. All I see is him. Jake. My brother.
He's taller than I imagined, with broad shoulders and sun-kissed hair. He's older too—not the young boy Brett described, but a mature man in his prime. His eyes widen as he turns and looks my way, his face twisted in confusion.
“Misty,” Brett says again. “You can’t be here. Not yet. He doesn’t know.”
“I don’t know what?” Jake asks.
“That I’m your sister,” I say, my breath coming in rapid puffs. “They told me you were dead, Jake. They told me you were dead.” I stumble forward, my head spinning.
“Misty!” Brett lunges at me, catching me.
A moment later, I’m lying on the land, the sun above me, five faces looking down at me.
“She’s okay,” Brett says. “Her breathing’s getting back to normal.”
“Misty.” River’s deep voice. “You shouldn’t have run so hard.”
Ten eyes stare at me, concern shining in them. But all I can see are the blue ones that look so much like my own, with golden hair falling into them.
“Jake,” I murmur. “My brother…”
“River,” says a voice I don’t recognize. It’s coming from my brother. “Is this her?”