There’s no sign of Parrish.
“I don’t understand,” Tess says as Paul stands beside her, looking supremely annoyed at the inconvenience of a missing son. “His phone is in his room; his car is the garage. I even found his wallet in his book bag.”
Chasm appears in the doorway and hefts up a plastic garbage bag.
“Checked his trash, but there aren’t any clues.” He gives me a dirty look as soon as Tess nods her thanks and turns her attention back to Paul. “You fucking owe me.” This last part is whispered in my ear just before he takes off toward the garage, and I scoot off my stool in the kitchen to follow.
“Thank you for that,” I reply honestly, because it never even occurred to me that Tess might actually go through Parrish’s garbage and see … well, evidence from last night. “You didn’t have to do that.”
“Yeah, well.” Chasm lifts the lid of the large trash can and tosses the bag in. “I have ulterior motives, you know? He might be your fuckboy, but he’s my best friend. If he gets caught banging you, we’ll never see each other again.”
“First off, fuckboy?” I query, rubbing at the side of my face. I’m worried, but not that worried. Not yet. “Second, banging? Pick better word choices.” He slams the lid on the can and turns to give me a dark look.
“I’m not even the one fucking, but yet I’m having to clean up the aftermath.” He lets his pretty amber eyes trail up toward the ceiling, staring at the white sheetrock as if it might hold the answer as to where Parrish has gone.
“I thought you were banned from the house?” I ask, because he was. For at least another week. Chasm’s sardonic laugh helps fill in the blanks almost immediately. His dad, this has to be about his dad.
Bingo.
“My dad has some guests staying over that he doesn’t want me to meet.” Chasm frowns and rubs his hand over his face. “More like, he doesn’t want the guests meeting me. He called Tess and asked if I could stay over for a few nights.”
Ouch.
“I know how you feel,” I start, thinking about yesterday, about that stupid page stuck in Tess’ typewriter. I should never have touched it, my mistake. It would’ve been better if I hadn’t known how she really felt about me. “Last night, I learned that Tess doesn’t like me. She loves me—maybe—but she doesn’t like me.”
“She told you that?” Chasm asks, and I shrug.
“More like, I saw a page from her new manuscript and read it. I think it went something like this: She may be my child by blood, and my love might be eternal, but that doesn’t mean I have to like her.” I’m not sure if I’m quoting it right, but close enough. Chas gets the gist.
“Yikes, Little Sister,” he murmurs, echoing my sentiments about his father. “Is that how you and Parrish …?” He trails off and then shakes his head, shoving his fingers through his bangs and disturbing the pretty perfection of his lightning bolt. “Never mind. I don’t want to know. I don’t even care.”
We pause our conversation as Tess opens the door to the garage, giving us both a look that cuts right to the bone.
“If either of you know where my son is, now is the time to speak up. This isn’t a game; it’s not a joke.”
“We would never lie about something like this,” I say, glancing over at Chasm. His face has darkened up, but he has no problem meeting Tess’ eyes. He really doesn’t know either. Now I’m starting to panic.
“If we knew where he was, we’d tell you. He probably just went for a walk.” Chasm doesn’t sound like he believes that, but it’s the only rational explanation at this point. “I’ll start calling around and see if anyone’s seen or heard from him.”
“Do you know his passwords?” Tess asks, swallowing hard. Her eyes are red-rimmed, and I can see that this is deeply triggering for her. “We could get into his PlayStation or email or something and check for messages?”
Chasm hesitates a moment before giving a sharp nod and heading into the house.
Normally, I’d be super creeped out at the idea of Tess hacking into Parrish’s electronics, but … I think I’ll make an exception this once. Just so we can find him. Just so I can look into his eyes and know that he didn’t leave because of me, because of us.
Us.
By eight o’clock, Tess has officially lost it. She’s alternately crying and going dead silent, pacing around, checking and rechecking every room in the house. The entire Vanguard family—Chasm and me included—is seated in the living room, awaiting news.
“I’ve spoken to the police; they’re on their way over.” Paul taps his phone against his palm, his annoyance diminished from its peak this morning. He’s clearly worried, too. And so am I. My stomach hurts so bad, it feels like I’ve got the worst period cramps known to womanhood. It’s all nerves, but it’s manifesting in so many physical ways. My head is pounding, my body is sweetly sore from last night and I can’t even enjoy it, and I want to scream.
Where are you, Parrish?! What the actual fuck?
“The Seattle Slayer probably got him,” Kimber murmurs, and Tess just loses her shit completely.
“What did you just say?” she snaps, her voice like a bolt of ice. In an instant, she’s standing in front of Kimber and tearing her phone out of her hands. “You’ve just lost phone privileges for a week.”
“Mom!” Kimber screeches, scrambling up out of her seat. But it’s too late. Tess shoves the phone into her purse and then plants her elbows on the surface of the counter, letting out a small scream of frustration that surprises the shit out of all of us.
“I can’t do this again, Paul,” she breathes, and I almost feel sorry for her. No, no, I do feel sorry for her, even after last night. I can’t help myself. My empathy flares as I watch her shoulders shake with quiet sobs. Her husband comforts her by pulling her into his arms, and I’m reminded of Parrish all over again, of the innumerable times he’s hugged me close and let my cry.
Fuck.
Kimber comes to a stop a few feet behind her mom, her rage dissipating like smoke. Even she can sense how serious this is. Nobody’s seen Parrish since last night. I’m probably the last person to have seen him, and that does not sit well with me.
“What about the security cameras, Paul?” Tess is asking, and my heart drops. Oh. Shit. If they check the cameras, they’ll see me and Parrish kissing in the hallway. They’ll see us open the door and talk to Chasm. I’m not exactly sure where all the cameras are located, but they might even see him giving us condoms.
Chas and I share an alarmed look, but there’s quite literally nothing we can do about it.
“I checked three times already,” Paul tells Tess, and Chasm’s brows go way, way up. It’s very clearly a what the actual fuck? sort of a look. “There’s nothing there. The drive was full. We haven’t actually recorded anything in weeks.”
The look she throws her husband is venomous.
“You could’ve set it to upload to the cloud, or automatically erase over old footage.” Tess’ words are sharp, fully intended to inflict a blow on her husband. She’s hurting and she doesn’t know what to do with that pain.