Hunter’s hand was back on his shoulder. “We’re going to find her, Kyle. We have to think positive. We know she’s been fighting with Sydney a lot, so she’s probably hiding out somewhere just to push her buttons.”
The mirthless laugh was out before he could stop it. “I seriously hope that’s what she’s doing.” Emotion had him by the throat. “She’s just a kid…”
“I know,” Hunter whispered. “Come on. Ride with me. I’ve got a police radio in the truck so we’ll be able to hear if anyone sees her. In the meantime, we’ll drive around and try to think of places she would go.”
He nodded. “Can you just check with Violet and make sure Sydney’s okay?” They walked over to Hunter’s truck and he saw his brother texting. Once they were situated, he asked, “Well?”
Hunter’s phone rang before he could say anything. “It’s Violet.” Putting it on speakerphone, he said, “What’s up, Vi? Have they found her?”
“No, but they found her bike down near Pelican Drive,” Violet said quietly. “I’m not sure where that is, but…”
“That’s around the block from here,” Kyle said, and then his heart started to race. “I think I know where she is!”
“What? Where?” Hunter asked, starting up the truck.
“Vi? Don’t say anything to Sydney yet, okay? I’ve just got a hunch, but I don’t want to get her hopes up,” Kyle told her before he hung up.
“Hey! Did you just hang up on my fiancée?”
“I’ll apologize later! Just…drive to the marina!”
“Dude, we could have walked there…”
“Just drive, Hunter!”
Two minutes later, Kyle was jumping out of the truck before his brother had even come to a complete stop and was running down the dock to the family boat. Behind him, he heard Hunter running to catch up. When they got to the slip, they both stopped.
“I don’t get it,” Hunter said. “Where’s the boat?”
Kyle’s heart sank. “She took the boat.” With a vicious curse, he turned and stalked back up the dock.
“How? How could she take it without a key?”
“I may have mentioned where we keep an extra key in case of an emergency.”
Behind him, Hunter muttered a curse of his own.
“We need a boat, Hunter! Now! Can we commandeer one of these?”
“I don’t think so, but we’re only a couple of blocks from Scarlett and Mason’s place! Come on!” Back in the truck, Hunter sped out of the parking lot while Kyle called their sister and told her to have the boat ready.
And for once in her life, she didn’t argue.
By the time they got to the boat, Kyle was ready to scream. He had no idea where to go once they were out on the water. What the hell could she possibly be thinking? He was at the helm and his brother was at his side and as they headed out onto the Sound, he prayed for some sort of direction.
Literally and figuratively.
“Can we track the boat?” Kyle asked, his eyes frantically scanning in all directions.
“I don’t think so. But if we could get someone to fly overhead or find someone with one of those drones…”
“Make calls. Do what you’ve got to do because I have no idea where we even start out here.”
“Where’d you take her the last time you went out?”
And then he knew exactly where they were going. “I hope I’m right,” he murmured. “And with any luck, she didn’t get that big of a head start.”
“You know where she is?”
“I’m hopeful,” he said, speeding up the boat, he programmed the GPS.
“Florida?!” Hunter cried. “She’s going to Florida?”
“That’s what I’m thinking. She asked about it when we were out on the boat. If she’s looking to run away and she took the boat, it just makes sense that she’d do this.”
“Damn.” He paused. “She could have a couple of hours on us.”
“Only one way to find out.”
“We really should let Sydney know…”
But he shook his head. “No. Not yet.”
For an hour, Kyle cursed the fact that they weren’t farther along. They hadn’t seen any other boats and he was beginning to think he was wrong. Only…it didn’t feel like it. He just knew he wasn’t known for his patience and…
“There!” Hunter called out, pointing to a spot on the horizon. He pulled out a pair of binoculars and looked. When he cursed, Kyle knew something was wrong and immediately took the binoculars.
Neither spoke as they sped toward the boat, and once they were close enough, Kyle turned to his brother. “Take the wheel,” he commanded, kicking off his shoes and socks before pulling everything from his pockets and tossing them on the floor.
The closer they got, the more anxious he started to feel.
The boat had capsized.
And there was no sign of Haley.
Hunter cut the engine and started to strip down, but Kyle stopped him. “Get the first aid kit out and start making calls for an ambulance to meet us as close to here as possible. He looked around and realized they weren’t close to anything. “This is right in your wheelhouse, Hunt. Make the calls!” Bracing himself on the edge of the boat, he called out to her. “Haley!” And then he dove into the water.
It was cold—almost too cold—and a shock to his system, but he couldn’t let himself focus on it because he had to get to Haley. It didn’t take long for him to feel the effects of the water temperature and he swam as fast as he could. When he reached the side of the boat, he used it to brace himself so he could call out to her again. “Haley!”
He paused to take a breath when he heard a sound.
A cry.
A whimper.
Pushing off the boat, he swam around to the other side and found her. She had on a life jacket and was clinging to the boat. Her lips were blue and her eyes were closed and he’d never been more terrified in his life.
“I got her!” he screamed out to his brother. Swimming right up to her, he directed her to let go of the boat. “I’ve got you, Hales,” he whispered. “Stay with me. Wrap your arms around my neck.”
“I…I can’t,” she said, her voice weak. “I’m too tired.”
He reached for her and they struggled as a wave hit and he smashed his head against the boat’s propeller. There were definitely stars when he closed his eyes, but he didn’t let it stop him.
“Hunter!”
Wrapping an arm around her, Kyle slowly maneuvered her away from the boat. Hunter had managed to get the boat even closer and was immediately reaching out to haul Haley inside. Once she was safely out of the water, Hunter reached down to help him and get him onto the deck as well.
“Luckily, Mason’s well prepared,” he said, wrapping Haley in a blanket before handing a second one to Kyle. “There’s an emergency crew meeting us in Wilmington. According to the GPS, we’re closest to them.” He stepped behind the wheel. “Hold on to her and keep her head and neck covered,” he directed. “And try to keep her talking.”