Panic threatens, the devastation on her face all I can see. “Just tell me where she is.”
“I really don’t know. When she got out of the SUV, she begged me not to follow. We’ve called her a dozen times, and her phone is going straight to voicemail. She turned off her locator, too.”
“Of course, she did,” I palm my face in frustration.
“I can help you look for her,” he offers.
“I’ll find her,” I inch forward. “Can you at least give me a general direction? This resort is three fucking miles wide.”
“East.” Damon offers in fast response.
“East? You’re joking, right?”
He cocks his head. “Unfortunately…no?”
“Just…，” I exhale harshly, “…if you see her, tell her I’m looking for her, all right?”
“I will.”
I back a step away from the door just as he closes it. Not ten seconds later, Holly calls to my retreating back just after I push the button for the elevator. “Easton Crowne!” She booms with protective authority, forcing me to turn and address her as she secures a bedsheet around her.
Oh. Ohhh.
The last few awkward minutes begin to make sense as Holly reads my state—heartbeat erratic, mind in overdrive, worry overtaking me, anger due to Natalie’s disappearance the front runner. Dressed in an impromptu toga, Holly squares her shoulders before issuing her threat. “Rock star or not, I’ll put my foot up your ass, if you hurt my girl!”
“Tell ’im, baby,” Damon sounds from behind the door.
“I don’t see you telling him,” she fires back to the crack of space.
“It’s implied,” he grits out.
“It’s unnecessary,” I inform them, denying my smile and dismissing them both, turning to repeatedly jab the elevator button.
“Just…please, Easton,” Holly reasons at my back. “She’s been through enough.”
All I can do is nod before I step into the elevator turning to briefly meet Holly’s pleading gaze as the doors close.
Less than twenty-four hours in, my ex-wife is putting me through my paces as my ex-girlfriend literally runs for the hills.
I shouldn’t have expected any less.
Same woman.
Same result.
Stay pissed, Easton.
But I don’t stay pissed. Panic takes the lead and runs rampant after endless minutes of fruitlessly combing the resort and coming up empty. Muscles aching, heart racing, her pained cries echoing throughout my mind, I start my search along the beach, seeing no signs of her. Fear snatches me in a chokehold as I stop briefly, panting heavily, gut churning. In an attempt to calm myself, I brace my hands on my thighs.
Fuck, Beauty, where are you?
Sweat dripping from every inch of my body, I spot a dune a short distance away and stalk toward it. It’s when I reach the top of it that her voice carries to me on the wind. Relieved, I let the anger seep back in as I lose my footing on the other side of the dune, all but tumbling down, before barely managing to catch myself in time to land on my feet. Feeling crazed and possessed, emotions in overdrive, I slap at the sand covering me in irritation as I stalk toward her where she sits, her back to me, phone lifted to her ear.
“No, I’m not,” she sniffs. “And I haven’t been okay for a long time.” Hunched over in my jacket, her wedding dress, I bat the sentimental thought away, ready to lay into her but am stopped dead in my tracks when she speaks again.
“I’m glad, Daddy, because I want to tell you about the man I fell in love with in Seattle.”
Her tearful admission grips my seizing heart like a vise as I’m frozen where I stand, waiting on bated breath for Nate’s reply. During those short seconds, I toss up a prayer, if only for her sake, for him to finally hear her out. It’s when she begins her tearful confession that I stop breathing altogether.
“He’s perceptive. He can read people easily and usually judge people’s character within minutes. He speaks the way he lives—with intent, and it’s fascinating to me because I’ve never met anyone so brave. He’s brilliant, magnetic, and…magical, and I’m drawn to him more than I have ever been to any other soul in my life. He listens to my passion like it’s his favorite pastime and treats me like I’m the most precious thing on earth—with the utmost respect and care. He’s fiercely protective and has a temper. Still, it’s mostly directed towards those who endanger the ones he loves, who purposefully play ignorant, or treat others unfairly, but would never, ever hurt me.”