Josiah’s blood ran cold. “I have to go!” He yelled over his shoulder as he walked out of Fisherman’s Roast. “How long ago?”

“I got up at seven. She sleeps in sometimes, so I didn’t check on her until eleven. She had to have been gone before I woke up.”

And it was three now.

“Tristan?” Josiah was running now, running for the bus, home, hell, he didn’t even know where. He just knew he had to find Tristan, and Rhonda...holy shit, he couldn’t imagine her out here alone.

“I called the police before calling him. They were all here this morning. They’re out looking for her now. I’m so sorry. I should have looked in on her earlier. I thought you would be out looking with them. I thought Tristan would have told you.”

Josiah’s chest squeezed at that. Yeah, him too. “If you see Tristan tell him to call me, tell him I’m looking too, okay? And if they find her, let me know.”

With that Josiah hung up the phone. He called Tristan three times before he answered. “Have they found her?” he asked before Tristan could say anything.

“No.” His voice held no emotion.

“Where are you? I’ll help you look. Teo will, too. We’ll find her, Tristan. I don’t care what it takes, we’ll find her and she’ll be okay.” She had to be.

“The police have a few squads out looking for her, but it’s not enough. Goddamn it! I can’t believe I told her...” Tristan took a deep breath. “I have to go. Jesus, I don’t even know what the fuck to do besides drive around the fucking city looking for her. They’ve contacted all the hospitals, shelters and everything else they can think of, we just... I need to go. I have to find her.”

“Let us come and search with you. You shouldn’t be alone, Tristan. Don’t block us out.”

“Don’t. I don’t have time for that shit right now. I have to find her.” Tristan hung up the phone.

Josiah stopped and leaned against the wall of a building. The city was loud with cars, people and construction work around him. His throat nearly closed up when he thought of Rhonda out in the city alone after not leaving her house in who knew how long. His chest ached at the thought of possibly losing her, and knowing Tristan would be lost to him, too, if they did.

Maybe they never really had him.

Chapter Twenty- Two

Mateo

Mateo and Josiah combed over the same streets they’d looked through two days before.

Today marked Rhonda’s third day gone, and no one had seen a trace of her. And they’d only seen Tristan once. He rarely answered their phone calls, and it had been an accident they’d even run into him when they had. He hadn’t been at home because as far as they both knew, Tristan hadn’t gone back since she came up missing.

“What if we don’t find her, Teo?” Josiah asked.

“We will.” He turned down an alley before looking in and around the dumpster.

“It’s been three days. God, what if something happened to her? She was so happy the other night. And Tristan.”

“We’ll find her, Jay.” Fuck, he hoped those words were true. He ignored his brain that wouldn’t shut the fuck up with the fact that she’d been gone a long time in an unsafe city. That she’s probably been freaked out, scared, and there were a whole hell of a lot of people who would take advantage of someone like that. “We’ll find her,” he said again, because he needed to hear it. Because he owed her that much and more after the other night.

“Rhonda!” he called, not knowing what else to do.

“Rhonda!” Someone else echoed him, and it took everything in him to unclench his fists and not find the motherfucker and show him just how funny that wasn’t.

“My phone’s dead,” Josiah said as he peered around a corner.

“Yeah, mine died a long time ago.” He pulled it out of his pocket. “Why don’t you take them home? We need to have them to keep in touch with Tristan and Isabel. Hell, for all we know they could’ve found her. Get some rest. Try to get ahold of Tristan or somethin’.”

Josiah was already shaking his head before he spoke. “It’s not right. While you guys are out here looking, I will be, too.”

Mateo grabbed Josiah’s waist and pulled him closer. “I know you want to be out here helpin’, Jay, and you will be, but we need our phones, too. What happens if we find her and she needs help? We gotta be able to call someone.”

Mateo felt Josiah’s warm breath across his cheek when he sighed. “You’re right. I know you are. I won’t be able to get ahold of you, though. Meet me at Fisherman’s Roast at six, and we’ll start looking again.”