Devils & Thieves (Devils & Thieves #1)(33)

“It is my business when it affects the Devils—we have to protect you because you can’t protect yourself. You can’t help protect Alex, either, and Lord knows she needs it sometimes.”

For a moment, we just stared at each other, and I remembered what Crowe had said to Hardy while I eavesdropped, about how I was a distraction, something that would slow him down. Shame wound so tightly around me that I couldn’t breathe. Crowe was right: I didn’t belong here. I was a disappointment to everyone. I was failing my best friend. And suddenly I wanted to be a million miles away.

Maybe living in a dreck world, far away from Hawthorne and the kindled community, was exactly where I belonged. Sometimes, when I thought about it, when I really considered it, it seemed like a welcome relief.

I let out a breath. “Fine. I’ll go home. But Alex—”

“Boone is with her, and he’ll be taking her home soon.”

“And you? What are you going to do?”

He smirked, the seriousness suddenly gone. “Now you care whether I live or die?”

I’ve always cared, you idiot. I turned away and looked at the car, where Jackson waited inside, his head bowed over his phone. “Just don’t go around picking fights.”

He snorted. “I’ll try. Think about what I said, all right? Stop hiding and face whatever you’re scared of. Whatever it is, I’m guessing you’re strong enough to deal with it.”

My back still to him, I rolled my eyes. Then I climbed into his car and Jackson turned the engine over, the roar of it like a jet plane in the intimate press of the forest.

As Jackson drove away, I checked the side mirror and was disappointed to see the reflection on the glass empty save for the silvery paint of moonlight on the trees.





NINE


WHEN I GOT HOME, I IMMEDIATELY TRIED CALLING DAREK, but he didn’t answer. I tried Alex, but hers went straight to voice mail.

I paced the house. Watched TV. Took a shower. Watched more TV. No one called me back. No one texted.

It was like all of them had forgotten that I existed. They had enough to deal with already, and couldn’t bother with me. Or maybe they were having so much fun that I just didn’t cross their minds.

Sometime after three in the morning I lay down and somehow managed to fall asleep, despite the ongoing silence from my friends. In some distant corner of my dreams, I heard the rumble of a Harley as it tore down my street and parked in front of my house. But it wasn’t until Crowe was at my bedside, shaking me, that I came fully awake.

It was still dark out, the moon only a phantom light behind my bedroom curtains. Crowe was hidden in darkness, but I knew it was him by the honeyed, smoky smell of him and the feel of his hands on my skin.

“What is it?” I croaked, and sat up on an elbow. “How did you get in here?” Dad was right—the barrier around our house was obviously shot.

“You weren’t answering your phone.”

“I was sleeping.”

He flicked the bedside lamp on and I winced.

“Have you heard from Alex?” he asked, an unfamiliar edge in his voice.

“What? No. Is she not home?” I grabbed my phone from the table and activated the screen. Five AM. Four missed calls from Crowe. There was nothing from Alex. Not even a text.

“I haven’t seen her since this afternoon.” He said this afternoon like it was still the same day, like he hadn’t slept at all yet. “She managed to slip away from Boone in the crowd.”

I kicked the blankets off. Crowe started to pace. “And you searched all over the festival?” I asked. “Even in the woods? Sometimes she—”

“Yes. I searched.” He ran a hand through his hair. “I searched the whole place.”

“Okay. So.” I scrubbed at my face, trying to knock the sleep from my eyes. “Someone has to have seen her. She kind of stands out.”

“Jackson didn’t see her after he got back from dropping you off. Hardy got too plastered to know the difference between a girl and a lamppost. Boone came up with nothing. Gunnar is still hiding from me. Brooke said she thought she saw Alex heading off to the parking lot with my mom, but Mom hadn’t seen her in hours. Not since we were all in the tent during setup, and Alex isn’t at home.”

“Was her car still in the lot?”

Crowe shook his head.

“What about Flynn? Did he see her?”

“I tried his phone before I came here, but he didn’t answer.”

I slid from the bed and grabbed a pair of jeans off the floor, realizing as I tugged them on that I wasn’t wearing anything at all other than an old T-shirt. Crowe went still, watching me in that unreadable way of his.

“Turn around,” I said, so he did, and I quickly slipped on a bra. Once my shoes were in my hands, and my bag on my shoulder, I said, “Let’s start with Flynn’s house; he’s always putting up strays. We’ll find her, okay? She’s probably just passed out somewhere.” I wasn’t that worried—Alex and I had plans to practice magic today, and I knew how long she’d been wanting me to cast. “It’s also possible she doesn’t want to be found right now, especially by you. She was pretty pissed about what you did at the Schoolhouse.”

He didn’t reply, but the grit of his teeth and the sharp nod of his head implied that it would be better for all of us if Alex was found sooner rather than later. Otherwise I feared the world might crumble around us, crushed by Crowe’s devastating magic.