Flutter (My Blood Approves #3)(21)

“I should get that.”

“Don’t let me stop you,” Peter said, but his expression had gone stony.

I had barely even hit the answer button when I heard Jack yelling anxiously, “What the hell have you been doing, Alice? Are you okay? What’s going on? I’ve been trying to reach you for days!”

“I’ve been busy, Jack.” I tried to sound irritated. My heart ached for him, but with Peter sitting on the bed behind me, I didn’t want to show it. “We’ve been looking for Peter. Remember?”

“Why can’t you call? Or answer a text message? Or let me know that you’re still alive?” Jack demanded.

“I’m sorry.” I swallowed back tears, and Peter got up off the bed. “Where are you going?”

“What? I’m not going anywhere?” Jack was bewildered on the phone.

“No, not you,” I told him and nodded at Peter. “What are you doing?”

“Going to the bathroom. Is that okay with you?” Peter tried to make a joke, but I could tell that he was distressed.

“Yeah. Just don’t leave the room, okay?” I didn’t really trust him not to sneak away.

“Whatever you say.” Peter saluted me, then went into the bathroom. A few seconds later, I heard the water running, drowning out the sound of me talking to Jack.

“Who is that?” Jack’s voice had gotten icy, so he knew exactly who it was.

“Peter.” I sat down on the bed, thankful for the bit of privacy.

“You found him?” Jack shouted incredulously. “Why didn’t you tell me? Why are you still there? When are you coming home? Are you okay? Did you get hurt?”

“I’m fine, he’s fine.” I was tempted to say that Ezra was fine, but at that moment, I didn’t know if that was true. “We just found him last night. He needed to rest, and now we’re getting some things sorted out. We should be leaving soon.”

“What things sorted out?” Jack asked. “Why don’t you just get on the next flight out of there?”

“Peter’s still in pretty bad shape. He needs some more time to recuperate. He’s had a rough go of it here.”

“I thought that was the whole idea. That’s why he went there.” Jack tried to keep the edge to his voice, but it faded a bit. As angry as he was with Peter, he wasn’t a hateful guy.

“We’ll be home soon. You don’t need to worry anymore.” That actually hurt to say. I knew there was still a good chance we wouldn’t make it out alive, but I couldn’t tell Jack that. So I lied, and tears welled in my eyes.

“You better be,” Jack said. “Things are going crazy around here.”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“Your brother and Bobby.”

“Who’s Bobby?”

“He’s… I don’t know. You’ll have to make Milo explain when you get back,” Jack answered vaguely. “All I know for sure is that he’s around all the time now.”

“All the time?” I asked. “I’ve only been gone for like ten days!”

“It’s been a pretty wild ten days around here,” Jack said. “And Bobby showed up like the day after you left. So yeah. It’s been eventful.”

“I don’t understand.”

“You’ll see when you get home,” Jack said. “It’ll give you more of an incentive to get here quicker. As if I weren’t incentive enough.”

“No, you’re definitely enough,” I laughed sadly. Laughing at his silly jokes made me want to sob.

After I hung up, I knocked on the bathroom door to let Peter know the coast was clear, and he came out a minute later. He was much more subdued, so we said very little to each other.

I showered and got dressed, and after that, there wasn’t much else to do. Peter lay on the bed with his fingers laced behind his head, staring up at the ceiling. I paced the room and frequently peeked out of the curtains.

We just waited for Ezra to return.

Sun filtered around the edges of the curtains, and that scared the hell out of me. The lycan were even more strict about their nocturnal habits than we were, so the odds of them continuing a discussion into the daylight didn’t seem likely. If Ezra weren’t back soon, he probably wasn’t coming back.

“He’s still not here.” I peered out the curtain, letting the warm morning light stream in, burning my overly sensitive retina, and then shut it. I looked behind me, where Peter laid immobile, the same way he had all night. “Peter?”

“I’m aware that he’s not here, Alice.”

“Don’t you think we should do something?” I glowered down at him. Lying in bed did not seem like the right answer for this situation.

“I’m thinking.” He closed his eyes, as if that could block out my voice.

“You’ve been thinking all day! We knew that Ezra might not come back, and he’s obviously not going-”

“I have been thinking, Alice!”

“Well… you should let me in on it!” I crossed my arms over my chest. “I could help!”

“You mean like pointing out the obvious and peeking out the curtain?” He pushed himself up into the sitting position, letting his legs dangle off the edge of the bed.