The Vincent Brothers (The Vincent Boys #2)(49)

“So, wait... she’s just missing? Have you talked to her?” Jewel winked at me. She was good at this.

“Oh, wow. No, she hasn’t called or anything. Should I try calling her? I can see if she answers my phone call and tells me where she’s gone off to.”

She was really good. Heck, I almost believed she didn’t know I’d left Grove.

“Off? Ouch. Who pissed in her Wheaties?” I covered my mouth in shock. She’d just said pissed while talking to my mother.

“Weird, Mrs. Mac, but no, she hasn’t called me. I was hoping she would but I haven’t heard anything yet. I’ll let you know if I do.”

My mother hated it when Jewel called her Mrs. Mac. Actually, my mother just hated Jewel. This phone call had to be annoying her to no end.

“I gotta go, Mrs. Mac. Sorry, but my lifeguard is here and he is one yummy number, ya know? I’ll call if I hear anything,” she cooed and then hung up her phone. She double-checked to make sure it was disconnected before grinning up at me. “Go ahead and say it. I rocked that phone call.”

If I wasn’t completely numb inside, I’d have laughed. “Yes, you were amazing. I’ll never be sure if you’re telling the truth again because that was completely believable. I’m almost convinced you haven’t seen or heard from me.”

Jewel giggled and leaned back in her chair, “Whatev, you’re the only person on earth who can read through my lies. I prefer to think of it as acting. I so, think I need to move to Hollywood. I’d be brilliant on the big screen. Or maybe just a CW show...ooooooh. I could be on Vampire Diaries and lure Damon away from his infatuation from Elena. Then I could do one of those naked scenes he likes to do so much.”

I closed my eyes as she went on and on about a naked Damon and how amazing she’d look on television.

Sawyer

Three days and nothing. Not even her mother could find her. I was empty. Nothing mattered anymore. I didn’t want to get out of bed. The only thing that kept me going was the hope that maybe today she’d call. Maybe today, I’d find her.

I couldn’t sleep. Each night, I lay awake in my bed staring at the ceiling and going over all the thoughtless things I’d done to her. She’d been so damn sweet, too. I hadn’t deserved her but she’d wanted me. Me. No one else. Even after I called her a distraction she’d forgiven me. When she’d needed someone to hold her and listen to her, I’d pushed her away to comfort Ashton while she threw up. She’d forgiven me for that one too. Hell, all she’d done this month was forgive me for my stupidity. I wasn’t sure I could focus enough next week when I had to go to Florida for the first week of practice. How did I just leave Grove and not know Lana was okay, not get the chance to hold her and tell her how sorry I was? How could I go without being able to tell her that I was in love with her?

Picking up the nearest thing I could get my hands on, a random picture frame, I hurled it across the room and roared in frustration. Anything to release the fear, pain, and suffocating feeling of loss churning inside me.

“You put a hole in the sheetrock. Your mama ain’t gonna be real happy about that one I’m guessing,” Beau drawled and I jerked my gaze toward the door to see him standing there watching me.

“Like I give a shit,” I replied with an angry snarl.

Beau shrugged, “Just sayin’ you might want to go back to pounding your fist on brick since you can’t break that. Then again, you need those hands in working order for next week. Florida’s gonna need their golden boy draft pick if they want any chance at taking down the Tide anytime in the next four years.”

I knew he was trying to get my mind off Lana but it was pointless. I wasn’t in the mood to argue SEC football with him. At the moment, I didn’t give a shit who won what. I just wanted Lana back. I dropped down to sit on the sofa behind me and let my head fall back on the black leather.

“I gotta find her Beau,” the desperate sound in my voice wasn’t lost on me.

“We will. Just takes some time. The girl doesn’t want to be found. She’s smart. She covered all her tracks.”

She couldn’t have covered everything. Someone had to have helped her. But who?

“She couldn’t just disappear like that. It isn’t like Grove has any damn taxis she can hail. Heck, she can’t even call one because they don’t exist. It’s at least thirty miles to the nearest bus station. SOMEONE had to have helped her. That’s my missing clue.”

Beau sat down on the sofa across from me. “Her mama called that friend of hers at the beach, right?”

I nodded, closing my eyes. I’d met Jewel. There was no way she just dropped everything and hauled ass that quickly to Grove to pick up Lana. No possible way. Even if she’d wanted to, she couldn’t have pulled that off.

“She hadn’t heard from her. Lana’s mom said she was positive. She’d talked to Jewel herself and the girl didn’t have a clue. Nor was she really worried about it.”

Beau frowned, “Her friend didn’t care that she was missing?”

“You haven’t met Jewel. She’s interested in partying and guys. That’s the extent of her concerns. I spent an entire meal trying to keep her hand off my dick. Trust me. The girl is shallow.”

“Just because she’s a party girl doesn’t mean she isn’t loyal to her friends. You spent what, one meal with her? I don’t think that’s enough time to decide about a person’s loyalties. She annoyed you but Lana doesn’t seem like a girl who’d put up with someone who had no good qualities. She’s pretty damn guarded. If she calls Jewel a friend then there is something about Jewel you don’t know.”