“Rea!” Jace reached out and grabbed my arm.


    I nced at the bandage on his head, then over at Wayne, who’de in with him. “I think


    something’s happened to Hayden.”


    Wayne frowned, clearly not buying it. “What do you mean? How do you know?”


    I didn’t, not for sure. “I called him. He sounded busy, said he’d call me back, but… he hasn’t. Not


    once.”


    “Why didn’t you call again?” Jace asked, a little sharp.


    I hadn’t. I just waited, trusting he’d call like he said.


    “I’ll call him.” Jace pulled out his phone, dialing.


    It rang forever until finally, “Mr. Johnston.”


    Jace stood close enough that I could hear everything.


    “Hayden, where are you?” Jace asked, no hesitation.


    “On a ne.”


    My breath caught.


    Jace nced at me. “A ne? Where to?”


    “Back to Kehlmark.” Those two words crushed me.


    1 reached for the phone. “Is something wrong?”


    Hayden didn’t answer. My hand shook. “Hayden, talk to me! Did something happen? Are you lying


    about Kehlmark? Where are you?”


    I couldn’t believe he’d leave without seeing me–unless something big was going on.


    “No, I’m not lying,” Hayden finally said.


    But I wasn’t convinced. My voice cracked as I pushed back, “I don’t believe you. You’ve lied to me


    before.”


    There was a long pause, and I braced for Hayden toe up with some excuse. Instead, he said,


    “Yeah, I’m a liar. But not this time. If you don’t believe me, I’ll send you a picture.”


    The line went dead. A secondter, my phone buzzed. Hayden had sent a photo of himself on the


    ne, along with a shot of his boarding pass.


    Staring at it, I had to ept the truth. He really was going back to Kehlmark. And he hadn’t even


    come to


    see me.


    I must’ve looked as wrecked as I felt, because Jace and Wayne just stood there, silent.


    Finally, Jace broke the tension. “That asshole! I’m calling him back.” He reached for his phone.


    I grabbed his hand. “Don’t.”


    “Rea…” Jace’s voice was full of concern.


    Ignoring him, I typed a message to Hayden: [Is something going on back home?]


    I hit send. No reply.


    Frustrated, I sent another: [If something’s happened, I’ll understand. But if you left without a good


    reason, I’ll be really hurt and angry.]


    Still nothing. But I saw the messages had been read. He was ignoring me.


    What was happening?


    Panicked, I typed onest message: [Come back. I need you to see me before you go. If you don’t,


    we’re done. We’ll break up.]


    “Rea,” Jace and Wayne said at the same time, shocked by what I’d just sent.


    But I kept my eyes locked on the screen. A notification appeared: [Hayden is typing…]


    I held my breath, waiting. Then one word popped up:


    [Okay,]


    Content rights by N?velDr//ama.Org.


    Just that one word, and it felt like a knife to my chest.