Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 94220 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 471(@200wpm)___ 377(@250wpm)___ 314(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 94220 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 471(@200wpm)___ 377(@250wpm)___ 314(@300wpm)
“I have. But it’d be stupid to leave a digital trail. Still…yeah. We’re gonna be cautious. That’s why we’re meeting him at Caribou Coffee, not in some dark alley. He already knows who we both are, since I mentioned I’m Mike’s brother when I first reached out, and when he replied, he already said he’d seen your post. So it’s not like we’re safe just by not meeting up with him. And if anything feels weird or off, we bail. Deal?”
“Deal,” I say.
It doesn’t shake all my worries, but the only thing I know for sure is that, no matter what happens, I’m here for Zane.
26
ZANE
After our visit to animal rescue, Leif and I take Kyra to his parents’ place before heading out to meet with Dman.
Leif said he’s nervous about meeting with a stranger, which fair enough, but I know there’s more to it than that. I’m sure he’s worried for the same reason I am—that this guy won’t have the answers I’m so desperate for.
I tell myself I’ll be fine if that’s the case, but it’s a lie.
When we get to the coffeehouse, we enter through push doors. The place isn’t far from campus, and it’s fairly busy. For the most part, the patrons are kids in their late teens, early twenties. There’s a large, decorated tree, and snowflake ornaments and other seasonal paraphernalia are strung about the place as a pop Christmas song plays overhead. Dman said he’d come to us, so he must know what I look like—from my brother’s social media accounts, I’m guessing.
No one’s looking up or moving from their seats, so he’s probably not here yet. We order our drinks. I go for a black coffee, and Leif adorably orders a hot chocolate with whipped cream. Then we head to the other end, where the pickup counter is.
“A hot chocolate?” I say, quirking my brow.
“Don’t give me shit about that. It’s all Christmasy right now. I couldn’t help myself.”
“It’s adorable, so I wouldn’t dare give you shit.”
He scans the room, something he’s done a few times since we arrived. “What do you think he looks like?”
“My brother was quiet and distant. Played a lot of video games, so I’m thinking he’ll be a gamer with hair down to his shoulders because he’s too busy playing Call of Duty to get to a barber. Maybe a beard with crumbs in it.”
Leif laughs. “Okay, I was being serious.”
“We’ll know soon enough. Although, if he’s as introverted as my bro, he might be a no-show.”
It’s a thought I’ve tried to push to the back of my mind. If he doesn’t come, that might be the thing to break me.
When the barista sets our drinks down, we grab them before I hear, “Zane? Leif?”
I turn to see a six-foot-something man approaching. High cheekbones, a jawline that looks chiseled from stone, his biceps and chest filling out the thermal he wears. The fluorescent lights shine on his hair, which I would call dirty blond, but seems like a crime to say there’s anything dirty about this man who looks like a model.
His face twists up, and he glances between us. “It’s me. Dman.” As he says it, I realize I’m staring as he looks at me with bright, baby-blue eyes.
“You’re Dman?” I ask.
“It’s Wes,” he says with a charming-ass wink before looking between Leif and me. “Aren’t you two a pair of cuties? Will you grab us a booth while I order? Think we need privacy for this.”
“Sure, totally,” Leif says.
As Wes heads to the register, I sneak a glance at Leif, whose lips are pressed together like he’s trying to suppress a smile.
“Yeah, the guy’s a real introvert,” he says. “Surprised he made it out, for sure.”
“Shut it,” I say through my teeth.
Leif and I grab a booth.
I was nervous before, but now my hands are shaking, and surely this caffeine won’t help in that department.
I try some of Leif’s hot chocolate and regret giving him hell about the whipped cream because that’s some good shit. When Wes slides into the seat across from us, I scoot closer to Leif. I’m sure it’s because I feel threatened by this hunk across from us.
“What?” Wes asks. “Why are you looking at me like that?”
“I think because of how we met, I was figuring you’d be this dorky internet geek. Not that there would have been anything wrong with that, but—”
“You weren’t expecting me to be this hot?” he asks, his smile distracting from the cocky remark.
“Um…maybe,” I confess.
“Fair enough. First off, I want to say I’m so sorry about everything that’s going on around Mike. I can’t imagine what you’re going through. And sorry I didn’t get back to you before. That wasn’t my usual Reddit account. Wasn’t something I wanted linked to my other shit, you know? And it kept getting inundated with requests from podcasters and TikTokers, so I stopped looking at it after a while. Wasn’t until I saw the press conference being tweeted about that I checked again. Even more requests, but then I see this one from a guy claiming to be Mike’s bro, and I was like, the hell?”