Power & Choice

by Lucy Smoke

  "What if she really is missing?" I asked. "Are we going to report it?"

  Knix tilted his head to the side and his face grew tight. "We might," he said. "She left her phone and no offense to your friend, Harlow, but she doesn't seem like the type of girl comfortable being away from her phone for extended periods of time." He was right. Erika was a selfie fanatic and a social media fiend. It was a wonder how we were friends since I was neither. "Either she left it because she knew she wouldn't need it or she didn't mean to leave it at all."

  "Do you think she'll go back for it?" I asked, hopefully.

  "Let's go ahead and have you call her parents, and then we'll take it one step at a time."

  "We need to inform Alex," Bellamy said.

  Knix nodded. "You go ahead and do that."

  Texas moved closer as I bit my lip. "It's going to be okay, Spider-Monkey," he said, brushing a reassuring hand down my arm. "We'll find your friend."

  My lips twitched at the reminder of his new nickname, but I quickly sobered. "I think she might have run off with Josh," I admitted quietly. "I know she really cares about him. I think she knew that night she came here."

  He tilted his head to the side again. "Why do you say that?" he asked.

  "She was acting really odd," I said. "Flirting and drinking and we drank for the first time right before I met you guys. It was just beer and she wasn't that into it. But she was way more experienced this time around."

  "Were she and Josh having problems?" he asked.

  I pinched my lips together before answering. "I'm not sure," I admitted. "She said they weren't. She said he was doing well in rehab. Maybe it was just being at the college?"

  Texas nodded. "We might have to check out that avenue. For now, go ahead and call her parents."

  “Why didn’t you say anything before if you were worried?” Bellamy asked, curious.

  I flushed, biting my lip. “I…” I sighed. “I was kind of caught up in… everything else,” I admitted quietly. All of my attention had been focused on the case. After meeting that girl at the club, I had become so hyper focused, I let my friend just disappear. What kind of person did that make me? “I guess I just assumed she would come to me if she needed something.” God, even that was lame for an excuse. I closed my eyes, shame rising up.

  When a hand touched my shoulder, my eyes opened. “Don’t worry, we’ll figure out what happened. I’m not sure if she’s willingly gone off with Josh. But, whether she has or hasn’t, we’ll figure out the truth.”

  Tears swam in front of my vision, but I sucked them back, closing my eyes briefly once more before opening them and standing. “Okay,” I huffed, “that’s what we’ll do.” If the guys said we would figure it out, then we would. I looked at them, feeling relief swelling in my chest. I wasn’t trying to work on my own anymore. That, in itself, was a true gift from my Iris boys.

  “Why don’t you go ahead and make that call,” Bellamy said, gently nudging me. I nodded, moving in the direction of my room as I pulled out my cell. Even though I was really worried about my friend, I was glad that everything was aired. The guys knew that Grayson was involved. They knew about Josh. They knew about Erika. They knew about...each other. I hoped this dating thing with the four of them would work out. I couldn't bear to think of hurting any of their feelings. Somewhere in the back of my mind, though, I knew that if I chose one of them at the end, someone would end up hurt. No matter who I chose, I’d lose. I just knew it.

  Sneak Peek: Iris Boys 3

  I came awake as a door opened and the BMW began to ding repeatedly letting whoever had opened the door know that the car was still on and running. With blurry vision, I rose up on my forearms and looked through the front windows.

  "This is Alex's house?" I asked.

  Bellamy glanced back at me over his shoulder from the front passenger side. "It's just his mountain home. Usually, he rents it out to weekenders, but when Iris needs it he lends it out as well."

  "What are we doing here?" I stifled a yawn. "I thought we were going to his house."

  "Alex is staying the weekend up here," Bellamy replied. "And we all felt like it would be better to meet Grayson on neutral territory." I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. Neutral territory made them sound like such alpha animals. Bellamy frowned at me as my yawn finally got the better of me and escaped. "Are you okay?" he asked. "It wasn't that long of a drive, but you fell asleep less than a half hour in."

  I scratched my arm and sat up fully. "I'm fine," I replied. "Just tired."

  When I reached for the back door, he stopped me. "No, wait," he cautioned. "We're waiting for Marv's go ahead."

  "His go ahead? Why? Is something wrong out here?" I glanced out through the back windshield. "Are we being watched?" When I turned back around, Bellamy looked at me as though I was crazy. "What?" I demanded.

  "Where would you get an idea like that?" he asked, shocked. "We're not being watched. It's not like we're FBI or anything."

  "Well, Iris does like to stick their nose in places that a lot of people would be upset about," I said. Case in point, the last job that we had finished a few weeks before: suicides, drugged girls, a vengeance mission. It had been hard and extremely taxing, as well as heartbreaking. I couldn’t really say much about Iris poking its head into the business of others’ though because I went along with it all. I had even pushed to go on that mission.

  Bellamy sighed and then up ahead, I noticed Marv waiting on the front door step. At the same time that I noticed him, the front door opened, and a dark-skinned woman smiled brightly, and kissed him lightly on the cheek. My gut curdled in irritation. Who was she?

  “Ah, looks like we’re good, let’s go,” Bellamy said.

  I opened the back door and got out, frowning as I moved towards the wooden steps leading up to the house. It was sunshine yellow with bright white, trimmed windows to either side of the front door and a double window above. Marv held out his hand for mine and I took it as I ascended the stairs with Bellamy at my back.

  “The others are almost here,” Marv said, directing the statement to Bellamy.

  “Are you staying for the weekend?” the unknown woman asked.

  I narrowed my gaze on her but didn’t respond. The truth was, I had no clue what the plan was. All I had been told was that we were going to see Alex. I hadn’t been sleeping well and I cursed my lack of attention.

  “Not sure yet, Carlissa,” Marv said. “You know Alex or Knix will get the ultimate say so. We prepared for it. Our stuff is in the car, but we’re going to leave it there until after he and Texas get here with Caruso.”

  I blinked, directing my gaze to Marv in confusion. I certainly hadn’t packed anything. Hence, why I was so shocked to be here. They must have packed for me. Familiar irritation welled in me. It was really getting tiring to be left out. When we met with Alex as a team, I was going to make that known.

  Marv took my hand as Carlissa led us into the foyer, closing the door behind us as we slipped our shoes off and placed them in the rack next to the stairwell. “Why don’t you three go out onto the patio,” she called as she walked further into the house. “I just made some fresh lemonade. I’ll grab it and bring it out for you.”

  “Do you have anything to eat?” Bellamy called back, following after her. Marv clutched my hand and I stared at the floor. Neither of us moved to head towards wherever the patio was.

  “We can meet them out on the patio later,” he finally said, tugging me behind him, up the stairs. I was silent as I followed. He glanced over his shoulder once as if to determine if I was willing. Whatever he saw in my face must have assured him because he kept going.

  On the second floor of the house was an open space with several doors. It was large enough to be a room itself. Someone had placed a dark, decorative, wooden desk against a corner wall with a cushioned seat and books with their spines pristine and unbroken on top. Marv headed for the door furthest away from the delta of the stairwell. He opened it and peeked his head in befor
e pulling me through. A double wide bed was pushed up against a double window and soft blue curtains that matched the bed’s comforter hung on either side.

  Marv let go of my hand and marched to the bed. He flipped back the top cover and pointed. “Get in.” I was too tired to argue with him, and he must have seen it. I walked up to him and looked at him for a moment before crawling onto the bed. It was the softest mattress I had ever felt. Softer, even, than my own mattress at the guys’ house. I swallowed a low moan as I laid down and Marv tucked the comforter around my shoulders.

  “Don’t cut me out of the meeting,” I said as he stood up. Marv’s tornado eyes gazed down at me. “Please?” I didn’t want to beg, but I was truly scared that they wouldn’t wake me up. Maybe I shouldn’t be going to sleep in a stranger’s house in the first place. I started to sit up, but Marv stopped me.

  “We won’t,” he promised. He bent down and kissed my forehead before dipping even further, brushing his lips across mine. I sucked in a surprised breath. Since our talk, they had all kept their distance. It had only been a week or so, but still…My lashes fluttered as he pulled away. “I’ll wake you up when Caruso gets here. You’ve only got an hour or two at most.” I nodded and then laid back down as he went to the door and quietly slipped out. I turned away and closed my eyes, quickly drifting off to sleep.

  About the Author

  Lucy Smoke is a self proclaimed creative schizophrenic. She suffers from severe wanderlust and enjoys people watching to find her next character. Who knows, maybe you're in one of her stories as well!

  Lucy is a writer of dark romance, new adult romance, and young adult romance. Many of her novels experiment with newer sub genres such as reverse harem. She lives in the southern United States with her pupper, The Handsomest of Hiros, otherwise known as Hiro. Both of them live life continue to live life to the fullest as they embark on a wild journey of friendship and sacrifice otherwise referred to as becoming a professional author.

  Her favorite quote of all time is this:

  “To die would be an awful big adventure, but to live would be an even greater one.” - J.M. Barrie, Peter Pan