Chapter 79
JULIAN POLE
For like five whole minutes everything was cool.
Warm water, dumb jokes, Rico accidentally inhaling pool water because Liam called him "delicate," Mateo acting like Luka was the moon and he was a tide that couldn't look away.
And then I noticed it.
The empty space where Jace had been.
It was stupid because he was literally just stepping out with Marco for a second but my brain immediately jumped to fifty different worst-case scenarios. Kidnapping. Shooting. A secret family meeting. A bomb. An emotional breakdown. A text from his dad. A meteor hitting only him.
Normal stuff.
I kept glancing toward the glass door, the water cooling on my shoulders even though the pool was heated like a damn hot tub. Finally, I said screw it and pushed myself out.
"Where you going?" Rico asked, clinging to the pool edge like a wet cat.
"Breathing," I said, which wasn't an answer but also wasn't a lie.
