Smoke and Bones (Smoke #4)

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a/n: yes, its me. shoutout to the mvp/s who got me access back on here. don't know what happened, but im back and ready to get this book complete. also ready to explore a new story outside of this series.

also, thanks for the lovely messages about the short-lived end of the smoke series (and of nate sutton). he ain't going anywhere anytime soon, and neither i am. some just don't want to see us to win 😤💯💞

...

"WILDE! I've got a friend for you." Alex jeered, shoving something into the room. I jumped back and covered my face. It worried me that my kidnapper would throw a handmade bomb, or another sort of weapon in order to get rid of me for good.

After what felt like eternity, I glanced up to see what looked like a lifeless body. The closer I got to the stranger, the more devastated I became.

"Oh no. No, no, no. Chet!" I cried out loud and dragged myself as fast as I could to his side. Tears began running down my cheeks as I held his head up.

"What did Alex do to you?" I questioned in a panic.

"Please tell me that you're okay Chet." I muttered with desperation.

Observing his face, I knew that Chet had gone through something awful. The cuts and bruising made that very clear to me. Surpringly, I could see his eyes start to flutter open slowly.

"You're alive Scarlett?" Chet asked in disbelief.

"I could say the same about you Chet." I remark. "What - What happened?"

"Urgh. I couldn't fight him off. I went to confront Alex at his club after I saw him holding you at gunpoint. It was stupid, I know. But I needed to know where you were. We had a tousle, and now I ended up here. But I'm so happy to see you." He groaned, before putting on a timid smile.

As he reached out to me, I felt my heart sink. Either Chet was drugged up on something. Or he was hit quite hard. Both were unfortunate scenarios.

"I'm happy to see you too." I say, unsure of what to do now. It was to have a friend with me. But that meant that two of us were trapped in god knows where.

"Everyone knows what happened. When I went to tell Nate, that friend of yours was already there. Her and another bloke with a mullet. I walked in on your friend screaming at Nate because she was meant to meet you for lunch but you just disappeared. We all miss you a lot Scarlett. Even the players' partners have been crying about you." Chet explained. I couldn't help but to burst out into more tears.

"Jordanah and Zac were there at the club?" I question with wide eyes.

"Not Zac. I would of recognised if the Carlton guy was there. No, but another guy. He was angry with Nate too. More than your friend was actually." Chet slowly pointed out.

Josh.

It had to be him that was at the club with Jordanah. Otherwise, I couldn't think of anyone else that with a mullet that would of been there.

"So everyone knows that I haven't been around?" I ask dumbly.

"It's hard not to know. Before Alex bought me here, it was very obvious that Nate was struggling. Despite trying to keep his usual demeanour at games, he's not the same. He's been struggling since you disappeared. It doesn't help that the media are blaming him for it either." Chet explained as he let out a sigh.

"My boyfriend's being blamed for my disappearance?" I ask in horror.

"I get why your friend would be asking him questions. She said you left to visit Nate before disappearing. But I don't know. The media must of heard something and started running with the theory that Nate's behind your disapperance." He added with a frown.