Read Pep Talks (Pepper Jones #4) for Free Online Page B

frantic search for nothing in particular. I can’t help my smile back. “This is stupid. I just thought I might find some clue about where he went.”
    “Is it weird his dad isn’t home?”
    “No, Jim has a new girlfriend and he’s probably with her.” Jim dated a woman named Sheila for over a year, but he’s been back on the market for a few months. I can’t tell if this new one is going to be serious or not. Jim’s dating life has never really affected his relationship with his son or with me, so it doesn’t matter much to me.
    “Well, where to next, then?” Frankie asks.
    “His mom’s place.”
    “Lead the way.”
    No one’s at Annie’s apartment either, and I don’t have a key to investigate, so we head to the library next. Jace sometimes studies at the Brockton Public Library, where his mom works, instead of at the campus libraries. But when we get there, we discover it’s closed for the night.
    We sit in the parking lot, quiet. “Any other ideas?” Frankie’s voice is soft.
    I shake my head before checking my phone for the zillionth time. Nothing. Lexi tried calling once, but that’s it. We could go to my apartment – my old home – on Shadow Lane, but I don’t want to alarm Gran. Not yet, at least. 
    “Maybe we should just go back to our places and wait for him to show up or call us, huh?” Frankie offers.
    “Or we could keep driving around town to every spot he might be,” I suggest. I’m only half-kidding. Though driving around is unlikely to be fruitful, the idea of waiting in my dorm room for him depresses me. I’m wound tight with worry by now. 
    “Should we check the hospital or the jail?” I wonder.
    Frankie’s whole body freezes at this. “You think?”
    “I don’t know what else to do.” My voice is shaking and wobbly and I hardly recognize it.
    “What about calling his parents?”
    I’ve already thought of that. “I’m giving it another hour before I call them.” At this point, I can’t imagine anything other than an emergency is keeping Jace from answering his phone or telling anyone where he’d be.  But something is stopping me from calling in the forces. Campus security, the police, his parents, Gran… it’s just too much. “One more hour, and then we’ll call in reinforcements, okay?”
    “It’s just, his parents might know where he is,” Frankie offers.
    “I know, we’ll call them soon.”
    Frankie backs out of his parking spot, returning to campus. There’s still a small part of me that hopes this is all some wild misunderstanding.  That Jace had some first-day-of-school field trip he forgot about and didn’t bring his phone. Or maybe his car broke down somewhere and his battery died. Nothing really makes sense though, because cell phones are easy to borrow from people, and he could have called someone – me, Frankie, his coach – to let us know what was going on. All I can think is that he’s unconscious somewhere, unable to get help. That he was hit by a car and left on the side of the road. Images of his bloody body assault me as the possibilities run through my mind.  Before I know it, we’ve pulled into my dorm parking lot and my entire body is shaking. 
    Frankie places his hand on my arm. “Pepper, you’re white as a sheet, let me walk you up.”
    I shake my head. “No, you should go back to your place. Maybe Jace is there. Maybe he fell asleep by accident or something. Check his room.”
    Frankie watches me cautiously as I climb out of his car. My body won’t stop shaking as I make my way up three flights of stairs. All I can think is that Jace is most likely in the hospital. Hurt. Broken.
    I can’t lose him. I just can’t. He’s my best friend. Family. And the love of my life. I can’t even imagine a world without Jace Wilder in it. 
    A surge of panic and pain hits me as I reach the landing, and I have to clutch the wall not to stumble backward and fall down the stairs.  But just as I start to lose my balance, firm,