I cock my head. “Your phone was salvageable after the ocean incident?”
“Nah, I had another one dropped off overnight.”
I roll my eyes.
He hits a button. “This is Beck. I’m here with my friends on a secluded island paradise. Guess where?”
Elle dives across the room, tackling him so that his phone flies out of his hands and lands in the foot bath.
“Dammit, E,” he complains. “If I’m not in touch with my fans, they’re going to worry.”
I wiggle my toes as I lift them out of the bath, and my service tech goes to work.
“So, are you excited for the rehearsal tonight?” Pen asks.
Anticipation prickles down my spine. “Hell yes. Want to see the dress?”
I call the wedding planner to see if she can bring it over early.
The silence down the line is horrifying. “I have a note that you were bringing it on the plane with you and would keep it in your villa.”
My chest tightens as I look toward Rae and Pen. “I don’t have it,” I say into the phone. “I thought you were keeping it so Tyler didn’t accidentally see it.”
“Let’s check your villa,” Pen says calmly. “It was in a garment bag, so it must be in a closet somewhere.”
We head over there in a golf cart, my heart hammering the entire time. We check every closet as acid eats my stomach.
Tears threaten my eyes. “It’s not here. It was in a—”
Rae’s gaze meets mine. “Trunk. Where did Tyler send the merch trunks?”
We head over to the storage facility on the edge of the resort in our golf cart, meeting the wedding planner outside.
“How much merch did he have?” Pen comments, opening the first trunk to reveal T-shirts.
I don’t answer, opening another trunk. Lanyards and VIP badges. We go through ten trunks as panic sets in, gnawing at my insides and corroding any semblance of the cool I’ve been trying to maintain this entire week.
I stare at Tyler’s contact on my phone, needing to hear his voice.
I hit it.
It rings once.
Twice.
Goes to voicemail.
I swallow painfully.
“You guys,” Rae calls from under the lid of the final trunk.
We race over to her. Peering over her shoulder, a huge breath whooshes out of me. I squeeze my eyes shut.
“Thank fuck,” Pen says.
I lift the heavy garment bag out of the trunk, unzipping it, unsure whether to trust it’s here until the zipper parts and reveals the purple fabric.
Pen gasps. “Oh my God. Annie, it’s beautiful. Tyler’s going to lose his shit.”
They help me carry the dress outside, where our planner is waiting. She promises to keep the dress safe and have it steamed overnight.
I turn to Rae. “Would you keep it for me after it’s steamed?”
She blinks. “Yeah. Sure.”
When we head back through the main lobby area, I see Hugo in his cage, calling to people who pass through.
“Can he come tonight?” I ask the wedding planner.
If he can’t be with his mate yet, maybe he can witness an act of love.