“Gray, what’s going on?” Noah asked.
Sighing, I shook my head. “I freaked, Noah. It was the last fucking thing I expected Meagan to say to me. All I could think of was my own good-for-nothing father. I needed a few minutes to think and clear my head.”
“Dude, you walked out without saying a word to her. You freaked? Can you imagine how Meagan feels?”
“He’s too busy being an asshole to care!” Grace shouted.
Rolling my eyes, I tried to keep calm as I pulled back into the garage of our apartment while Noah lectured me on the phone about how I wasn’t anything like my father and I seriously needed to make this up to Meagan. Her car was still parked in her spot, so that was a good sign.
“She told Grace she was coming to Texas and—”
“What? What did you just say?”
My heart pounded in my chest while I took two steps at a time, trying to get to the apartment as fast as I could. There was no fucking way I was letting her run from me. I made a mistake and I would do whatever I had to do to make it up to her.
“Meagan said she was coming home to Tex—”
Throwing the door open, I called out Meagan’s name as I ended the call with Noah. “Meg?”
I ran to the bedroom only to find it empty. Standing there for a few seconds, I quickly searched the rest of the apartment before stopping in the living room.
This time I called Noah’s number to avoid another randomly strung set of curse words thrown my way.
“Did you really think I wouldn’t answer?”
With a frustrated sigh, I tried to stay calm. “Grace, where is Meagan? She’s gone. I mean, she left our place and she didn’t take her car.”
“Um . . . she said she was going to a hotel. Are you going after her?”
“What the fuck kind of question is that? Of course I am. I love her more than I love the fucking air I breathe, but I can’t go after her if I don’t know where in the hell she is.”
“Okay well, just a word of advice, maybe kick that down a few notches and make it a bit more romantic. I mean, after all, she just told you she was carrying your child and you walked out on her.”
My stomach dropped as excitement built in my body. Meagan is carrying my child.
A baby.
Holy hell.
The smile that spread across my face had to have been the biggest damn smile ever before Grace’s words hit me again.
“That was the first and last time I’ll ever walk away from her. I swear to God,” I said as I quickly headed back to my truck.
There was silence on the phone as I heard Grace clear her throat. “Don’t tell me that . . . tell her.”
My jaw trembled at the idea of hurting Meagan. “The last thing I’d ever do is hurt her, Grace.”
“I know,” she whispered. “Just get your ass over to the Strater Hotel and make it up to her, Bennett. She called right before you did to say she was checking in.”
I tried to smile, but all I could think of was getting to Meagan.
“Thanks, Grace. I owe you big time.”
“Hell yes you do, stripper boy.”
With a groan of frustration, I tossed my phone onto the passenger seat and drove as fast as I could to the Strater Hotel.
I pulled in so fast, the valet guy jumped out of my way. Pushing open my door, he came walking over. “Jesus, dude. You can’t come pulling in like that, you . . .”
I flashed my badge and said, “Sorry, police business.”
“Oh, right. Do you want us to park it?”
Glancing over my shoulder, I nodded and said, “Yes.”
“Sir! What name should we put it under?”
“Bennett, Grayson Bennett.”
My eyes scanned the lobby as I frantically looked for Meagan. Walking up to the registration counter, I flashed a smile to the redhead looking directly at me.
“May I help you, sir?”
“Yes,” I said as I showed her my badge. “Do you have a Meagan Atwood who recently checked in?”
She nodded and said, “Yes, she is heading up to her room now.”
“Would you mind giving me her room number?”
The girl frowned and looked to her left to what I was guessing was the manager. “Ahh . . . can you hold on for one second?”
With a grin, I motioned for her to do what she had to do. Walking over to the older gentleman, she said something that made him return with her.
“Excuse me, sir, do you mind if I ask if you are on the reservation with Ms. Atwood?”
Sliding my badge across the desk, my face turned serious. “Detective Bennett, and Ms. Atwood is being sought out for questioning. I got a tip she had checked in here. I’d like to make sure she doesn’t try to slip out another door.”
“Oh, I see.” The manager turned to the redhead. “Go ahead and let him know her room number.”
A part of me was pissed they were giving me the number just because I flashed a fucking badge. How did they know it was even real?
“We only had premium rooms left and she looked so sad; I felt bad for her. I only charged her for a regular room. She didn’t even have luggage with her.”
“No, she wouldn’t have.”
“Sixth floor, room six ten.”
With a quick nod, I turned and made my way to the elevator.
It was luck I was riding up with a hotel employee. With another showing of my badge, I had him knocking on Meagan’s door.
“Room service.”
The door opened as Meagan said, “I didn’t order room . . . service.”
I stepped around the corner and patted the guy on the back and handed him a twenty. “Thanks, dude.”
The poor son-of-a-bitch looked confused as hell as Meagan started to cry. I walked right into her room and shut the door behind me.
As I turned back to Meagan, I couldn’t help but notice how her eyes seemed to light up as she searched my face. “As God as my witness, I swear to you I will never walk away from you again, Meg.”
Dropping to my knees, I took a hold of her hips and pulled her to me as I buried my face in her stomach. In that moment I realized I not only loved her, but I loved our child I had only known about for an hour just as much. The feeling hit me so hard I had to fight to keep from crying.
“I love you so much. Both of you.”
Meagan
THE SECOND I saw Grayson standing at the door, I felt the wetness creep down my face again. If this was pregnancy, I was going to have to invest in Kleenex.
His face was buried in my stomach as he sucked in a shaky breath and said, “I love you. Both of you.”
One hand covered my mouth to contain my sobs as the other laced through his hair.
“Gray,” I whispered. “Damn you!”
His head shook slowly as he whispered, “I’m so sorry. I freaked. I’m so sorry.”
Grace had been right. A part of me knew that was what happened, but it still hurt like hell for him to walk away from me. I dropped down in front of him as he cupped my face with his hands and captured my lips to his.
“I’m so sorry,” he spoke softly.
“Gray, I need to know how you really feel because I’m just as scared as you.”
“Oh God, Meg. I swear to you, I will never leave you like that again. I love you and the idea of you carrying our child fills me with so much hope. You have to believe me.”
His eyes were filled with fear as he pleaded with me to believe him. My hand came up to the side of his face as I gave him a small smile. “I do believe you, but tell me that was your one freak-out moment and it won’t ever happen again cause I don’t think I could do this without you. Plus, do you have any idea what my father is going to do to us when he finds out?”
Grayson laughed as his hand slipped behind my neck where he pulled me closer to him and kissed me like he hadn’t seen me in days. It was full of passion, love, and it completely left me breathless. I knew I should have been pissed and screaming at him for what he did, but I also knew Grayson’s p
ast with his own father and how I had just delivered a bombshell.
“Let me make love to you, Meg.”
Dropping my head so his lips could keep kissing me, I mumbled, “Like I would ever stop you.”
Grayson stood and helped me up as he led me over to the king-size bed where he kissed me again. I was soon lost in a world where the man I loved worshiped my body and whispered how much he loved me while he took me to heaven and back.
Before rolling me over and pulling me to his side, Grayson kissed my stomach and talked to our child.
“I don’t know you yet my sweet baby, but I swear to you, I will love and protect you and your mommy always.”
And just like that, I fell even more in love with Grayson Bennett. His arms wrapped around my body as he pulled me against him. His heartbeat soon had my eyes closing as I let every worry and doubt drift away.
“How is Gray going to feel about you coming to Texas alone?”
I took a sip of coffee as I glanced up at the addresses on the buildings. The temperature yesterday was sixty-seven and today it was forty-three with a chance of snow tonight. I wasn’t sure when I would get used to this insane weather. “He is totally fine with it. Besides, he knows how much I need to see my girls and I need a girls weekend in a desperate way. Plus, I need some warm Texas weather.”
Grace chuckled. “So where are you going?”
“A meeting that this one mom put together to help educate the high school students about bullying.”
Melissa had planned on going with me to the meeting with Susan Powell and the other moms, but she ended up having an emergency meeting with one of her clients.
I stopped in front of the building marked with the address Susan gave me. Narrowing my eyes, I looked around to make sure I was on the right road.
“Meg, are you even listening to me?”
“Um, yeah. Hey, Grace I’m here so I need to let you go. I’ll call you after the meeting. I wouldn’t think it would last more than an hour. At least that is what Susan said at any rate.”
“Okay, good luck and I’ll chat with you soon and we can make plans for our girls weekend!”
Walking up the steps, I nodded and said absentmindedly, “Sounds good. Talk to you later, Grace.”
“Later!”
Grace hung up as I dropped my hand down to my side. “This makes no sense. This place looks empty.”
Susan said the meeting was being held at one of the mom’s office space, but this whole building looked empty.
Reaching for the door, I turned and pushed it open. The long hallway led to another door where light was barely peeking out from under it. “Hello? Susan? Is anyone here? It’s Meagan Atwood, I’m here for the um . . . meeting.”
A strange feeling washed over me as I stopped walking.
Something was wrong. Nothing about this felt right.
I found myself having a hard time breathing as panic set in almost instantly. I pulled out my cell phone and sent Grayson a text.
Me: 77
Turning, I went to walk back out when I slammed into a hard body.
“I don’t think so, sweetheart. I’ve been waiting patiently to make you mine.”
My eyes widened as I opened my mouth to scream, only to feel an instant rush of pain in the back of my head. Before the room went totally black, I heard my cell phone ringing. Gray, help me.
The pain in the back of my head was felt the moment I opened my eyes. It was so bad, I almost threw up when I slowly pushed myself into a sitting position.
Touching the back of it lightly, I gasped when I touched the open wound. “Son-of-a-bitch,” I mumbled as I stood up and looked around slowly.
“Where in the hell am I?” I asked as I took in the one-room log cabin. There was a small kitchen set off in the opposite corner, a couch, and the queen-size bed I was on. A few end tables and other odd pieces of furniture were sprinkled throughout the room. It looked to be a hunter’s cabin or maybe a vacation house. Something caught my eye as I walked to the window.
“Oh no. Oh God, where am I?”
Snow was lightly falling outside as it dusted the trees and ground. Any other time I would think the picture before me was breathtaking; right now all it did was scare the piss out of me.
Closing my eyes, I tried to get my thoughts together, the last thing I remembered was walking down the hall to meet—
My body shivered as the memory of what happened to me filled my head.
A door rattled and I jumped back at the sound. When the door opened and Susan walked in, I didn’t know whether I should be glad or scared.
“Susan?”
She was carrying a tray with a few towels and a brown bottle on it. When she looked at me, her eyes were filled with sadness. “You better sit down, Meagan. That’s a big cut on the back of your head and it took me forever to get it to stop bleeding.”
My heart began pounding as I walked over to the bed and sat down. Swallowing hard, I placed my hands on either side of me and watched as she walked toward me.
“I’m going to clean it with some peroxide.”
Not saying a word, I sat there as still as I could while Susan cleaned the wound on the back of my head. The pain was so bad, at one point I gagged.
“Are you okay?” she asked as she looked into my eyes.
“What happened? Where am I?”
Susan’s eyes darted to the door. “I told him not to hurt you. I’m so sorry.”
My jaw trembled. “Please tell me what’s happening. I beg of you!”
Chewing on her lip, Susan finished cleaning up the wound and then started to clean up the mess. She stood up and looked at the door and then back at me. “I don’t want him to hurt you. I really like you and I know about the baby.”
I sucked in a breath as panic filled every ounce of my body.
“W-what?”
She looked away as she said, “I heard Grayson talking to his mom on the phone as he walked by me earlier this morning. He told her about your morning sickness.”
I stood up too quickly and got dizzy. My body swayed as Susan reached out to steady me. “Please, please let me out of here. I . . . I don’t know what’s going on, but if you let me go I swear I won’t tell anyone about this.”
A single tear rolled down her face as she took a few steps away from me. “He threatens my daughter if I don’t help him. I can’t help you, Meagan. I can only try to talk him out of it.”
My eyes widened in fear. “Out of what?”
She opened her mouth to speak, only to quickly shut it. “I have to go. I’ll be back with your dinner soon.”
Rushing after her, she quickly shut and locked the door as I banged on it!
“No! Please don’t go! Let me out! Please let me out!”
Turning, I leaned against the door and sank down to the floor. I pulled me knees into my chest and cried as I rocked back and forth.
“Gray . . . please find me. Please.”
Grayson
MY HANDS SHOOK as I held my cell phone in my hands and stared at it. I’d just hung up with Brad and Amanda. Having to tell them Meagan was missing was the hardest phone call I’d ever had to make.
I paced back and forth as I waited for some news. “Bennett, over here for a second, will you?”
Turning to where Derrick had called out my name, I quickly walked over to where he was standing along with two CSI officers. “Anything?”
“Nothing. The place has been wiped clean. But, we did find a small amount of blood on the floor in the hallway that we swabbed and will compare against Ms. Atwood.”
Derrick thanked them and took me by the arm as we walked toward the car. “Tell me everything again.”
Pushing my hand through my hair, I sighed in frustration. “I fucking told you already.”
“Tell me again.”
“She sent me our code text. I called her back within thirty seconds and it went to voicemail. I tried calling back three more times before I tracked where her phone was. It was in th
is building and then began moving.”
“All right, so we know the tracking started here and moved up Highway 550. It stopped about twenty miles outside of Durango. We’ve got two state patrol officers currently trying to find the phone. My guess is the cell phone was tossed out the window.”
It was the first time anyone had even hinted about Meagan being taken by someone.
“I called Melissa and she told me Meagan was going to a meeting with a group of moms about bullying. Supposedly her daughter went to the same school as Mitchell did.”
“Name?”
“Susan Powell and she thinks the daughter’s name is Kate.”
Derrick nodded his head. “Let’s get these names ran through the high schools and see if we can find a hit on either one of them.”
I was about to say something else when all the air left my lungs. “It’s right in front of us.”
Derrick gave me a confused look.
“Joshua Black.”
It didn’t take long for us both to get into the car and race over to his office.
Stepping off the elevator, Derrick and I headed straight to Black’s office. “Excuse me! Sir . . . um . . . you can’t just go into his office! Sir!”
I pulled out my badge and showed Black’s receptionist as I pushed the door to his office open. The same blonde I’d seen him with before jumped up and stumbled backwards as she covered her body with her shirt.
“Jesus Christ! You can’t just come barging into my office like that!”
Glancing over to the blonde, I motioned for her to leave. “Next time lock your door,” Derrick said from behind me.
“Where is she?” I said as I walked up to Joshua and grabbed him. Derrick was right there, pulling me away from him.
“Easy, Gray. Take it easy.”
Joshua smoothed out his suite and gave me a confused look. “Where is who?”
“Meagan! She’s gone. What did you do to her?”
Narrowing his eyes, Joshua looked between Derrick and me. “What in the hell are you talking about?”
I slammed my hands on his desk and yelled out, “I don’t have time for this, Black! Tell me what you know or so help me God I will give up everything just to beat it out of your ass!”