“No, I want you to stay here in case they come back.”
“But—”
“No buts. Stay here with your mom. Keep your phone on you and I will call you.”
“Okay, just bring them home.” I can hear the strain in her words as she wraps her arms around my waist, burying her face in my chest. I want to comfort her, but I need to be out looking. I pull her away from me, kissing her once before turning and heading out the door. I see Nico still on his phone, so I motion him towards the truck and climb inside. Once he’s in, I take off. I have no destination in mind, but I do know Jules had been sleeping with a guy in town, so that’s my first stop. When we arrive at his place, there is an old truck in the driveway. The yard is littered with garbage. We get out and head up to the front porch; the dogs behind the door go crazy when I knock. I hear rustling, then the door opens and a guy my age is standing there rubbing his face, the smell of alcohol wafting off him.
“What do you want?”
“Have you seen Jules?” I ask, and his eyes narrow. He looks between Nico and me then smirks.
“I know you,” he says when his eyes come back to me.
“Yeah?” I ask him, crossing my arms over my chest.
“Yeah, you’re Jules’s ex. She’s always talking about you.”
“Is that so?”
“Yeah,” he slurs, and until that point, I didn’t even notice that he is drunk. “She was always carrying on about you and how she was never important to you, and that you only wanted her because of the kid.”
“She told you that?”
“She told me everything. The bitch never shut the fuck up.” He runs a hand through his hair. “You know, she is hot as fuck, and not bad in bed, but she is nuts—and I mean really fucking nuts.”
“Why do you say that?” Nico asks, leaning on the side of the house. His stance is casual, but I can tell that he is up to something.
“The last time she was here I thought I was going to get some, but she carried on about your daughter and wife—who, by the way, is a hot piece.” I want to punch him in the face, but don’t let it show.
“She is hot, right?” Nico asks, and I swing my head to him. What the fuck?
“Fuck yeah, she is. I mean, Jules is good looking, but that bitch is smoking.”
“I agree,” Nico says, and the guy smiles at him. “So what else did Jules want?”
“I don’t know. I wasn’t really listening; I was trying to get laid, you know?” Nico nods and he shifts, his head going back like he’s thinking. “All I remember is her saying that the girl was a mistake on her part, and that she should have been smarter—whatever the fuck that means.” He digs his hand into his front pocket, pulling out a pack of smokes, offering one to Nico, then to me. We both shake our heads no. He puts one in his mouth, lighting it and taking a drag. “I really don’t remember anything else.” He shrugs, taking another drag before tossing the still-lit cigarette into the yard. My brain is in overdrive; she told him Ashlyn was a mistake on her part. I know deep down she is the reason Lilly got pregnant, but there is no way to prove it. I know that if confronted, she would deny it.
“Do you know where she might be?” Nico asks him.
“Jules?” he asks, and Nico nods. “I don’t know, at her house? Or with her fucked up aunt maybe?”
“Why are you here?” he finally asks the question he should have asked a long time ago.
“My son and daughter are missing,” I tell him honestly. He looks between Nico and me, then backs up.
“Hey, I have nothing to do with that.”
“We didn’t say you did, but we need to know if you have any idea where Jules might be,” Nico says, and the guy looks nervous.
“You think that Jules has something to do with it?” he asks.
“We’re not sure right now; the only thing we know for sure is that Jules has disappeared, and so have my kids.”
“Dude, that’s fucked up.” He shakes his head. My phone rings and I pull it out of my pocket, looking at the caller ID. I have no clue who it is.
“Hello?”
“Hello, sir,” an older woman says.
“Can I help you?” I ask impatiently. I don’t have time for this shit right now.
“Yes, I’m calling you because a little boy showed up on my property about five minutes ago. He says that his sister was taken by his mom, and that I needed to call his dad.” My hand that’s not holding the phone goes to my chest where my necklace lays. I put pressure on it, the metal against my skin reminding me that my family will be back together soon.
“Where are you?” I ask, jumping off the porch and heading to my truck. I get in and slam my door at the same time as Nico. She quickly rattles off her address. “Let me talk to my son, please.”
“Dad!” Jax cries. “Mom took Ashlyn. I had to go with her to keep her safe, but she took her into a house, and there was a lot of shouting, Dad. So I ran as fast as I could until I found somewhere to call you.”
“You did good, dude. I’m so proud of you. But I need you to be brave for a little while longer, okay?”
“Okay, Dad.” I hear him sniffle, and I fight not to crack my phone.
“I love you, Jax, and I will be there soon,” I tell him, clenching my teeth. A drive that would normally take forty-five minutes takes twenty. My dad gets ahead of us on the highway in his squad car, leading a long line of cars and trucks. The old lady Jax is with explains that he had ran through a cornfield that is on the back of her property, and that no one else lives close enough to her that would know we are on their trail. When we arrive at the location where Jax is, we all get out of our vehicles just as Jax comes flying out of the house, right into my arms.
“I got you,” I tell him, picking him up. He wraps himself around me, his body shaking. “You’re safe, bud, but I need you to tell me where your sister is.” He nods into my shoulder then starts talking, his body shaking so hard that I have to sit down with him. He tells me that he and Ashlyn were playing hide-and-seek and that he knew where she was hiding because she always hides in the same place. He says he went around the side of the house, seeing someone dressed in black carrying Ashlyn away. He was going to go into the house to get me, but they were almost to the truck by the time he thought about it. Then he says when the person placed Ashlyn in the truck, he climbed into the back and laid down to hide. When the truck finally stopped, he peeked over the edge, seeing his mom carrying Ashlyn into a house. He didn’t know what to do when he heard yelling coming from the house, so he ran to try to find someone to call me. I hold him close, rocking him back-and-forth the same way I used to when he was a baby. My dad, brothers, and a couple other officers listen. It only takes him a couple of minutes to tell us what had happened, but I know that it’s a couple minutes too long. “Listen, little dude, you’re going to stay here and I’m going to go with Grandpa so that I can get your sister and we can go home,” I tell him. I stand and carry him over to my truck. Asher takes him from me, talking gently to him as I head over to my dad.
“Look, I shouldn’t even let you come with us, but I know that I won’t be able to stop you, and Ashlyn is going to need you when we get her out of there.” My jaw clenches, but I hold my tongue. Right now, he isn’t my dad, he is a cop, and I know the difference. “We’re going to head across the field the same way Jax came. When we get there, I need you to stay out of sight with Nico until I give you the go-ahead.”
“Got it,” I tell him. All of us head across the cornfield. Once we reach the other side, there is an old, rundown, two-story white house; the place looks like it’s ready to fall apart, but parked outside is Jules’s old car, along with a small pickup. My dad waves me back and tells me to stay put as he and three other officers head towards the house. I fight myself, wanting to go in and get my girl, but I know my dad will handle it. Two of the officers head around each side of the house. My dad and the other policeman walk up the front porch. My dad knocks with his gun trained on the door. He yells out it’s th
e police, and when the door is opened, a man with a gun holstered on his shoulder answers the door. The guy nods to my dad, they talk for a second, and the guy pulls a shiny badge out from under his shirt. They talk a second more, and my dad waves Nico and me in. When I get to the porch, the guy looks me over, introduces himself as Jim, then heads inside. The house is a mess, the living room right off the front entrance has the ceiling falling in. We walk down a narrow hall into what used to be a kitchen. That’s where I see Jules handcuffed and sitting in a chair, along with another man. “Where the fuck is my daughter?” I ask, and her eyes widen in surprise.
“I did this for us,” Jules says in a whisper, and if I had a gun right then I would have put a bullet in her.
“Whatever the fuck you did, you did it for yourself,” I growl. “Now where the fuck is she?”
“Come on, man, your daughter is in here,” Jim says. He takes me into a pantry off the kitchen. When he opens the door, he shines a flashlight into the small space, and there is my baby girl asleep on the floor. I rush over, picking her up. She is out cold, her body completely limp.
“What’s wrong with her?” I ask in a panic, lifting her higher up on my chest.
“They roofied her. I checked her over already. All of her vitals are okay; she is just asleep,” he tells me. I swear I can feel my body expand with rage.
“I’m going to fucking kill her.”
“You’re going to have to wait in line. Where she is going, they don’t take too kindly to people hurting kids, and I’m telling you that everyone in the prison will know what she did. I will make it my personal goal to let everyone she has contact with know her history.” His face is devoid of any emotion, and I don’t give a fuck what they do to her. I don’t care if that makes me an insensitive prick, but I hope she gets what’s coming to her.
“What exactly was her plan?” I ask him, looking down at the sweet face of my baby girl.
“She was going to sell her to me.”
“What?”
“We have been working this case for a while. The man in the other room is part of a child trafficking network. I have been undercover for a while now. He told me he had a piece of property for me to pick up and to meet him here. I did, and when I got here, the woman and child were here with him.
“You’re fucking with me.”
“No, man. I wish I was, but this shit is a lot more common than you think, and the sad thing is that normally the kids don’t have people out looking for them,” he says, and I hear sirens off in the distance. I say a prayer for all the kids who don’t have anyone searching for them. I would be lost without my kids.
“Thank you,” I tell him, my voice gruff with emotion. He pats my shoulder before giving it a squeeze. We walk back out to the kitchen; my ex and the guy with her are still sitting at the table. I don’t even look at them. My dad is there with a couple of his officers, but I walk past them all, heading outside. Once I clear the door, I see there are three black SUVs filling the driveway. Jim, who comes outside as well, goes to talk to some of the men exiting the vehicles. I sit on the steps of the porch holding Ashlyn. I don’t know what I would have done if something had happened to her, or if I had lost her permanently. I would be devastated. I look up to see Nico holding out a phone to me, and when I put it to my ear, I know exactly who is on the line. “Baby, I got our baby girl. She’s okay,” I tell her.
“Jax?” she questions.
“He is with Asher and Trevor.” I can hear a loud thud and I know that she has fallen. Tears start to fill my eyes. I hold Ashlyn a little tighter, closing my eyes.
“Please bring them home soon,” she cries. I can hear her mom talking to her, and I know that she is comforting her, which makes this a little easier.
“I will. Love you, baby,” I tell her. An officer comes over, telling me that an ambulance is coming and that we should wait in one of the SUVs. I look through the front window of the SUV, seeing that Nico is standing with our dad on the front porch. His phone is to his ear, and I hope that he called Trevor and Asher. I need my son, but I don’t want him to see what’s going on. I watch as they escort Jules and the man out of the house and into the back of one of the vehicles. The vehicles carrying them takes off and an ambulance pulls up, along with Asher’s truck. I hop out, taking Ashlyn to the ambulance. When I get her inside, they start looking her over. All of her vitals are fine, her O2 level normal. They hook her up on fluids and get her comfortable. I get out and take Jax from Trevor, who tells me that he had fallen asleep crying.
“You gonna take him with you in the ambulance to the hospital?” Trevor asks.
“Yeah. Can you call Lil’s dad and ask him to bring the girls to meet us at the hospital?”
“You got it. Do you want one of us to ride with you?”
“Nah,” I tell them, walking away. I get back into the ambulance holding my son and looking at my daughter. They are both so small and defenseless. When we get to the hospital, there is a blur of activity. We’re escorted into a room, and the doctors run more tests on Ashlyn, who still hasn’t woken up.
“Cash!” I hear yelled, and I stand with Jax still in my arms. He still hasn’t woken up either. I had the doctor look him over and they said that he is fine, probably just crashed from having an adrenalin rush. When I clear the doorway, Lilly is running towards me still yelling out my name. When she sees Jax and me, her eyes close and she stops in the middle of the hall. I go to her, needing to touch her.
“Baby, they are both okay,” I tell her, holding her with one arm. Her arms wrap around Jax and me, and we stand there for a few minutes before I kiss her forehead and grab her hand, leading her to Ashlyn. Once in the room, she goes right to her bedside, looking down at our daughter who looks so fragile.
“Why isn’t she awake?” she asks.
“They don’t know, but they said she is fine. Her vitals are all normal and she doesn’t have any injuries; it just looks like she doesn’t want to wake up yet. Neither of them wants to wake up yet.” We wait for what seems like forever in silence for Ashlyn to wake up, and when she does, she doesn’t even know what happened to her. She has no recollection of Jules at all. The police and everyone believe she was drugged while in the yard. My brave son, who had the courage to follow his sister, woke up not long after her. I can tell he’s still upset about what happened, but he’s happy to have his sister back, and us all together. That night, when we finally get home, and after getting everyone tucked into our bed, I thank God for keeping my family safe and together. None of us are going to be out of each other’s sight for a while. I think Lil and I both need to be able to see the kids at all times for about the next six months.
Ironically, that happens to be around the time that Jules gets sentenced to twenty years in jail without the possibility of parole. The crimes against her are numerous, and she is proven guilty with each and every one of them. I sit down on the couch, and Lilly cuddles into my side while Jax and Ashlyn argue over which movie we are going to watch. I don’t care what I do with my family; as long as we are together, I’m a happy man.
“Thank you for giving me this,” I whisper into Lilly’s ear. Her head turns towards me, her eyes searching my face.
“You know that you give us everything, right? You are the like the moon to our family ocean. You’re magnetic; we will always follow you and try to give you back what you give to us.” She leans up and kisses me before laying her head back against my chest. I don’t know what I did to deserve her or my children, but I will always do everything within my power to keep them safe and happy.
Epilogue
Sophie
“Mom, Dad, can you guys stop being so gross? No one wants to see their parents making out,” Ashlyn says walking into the living room.
“Yeah that’s some sick shit,” Jax says, following behind his sister and ruffling her hair. She punches him in the arm in response.
“Hey, mouth,” I scold.
“Sorry, but really, why don’t you guys try acting
like normal parents?” Jax complains flopping down onto the couch.
“If you don’t like it, you got a room,” Cash says and Jax rolls his eyes shaking his head.
“I had to come in here, I need some extra money. I’m taking Becky to homecoming.” Jax says, his eyes lighting up and I inwardly growl. I hate that Jax is grown up. I was putting is his laundry away the other day and found a half a box of condoms. Condoms, I didn’t even want to think about him having a penis let alone him using it on anyone.
“Chris asked me to go with him,” Ashlyn says jumping up making Cash’s eyes narrow. I know exactly what’s coming so I sit back on the couch.
“You are not going,” Cash says.
“Good luck with that, sis,” Jax laughs, getting off the couch and leaving the room.
“Dad, if Jax can date, then I should be allowed to date too,” Ashlyn says, her eyes narrowing on her father. I try not to laugh, but it’s funny watching Cash try to come up with an excuse for why his sixteen-year-old son can date, but his sixteen-year-old daughter can’t. His eyes meet mine and narrow. I give him my best ‘I’m innocent’ smile, making his jaw tic. After everything that happened, we agreed to not have any more kids. We both just wanted to enjoy Ashlyn and Jax without adding another baby to the bunch. Besides, everyone had gone baby-crazy, and there were plenty of Mayson children to occupy everyone.
“I have told you before that you’re a girl.”
“I know I’m a girl, Dad, but I really wanted to go to homecoming with Chris. It’s not fair that Jax gets to go and I don’t.”
“You want to help me out here?” He looks at me, and I shake my head no. He mouths the word ‘spanking’ and I tighten my thighs in response. I don’t know how it is for other married couples, but for us, our sex life has only improved with time. He knows exactly how and where to touch me, or what to say to have me craving him all day, so that when we finally connect, I jump him. I think it’s why he does what he does.
“Dad, this is not fair,” she whines, then looks at me. “Mom, tell him that it’s not fair.” She stomps her foot.