Kai

I tear out of the front doors of that useless fucking clinic. It was a waste of my time, but I needed to make sure the rumors and Paisley’s suspicions were true.

Teagan isn’t here.

A terrified and stupid clinic employee barked out the truth at me in an attempt to get me to leave their facility willingly. Like a madman, I stormed the place, looking for her, scaring patients and the staff alike.

“Teagan Hensley isn’t here! She jumped from her window her first night!” he hollered as I went from room to room, yelling out her name.

Now, a crowd watches me leave as one man stands with his phone plastered to his ear, no doubt on the line with the local police to report my disturbance. I’ll be long gone before the first sound of a siren can be heard.

Next stop, Greenwood.

It isn’t too far, and within twenty minutes, I’m roaming the streets in search of her. Burke and I have done many deals in this town, including pushing drugs when we were teens. This place, any place, has never frightened me, but the thought of Teagan having been here all this time by herself does awful things to my insides.

I search through my phone and find a picture of her. She’s smiling and happy. It feels like it was taken so long ago, but in reality, it was just a few months before Jacoby turned her world upside down. He might be dead, but he still seems to have gotten his revenge on me. What he’s done to Teagan is next to one of the worst things he could have done to hurt me. The only thing worse would have been if she were dead.

“Have you seen this girl?”

I’m showing my phone to every person I pass on the street. Each scurries away quickly after not giving me the news I want to hear. I become increasingly more frantic with each person I ask and the more ground I cover. I run the aisles of the town superstore and comb through local bars and restaurants. I wake the bums from the park and rouse the vagrants at the coffee shop. Either no one has seen her or no one is telling. The lowlifes around town don’t give enough of a fuck to even look at the picture, and the few good people stuck in a miserable town probably think my intentions are deplorable. They’re probably thinking I’m some abusive ex who’s stalking her.

Am I her ex?

There was a time when I definitely thought Teagan was my future, but we’ve never actually been in a relationship. We were a familial unit when she was growing up that transformed into a friendship and then, seemingly overnight, turned into a secret that blew up in our faces. I love her though. I always have, and I still do. So, no, I’m not her ex. I wouldn’t want to think of it like that anyway. I’m so much more, and that’s why everything that ended and what’s happening now is such a painful mind fuck.

A girl with small stature and long, dark hair that looks similar to the locks I used to love to wrap up in my fists sits with her back to me outside of a small deli. She’s alone and reading a book. Maybe Teagan just needed some time away. She’s been through a lot, and lazy days in the sun, catching up on some good stories, might be exactly what she needed. I’ve searched for her all day, and when I see a girl who matches her description, my feet freeze. I’m sure I have a lot to do with this spontaneous vacation, and I’m happy to find her, but every time she looks at me with anything less than love, it shreds me to my core. I haven’t blinked once since my find, and after cracking my knuckles and rolling the muscles in my shoulders, I take a step toward the little outside eating area.

Please be her.

Her head is down, and her hair covers her face from my eyes.

“Excuse me.”

The girl looks up and flashes me a flirty smile.

My heart sinks because it isn’t her. Without a word or explanation, I leave the girl who looks nothing like the one I love and continue feeling dejected.

I’m about at the end of the road.

In the middle of the day, in the darkest corner of a bar, sits a man on a stool with a whiskey in his hand. His skin is gray, and his head is bald. My hope of finding her today has dwindled as I approach him with quickening steps.

“Kai Grant,” he speaks first, and I’m thrown.

I look harder and recognize him as a player in my industry from back in the day. The word around my town was that he lost everything to drugs, and he was rapidly extinguished from the game we call business.

“Victor Stanly.” Greeting done. I hold my phone up to his face. “Have you seen her?”

A smirk intensifies the lines around his mouth.

“That’s the little girl you used to take care of, isn’t it?” There is a taunt to his tone.

“Have. You. Seen. Her?” I inch closer to his face, and his putrid breath washes over me.

“I might have. What’s in it for me?” He tilts his drink back and takes a swig.

“Have you seen her or not? I’m not in the mood. You can have the money you want for drugs once I have good information. Tell me exactly where she is, and I’ll give you enough money that an elephant could overdose on the amount of drugs you can buy.”

He lifts his glass to his lips once more, and my arm extends, smacking the drink from his hand. Liquid and shards of glass explode and hit the floor. His only reaction is a raspy cackle.

“Come on, hothead. I’ll take you to where she’s been staying. You won’t like what you see though, and the people she’s staying with won’t like your unannounced arrival. Once I take you there, I want my money, and don’t tell them I was the one who brought you. Your money will be useless to me if I lose my best dealer.”

Victor Stanly is a hollow of a man. His body has withered away with everything he’s dumped into it. His whole life is devoted to getting high.

She’s been staying at a place where someone like him goes to score.

I will not kill people in front of Teagan.

I will not kill people in front of Teagan.

I will not kill people in front of Teagan.

I don’t want her to see that level of violence from me, but I’m not sure if I’ll be able to stop myself. I’d kill anyone who hurt her, but whom do I punish if she’s the one hurting herself? Well, I’m the root of all her problems. My blood and I have caused her so much pain. The torture of what I might find doesn’t even compare to what I deserve for hurting her.

Hot on Victor’s heels, I set out on my first real lead of the day, finally hopeful about finding Teagan and bringing her home. Whether she’s kicking or screaming, she’s coming with me. Burke is going to kill me once he figures out what’s been going on, but I’d rather him end me with Teagan home safe than to have to come back without her.

Teagan Hensley, hang on, I’m coming for you.