Kristel

 

The dreams I’ve just experienced are both out of this world and full of seduction. The fragments flashed by so quickly that I barely have any time to process them, which is a tragedy. I want to be with him right now, wrapped up in his arms, but, I look over at the clock and discover it's 3 a.m.

 

“Why the hell am I awake?” I mumble. With a groan of protest, I stuff my face back into my pillows and close my eyes.

 

Bzzzzzz. Bzzzzzzz. Bzzzzzzz.

 

Bleary eyed, I sit up with a start. Is that my cell phone? When I hear it vibrate again, I look around and shove items aside and off my side table. It’s too dark to find the phone, but I suddenly hear it vibrating from the floor. I fumble around for another few seconds before I turn on my side lamp. Light floods around me as my eyes drop to the phone. Andre has never called me this late before, and my heart is already in my chest. With the way my father has been going after bikers lately, it’s almost impossible not to think that something has happened to my boyfriend.

 

I grab the phone and answer it as my legs curl underneath me. One of my hands pulls a blanket closer to my chest. “Hello?”

 

“Kristel, it’s Grant. We have a huge problem.”

 

My heart drops in my chest. Even though I don’t know Grant well, he has always been someone Andre trusts. That was never hard for me to figure out more than a month ago when I first met everyone. “What’s going on? Is Andre okay?”

 

“I don’t know. He left here hours ago to try and clean up some business, but he hasn’t been back yet and the person he was meeting is nowhere to be found. I was hoping he was with you.”

 

“No, he hasn’t been here all night. Have you tried Will?” The pause is long enough that I have to ask again, “Grant… have you called Will?”

 

“Kristel… that’s part of the problem. Will betrayed us. He went to the cops, and he told them everything about Andre. And before you say anything, we caught him on tape with your father, Robert Bryce. He was the officer trading information with Will to get access to all of our books and one of our safe houses.”

 

“What?! Okay, I’m coming to you right now.”

 

“No. Kristel, don’t. If he got into trouble, he might try to contact you or come to you. Stay put, okay?”

 

My heart pounds like a thousand wild horses in my chest. As panicked as I am, I cling to Grant’s logic. From what I’ve seen of him, he’s always been someone Andre could rely on. Then again, so was Will. “How do I know I can trust you? If Will turned on Andre, what proof is there that you aren’t in it, too?”

 

“There’s not. You have to decide that for yourself. All I know is, I don’t know where Andre is, and I’m on my way to find Will. We’re going to clean up this mess.”

 

I have no time to say anything else as Grant hangs up the phone. My heart still hammers in my chest, and my hands start to shake. Andre. I have to call him, and I have to call him now. I breathe deeply, my fingers fast as they hit his speed dial. It rings and rings and rings with no end in sight, until I get his voicemail.

 

“Andre, if you get this, call me back.”

 

“Fuck, Andre, where are you?” I pace back and forth across my room, barely able to stand myself. Why aren’t I out there right now looking for him? Grant’s words repeat themselves in my head, and I slide fingers through my hair. If my father has him, I have no idea what I’ll do.

 

A door slams down below, and I draw in a gasp. I hear the familiar sound of my father’s keys against the key ring they live on. Next comes his voice, calling out to let us know he’s home. My gut twists. I don’t know if I can go down there and face him. My feet move me toward the door anyway, my breaths suddenly faster. I have to get a handle on this panic, but it keeps advancing. I feel consumed by it.

 

My father’s big feet move up the stairs, which makes me stop just outside my door. He must see something on my face because he stops and furrows his brow at me.

 

“Kristel? What’s wrong?”

 

“Nothing.” I speak too quickly. “You just scared me is all, coming home late.”

 

He seems to believe my recovery and nods. “Sorry, it’s been a long day. I brought a biker in today. Real big shot who’s always talked to me about cleaning up the streets and making the city a better place. All he’s done is give me and mine the run around since we got here.”

 

“Andre?” The name slips from my lips before I know it was there in the first place. My panic rises, and I draw in deep breaths to calm myself. This can’t be happening. How can I possibly be so foolish?

 

“Yeah… his name is Andre.” His eyes narrow. “How did you know?”

 

My throat is so dry that it feels like sand paper. I’m frozen to the spot. “Dad… I can explain…”

 

“Explain what? How the hell do you know who Andre is? I’ve never said his name in front of you in my life.” His face is red now. “Has he hurt you? Did he threaten you? What did he do?”

 

This is it. I have no way out unless I want to further condemn Andre, and I won’t do that. “I…” My words won’t come out. Tears sting the corners of my eyes, and I wipe them away as quickly as I can. My father knows I rarely ever cry, and he steps closer to take my arms. Rather than feel comforted, I feel a heavy, crippling sense of dread. “Dad…”

 

“Tell me. How you know him. Right now, Kristel!”

 

His voice makes the bones in my body vibrate, and I draw in deep breaths. I need to stay calm, as unbelievably difficult as that is right now. Andre needs me now more than ever. “He’s the father of my baby.” I speak so quietly; I barely even hear my own voice.

 

“He’sWHAT?! Kristel, what the hell did you do? Do you even know who he is? Do you know what he’s done? He’s a criminal for God’s sake, what the hell were you thinking? ARE YOU INSANE?!”

 

“Robert!” My mother’s voice rings through the house as she charges up the stairs. She grabs my father’s arm and makes him look at her. “Let go of her! What’s going on?”

 

“Kristel slept with a criminal, and now she’s pregnant with his baby!”

 

“What? No… Kristel? Is this true?”

 

I back toward my bedroom door, and my head shakes back and forth. How could I have slipped like this? It feels like I betrayed Andre, and I’m sick to my stomach as I stumbled against the door. One of my hands presses into my belly, and for the first time I feel tears as they slide down my face. This is actually real, and there is no going back. Andre is in prison, and now my parents know that he’s the father of my baby. I can’t even comprehend the reality of my position. I can’t stop shaking.

 

“It’s true…” My voice is a quivering whisper, and I can’t look my mother in the eye. Panic builds higher and higher within me. I feel like I can’t breathe. “I know it’s not what you want to hear, but it’s true.”

 

“How did this happen?”

 

“It doesn’t matter!” The tears come faster, and my chest feels like it’s going to explode. My mother takes a step back, and one of her hands moves to her chest.

 

“It does matter, Kristel! And it matters enough that you aren’t taking one foot out of this room until I say you can. You are grounded until further notice, and as soon as I can manage it, I am getting you and your mother as far away from this place as I can assoon as I can.”

 

“Dad! I’m not a teenager anymore, you can’t ground me!”

 

My mother’s jaw tightens, and she steps closer to me, one of her fingers lifting toward me. “He can, and he will. You aren’t going anywhere, young lady.”

 

My heart drops in my chest, my breaths fast and sharp. My world has just turned upside down, and I have no way to contact Andre. Part of me doesn’t want to, afraid that he’ll be angry when he finds out what happened here.

 

“And if you even think about leaving, I will have the entire police department out looking for you even before you leave this house. This isn’t a request, Kristel. It’s for your safety and for your mother’s. You two are the most important people in the world to me, and I’m going to keep you safe regardless of the consequences. So you’re going to march yourself into your room and sit tight.”

 

One of my hands drops to my stomach, and I swallow the rage. The more I fight my father, the more he’ll push back. He’s where I got my stubborn streak from, and I know by now that he’ll win every time. I need to think of another way to get Andre out of prison that doesn’t involve me going to him directly.

 

“I can’t believe you… either of you.” My voice is soft, my disappointment clear in my tone. With a shake of my head, I turn and stalk into my room. I slam the door shut and fold my arms across my chest. I breathe deeply and begin to pace back and forth across the floor. From the hallway, I can hear my father on the phone. From what I can tell, he’s talking to a flight center. That means he was serious about getting mom and I out of here. Shit.

 

My body full of trembles, I run over to my bed and pull out the private phone Andre gave me. I call Grant again and start to pace back and forth across my room. As I pace, I notice my windows are locked shut. How did that happen? My father is an overprotective parent. All I can think is that he came in here and secured them shut while I was out or at college.

 

“Asshole,” I mutter under my breath.

 

“What did you call me?”

 

With a start, I realize Grant has picked up. “Grant? Oh, no. That wasn’t meant for you.” I keep my voice as low as possible so my parents can’t hear me. “You have to help Andre. My dad caught him, and now he’s in jail. I’m locked in my room and my parents won’t let me go see if he’s okay. You guys need to do something, and you need to do it fast.”

 

“Fuck. Are you sure?”

 

“Yes. I’m sure. I don’t have time to explain, though. They could come in here any moment.”

 

“All right, I’m on it.”

 

I hang up the phone and close my eyes. As I count backward from ten, I think about a solution to this problem. There’s no way in hell I’m going to leave Andre all alone; my dad’s not taking me anywhere. Determination surges through me, and I march over to one of my windows. Teeth gritted, I grip the sill and haul on it. There’s absolutely no movement. I haul on it a second time, and all the muscles in my body strain and stretch. I feel my face scrunch as I try and get the window open, and just as it shifts, a sharp pain pinches me right in the belly. My knees wobble, and I collapse to the floor with a gasp. My chest tightens with anxiety as I stare down at my belly, my breaths coming faster. That pinch is no longer there, but I can still feel the sensation that something is very wrong.