BETH
I couldn’t think straight. Rafe was gone. Madison was gone. The house was empty, and aside from the fridge dropping an ice cube now and then there was no sound.
I thought about calling the cops, but then got too scared. If Brittany had Maddie and was with someone else, the cops couldn’t help.
It all led back to Rafe. I never should have talked to him in that bar, and I sure as hell never should have talked to him after.
My phone danced on the kitchen table and I nearly tripped over my feet running for it. Another text from Rafe. I screamed at the phone and slammed it down on the table, immediately regretting my actions. Checking to make sure I hadn’t broken it, I sunk down into the chair and let the tears come again.
Frustration at just sitting and waiting around for what was going to happen next was driving me crazy. I need to get out there and look for her. I needed to find my baby.
Chrissy was on the late shift. I jumped into the car, my first time actually getting to drive it, and stabbed the ignition with the key. The car handled a hell of a lot better than my old one. Nothing rattled when I turned, and I wasn’t afraid the engine would combust if I hit the gas to hard. Which worked out great, because I was flooring it down the side streets.
It was late, after midnight already. Maddie would be so tired. Was she asleep? Was she scared? The wheels squealed when I turned into the parking lot of the diner Chrissy worked at. I found her at the counter. Not many people were looking for a burger or coffee at that time of night.
“Beth?” Her eyes widened when she saw me run through the door “What’s wrong?” Her face paled and she ran around the counter to meet up with me. “What’s wrong?” she asked again when I didn’t answer her.
“Where’s Brittany!” I demanded, a bit louder than I intended.
“Brit? I don’t know, why?” Her fingers dug into my arms. “What’s going on? Where’s Maddie?” she asked, as though it just occurred to her what time it was and I was alone.
“I don’t know! Brittany has her!” I pulled away from her. “Who’s the guy she’s been seeing from Anarchy’s Reign? Do you know?”
“Anarchy’s Reign?” My eyes nearly crossed. If she kept repeating my questions I wouldn’t get anywhere with her. “Oh! That guy. Yeah. Short blond hair? Kinda gross teeth?”
“Gray?” I stepped back from her. “She’s been dating Gray?”
“That sounds right.” Chrissy pulled out her phone and started tapping away. “I’ll just call her.” She watched me as the phone began to ring, and ring. And ring. “Fuck.” The voicemail picked up. “Hey, Brit, can you give me call right away? I need you. Thanks.”
“She’s never going to call you back.” I could feel my heart hammering away in my chest and air was quickly becoming a luxury I didn’t have.
“Hey, hey. Don’t worry. She’ll call back.”
“No, she won’t. She took Maddie, Chrissy. She stole my baby!” I ran fingers through my hair and grabbled for my phone as it began to vibrate in my back pocket.
Leave my sister out of this. Get gone.
Chrissy tore the phone from my hand and looked at the message. Her smile dropping and her head started to shake. “What’s wrong with her?”
“Did she tell you about the bruises? The ribs?” I asked with the panic growing bigger and bigger in my chest.
“Ribs?”
I was going to lose my shit. “Yes, she had a few bruised ribs. Fucking Gray’s been beating on her and she helped him kidnap Maddie.” I dragged my hands through my hair, vividly aware of the small crowd in the diner staring at me. I must have looked quite the crazy person.
“Why would she do that? She didn’t mention anything about her boyfriend hitting her. Are you sure? Why wouldn’t she tell me?” The panic rose a little in her voice, too.
“I don’t know. I gotta go.” I snatched the phone from her hand and ran out the door. “Please call me if you get a hold of her,” I yelled as I blew through the door and back out into the cool breeze of the night.
Brittany and I had been friends since forever. I couldn’t remember a time in my life that she wasn’t in it, and now she kidnapped my daughter. For what? A guy? A fucking biker?
Who was I really to judge? I’d brought Rafe into my life, into Maddie’s life. If I hadn’t done that, Gray wouldn’t be using my baby girl to get at him. Gray obviously had something to do with Jason’s death and he wanted to keep Rafe from either finding out or doing something about it, and he was using my daughter as leverage.
Once back in my car, I pulled out onto the main road, completely unsure of where to go next. For the last five years Maddie had been completely my responsibility. It was just the two of us together against the whole world. What would I do without her?
Just as I started to turn down the road that would lead me to the highway my phone went off.
“Hello?” I answered, not giving a shit about the hands-free law.
“Beth.” A deep voice that sounded too damn cheerful responded. “How’s it goin’?”
“Gray?” I gripped the phone hard, my fingers were tingling from the pressure. “Where’s my daughter?”
“She’s fine,” he assured me. I tried to listen to the background noise.
“Where is she?” I demanded. I couldn’t hear anything behind him. Either she was sleeping, locked away somewhere, or he wasn’t with her.
“She’s tucked in real nice for the night. No worries. Look. I need you to do me a favor, Beth. I need you to get Rafe and get him on board with a few things I have coming up. Now, I don’t usually like to get a man’s old lady involved, but ever since he sunk his dick in you I can’t get him to think straight.”
“The club? You want me to get him to do what you want for the fucking club?” I screamed into the phone. “I don’t give a fuck about your fucking club! I want my daughter back. Now.”
“Hey! Hold on, baby. I know you do, and she wants you, too. Keeps crying for mama, it’s getting annoying. Brittany ain’t much help either.” He laughed.
A car drove past me on the road, the driver looking over at me with an annoyed expression. I realized I was barely moving anymore. I pulled over to the side of the road.
“Gray, tell me where she is and I’ll come get her. I’ll get her out of your hair.”
“Great. So meet me in the morning, out by the old ware house off of 31 and Main. You know it?”
“Yeah, I know it.” The old paper mill. A fire had shut down production and it wasn’t worth the expense of fixing it up. The building had been abandoned at least ten years by then. “I can be there in twenty minutes.” I shifted the car into gear, still not used to the smooth transition between gears, unlike my old car that ground a little bit every time I shifted into drive.
“Hold up, sweet tits.” The way the words slid from his mouth, slick with arrogance and crudeness, made my stomach twist into a knot. This man was with my little girl. He held her safety in his hands. “I’m not in the mood to be heading out that way just now. Besides, the brat’s finally sleeping.”
“She’s not a brat!” My fingers went numb from griping the phone so hard. I could hear traffic passing by me and listened for the roar of a bike. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I hoped Rafe would drive past and see me. Save me from the terror I was sinking into.
The low chuckle of a crazy man answered me. “Tomorrow morning. Ten. Not a second later, you hear me?”
My spine tingled from the sound of his voice. Not the sort of tingle that Rafe gave me, but the sort that left my blood running cold and my heart ticking away hard against my rib cage.
“Can I talk with Brittany?” If Maddie really was sleeping, waking her up would only start her panicking again.
“She’s not with me, she’s back with the kid. You can see her tomorrow.”
I looked down the empty road and felt the panic begin to rise up in my throat. “How do I know you haven’t hurt my little girl?”
He snorted. “You don’t.” The line was silent. No grunt or laughter, just the words hanging heavily between us. He could do whatever he wanted and I had no power to stop him or find him. “Ten tomorrow.”
“Okay,” I relented. “Gray, just so we’re clear, if one little curl is bent on my baby’s head, I will hunt you down and rip your throat out with my bare hands.” My voice shook as I made my promise, not from fear but out of pure rage.
“Got it, mama bear. Tomorrow.” The line clicked, signaling he was gone. Any calm I had stored up in my body fell away and I slumped in my seat, pressing my forehead against the steering wheel. The racking sobs escaped me, making an awful sound that I was glad only I could hear in the dead of night.
After giving myself the small release, I dragged the back of my hand across my eyes and tried to focus. Where could Gray be hiding for the night? The clubhouse seemed too obvious, but maybe there was a chance. Maybe he would be dumb enough to stick it out there.
With a new purpose I pulled back onto the street and headed across town. Stephanie would know what to do.
I hoped.