“Jesus, Kay. They could have been anyone,” I said as we walked back up the path to the house.
“They weren’t,” she said with a raised brow. “I’m telling you Ty, something isn’t right here. She doesn’t even live here, she lives with Josh.”
“Is that what he told you?” I asked, pulling the screen door open for her.
She nodded then said, “Watch this.”
She walked back into the main room and looked at John and Cynthia. “Mind if I go and have a look in Lindsey’s room?”
I kept my eyes on John and Cynthia as their faces paled, John stood up, his hands balling into fists. “No.”
Flicking my eyes to Charlie, I tried to tell him silently that something was up and from the way his brows rose, it looked like he saw it too.
“W…w…what he ...means is…” Cynthia looked at Kay and then to John, standing up and touching his arm. “She wouldn’t want her stuff to be touched.”
I raised my brows at them and turned to face Kay, she gave me a look that said, ‘told you so’.
“Right, okay,” I said and tilted my head at Kitty to come over to us. “Thanks for your time.”
Waving my hand to the door, I waited until Kitty and Kay were out and then followed them.
None of us said anything until we were in the car and I’d turned the engine on.
“What’s going on?” Charlie asked, leaning forward and popping his head in between me and Kay.
“Lindsey has a boyfriend,” Kay told him.
“We never knew of any boyfriend,” Charlie replied.
“Yeah, because they didn’t want you to know,” I said, looking at him in the mirror.
“What the fuck is going on here?” He leaned back, throwing his hands up in the air.
“We’re about to find out,” I said, pulling up to the park and spotting the group of guys sat on a couple of picnic benches.
“What are we doing here?”
“Bro, chill the fuck out and let us do our job,” I said, pulling my door open and tilting my head to Kay.
Charlie pulled his door open and I shook my head. “You’re staying here; they see a cop? They won’t talk.”
Huffing, he pulled the door closed and sat back, his face turned toward the window. I was sick and tired of all of his moods lately. He was getting worse than usual and was a complete nightmare to be around.
“Come on,” I said to Kay and jumped out of the truck, holding my hand out for her when she made her way around to my side.
“You do the talking,” I said. “He’s already opened up to you.”
“Okay.” She nodded in agreement.
I rubbed my thumb across the palm of her hand as we walked closer. Coming to a stop in front of them.
I stared at Josh and all the guys that he had scattered around the park. He waved his hand at the seat opposite him on the bench so Kay threw her leg over and sat down, while I stood behind her with my eyes scanning the whole park.
“Josh,” Kay said. “How about you start from the beginning?”
“Sure.” He shrugged with indifference.
I put my hand on my belt and pressed the button on my device. Over the years, I’d tried different things, especially with Evan always making up some new invention. This one was the best that I’d ever had, one press of a simple, concealed button and you could record any conversation. It was times like this, when you knew people didn’t want to have things noted down, that it came in useful.
“Lindsey has lived there since she was a little girl. Always looked out for her you know?” He looked around at all the guys. “We all have.”
“Okay.”
“I knew that something wasn’t right in that house since she was a kid. They were weird and always making her do shit that she didn’t want to do.”
“Do you know what kind of stuff?” Kay asked softly.
I looked down at Josh, his eyes told me that he knew. He knew what had gone on in that house but there was no way that he would tell us. Loyal to his girl. I respected him for that.
“Look, I know that it looks bad. Me and the good girl together. But I fuckin’ love her and some scumbag has taken her.”
I stepped closer the louder his voice got, it wasn’t that I thought he’d hurt Kay, I just didn’t want a situation on my hands.
“Her dad is a fuckin’ weirdo and in bed with some seriously fucked up people. The only reason he called the cops in the first place is because I went around and demanded he tell me where she was.”
“You said that she lives with you?” I asked.
“Yeah, man, she has since she was fifteen.”
“And where is it that you live?”
“What do you wanna know that for?” Josh stood up, the guys he was with flanking him on either side.
I raised my brows at him. It didn’t matter how many of them that were here, they still wouldn’t be able to hurt me. “You wanna know when we find Lindsey?” I said, stepping forwards.
“Fuck, yeah,” he growled.
“Then we need to know how to get in touch with you.” I tapped Kay on the shoulder, silently telling her to stand up.
“Oh.” He frowned. “Does this mean that you believe me?”
“Why wouldn’t I?” I smirked.
“Shit, I dunno. ‘Cus I’m me?”
I took another step closer, only the table separating us as I looked him straight in the eyes.
“Know what I think?” I said, waiting for him to acknowledge me. “I think that you’re doing your best to protect the girl you love.” I shrugged. “There’s no shame in that.”
“Yeah, man. I just want her back home.”
I nodded, fully understanding him and listened as he told us how we could get in touch with him.
I smiled at Kay, pleased that she had suggested coming to see the parents. If we hadn’t have come here, then we wouldn’t have found out what we have. One thing was for sure, we had some more digging to do.
After a full week of investigating, not only Daley, but now Lindsey’s parents, it felt like none of us had stopped working.
On Saturday morning, me and Eli took Monty for a walk up to the clearing. He loved being in the woods almost as much as me and Eli did. He ran ahead but not too far, turning back around constantly to check that I was still there.
“Mama? Do you think Monty will be able to go on all of the stuff?”
“All of what stuff, sweetie?” I looked down at him, dragging a stick behind him.
“The wood stuff,” he said, like I should know what he meant.
“You mean the training equipment in the clearing?”
“Yeah!” He jumped up and down, the stick that he was holding flying out of his hands. “Will he be able to? I think he’d like it.” He was nodding his head emphatically and I couldn’t help but smile at how excited he was. He loved having a dog and they’d become fast friends, there was nothing like seeing the bond that they had.
“Erm…I’m not sure, sweetie. I think it’d be a little dangerous.”
“Oh.” He jutted out his bottom lip and hung his head.
“All the guys will be meeting us up here later though so we’ll have loads of fun!” I said, trying to cheer him up.
“All of them?”
“Yeah, sweetie, all of them.” I smiled at his wide grin and carried on walking behind him.
The plan was for us to all have a barbecue up here and have some proper family time. We hadn’t been getting that lately and we were all in need of it.
Kitty still wasn’t her normal self and I desperately wanted to ask her what was going on. I needed to broach the subject with her because she couldn’t keep going like this, she was pushing all of us away and none of us wanted that.
There was a clear divide between all of us and it amazed me how when one person in the team was suffering with something, it seemed to affect all of us.
I lay on the grass when we made it to the clearing and watched Eli and Monty run around, Eli’s laughter bouncing off the trees.
After a couple of hours, they were both tired out so they lay next to me, Eli’s head leaning against Monty’s back and fell asleep. I closed my eyes and placed my hand on the top of Eli’s head.
I don’t know how long we lay like that, but I was woken up by voices.
My eyes sprung open and a shadow came over us. “Hey.” Ty smirked.
“Hey.” I lifted up onto my elbows, careful not to disturb Eli who was still asleep. Monty lifted his head, looked over at us and then closed his eyes with a groan.
“You look beautiful in that dress.” His eyes traced the length of my body before coming back up to meet mine.
I felt my cheeks warm as a blush spread, I was still so unsure of what to say when someone complimented me that I just nodded at him and looked away.
I loved to wear dresses, especially maxi dresses like this, I loved the way they flowed and how free I felt in them. It was something so simple but meant so much.
Extending his hand to me, I took it and let Ty help me up, brushing the grass off my back as I stood.
His arm came around my waist. Smiling, I lifted up onto my tip toes, putting my hands onto his shoulders and planting a soft kiss on his lips. Moaning, he deepened it, his hands roaming down to my butt and squeezing.
My hands roamed his body and up into his hair, leaning into him so that I was closer to him.
“God, I can’t seem to get enough of you,” he said, pulling back and resting his forehead against mine.
“Good.” I smiled.
Chuckling, he pulled back and wrapped his arm around my shoulders. “Will he be okay there?” He tilted his head to Eli, who was still fast asleep.
“Yeah, Monty’s with him,” I said and wrapped my arm around his waist, leaning my head against his shoulder.
We went over to the picnic table where they were all setting up the food. I moved over to Kitty who was sat by herself, pouring a drink into her solo cup.
“Kitty?” Sitting down next to her, I placed my hands on the table. “Fancy a chat?”
“No.” She lifted the cup to her mouth, not even bothering to look at me.
Taking a deep breath, I turned, seeing all of them staring at us. They knew that this had been coming, it was only a matter of time and none of them were going to ask her what was up so it was left to me.
Tilting my head, telling them to give us some space, they did as I asked silently and walked away.
“Out with it.” I spun on the bench seat, lifting my leg over the one side.
“Out with what?”
“Whatever is making you cranky.” I shrugged.
“You wouldn’t understand,” she warned, her eyes full of sadness.
“Try me.”
Huffing out a breath, she took another gulp of her drink and placed it down on the table.
“It just bugs me how you’ve been accepted into Ty’s family, no questions asked. When I couldn’t even…” She hung her head, stopping herself.
Frowning, I stayed silent, knowing that she needed to get her thoughts together. I had a feeling this was about Charlie, the looks they gave each other, and the way she talked to him, spoke volumes.
“I know he has a past but he wouldn’t even let me tell anyone about us. Ty still doesn’t know,” she whispered the last part.
“Know about what?”
“Me and Charlie.”
“Okay….”
“We were an item, well…” She chuckled. “As much of an item as you can be when he won’t even admit that he’s slept with you.”
“Wait,” I held up my hand, trying to get the full picture. “You and Charlie were an item and no one knows?”
“Got it in one.” She held her drink up, draining the last bit and refilling her cup. “Nine months, we went back and forth, and not once did he introduce me to his parents.”
Leaning back, I listened as she carried on telling me that they were exclusive and how it was fun at first, but when it came to going public, he ended things with no explanation as to why.
“And you come along,” she continued. “Getting accepted straight away while they still don’t know about me and Charlie.”
“Here’s what I think.” I raised my brows, making sure that I had her attention before I carried on. “If he won’t shout it from the rooftops that you’re together then he’s not the right one for you.”
“I suppose.” She shrugged.
“No suppose, Kitty. You’re fantastic and a real catch.”
“A real catch?” She snorted. “What are we, living in the sixties?”
“Hey!” I giggled. “I don’t know what the right word is.” Rolling my eyes, I couldn’t stop the smile from spreading on my face from seeing her laugh again.
It was a sound that we’d all missed and I wish I would have spoken to her sooner about what was going on.