Baby Girl (Sugar Life #1, #4)

3. Chapter 1

Xavier

The metal doors slide shut, cutting off her tear-streaked face from view, and for one fucking moment, I completely freeze up, even though my heart rate has just gone through the roof of this seven-story building.

What the fuck just happened?

The thought pops into my head like a maggot, and I squash it immediately.

That shit has no space in this moment. I need to get to her.

I didn’t spend the last three weeks pulling all the goddamn strings so these assholes would fall into line, just to lose her because of their fucking stupid plan that went fubar the moment they thought it into existence.

Pivoting, I practically throw myself across the tiled lobby, the black-and-white marble tiles blurring together as I steamroll past the front desk and shove my way into the member’s change room.

I’m at my locker within a few steps and quickly get it open, stuffing my wallet, phone, and keys into my pockets before ripping my shirt from the hanger and flying back across the room.

I have one arm through a sleeve as I charge back through the door into the foyer and am not even remotely surprised when I see the three of them still standing around, staring at each other like their worlds have just ended. Like they are actually going to respect that red bullshit.

This isn’t a fucking scene. She is mine, whether she wants to be right now or not.

Derek is the first to spot me as I storm toward the fire exit doors, intent on getting to my car and going after Emery.

“Where the hell are you going?” Derek demands, face darkening as he steps in front of me and physically blocks my way.

I step to the side in an attempt to go around him, but he comes with me and my temper flares. Squaring up, I get in close and personal with his face. “Move.”

Derek’s jaw ticks, but he doesn’t break eye contact. “She used her safe word.”

The weight of two people stepping in behind me lowers my heart rate as my internal threat assessment increases. They might be the closest thing I have to a family, but none of them will stop me from getting to my dove.

“Move.” My throat aches with the depth of growl. “Now.”

He blinks, and I see the flicker of uncertainty in his eyes, clearly picking up on the fact that I don’t give two fucks about her safe word.

I hold my ground, not giving a fucking inch.

I’ve stood in front of worse than a middle-aged math professor who likes to inflict a little pain with his pleasure.

Derek’s gaze dips from mine, and he shifts to the side, slightly. I take it and barge past him, clipping his shoulder in a way that makes him stagger out of my path. As my hand hits the fire exit door’s bar, Hudson calls out. “At least let us know when and where you find her.”

Since that was my plan, anyway, I turn back to face them as I open the door to the concrete staircase. “Keep your phones on you.”

My little dove may have gone back up to ground level, but I need to go down one flight of stairs to get to my car. Hopefully she’ll be trapped waiting for a taxi or rideshare, and I can catch up to her down the block.

All but jumping the two flights of stairs and then out into the parking garage, I head straight to my car. Pulling out my phone, I open the tracking app I have installed on her phone. It doesn’t load immediately, and I curse at the lack of signal down here.

The car’s lights flash as I unlock it and throw myself into the driver’s seat, kicking the ignition over before I have my seat belt on. I fit my phone to the cradle and tap the screen to keep the app open, needing it to start working the moment the signal strength improves.

As I peel out of the space and up the ramp, I barely touch the brakes as I push the standard sedan I was given as a part of this new life almost harder than it can go. The tires screech as it takes turns and finally exits the garage on the last ramp and out onto the street.

I turn in the direction of campus, figuring she is more likely to go to her home base than anywhere that is owned by us.

Within seconds of my wheels touching the black asphalt, the app kicks into gear, a huge blue circle appearing on the map before shrinking down to a pinpoint that is more than several miles ahead of me and traveling at a pace that tells me she is already in a vehicle.

“Fuck!” I hit the steering wheel with the heel of my hand. That is too much fucking distance. How the hell did she get a ride so quickly? Was there a taxi sitting right in front of the building and she just fell into it?

Following that glowing blue dot on my screen becomes my single focus.

I need to close the gap. I need to get to her before she can lock herself in her bedroom.

While a door has never stopped me before, I’m not going to throw oil onto this dumpster fire of a night.

As much as I don’t want any space between us, I can respect that she’ll probably need a little after this.

Not enough to stay out of her life, but enough to let her sleep alone in her own bed. Maybe.

I slam my hand into the steering wheel again, the car jerking the smallest amount as we hurtle along the highway.

I fucking told him.

I told Derek that we should have all just claimed her, and fuck the consequences. Thayne would never fire all four of us in one day. The university’s board of directors would pop a fucking artery. At worst, we would have been put on probation while he decided what to do with the situation.

Me? I would have been easy. Quit. Or fired. Whatever optics worked best for Thayne.

The only ties I have to this life are the three fuckers I left back at Obsession and, now, Emery.

Exactly as expected, her dot turns into the Newton University on-campus parking lot and pauses there.

I’m still a couple of miles away, but now that we are back on residential roads, I can’t continue to push the speed limit.

As quickly as I can manage, I fire off a text in the group chat that says one word: dorm.

Gritting my teeth, I watch as the dot approaches her building. Dammit.

It takes five more minutes of driving and a minute of searching before I take the newly vacated space made by a piece-of-shit red car with tape holding its bumper up. I figure I’m staying the night here and shouldn’t leave my car in the middle of the lot just because I’m in a rush.

Emery having a few moments alone will either work in my favor or against it. There is nothing I can do about that now.

Several types of music fill the night air, and I glance up at the windows of the dorms, seeing quite a few of them open as parties rage with sickening levels of teen stupidity.

Heading down the path to the front entrance, I keep to the shadows as a couple of drunk students stumble out of the building.

I start to pull out my security fob but pull up short when I spot something white, partially hidden in the bushes by the side of the staircase.

My pulse pounds in time with my feet as I run toward it. That better not be her bag.

But it is. I know it is when there are still a few yards between me and it.

I don’t even let the stupid whys and whats run through my head. There is no point.

Her bag is here. Without her. What else is?

Taking a steadying breath, I force myself to calm down. Getting worked up even more than I am right now won’t help my little dove.

The rattle of plastic on concrete snags my attention, and I look around, trying to identify it before it goes quiet again. There, on the landing, is Emery’s phone.

I grab the bag, then take the stairs two at a time and quickly pick up the phone, Oakley’s name on the screen.

The roommate.

But it goes dark instantly, and I see that there are twelve missed calls.

My chest grows heavy, and I don’t hesitate to answer Oakley’s thirteenth call. “It’s Xavier.”

“Emery, thank—Oh, hi, Professor Knight, I mean, Xavier. Sorry. Emery called me a few minutes ago, but then there was a weird noise and the line went dead. Is she with you? Can I talk to her?”

My stomach clenches. “What kind of weird noise? Describe it to me.”

“Can I talk to her?”

“No. Describe the noise.”

Oakley pauses for a moment before she answers. “She kind of sounded like she fell. And then…”

“And then what?” My gut clenches.

“I thought I heard a guy say something, but then the line went dead.”

I glare down at the bag hanging from my fingertips as I take in that information, not liking where this is all pointing to. “How long ago was this?”

“Maybe five—hold on. Let me check. One second… Yeah, exactly eight minutes ago. I’ve been calling ever since, but she hasn’t picked up. I would have gone out looking for her, but I have no idea where your apartment is or if that was even her plan for tonight.”

“What did he say?”

The line goes silent and my gut tightens further.

“Oakley, what did he say?”

Her voice is quiet when she finally responds. “Something about a stupid bitch. And I think I heard him mention a debt that needs to be paid.”

I grunt as a response, scanning the area for more clues. “Come downstairs. I’m at the front door.”

Whatever she says next is cut off when I end the call.

Everything is pointing in one direction. Emery has been taken. Who the fuck by, though?

She doesn’t have any enemies. Besides Oakley, I’m confident she doesn’t have friends. She hasn’t contacted anyone from her time in the system in weeks. There is no one in her life but us and her roommate.

There’s a possibility that this isn’t about her.

None of the others have anyone in their past that would do something like this. I know, I looked. Which only leaves me. Have I been outed? I owe no debts that I’m aware of.

The quiet thud of car doors slamming has my attention turning to the parking lot, where Derek, Hudson, and Darcy all appear. They must have started driving in this direction before I sent the message. Good for them. Shows that they aren’t as idiotic as that stupid fucking plan they came up with.

They come to a stop in front of me as the door opens behind me and Oakley steps out in her sleep clothes.

All three of them turn their focus on her, so I turn to face her and try to offer a smile, but it must not have worked right, because she shuffles to the side of the landing, putting distance between us and her.

“This is Oakley, Emery’s roommate. She knows about us. Oakley, this is Derek, Hudson, and Darcy.” I gesture at each of them as I say their names.

Oakley blinks as she takes them in, all still wearing a little of their club gear, then turns her focus on me, eyes dipping down to my hand where the fluffy pom-pom of Emery’s phone hangs from my grasp.

“Where’s Emery?” she demands, her fiery gaze flicking up to mine.

The scared catch at the end snaps the tunneled focus of the other three, and then I have four sets of eyes staring at me like I have all the answers. Conveniently, I do, this time. I’m going to remind them of this moment the next time they try to tell me I need to give her space.

Giving her all the fucking space is what landed us in this damn position.

I unlock my phone and go into the other tracking app, the one that monitors the GPS marker in her bracelet. It’s not continuous, like her phone—it needs an open Bluetooth connection to transmit its location. So, hopefully, whoever took her is an idiot who doesn’t understand device cybersecurity.

It only takes a few minutes, and then I smile, a real one this time.

Fuck, I love idiots. They make my job so easy.