Chapter 36 Beckham
BECKHAM
Despite the low visibility and freezing temperatures, I let out a sigh of content as I drove.
All I could think about was Parker with her legs spread and her cheeks flushed as I worshipped her body the way she deserved.
Driving slower due to the road conditions was torture.
Every second away from her had my heart in a vise, the growing distance pressing it tighter and tighter around the beating organ.
I was thankful when I pulled up to Ellis’s house and found her bundled in a blanket on her porch, the clean casserole dish waiting beside her. She stood as I walked as fast as I could up the steps and met her.
I took the glass dish from her. “Thanks, Ellis. Sorry again. I should probably buy a few more of these.”
She waved me off. “Don’t worry about it. The book hadn’t gotten good yet.” She shot me a wink as she held the book up with her other hand before setting it on the little table.
I chuckled. “I hope you mean with the action.”
She shrugged, burying her hands in the pockets of her wool cardigan. “Something like that. Are you going to be okay getting home? The storm’s getting worse.” She looked past my shoulder at the snow falling in a thick white sheet in front of my truck’s headlights.
I followed her line of sight, seeing the flakes already piling around my tires. “I’ll be alright. I’ve driven in worse.”
She shot me a disapproving look. “Of course you have. Let me know when you get home, alright?”
I dipped my chin. “I will. See you in two weeks.” I started moving back toward the stairs when Ellis spoke up.
“Beckham.”
I paused, one hand on the railing, and looked over my shoulder at her. “Yeah?”
“Do you love her?”
There was not a second of hesitation when I answered, “I do.”
Her shoulders loosened as if my answer was the key to all her problems, and it hit me that she’d never get to see Garrett marry or have children of his own.
A soft smile lifted the corners of her mouth, and she wrapped her arms tight around herself after waving me off again. “Get on home to her then.”
Warmth spread throughout my chest. Instead of heading down the steps, I spun around and pulled Ellis to my chest with an arm around her shoulders. I pressed a kiss to the top of her head, eyes squeezing shut. “I’m sorry.”
She stood there quietly, but she didn’t need to speak for me to know all the thoughts bouncing around in her head. Ones she often didn’t want to think, because sometimes it was easier that way.
After a few seconds of holding her, she set a palm on my chest and gently nudged me away. She tried to hide it, but I heard her sniffle.
Without another word passing between us, I carefully navigated the steps before getting back in my truck. I waited until she disappeared inside to pull out of her driveway and head home.
Ellis and I shared a lot of memories of Garrett, and with that, we shared the grief, too.
She mourned him in different ways than I did, but I could always tell the days when it got to her the most. A parent should never outlive their child.
The hole that was left behind was devastating, but she still smiled.
Still spoke about him like he was still around, just in a different space.
She likely heard him in the wind, too. Heard his laughter down the halls and felt his presence like I did.
After a slow drive home, I rolled up the driveway, my bigger tires digging through the snow until I came to a stop. I killed the headlights and shut off the engine, grabbing the dish on the passenger seat before getting out and heading up to the house.
I stomped my boots on the mat before turning the handle on the door, but as I did, I froze.
My forehead creased.
I’d locked this door when I left.
I shook my head. Parker had likely unlocked it when she heard my truck coming up the drive.
After I was inside, I slowly closed the door behind me and scanned the room.
Something didn’t feel right, yet everything looked in place.
Even the bath water was running down the hall, which meant Parker was simply waiting for me.
Maybe she was refilling it with more warm water after it’d gone cold.
With snow slowly melting and dripping off my boots, I set the casserole dish on the counter and headed down the hall.
“Sorry that took so long,” I said as I rounded the corner for the bathroom—but I immediately froze when I stepped in a puddle of water.
The bath was overflowing, and Parker was nowhere to be found.
Without thinking to turn off the faucet, I ran for our room.
Empty.
I checked the guest room, then bolted back for my bathroom. Every damn spot where she might have fallen or been hiding was empty.
“Parker?” I yelled out, and when only the sound of running water responded, I knew for sure she wasn’t here.
Something was wrong. Very wrong. And that fact sat in the pit of my stomach like a five-ton boulder.
My hands flexed and unflexed more times than I could count, that inner part of me needing to do something but not knowing where the fuck to start.
“Fuck,” I gritted out as I darted into the bathroom, boots splashing in the water pooling on the floor, and shut off the faucet. I had no time to pull the plug on the drain without getting my sleeve wet, and if she wasn’t in here, that meant she was somewhere out there.
The idea that she might be cold and lost out in this storm, or worse, taken by some fucking maniac, had panic coursing through me.
I ran out of the bathroom, grabbing my pistol and shotgun from the gun safe in my closet, then beelined outside.
I left the front door unlocked in case she came back because, with her truck sitting out front, I doubted she had any keys on her, and I didn’t want her stuck out here freezing longer than she had to.
Before getting in my truck, I scanned the snow for prints.
In the direction of her car, there were none, but the snow was coming down so fast, if there had been any tracks, they’d likely have disappeared by now—depending on how long she’d been gone.
It only made me feel more lost, more helpless, and when it came to Parker, that wasn’t a fucking option.
Realization dawned on me, and I tucked my shotgun under my arm and yanked out my phone. I clicked her contact, then navigated to the screen where I could see her location. The few seconds it took to load felt like an eternity as every worst-case scenario flew through my head.
Her profile picture—one I’d snapped at the diner of her laughing and biting down on a cherry—popped up in a small circle just east of me, up in the mountain.
I zoomed in, confused as to why she’d be up there and how she’d gotten there so fast. It’d taken me a little under an hour to get to Ellis’s and back, and that hike on foot would have taken at least five times that.
That meant I wasn’t looking for footprints.
I was searching for tire tracks. Or a snowmobile.
And with her truck still being here, that meant she wasn’t alone.
Someone had taken my Parker into the fucking mountains during a snowstorm.
Ideas of what I’d do to whoever took her flew through my mind, the possibilities endless.
But only one outcome was for certain with all of them: they weren’t making it out of this alive.
I did one more quick look around the other side of the house and stopped when I came upon exactly what I was looking for. The distance between the tracks was too narrow to be a car or truck, which meant they were on something like an ATV.
That gave me some sort of idea of what I was looking for, at least.
I sprinted for my truck, tossing the shotgun on the passenger seat, and fired up the engine.
Squinting through my windshield and the rapidly moving wipers, I followed the path of the faint tire tracks.
With the snow falling fast, the tread imprints were quickly disappearing, so I pressed harder on the gas.
I should’ve been more careful after Parker told me about the comments and messages. I shouldn’t have left her alone. I should have installed cameras, reported it to the police, done everything I didn’t do because I was so preoccupied with everything else.
That was my fault, and no one else’s. The guilt that churned my stomach would have to wait, because the only thing I had space for in my mind right now was finding my girl and our son.
As the trees became thicker and the hills turned steeper, I had no choice but to get out and continue on foot.
I killed the engine and the lights, making sure I had both my guns before exiting the truck.
I locked it before navigating the deepening snow, being sure to stick close to the trees in case I came across anyone.
The forest was silent save for the howl of a wolf in the distance. I trekked for what felt like hours, my fingers numb on the shotgun as I walked. I barely felt the bite of cold with the adrenaline pumping through me.
I checked my phone every few minutes to make sure I was still heading in the right direction, and finally, what felt like an hour later, I spotted a cabin in the distance.
A dim light flickered through a tiny, snow-filled window, and a plume of smoke billowed out of the chimney.
Another glance at my screen confirmed that at least her phone was in there, but whether she had it or someone else did, I wasn’t sure.
That was exactly why I hadn’t tried to call it, for fear they’d turn it off, and I might lose my only chance of finding her.
I double-checked that my phone was on silent before pocketing it. Approaching the cabin, I made sure to stay out of sight of the window. There was no hope in covering my boot prints—not with snow this deep—so I tried to keep myself out of the flicker of light as best I could.
I pressed my back flat to the side of the house, inhaling a steadying breath. If she was in there, and someone was with her, I had to act fast while being careful not to let her get hurt.
I forced away any nerves that threatened to creep up. Parker would be okay. Our son would be okay.
I’d get them out of this.
Carefully, I crept around to the front of the cabin, ducking my head beneath the window as I passed it. Voices filtered out from the door, and I paused beside it, listening.
“Axel always asked why we never had family.” A man was speaking to her. One whose voice I didn’t recognize. But I remembered Parker telling me about a cousin by the name of Axel.
Had someone in her family taken her? Was he the one who had been stalking her online?
When the man was met with only silence, he continued, “He always knew it was because of my brother. That Clarence was too scared.”
“Maybe because you’re a felon,” Parker muttered.
My heart ceased beating, my grip tightening on the gun. Parker was talking, which meant she had to be okay.
Please, fuck, let her be okay.
The man ignored her comment and continued. “So imagine my surprise when I found out you hung out with my boy. He hated you growing up. Thought you were too privileged to hang out with trash.”
“And who made him think that’s what he was?”
A sprinkle of pride filtered through me at her boldness, even in a time of danger. But she needed to be careful. Unless she thought he wouldn’t hurt her. But why?
“I don’t lie to family.”
“No, that much was obvious when you said you wanted to take my baby for money.”
Her words only intensified my urge to blow the fucker’s head off. He’d never so much as get the chance to touch my family. Not if I had anything to do with it.
“Desperate times call for desperate measures. Isn’t that what they say?”
I’d heard enough.
No one threatened my girl and got the privilege of continuing to breathe the same air as her.