Chapter 28 Blake
BLAKE
“What do you mean he’s gone?” I snapped, storming out of the room toward the waiting area brimming with townsfolk.
“I mean, he took Jeff’s truck, and now he’s gone. Mav is tracking him.”
I huffed in irritation. How could I have let this happen? He was my responsibility, and now he was out there somewhere, all alone.
“Baby, we’ll find him. Mav already sent out an alert to the town. Everyone’s looking for him.”
“Except everyone here,” I snapped, feeling my blood pressure spike. “Why are they all still here when Wes is gone?”
Parker glanced at the onlookers behind me, smiling hesitantly as he tugged me closer. “Because they wanted to make sure you were alright. Just smile and thank them for coming.”
I’d smile alright, but it would be followed quickly by a throat punch to each and every one of them.
“Baby, your psycho is showing,” Parker murmured.
Right. Crap, I was supposed to be holding it together and getting along with everyone in the town. Instead, I was basically letting my killer side show.
“Thank you all for coming,” I smiled, hoping I was pulling it off. “I’m doing fine, but right now, we need to find Wes. We think he has Jeff’s truck.”
“Miscreant,” one of the murmured.
Parker pinched my side, signaling for me to hold it together.
“If you could help us search for him, we would be extremely grateful.”
With that, Parker led me to the door, knowing I only had so much patience before I started yelling at every single one of them.
“I can’t believe how badly I’m failing at this parenting thing!” I snapped. “How the hell am I supposed to take care of a baby when I can’t even take care of a kid who’s nearly grown? I mean, he’s basically self-sufficient, and yet, I still lost him!”
“You didn’t lose him,” Parker replied. “He took off.”
“Yeah, because of us. I mean, what does that say about us?”
“It says more about him, baby. He’s struggling.”
“And where were we?”
“In the hospital,” he emphasized. “Blake, you passed out.”
“Yeah, but just a little. It wasn’t even like fully passing out. It was more like a junior version of passing out. And it wasn’t even for a good reason!”
“Yeah, being anemic is definitely a bad reason,” he jested.
“I’m serious. If I had massive blood loss or had just seen a cat devoured by a baby rhino, that would have been a good reason to pass out.
He probably saw that and thought I was a major loser.
There she goes, passing out because of a tiny baby taking all the iron in her blood. Man, I can’t hitch my wagon to that!”
“I think you might be slightly exaggerating the situation at hand.”
“Oh, trust me. There’s no exaggerating anything because if I saw some woman pass out over a little iron, I’d be thinking the same thing.
Run. Run as fast as you can because if she can’t handle a little missing iron, there’s gonna be problems coming that I don’t want to deal with. And that’s what he’s thinking.”
Parker smirked at me. “I just love it how you know exactly what a teenager is thinking. Seriously, it’s brilliant. You should get your own TV show and everything.”
“Maybe I could have t-shirts made.”
“Yeah?”
I nodded, feeling a little better. “It’s like Survivor meets Dateline. Hang in there and don’t murder anyone yet.”
“That’s funny.”
“I can’t take credit for it,” I sighed. “I saw it on a meme.”
“But at least you’re thinking positively. Murder is bad. Just keep repeating that to yourself, and you’ll be golden.”
Huffing out a laugh, I dropped my forehead against his chest and sighed heavily. “I’m going to be a horrible parent.”
“You’re going to do fine. He’ll cool down, and then you can yell at him all you want.”
“Maybe.”
I just wasn’t sure I had done the right thing.
How had I ended up in this position? A year ago, I had a great job at the FBI.
Granted, I hated my boss, and he turned out to be completely crooked, but I loved what I was doing.
Now, I was lost in Montana, struggling as a new parent and trying to solve a mystery I didn’t know for sure I could.
Oh, and that one little thing that recently happened. I got married.
Life wasn’t supposed to be so damn difficult once you found what was supposed to be the happiest time of your life.
“Hey! We got a lead on him!” Mav shouted as he ran out of the hospital.
Parker grabbed my hand and tugged me over to Mav’s car, tucking me into the backseat. I was trapped behind the metal cage, and I had to say, I didn’t really like it.
“Where is he?” I asked as he peeled out of the parking lot.
“Careful!” Parker shouted when we slid on the ice. “My wife is pregnant!”
“It’s not like the baby’s gonna go flying out of her if we take a corner too fast,” he jested.
“You don’t know that!”
“Trust me. I’ve been around enough pregnant women to know that’s not a possibility.”
“This is Blake. She’s capable of anything.”
I rolled my eyes. “Pretty sure not even I’m capable of just tossing a baby out of my vagina.”
“So, where did you find Wes?” Parker asked.
“He’s out by the mountain rescue. Sawyer has him.”
“Sawyer?” I didn’t know hardly anyone around town.
“Yeah, Sawyer Nash. His sister Josie owns the apothecary store in town.”
“How did Sawyer get him?” Parker asked.
“The truck broke down. I guess Wes tried to hike it up the mountain,” Mav grinned. “Sawyer already called in Wyatt to have it towed.”
“Fucking great,” Parker grumbled.
“Wait, who’s Wyatt?” God, I was so lost.
“Callahan,” Parker bit out.
“Seriously, I never knew there could actually be a rivalry between two families. I mean, obviously, I’ve heard about them, but this is just ridiculous.”
“The Callahans hate everyone,” Mav added. “They just hate the Parkers more than any other family.”
This whole rivalry thing was too dramatic. There had to be some way to get them to talk it out and end the whole thing. Honestly, I wasn’t sure I wanted to live in a town with an actual Hatfield and McCoy feud.
I perked up when I saw Wes standing outside with a brute of a man. He looked like he was ready to bolt, but the man beside him clapped a hand on his shoulder, keeping him in place.
As soon as we got there, I yanked on the door handle, belatedly realizing I was trapped in the back at the mercy of Maverick.
“Do you want to let me out?” I snapped.
Chuckling, he hit the lock, letting me out. I flung the door open and raced over to the kid, ready to tear him apart. Instead, I flung my arms around him, squeezing him tight to me.
“Do you have any idea how much you scared me?” I shouted.
Stepping back, I looked him over, noting that he was in one piece. I hadn’t killed him. I hadn’t allowed him to get injured. He was safe.
Sucking in a breath, I marched away before I did something really stupid. I wasn’t sure what that would be, but right now, I was teetering on the edge of making someone pay.
And I had a feeling it would be his parents.