Chapter 9
Chapter Nine
“ P lease,” Drew begged, “Mr. Angel—it’s been over two months.
Ten of the worst weeks of my life. I just need to know where she is.
Please.” Karlie had been gone for two months, with no word from home, and he didn’t know if she was even alive at this point.
All Drew knew was that she had gone back to her apartment in Atlanta, packed up what she could fit in her car, and left.
The landlord had bitched to Drew about back rent and furniture left behind.
Drew just wanted to know where she went.
She had to have left a forwarding address, but if she had, the landlord wasn’t giving out that information.
She had just disappeared. He found where she worked, and they hadn’t seen her either.
She never went back to work after she got back to Atlanta.
Her old boss had a paycheck for her, but no forwarding address.
Drew left his contact information with both her old boss and landlord, just in case she showed up, but he was losing faith.
God, he needed her so badly, needed to touch her, hear her laugh, just talk to her.
He needed to tell her that Lisa was a plant, put in his bed by Jake to break them up.
The ass had admitted that he wanted Karlie back.
With a little persuasion from Drew, he was all but ready to turn himself in for attacking Karlie the day of his and Jenna’s doomed wedding.
The only thing that stopped Jake from turning himself in was finding out that Karlie skipped out of town and had dropped all charges.
Jake was free to do whatever he wanted—he won. And Drew, he lost everything.
He spent his days working his ass off at his shop and his nights dreaming of Karlie.
Just yesterday, he got a call from Karlie’s old landlord, asking for Mr. Angel’s number.
The landlord told him that Mr. Angel contacted him to have all Karlie’s stuff shipped to her new address, but he had lost the contact information and was hoping Drew could help him get in touch with Karlie’s family to get the address again.
“I know that you have her address, her old landlord told me about you contacting him.
I know that you know where she is. I need to talk to her and tell her that the whole Lisa thing was a setup.
Jake—" Mr. Angel put his hand on Drew’s shoulder.
“Now, stop right there, son. Jake may not be perfect, but he’s my son-in-law now, and I won’t have you talking like that about him.” Drew just shook his head. He knew Mr. Angel wasn’t clueless, but how could he honestly stick up for Jake?
“I understand you standing behind your family, Mr. Angel. My family means everything to me. But what you don’t understand is that Karlie is my family now.
I love her. I want forever with her. Jake tried to break us up and used Lisa to do it.
He knew how Karlie would react to finding another woman in my bed.
He thought it was funny that Karlie ran again.
” Drew felt furious just thinking about that day.
After he found out the truth about Lisa and Jake’s plan and confronted Jake, he was so angry that he thought that he might kill the son of a bitch.
But he also knew that if he touched Jake, he’d be in jail.
And he couldn’t go after Karlie if he was sitting in jail.
He used other tactics to get the truth out of Jake about his and Lisa’s plan. He threatened to get Ryan involved.
Being in the military, Ryan made people love and fear him.
They respected him and trusted him. The Angels would have taken Ryan at his word—even Jenna would listen to him, and Jake knew it.
Jake had told Ryan everything—from the way he cheated on Karlie with Jenna, to convincing Jenna that getting pregnant was a good idea.
Ryan knew the whole story. When Jenna refused to get pregnant, Jake took her options away.
He tampered with her pills, replacing them with sugar pills.
When Jenna got pregnant, Jake convinced her to marry him.
He planned to weasel his way into the Angel family any way he could.
Drew thought that Jake’s plan had been pretty successful, given the fact that he was now married to Jenna.
Mr. Angel had helped Jenna and Jake with everything from a down payment on a house to giving Jake a job.
Jake made the mistake of bragging to Ryan before he left.
Ryan had threatened Jake with bodily harm if he didn’t take care of Jenna and the baby, but then he shipped out.
It made Drew sick that Jake had gotten away with everything, including driving a wedge between Karlie and everyone that she loved.
Mr. Angel seemed to be weighing his options, and Drew decided to give him a few minutes, waiting him out.
“Drew, there are things that you don’t understand. Karlie doesn’t want you to find her. I’m the only person who knows where she is because she knows that I won’t tell anyone. I just can’t tell you where she is. She’s safe and she’s moved on, and you should do the same.”
Drew’s laugh was harsh, “Move on with my life? With all due respect, sir, Karlie is my fucking life. I will never move on without her!”
Jenna walked into her parents’ house; Jake trailed behind her.
Jake’s eyes widened when he saw Drew standing in the kitchen with Mr. Angel.
Drew took some satisfaction in seeing the fear in Jake’s eyes as he looked him over.
“Hey, daddy, what’s going on?” Jenna asked, kissing his cheek.
Her baby bump had grown into a full-on belly.
At that moment, Drew couldn’t breathe. Sometimes, Jenna looked so much like Karlie that it hurt him to be around her.
He thought of what Karlie would look like, round with his child.
God, he just needed to find her, and he’d make her listen.
“Drew here is just checking in to see if I heard from your sister,” her father said.
Jake seemed to perk right up, “Hey, yeah—how is poor Karlie doing, Dad?”
Drew growled, causing the others to turn in his direction.
“I’m sorry, Jenna, I wouldn’t do anything to upset you.
But you,” he pointed to Jake, “you need to keep your fucking mind off Karlie. I don’t want you to even think about her, let alone talk about her.
She’s none of your business.” Jake took a step back from him while Jenna stepped closer to Drew.
“I know you’re worried about my sister, but Dad says that she is doing well in her new place.
She’s moving on with her life since she found you cheating on her,” Jenna accused.
Drew wanted to yell at Jenna, but looking down at her belly, he thought better of it.
Karlie wouldn’t want him yelling at her pregnant sister.
“I didn’t cheat,” he growled through clenched teeth. “Lisa snuck into my bed while I was in the shower and lied to Karlie. I never cheated on your sister—I love her. If you know where she is, Jenna, please tell me. I—I need to find her,” he stuttered.
Jenna looked into his eyes, hers a little misty, “Sorry,” she said, wiping her eyes, “I think my hormones are completely crazy, I cry at everything. Only a couple more months, and maybe I’ll get myself back under control.
” She smiled up at Drew. “I don’t know where she is, or I would tell you.
I think Karlie needs someone in her life who loves her.
She needs someone, like how I have Jake.
” She reached back and grabbed Jake’s hand.
Drew wanted to puke. But he believed Jenna; she didn’t know where Karlie was.
“Have you talked to her since she left?” Drew hoped but knew she probably hadn’t.
“No,” she shook her head. “I wish she would call me. I feel like we all ganged up on her when we should have been more forgiving and understanding. She wasn’t herself; she was jealous of me and Jake.
I don’t blame her anymore. I just wish she would call so Jake and I could tell her that we forgive her for all the trouble she caused at the wedding.
” She looked back at Jake again, smiling, and the asshole had the nerve to smile back at her.
At least Jake seemed to be making Jenna happy, and he wasn’t anywhere near Karlie, but neither was Drew. And that was a problem.
∞
Karlie was so tired, she just wanted to get into her apartment and collapse onto the sofa.
She couldn’t seem to muster any energy, and all she did was sleep.
The doctor said that was normal, especially in the first trimester.
She knew once she hit the second trimester, in a few weeks, that she’d feel better.
She picked up that book—about what to expect during her pregnancy, and it filled in all the holes that the doctors at the clinic had left out.
It would have helped if she had another woman to talk to about her situation.
So many times she wanted to call Jenna to ask her a question about whether something going on in her pregnancy was normal.
She just found a new normal, including her pants getting a little too tight.
She’d expect that if she could actually hold down any food, but that wasn’t an option.