Chapter 12 #2
My heart was racing and I couldn’t get the key in the lock. “Dammit!” I screamed, my hand trembling.
Austin came up from behind and pressed his entire body against mine, pinning me against the car.
His mouth moved against my ear as his right hand reached around, stroking my neck soothingly.
“Tell me what’s wrong.” It was that commanding voice again.
The one that meant business. I’m sure he could feel my pulse beneath his fingertips because it was out of control.
“My mom; something’s happened. I have to get home. Maizy—she called—I have to go!” I screamed. Austin lifted me off the ground by the waist and hauled me off.
“I’ll drive,” he insisted, walking swiftly to his car.
I didn’t fight.
He set me in the passenger seat and reached around to buckle me up.
I rocked in my seat, covering my mouth with my hands.
My God, if anything happened to either of them, I wouldn’t be able to hold myself together.
I’d been the strong one when my parents fell apart after Wes’s death.
When my dad left, I kept Mom from going into a state of depression and living in her bedroom.
No one had ever been there to keep me going; I just had to fight through my own pain and focus on keeping my family together.
The engine roared to life like a mad dog and he turned the corners so sharply that I slammed against the door and threw my hands forward to keep from hitting the dash.
When I told him about the message from Maizy, he pulled out his phone.
“Denver, I want you to get a hold of Reno. Tell him it’s— … No, this can’t wait. Level fucking red, now deliver the message. I better have him on this phone in three minutes.”
Austin hung up and cursed. “He never carries his damn phone when I ask him to.”
“Hurry, hurry, hurry,” I started chanting as we approached a yellow light. It flipped to red, but Austin gunned it and we sailed through the intersection. Thank God a cop car wasn’t around, but Austin knew how to weave around cars like a stuntman. The way he handled that Challenger was heroic.
We came to a hard stop and I was out the door and running toward the house.
“Lexi, wait!” he yelled out, but I was already on the porch. Worst of all, I didn’t have the spare key with me. I tossed the mat and tipped over the flowerpot. I pounded on the door and desperately rang the doorbell.
“Maizy! Maizy! Open up, it’s Lexi,” I shouted. Locked from the inside was a good sign; it meant someone was home.
Austin’s boots crunched on the patio and I glanced up at him, shaking.
He backed up a step, eyed the door, and kicked it in. It took two solid kicks, but the flimsy door cracked and flew open. It was an old house, and thank God for that.
Austin held out his arm to keep me back. “Stay close,” he said. “Someone could still be inside the house. If something happens, take off and I’ll handle it.”
The sliding back door was left wide open, and the wind had lifted the curtains and pulled them onto the patio.
“Maizy hides,” I whispered. “Please find her, Austin.”
He did a quick scan of the rooms to make sure no one else was in the house. Then it was my turn. I looked in the closets, beneath the beds, and in her favorite hiding spot behind the pantry door. Austin walked around the perimeter of the yard.
Mom’s purse was still on her dresser, and nothing looked disturbed.
I went into the kitchen and stopped at the table. Maizy’s little juice glass with the frog on the side was half-filled with milk, and an uneaten cookie sat on a paper napkin beside it.
I doubled over and threw up on the kitchen floor. Austin came running in and God, how embarrassing was that?
Everything blurred through my teary eyes, and Austin helped me up and walked me to the guest bedroom that used to be mine. It was cheery and bright with yellow paint and white furniture. I sat on the edge of the bed and watched him peel off his shirt, using it to wipe my tears and mouth.
“Don’t worry. I’ll find her, Lexi. My brother’s on his way and we’re going to track them down.”
Just then, a loud motor shut off outside and there was a ruckus at the front door.
“Stay here and rest for a minute while I talk to him,” he said.
After Austin left, I wept so hard that my chest began to ache with fear. I needed to become emotionally spent before I lost control and went on a rampage through the neighborhood.
I walked into the living room and Austin folded his arms, staring at a man who favored him a little in the face, except his handsome features were stern.
He matched Austin’s height, but not his style.
It was at least eighty degrees outside and he wore a long-sleeved black shirt with matching pants and shades, like he was ready to join a SWAT team.
Austin closed the distance between us and lifted my eyelid, treating me as if I were a patient. I jerked my head away.
“Just need to make sure you’re not going to shift on me,” he said in a low voice.
“Who’s that?”
Austin approached the formidable man. “Lexi, this is my brother, Reno. This is Wes’s little sister.”
I was starting to notice that was how Austin was introducing me to everyone.
Reno removed his shades, tucked them in the collar of his shirt, and studied me with narrowed eyes.
His brown hair was neatly styled with short sideburns and a little length on top, but not much.
Chocolate-brown eyes, tough features, and he looked like a guy you just didn’t want to mess around with.
Deep lines were carved in his cheeks and around the corners of his eyes—the kind that are etched into your face from smiling hard.
But Reno didn’t look like the smiling type.
He wore a gun holster strapped to his left arm as if he didn’t have a care in the world if a cop pulled him over.
We had a concealed handgun law in our state, but I didn’t have a clue if that meant you actually had to conceal it.
Truthfully, I never imagined I’d even be asking myself these questions.
Reno might as well have put glitter on the handle and drawn a red arrow across his shirt to the holster.
“Are you going to find my mom and sister?”
His serious eyes flicked back to Austin. “You wanna search, or me?”
Austin looked between us. “I’ll shift. Call up Denver and give him her address.
I want him to pick up the tape on her machine, trace her calls, and set up a hidden camera outside her door.
Keep an eye on Lexi, and don’t let her out of your sight.
She’s one of us,” Austin said in a deep, smooth voice.
Reno’s eyes cut to mine and he sized me up. “No shit. I thought Denver was pulling my leg,” he remarked, pinching his stubbly chin.
Austin handed Reno his wallet and keys. “Scan the house; do your thing. If I’m not back in an hour, take her to our place.”
“Wait—” I started to say, but Austin interrupted in his take-charge voice.
“You do as I say.”
How could I argue? I hardly had a plan of my own, and these guys didn’t want to call the cops. Not that the cops would do anything except speculate my mom took off with Maizy.
Austin kept talking to Reno. “Tell Denver to sit tight and I’ll be joining him.
It’s been a while since this happened; the milk on the table is warm and so is the house.
The thermostat is set to seventy-two,” he added.
“If I pick up a trail then I’ll stay on it, but I got a feeling they’re long gone.
Maybe the kid wandered off to a friend’s house or something.
I’ll mark the yard in case one of ours was involved; then they’ll know who the fuck they’re dealing with. ”
I watched him storm out the back door and out of sight.
“Mark?” I asked.
Reno straightened a picture on the wall and glanced around. “Leave our scent. He’s marking territory. We might get some help this way.”
“Someone is going to smell Austin’s pee and help?” I threw my hands up. “This is ridiculous!”
“You don’t know pack rules, do you?”
And I didn’t care. I just wanted my family found safe.
I called April and explained I’d had a personal emergency.
Then I called Naya, because I’m sure she was going to immediately notice a hot guy outside my apartment rigging up a camera.
She was at work on her cell, so I just told her I planned to stay away for a day or so and not to worry.
Naturally, she worried. Naya knew I wasn’t a “stay away from home” kind of girl.