Bad Seed

That's when I noticed the gun in his hand. It was a small, almost invisible weapon pressed between his jacket and his body, but now that I'd seen it, I couldn't take my eyes off it. It wasn't large, but I was certain it would still make a pretty big hole in me. I couldn’t believe I’d been so stupid.

“Come with me, and you won't get hurt,” he said. “Killian wants you in one piece, but if you make this difficult for me, I'll have no choice but to do something you won't like. Though, truth be told, I'm kind of hoping you put up a little bit of a fight. That shit turns me on like you wouldn't believe.”

I was on the verge of delivering a scathing reply when Jack whimpered softly. Rory stopped moving, looking around the room with wild, frightened eyes.

“What was that?” he said.

“I'll go with you,” I said. “I'll make it easy for you. I won't resist.”

I took a deep breath and walked toward the door, pulling Rory's attention away from the whimpering baby. Trying to keep him distracted and his focus on me, rather than on Jack.

“Just promise not to hurt me,” I said. “Please.”

Rory grinned at me, a creepy look that sent chills down my spine. “I promise to not hurt you until Killian says it's alright. Once he gives me the green light though, all bets are off, baby. Once Killian says we're all good, I'm gonna hurt you in ways you didn't even know you could hurt. And I'm gonna enjoy the fuck out of it. Now let's go.”

I stepped outside, Rory hot on my heels, and closed the hotel room door behind me, grateful that he'd been too distracted to even notice Jack. Still, there was more than one baby I had to think about in this whole fucking mess – like the one growing inside of me.

I told myself to just move slowly, to think everything through, and avoid doing anything stupid. Avoid doing anything that would set Rory off. I couldn't afford to have him out of his mind with rage. If I cooperated and didn't piss him off, I just might come out of this alive. For right now though, I knew I had to protect Jack.

CHAPTER NINE

DECLAN

Carrying the sack of burgers and fries and trying to balance the tray with the drinks in it, I managed to get the door unlocked. I pushed it inward and stepped into the small, cramped motel room. It was no luxury suite – not like we could've afforded that anyway – but it was fine for what we needed. Besides, it was pretty much the only place we saw when we decided to pull over to get a little sleep.

“Honey, I'm home,” I called, laughing to myself at my joke.

There was no answer as I set the food I was carrying down on the small table and turned around. Jack was in his little crib when I walked over and looked down at him. He looked back up at me with wide, bright eyes, gurgling and cooing, something like a smile on his face.

“Hey, how are you doing little man?” I said and smiled.

I reached down and stroked his soft cheeks, relishing the feel of his warm skin. Standing back up, I couldn't take my eyes off of him. It was so strange to think that this baby was my baby. My son. Because of him, my whole world had changed. But, standing there looking down at him, I couldn't imagine him not being in my life. “Hey, Kara,” I called over my shoulder. “Food's here.”

When I got no response, I turned to look at the bathroom door and cocked my head, not quite processing what I was seeing. It was standing open just a crack and there was no light on inside. I walked over to the bathroom and pushed the door all the way open. It was empty, everything still in place just as it had been when we'd checked in – and no Kara. “What the fuck?”

I turned back to the room and irrationally looked at the bed. Like I wouldn't have seen her when I walked in if she were in it, but I felt compelled to look anyway. Not there. Next, I looked in the small closet, for some stupid reason like she was hiding in there ready to jump out at me. Not there either. She was nowhere to be found. Vanished. Like a puff of smoke on the breeze, Kara was just gone.

Jack let out a noise, so I picked him up and held him to my chest, bouncing him a little like I'd seen women do, as I paced around the hotel room. Having his small, warm body pressed to mine gave me a feeling of comfort. It helped clear my mind and focused my thoughts a little more. Thoughts, at the moment, that were consumed by the fact that Kara had apparently disappeared without a trace.

I looked at the cellphone sitting on the dresser, and quickly dismissed the idea of trying to call her. She didn't have a phone on her. The knots in my stomach constricted painfully as I ran through a dozen scenarios in my mind, each one raising a hundred thousand questions.

Had Killian gotten ahold of her somehow? Had he snuck into the room and taken her? No, if they'd found us and broken into our room, at the very least, I would have gotten a beating. If they'd found us, more than likely, the maids would be cleaning up a corpse later today. If Killian had managed to track us down to middle of nowhere Missouri, they more than likely would have waited for me to give me what I deserved for running, rather than taking Kara and vanishing like ghosts. They would have wanted to make an example out of me. The most certainly wouldn't have left Jack here either.

I could only come to one other conclusion. “She left us,” I said, holding Jack a little tighter. “Up and left us without so much as a goodbye.”

I paced around the room, my baby in my arms, feeling a complex tangle of emotions swirling around inside of me. Anger and hurt at being abandoned being the most prominent. I couldn't believe that Kara would have just bailed on us like that. After everything we'd been through and the connection I thought we were developing between us, I didn't want to believe she'd just up and walk out like that. Not like her father had done to her. I didn't want to believe she'd do that to us. I didn't want to believe she'd do that to Jack.

But, what other answer could there be?

Something about this didn't feel right. I just couldn't put my finger on what it was. Carrying Jack close to my chest, I stepped outside the room and looked up and down the hallway. A maid's service cart stood next to a room down the hall, so I walked toward it. She was just coming out of the room when I drew near and gave me a warm, friendly smile.

“Hi,” I said. “Sorry to disturb you, but I'm staying down in room 248, and – ”

“Your baby is precious,” she said. “An angel.”

“Thank you,” I replied. “Listen, I – ”

“Your wife is beautiful as well,” she said. “And always so friendly.”