“Your face looked exactly the same when I told you,” I mutter as I lean to the side, trying to see Jax among the booths.
“He’s Tyler’s?” Asher asks, breathless.
Everyone is looking at me again. Do I even need to answer that?
“But that must be… he’s…” Audrey also glances around for Jax. “Three?”
“Yeah,” I whisper, and suddenly, fear grips me. “Jax! Where are you?”
“She must have been, what, fifteen when she had him?” Audrey is saying.
“Sixteen,” Tessa says. “She’s a year older than us.”
“And that was around the time Tyler left, right?”
“Yeah, but he didn’t know…”
Their voices fade as I walk through the booths, calling Jax’s name and checking under the tables and chairs and counters. The office is locked. I check the bathroom and come back to the front of the shop, empty-handed.
I feel dizzy. The door is open—a small crack, but maybe enough for a little boy to slip through. “Jax!”
“What’s going on?” Rafe grabs my arms, and I realize I’m stumbling. “Erin?”
“Jax is gone.” I tug on Rafe’s hold, trying to keep moving, and point a trembling finger at the door. “I think he got out.”
***
It must be cold, but I can’t feel it as I run down the street with Audrey and Asher, calling Jax’s name. Fear numbs my body and makes my thoughts spin slowly and out of control.
What kind of mother loses her son? Jax has to be so frightened. He’s in danger with cars speeding down the street and strangers passing him by.
If anything happens to him…
My cell rings, and I lift it to my ear. “Yeah?”
“Have you found him?” Zane yells into the phone.
“No. Where are you?”
“Returning to Damage. I’ll check one last time inside, in case he hid under the furniture or something.”
“Okay.” I disconnect and stop. “Let’s go back.”
We turn back and jog toward the shop. We enter, and I brace myself against the wall, trying to catch my breath. Audrey leans against the desk.
Asher immediately starts searching. He lifts tables, chairs, bends under the desk to look. I join him, checking again the booths, one by one, below the counters, behind the chairs. I look inside trash containers, behind doors. I see Rafe come out of the bathroom, but I go in and check anyway.
I just can’t believe this is happening. My pulse thunders inside my head. My mouth is dry with fear.
“Erin.” Zane walks around the booths, his face a stony mask. “He’s not here.”
My heart sinks. “I’m calling the police.”
I pull out my cell. My hands shake so badly I almost drop it. I turn back toward the shop front, and it’s all blurry. I realize tears are burning my eyes.
Then the door chimes. I dash the tears away and blink at the tall figure who has entered the shop. Wide shoulders, short dark hair, inky eyes.
And on one arm he’s holding Jax.