“I will too.”
I hurriedly wrote out a text.
Is everything okay? No one can
reach you. Where are you?
I didn’t get an answer.
“Anything?” I asked Talon.
“No.”
“I’m going out to look for her,” I said.
“I’ll come along,” he said.
“No, you need to stay with Jade and the boys. I’ll handle this.”
“But—”
“I got this. I’ll find her. I promise.” I ended the call.
I raced to my car as my phone rang again. I looked at the name. Ted Morse. Seriously?
“What is it, Morse?” I said angrily.
“Hello to you too.”
“I don’t have time for this bullshit. What do you want now?”
“I know where she is,” he said.
My heart nearly stopped. “If you’ve so much as touched one hair on her head, I swear to God I’ll fucking mutilate you.”
“Why are you threatening me? I called to help you.”
“You have no intention of helping me.”
“Why do you think I’ve been warning you—”
“Shut the fuck up. You know where she is, huh? Where is she, then?”
“In town. At the hotel. With my son.”
Jealousy tore into my gut. “At the hotel?”
“Relax. They’re in the bar having a drink.”
I didn’t reply. I ended the call abruptly, got into my car, and raced into town.
“Hold it like this, son,” my father said.
I smiled from ear to ear. I was holding a pistol. A real pistol. Not the toy cap guns Joe and I played cowboy with.
“Keep your finger off the trigger. Never put it on the trigger until you’re ready to shoot.”
“Tom, he’s awfully young,” my mother said, coming out from the cabin.