When I arrived, bright and early, the next morning, it took them a bit to get through the paperwork. I knew she was sitting back there, wondering if I had forgotten about her, and it really irritated me that they wouldn’t let me back to talk to her. Finally, after about two hours, they escorted Josie to the front and took her cuffs off, allowing her to change back into her clothes. I could tell she was ready to go, and I noticed that she had a busted lip. We rushed from the building and headed toward the car, and she was moving so fast, I was having a hard time keeping up with her. When we sat down, she let out a deep breath.

“You need to come stay with me,” I insisted. “You will be safest there.”

“You don’t understand,” she said frantically. “My father is freaking missing. He is not only important to my life, but he is my alibi to murder. I have to go home right now. I have to get my father and take him to a safe place.”

“I really don’t think that is a good idea,” I said, shaking my head.

“Don’t you get it?” she asked angrily. “My father’s life is in danger. There are people out there, threatening to kill him. He is not safe right now.”

“Who? Who is threatening to kill him?”

“It doesn’t matter,” she said. “Please, just get me to my house so I can make sure to keep my father safe. He has a problem, and that problem takes over his entire mind. He can’t see danger when it is two feet in front of his face. Gambling is all he thinks about, so I need to make sure he stays safe.”

I sat at the stop sign leading out of the correctional facility, not wanting to take her to her house. She had been through enough already, and going back there was a recipe for disaster. Who knew what we would find when we got there? It could be a trap by whoever was doing this to her, and I wasn’t going to sit by and let her take herself out to protect the man I knew had something to do with all of this. I sighed and put on my blinker, knowing that if I didn’t take her, she would find a way. I felt better being there with her, instead of letting her go alone.

When we got there, however, the lights were off, the door was still broken from when the cops had crashed through it, and nobody was there. The house smelled like the pot roast she had cooked, which was still sitting on the table, and there was turned over furniture from the night of the arrest. She walked over to her father’s computer and picked up a small note that she had left there. I could see the fear and hurt in her eyes as she clutched the paper to her chest. It was absolutely heartbreaking, but I had no idea what to do for her.

I walked back to Pop’s room and opened the door slowly, switching on the light and looking around the room. There didn’t seem to be anything out of the ordinary in there, unless you counted the fact that her father was completely gone. There was no sign that he had returned to the house at all, and I wondered how he got away, with all those police officers at the house that night. Why hadn’t he checked on his daughter? Why hadn’t he come to her aid when he saw her name and face on the front of the newspaper? Where was the fatherly instinct to protect his child? I couldn’t even imagine watching my child be arrested for something they didn’t do, and instead of coming to help, he ran off to go gamble and get away from the situation.

I walked back out into the living room and wrapped my arms around Josie. She looked so damn sad, and I just wanted her to feel better. But I knew that wasn’t going to happen until all of this craziness was behind us. She was determined to save her father, but I was worried that he was already gone. There had been no reports of any unusual activity that involved him, but that didn’t mean that he was safe.

“Come on,” I said, leading her toward her bedroom. “Pack a bag, and let’s get out of here. We can go to my place and relax on the deck, just listening to the tides roll in. I

have a good bottle of wine. I’m sure a shower was on your list of things to do as well.”

“I can’t leave,” she said, turning and staring at me. “I have to stay here and wait for my father to come home.”

I looked at her, wide-eyed, not believing how stubborn she was being. She couldn’t stay here. It wasn’t safe, and she didn’t even have a front door that she could lock. The thought was just ludicrous, and she had to know that I was going to say absolutely not. There was no way she, or I for that matter, were going to risk our lives waiting for someone who might not come back at all.

“No,” I said, shaking my head. “Absolutely not. It’s too dangerous.”

“Blaine, this is my father,” she said with sad eyes. “I can’t abandon him.”

“You aren’t abandoning him,” I said, shaking my head. “You are looking out for both of your best interests. He’s been gone for days, even after everything happened, and we don’t know where he is. He could be on his way to Vegas for all we know.”

I walked over and wrapped my arms around Josie, kissing her on the top of the head. She leaned into me for the first time since I picked her up, and I could feel her start to relax. I knew she had been through something traumatizing, and it was going to take her a bit to get back to normal.

“How about this?” I asked quietly. “I’ll have some of our investigators go look for him. As soon as they find him, they will let us know.”

“Okay,” she said, sniffling.

“It’s just not safe for you to stay here,” I explained. “There are too many unexplained things right now. We need to figure it all out first.”

“I know,” she said with a sigh. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry,” I said. “Go pack your things, and I’ll be here when you’re done.”

I watched her walk away, thinking about how crazy of an idea it was that she actually thought I would leave her here. There was way too much risk involved in letting her out of my sight, something I had already done once, and she ended up arrested and charged with murder. The stakes were too high, and there was no way in hell that I was leaving her alone, much less there at that house. There had been so many events transpiring over the last forty-eight hours that I didn’t even know my ass from my elbow. Too much had happened, and I partly blamed myself for not insisting on being there when she spoke with her father. There was no way, at that point, that I was going to let her out of my sight. Hell, there was a good chance I wouldn’t let her out of my sight for a very long time. I cared way too much about her. She was sweet and kind, and I needed to figure out a way to get her out of all of this.

She packed a bag and met me at the front door, smiling as I led her to the car. I let her in and then went to the driver’s side, pulling my seat up comfortably and buckling my seatbelt. I watched as she pulled out her phone and dialed her voicemail. She sat quietly, listening to the prompts and pressing the buttons. Her face was calm, and I could see just how tired she was from the bags under her beautiful, big eyes. She needed to rest, and I was going to make sure she did. She sighed as she pressed the erase button and continued to listen to the messages. I knew that she was praying and hoping that her father’s voice would pop up on the other end of the line. She really did love him, no matter how many things he had put her through over the years. It made me think about my father and how I wished he were here to go fishing with or have holiday dinners with. I missed him a lot, and I knew the feeling of hoping for good news but never getting it.

Josie’s father, though, was a piece of shit. I was more than livid at the old man. I knew he had something to do with Josie’s dire situation, but the messages from Josie were mixed, and there were some serious holes I was trying to fill in. I would love to get ahold of him and stick my boot up his ass for being involved in anything that caused harm to Josie. I couldn’t understand what the hell he was thinking. He could really be helpful in the case, but instead, he ran off like a scared puppy, leaving Josie to pick up the pieces once again and take the brunt of the blow. Her life was going to be forever changed.

As I reached down to put the car in drive, I glanced at Josie and watched as tears filled her eyes. She was listening to a message, and I grabbed her hand, letting her I know that I was there for her. Whoever was on the other end did not have good news, and immediately, my mind went to her dad. I was mad at the man, but I didn’t want anything to happen to him. I knew all too well how it was to lose a parent. She hung up the phone and wiped her tears, her breath catching in her throat.

“What is it?” I tried to be calm and soft-spoken.

“That was the school,” she said, sniffling. “They have suspended me without pay because of the charges. They said it was policy, and they had no choice. I can’t believe all of this is happening. Those kids were my life, my escape from the hell of my household. They will never look at me the same way again.”

Tags: Mia Ford Romance
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