Forever With His Boss

by Rheland Richmond

  Sawyer’s hands slipped into the back pockets of his jeans, cupping his ass. “Is it flattery if it’s true?”

  Ford leaned down for another kiss, then whispered against his lips, “You say the sweetest things.”

  “Well, you are my sweetie.”

  At Sawyer’s words, Ford burst out laughing. He couldn’t help it. Sawyer sniggered alongside him.

  “Okay, okay.” Sawyer shook his head. “In all seriousness, though, what do you have in mind? Don’t tell me you don’t wanna get dirty. Not after the filthy things we did over the past week.” Sawyer winked at him.

  Ford’s body heated at the memory. “Mmmm.” Ford licked his lips and felt his cock thicken. “It was pretty hot, but I have something a lot more PG in mind.” He stepped out of Sawyer’s reach before they ended up fucking on the table. “Mom hasn’t texted that she’s home from errands, so I thought maybe we could go get some shopping in. We have some things we could use for our house. Also, I have a coupon from Bed Bath & Beyond.”

  Sawyer chuckled. “Gosh, we do sound domesticated,” he teased. “When did that happen?”

  Ford shrugged. “Not sure, but it’s not so bad. Is it?”

  “It’s kind of sexy.” Sawyer got to his feet and pulled Ford in for a kiss. Ford snaked a hand around his neck, feathering it in Sawyer’s hair. His tongue slowly danced along Sawyer’s.

  Ford groaned and pulled back. “We better get out of here, or we’ll be marking it off that we had sex in your office.”

  “You’ll get no objections from me,” Sawyer said.

  “Maybe tomorrow.” Ford winked at him, and they both laughed.

  Sawyer grabbed his car keys, and they left the office. They were very domesticated, but Ford didn’t care. He loved it. This life with Sawyer and the kids was more than he’d ever imagined.

  Ford surveyed the models of Instant Pots that were on the display counter. Sawyer was off grabbing the mop they needed, and when he returned, Ford looked up. “There are way too many choices here,” he said and then laughed. “Do you want the one that also is a slow cooker? Do you want the Yogurt option? Do you want the 6 quart? Or, maybe the 8 quart? My head’s spinning.”

  Sawyer chuckled. “Just grab one. Does it really matter?”

  Ford’s jaw dropped in disbelief, and it brought another chuckle out of Sawyer. “I can’t believe you just asked that, like, I don’t even know you right now.”

  The look Sawyer gave him said he thought Ford was a couple of beers short of a six pack. Ford threw his head back and laughed. “I’m kidding, but Owen said I should get one especially for the days when we are super busy. We can pop dinner in before we leave in the morning and let it slow cook until it’s time for dinner.” He patted the one that he was closest to. “Haven’t you seen those videos on Instagram, especially the one with the ribs?”

  Sawyer nodded. “If you think so, then by all means… just grab one, babe.”

  Ford snickered because Sawyer sounded like he couldn’t care less. Ford pulled out his phone and googled which one was the best to get, but the answer didn’t help. It felt like he just read that all monkeys were mammals, but not all mammals were monkeys. He shoved his phone back in his pocket and grabbed both the Instant Pot and Crock Pot and ignored Sawyer’s laughter. Right as he placed them in their cart, his phone started ringing. He grabbed it out of his pocket again.

  “It’s Mom,” he said, before answering it.

  “Hey, Mom. You done shopping? We just need to grab a few things at Bed Bath & Beyond, then we’ll be over to get Callum. Gav and Savie are getting the bus straight home today.” Ford pointed to a slow cooker recipe guide, and Sawyer grabbed one for him and put it in the cart.

  “Mom, are you there?” Ford pulled the phone from his ear to check.

  His mom released a sob, and Ford’s heart caught. “Mom, is everything okay? Where’s Dad?”

  “They took Callum.” Her words were barely above a whisper. “They took him.” Her voice broke followed by a sob.

  He froze. He could hear her crying now. “What do you mean they took Callum? Who took Callum? Where are you?” He shot a look at Sawyer. Sawyer stood up straight, his eyes bored into him, demanding to know what was happening.

  Ford left his cart and ran out of the store, Sawyer hot on his heels. As soon as they were out the door, they hurried out to the car.

  “Mom, what’s going on? Who took Callum?” Ford could feel Sawyer’s eyes on him asking for details.

  “I… I… I don’t know. It all happened so fast.” She started to sob and was now blubbering on the other end of the line, so much so, he didn’t know what she was saying.

  “Where are you?” Ford snapped. They jumped into the car, and Sawyer started it up.

  “Mason’s Grocery,” she sniffed. “H… hurry.”

  “On our way.” He hung up the call. “Go to Mason’s Grocery.”

  “What’s going on?” Sawyer tried to hide his panic, but failed.

  “I don’t know. All I got out of her was that someone took Callum, and she’s at the grocery store.” Ford turned and looked out the window. He tried to swallow the terror trying to overtake him, but it wasn’t working. Ford felt like a ship in the ocean at the mercy of a storm.

  Please God, don’t let anything happen to our child. Please.

  Ford hadn’t prayed in a long time. Not in any real way. Saying a prayer to find a parking spot when you drove into Denver didn’t count.

  “Who would take an innocent baby?” Sawyer whispered.

  He knew Sawyer wasn’t really asking, but only one person came to mind. Ford didn’t want to believe that Larry would take their child, but he had tried everything else already. He was really the only person that made sense. A small voice said Cynthia, but Ford shook his head. She had been sent back to New York last they’d heard.

  Sawyer reached out and grabbed hold of Ford’s hand, and Ford turned to look at him. He could see a tear had slid down Sawyer’s face. Ford swallowed past the lump in his throat. How could they be put through another test? This wasn’t fair to either of them, and it wasn’t fair to the children.

  Sawyer pointed to the customer service desk, and they hurried up to it. “Excuse me, do you know anything about a possible abduction that took place here?”

  “Are you Sawyer Lancaster and Ford Erickson?” The man asked.

  They both nodded.

  “Follow me, please.”

  Ford wanted to scream. He needed someone who knew something to tell him what the fuck was going on.

  They were led to the back of the store through double doors marked “Employees Only” and into an office. Once they entered, Ford saw his mom.

  “Mom. What’s going on?” She was on her feet and in his arms so fast, he barely had time to prepare before she was squeezing him tight.

  “It’s all still a blur.” Her voice was muffled against his chest. “I didn’t even see him, someone, a man.” She pulled back and wiped at her already puffy eyes. “He shoved me and I fell to the ground, and when I got up and turned to tell him off, he apologized. By the time I turned back around, Callum was gone from the cart. I think a woman took him. A blonde woman was following me when I’d come inside.”

  “A blonde woman?” Ford asked. “What blonde woman?”

  “She had blonde hair. That’s all I know.” Tears rolled down from her eyes. “I only looked away for a minute, less than that. I swear.” His mom burst into tears again.

  “The officers are going to use the security footage and see if we can figure out who the pair is.” Dean, the lead detective on Amber Falls police force, said to them while his mother composed herself. That was when Ford noticed Dean. “We have also informed the FBI office in Denver as this is a child abduction, and we don’t know if they will be trying to cross state lines.”

  Dean put a hand on his shoulder and squeezed. “I promise we will do everything in our power to get your baby back. We’ve already issued an Amber Alert for Colorado and the surroundi
ng states.”

  Ford’s heart clenched hearing Dean call Callum his… because he was. He was their baby.

  Ford turned to the officers at the camera, his mom’s grip on his arm still strong. There was a man in a suit, probably the manager for the store’s security, sitting behind the desk and two other officers. Officer Palmer, he recognized. The other man he didn’t know.

  “Have you found anything?” Sawyer was using his ‘I’m about to lose my patience’ voice.

  “Just getting to the tape,” Officer Palmer looked up. “There’s reason to believe that it could be Larry Banks who was involved in your toddler’s abduction, but we need to make sure.”

  “Maybe he wouldn’t be able to continue wreaking havoc on us if they’d throw the book at him.” Ford wasn’t sure who in the small room was more surprised when he yelled that at the officer. Sawyer put his hand on Ford’s shoulder, trying to calm him down, but it didn’t help. His emotions were too close to the surface.

  “He was released on bail until trial. That’s how the law works. The court set his bail, and if it is paid, then we have to release them.” Officer Palmer stated. “I know it is no help right now, but no one could have anticipated this would happen. Until we see the footage, we’re not even positive he did it.”

  Ford was sure. They should be out there looking for Callum. They should have already tracked down Larry. The longer they stood there and did nothing... God, Callum would surely be terrified.

  “Do you remember anything else, Mom?” Ford could hear the pleading in his voice.

  “It all happened so fast… The only thing I am sure of is that as they ran away, I was crying out for someone to stop them. One of them yelled back to me that we would be hearing from them.” Tears still streamed down her cheeks. “That’s all they said.”

  “I think I have something,” the man who no one knew said.

  They all rushed over to the computer screen as he ran the video in slow motion and watched as a man and woman came into view. His mom was leaning toward the shelf, comparing two brands of pull ups, probably trying to find the ones with the cutest prints on them, with one hand still on the cart. The man came through and knocked her down to the floor as the woman grabbed Callum when she had stood and her back was turned, then they then took off. Everyone watched the screen in complete silence, unable to do anything about what they had seen.

  “Wow!” Sawyer said. “It’s him.” He then turned to Ford. “Did you recognize the woman?” he asked.

  Ford shook his head. “I was too busy looking at Larry.” Ford wanted to strangle Larry for knocking his mom to the ground, but he wanted to kill him for daring to even touch Callum.

  “Can you run the footage back?” Sawyer asked.

  The man at the desk did another replay, and Ford leaned in to focus on the woman. As she looked around before grabbing Callum, the footage was paused, and he got a good look at her face. It was Cynthia.

  “What the fuck?” Ford couldn’t contain his astonishment. “How the hell do they know each other? And what the hell is she doing here? She’s supposed to be back in New York.”

  “Yeah. That’s the children’s mom, right?” Officer Palmer asked.

  “Different hair color, but yeah that’s Cynthia. It makes no sense. How did their paths even cross?” Sawyer looked thunderous.

  Dean had stepped off to the side and just returned. “I’ve alerted the station and an immediate statewide APB is being released for the two of them, and we are stationing an unmarked car outside your home.” He motioned for Rick to come over. “Officer Palmer will be your liaison. He will keep you informed of any information we get, and whenever you have any questions, or if you hear anything from the abductors, you will call him immediately.”

  He looked between the two of them, and Ford and Sawyer nodded. Ford didn’t want to wait around until Rick called them. He wanted to go out and look for Callum. Instead, it looked like they were stuck with waiting and hoping that no harm came to their little boy.

  When Officer Palmer and Dean left, Ford’s mom started to cry. “I’m so sorry.” she looked up at him, her eyes begging for forgiveness. She leaned in, and Ford hugged her.

  “Mom… it’s not your fault. We don’t blame you.” Ford shot a look at Sawyer who walked to the other side of Ford’s mom and wrapped an arm around her. They didn’t blame her. She wasn’t the one that brought Cynthia or Larry into their lives.

  All they wanted was Callum back. Fuck, how did they even tell Gavin and Savanna?

  By the time Sawyer and Ford got home from the grocery store, the kids were in the house. Fuck, Ford hoped they’d had something to eat because they were so late. The patrolman stationed out front walked up to introduce himself. Dean had been sending Ford texts to let him know the officer had been watching out for the children since they got off the bus.

  Once they stumbled into the house and closed the door, Sawyer looked over at him.

  “How do we tell them?” Ford whispered.

  Sawyer's eyes were red, as he had cried all the way home. Ford tried to be the strong one for him, but still felt like he was ready to crumble. “We just tell them. I don’t think there’s really an easy way to do it.”

  “Do you think that we should?” Ford didn’t want them to feel the way he did right now.

  Sawyer groaned and wiped his hand with his face before replying, “I think we have to.”

  Ford nodded. Together, they could do this, be the support each needed. They held onto each other’s hands and headed upstairs. They first peeked in Gavin’s room. He was sitting on his bed, looking down at his book. He looked up when Sawyer cleared his throat.

  “Will you come down to the living room?” Sawyer asked.

  “Sure,” Gavin hopped off the bed and tossed the book on it. “I’m so over this school crap.” He laughed as he bounced out of the bedroom and headed down the stairs. Next stop was Savanna’s room.

  Ford knocked, and she answered, “Come in.”

  “Hey…” she beamed in their direction, “What’s up?” She looked between them. “Both of you? Does that mean I did something wrong?”

  “Will you come out to the living room?” Ford hated that she would soon lose that carefree look on her face. “Your brother and I have something to tell you two.”

  Her brows crinkled and she studied them. “Everything alright? You guys don’t look so good.” Sawyer squeezed his hand so much it actually hurt. Ford nodded and tried to smile, but she just tilted her head and stared at him.

  “You’re not in trouble, I promise,” Ford reassured Savie.

  She shrugged and stood, and they all headed downstairs to the living room. Savie took a seat on the couch next to Gavin.

  With all of them now present, Ford glanced at Sawyer, who let out a breath before starting. “So, Callum was with Grammy Erickson today,” Sawyer croaked out. “They went grocery shopping, as they have done many times.”

  “Did something happen to her?” Savanna’s eyes got big like saucers.

  “No… nothing like that,” Sawyer was quick to reassure. “Let me just finish. Please.”

  She nodded. “Sorry.”

  Ford knew Sawyer hadn’t meant to snap, but his boyfriend was on the edge.

  “Well, they were at the store, and a guy came through and knocked Grammy down...”

  Ford could see the debate in Sawyer’s eyes when he looked over, but all Ford could do was heave a sigh. He understood what Sawyer was wrestling with. Did they want to confess everything, or shelter the kids from the news about their own mother?

  When Sawyer stopped speaking, he figured it was on him, so Ford continued where Sawyer left off, not sure what the right thing to do was. “A woman came up and snatched Callum from the shopping cart, and then they both took off.”

  “They took Callum?” Savanna’s voice sounded smaller than he’d ever heard it.

  Ford nodded.

  “Who?” she looked between them. “Is it the man that tried to hurt Ford?
”

  Ford crouched down in front of Savanna and took both her hands in his. His heart felt like someone had popped it in a blender, seeing the terror there. “It is the same man,” Ford said. “But we’re going to get Callum back. I just know we will. We have to have faith, okay? Callum will be back with us soon. I promise you that.”

  Sawyer walked over to sit next to Gavin. “What are you thinking?”

  “I don’t even know. Who’s the woman?” Gavin asked.

  Sawyer shot a look at Ford like he expected him to know how to answer. Maybe they were quiet too long, but Savanna made the connection. “It’s our mom, isn’t it?” She wasn’t really asking a question

  “What makes you say that?” Ford asked in lieu of answering.

  She shrugged. “She’s done some awful things.” Savanna worried her lips. “I guess I just know that it’s possible.”

  “We’re going to get Callum back from her.” The look in Sawyer’s eyes said, “Come hell or high water.”

  “Your mother needs help.” Ford felt the need to add, “She’s sick, and the drugs and alcohol affect her brain.”

  Sawyer nodded as Ford spoke. “The police are on the lookout for them.”

  “Callum has to be alright.” Savanna's voice was barely above a whisper. “He just has to be.” She started to cry and Ford wrapped his arms around her.

  “He’s with your mom, I’m sure she won’t do anything to hurt him.” Ford prayed that Cynthia wouldn’t make a liar out of them. Before he knew it, the four of them were crying, wrapped up together in one big hug.

  Ford was holding on to his faith that all would still be alright. It just had to be.

  26

  Sawyer

  Neither Sawyer nor Ford had gotten much sleep the night before. Either he was comforting Ford as he cried, or Ford was telling him it wasn’t his fault. When the early morning light peeked through the window, they both got up and went out to the kitchen and fixed breakfast for the kids. He prayed they made it through the school day without acting out from all they had been put through. They’d talked about keeping them home, but it felt too much like mourning. And Sawyer refused to accept anything less than Callum coming home safe and sound.