“Seven!”
Kendry was behind her and Jared in front, and they were closed in nice and tight around her as she counted along with everyone else, her eyes twinkling as she held on to both of them.
“Six!”
“Close your eyes, angel,” Jared said.
“Five!”
She did as he asked and hollered, “Four!” Her body shook with her giggles as she pulled them even closer.
“Three!”
“Two!” she glowed as she smiled widely and licked her lips and rose on tiptoes.
“One! Happy New Year!” A wicked evil grin curved Jared’s lips as he lowered them to hers, French kissing her until she went limp between them, a pretty blush coloring her cheeks under the wildly swirling lights. While the crowd was calling out “Happy New Year!” their corner of the nightclub was considerably quieter, because the men were equally occupied bringing in the New Year with long kisses for the women they loved.
She still hadn’t opened her eyes as Jared released her and Kendry swooped in, taking her warm silky lips and sliding his tongue against hers, showing her exactly what he wanted to do to another pair of warm silky lips. She moaned against him, and it was good they held her up because her knees buckled.
* * * *
Kendry’s phone ringing and vibrating on the bedside table next to them was not how he wanted to be awakened, especially not in the middle of the night, and especially on his day off. He rubbed his eyes, praying it wasn’t work calling them in as he reached for it and answered.
“Kendry? It’s Doug Woodworth. Hey, son, I’m sorry to disturb y’all in the middle of the night like this.”
Presley Ann rose up onto her elbow, looking at him with bleary eyes before turning to look at the clock. “Is that my dad? Is everything okay?”
Kendry couldn’t understand what either of them was saying as they talked over each other, and he finally put a hand on her shoulder to quiet her. “Sorry, Doug, say that again. Is Whit okay?”
“That’s what I was calling to ask you, son. Is Whit okay? I checked on him and saw that you’d picked him up. I figured that maybe Presley Ann missed him and decided to not leave him overnight but I thought it odd that no one woke me—”
Presley Ann’s eyes went wide and she bounded up on her knees and held out a shaking hand for the phone.
“Doug, here’s Presley Ann. Tell her what you just told me.”
“Lord in heaven—” her dad murmured, sounding like he’d aged twenty years. Kendry handed the phone to her, noticing that his hands were trembling as well. Who had Whit?
“Dad? Tell me what’s wrong.” By this point Jared was sitting up in bed and reaching for the lamp. “What do you mean he’s gone? I didn’t pick him up!”
Kendry was already in his closet, pulling out jeans and sneakers and jerking a sweater over his head. His heart pounded as he tried to think clearly. Who would’ve done this? “Shit!” He growled as he looked at his brother. “That guy Paul had his phone to his ear off and on all evening.”
“What?” Jared said, looking at him incredulously as he yanked up a pair of jeans and stepped barefoot into his sneakers. “What are you talking about?”
Sobs interrupted their bickering and they both turned to Presley Ann, who had hung up. “Whit is gone. Someone came in Dad’s house and took him!” She looked so desolate, crouched naked in the bed with the sheets held to her chest, her phone lying in her limp hand. “My baby! He’s gone!”
They bracketed her on the bed as Jared grabbed up his phone and said, “I’m calling Hank.”
“Dad is calling James and Vincent, too.”
Kendry growled and said, “We should call True also, and find out what that son of a bitch is doing.”
“What?” Presley Ann said, shock evident on her face. “Why do you think it’s him?”
He gritted his teeth, guilt creeping in. Because he was the convenient choice. “I thought—”
She frowned at him and said, “He has the most to lose of anyone who would take Whit. His career is on the line. And he doesn’t know where Dad lives. I may not know him well but I know he’d never do this to me.”
“But that guy Paul wouldn’t give a damn how you felt. I heard you mention to them that Whit was with your dad, and Paul could easily find out where your dad lived. My gut has been telling me for days that something was…coming.”
“And you didn’t say anything? You knew how worried I was about leaving Whit overnight and you didn’t say anything?”
“I didn’t want to worry you, kitten.”
“True wouldn’t employ someone like that. And don’t ‘kitten’ me. Why would you think the worst of him like that?”
“Because I don’t want him interfering in your life!”
“Guys,” Jared said, holding up a hand, a whole lot of shut-the-fuck-up in his expression.
“You mean you don’t want him coming between us. Thank you for the vote of confidence, asshole!” she shouted, her beautiful face flushed and her demeanor suddenly fiery.
Jared got between them. “Kendry! Presley Ann! Stop! This isn’t helping. Hank is heading to your dad’s house. We need to meet him. Angel, we need to get you dressed—”
She slapped at Jared’s hands as he tried to urge her from the bed. “I can dress myself! I never should’ve left him! I should’ve known this was too good to last!”
Kendry and Jared both looked at her and at each other in shock as she hurried to the closet and began dressing, her gasping sobs echoing in the closet. Was she blaming them?
Jared shook his head as if clearing it and said, “I’ll go start the truck. Make sure she puts on a coat.”
Kendry nodded and stood there, the pain in his chest growing and the worry immobilizing him as he watched her struggle into her clothing as she muttered to herself, her tears flowing unabated.
“I’m going to hurt whoever took him. Hurt them bad,” she mumbled as she pulled her hair back into a ponytail. He helped her into her coat with numb fingers and grabbed his as they ran out of the house. She suddenly stopped and looked back at him, her lip trembling. “I shouldn’t have called you an asshole, Kendry. I’m sorry. I know you’re protective of us both and only trying to help. I just want my baby back.”
He closed her in his arms and held her tight. “Aw, kitten. We’ll do everything we can to get him back in your arms soon.”
Chapter Nineteen
Presley Ann held the phone to her ear in weak fingers after dialing True’s number. Worries piled on top of her shoulders. Was she being naïve? Would True do something like that? Her heart told her no but she wasn’t so sure about his associate, Paul. What if Paul was employed by the record company and he was operating independent of True?
“Hello. Presley Ann?”
“True,” she said, losing her breath and then sobbing. “Whit’s gone.”
“What?” he blurted, and she heard the sound of rustling on the phone and then a series of thumps and then a soft curse from him. “What did you say?” To someone on the other end, he said, “Get up.”
Was there someone there with him?
“True, are you there?”
“Yes. Tell me again what you said.”
“Whit is gone. Someone took him from my dad’s house.”
She heard more vehement cursing on his end, as well as other voices. “Where are you?”
“On my way to my father’s house. Can you come?”
“Of course.”
She gave him directions and then hung up. Jared reached out to her and gripped her hand in his comforting clasp, anchoring her as her thoughts scattered. She couldn’t make any sense of what was happening. Her mind could only focus on the vacant ache in her chest and the emptiness in her arms. Her vision became tunnel-like as a thousand different messages bombarded her mind.
This is more sowing for what you’ve reaped!
You’ve never really been the maternal type.
What? Did you think that all your sins were
just magically wiped away?
What a dingbat.
Funny how all the voices sounded like her Aunt Dorothy and Willie. Her eyes flashed open as she grew dizzy and the tunnel vision increased. “Oh, God, help me.”
A strong hand squeezed her shoulder from the back seat. “Presley Ann, breathe. Fuck, she’s about to pass out. Hurry, Jared.” She heard the sound of a seatbelt unfastening and then Kendry pushed in between the front seats and gripped the back of her neck. “Forward, kitten. Breathe in and out slow for me.”
She felt boneless as he pushed her forward so she bent at her waist, her head bowing near the dashboard and glove box. Her hands were ice cold in her lap as she stayed the way he put her, doing as he asked, sucking in air and letting it out as he breathed with her.
Lights flashed past them as they reached Divine and continued down Main Street, past the fire station and past her former home. Tears crested in her eyes.
I’ve done my best to make up for everything.
I took it all. The loneliness. The pain.
I took the best care of him that I could.
Please don’t take him from me.
Jared’s voice came over the roar of the truck racing along the asphalt. “We’re not letting that happen, angel.”
She bit her lip, realizing her prayers were uttered aloud. Please God, let me have him back. I need him.
The sparkles faded from her vision and the out of body feeling finally diminished. Kendry’s hand relaxed at the base of her neck and he helped her sit back with a gentle hand on her shoulder.
“What did you mean when you said it was too good to last?” he asked. “I hate to sound like a pansy but please don’t throw away what we have.”
She spun to look back at him so fast that she grew dizzy again. “What? No! I meant having him in my life was too good to last. I was scared all along that karma wouldn’t let me have this much happiness long-term.”
They both reached for her as she put her head in her hands and tried to just breathe through the panic.
They pulled up at her childhood home and she sucked in a surprised gasp at the number of vehicles arriving, including James and Vincent in a police cruiser SUV and Hank in his Sheriff’s department vehicle. They spotted her and all hurried to Jared’s truck. True and his brother were there as well as Paul.
Releasing the seatbelt, she leapt from the vehicle, seeing red as she reached for True’s manager, snagging him by the front of his shirt. His eyes flashed with surprise as she fisted the fabric. Protective instincts took away her inhibitions and she pulled him to her. “Did you do this?”
His jaw dropped and shock filled his eyes. “What?”
“Did you do this? Were you trying to fix True’s little indiscretion?”
His face went slack and his eyes showed nothing but shock. “No.”
Gentle hands were gripping her shoulders and her arms as she stared into his eyes, looking for a trace of duplicity. “You made it clear you don’t like me and you don’t want me or Whit in True’s life because it complicates yours.” She released Paul with a push and turned angry eyes on Noble. “And you’re no better.”
“Angel,” Jared murmured. But she ignored his stroking hand on her cheek. “Look at me.”
“You can’t stand it, can you?” Presley Ann challenged Noble as she got in his face, too. “That you’re no longer True’s sole concern. You’re jealous, aren’t you?”
Noble clasped her wrists gently as she gripped the shoulders of the T-shirt he wore. His face fell as she shook him.
“Angel,” Jared murmured again, covering her hand with his own. “Stop.”
Noble shook his head at Jared, as if telling him it was all right, and then he looked into her eyes. His hair was standing up in uneven spikes, disheveled, and he looked as though he’d aged years in just a few moments. “I don’t blame you for thinking that, Presley Ann. But I swear…I swear, on the bond between me and True, that I didn’t do what you’re thinking I could do. I could never—fuck, I’m so sorry I’ve done anything to make you think I could. Never. I’d never hurt a hair on Whit’s head, or wish you ill, either. In the beginning, anger guided my actions and what I said to you, but this…I could never do. I’m sorry.”
She released him, convinced he spoke the truth, and she turned to her father who had joined them. She didn’t even have to voice the name that came to her lips.
He said, “Dorothy…or Willie.”
Hank interrupted them just then. “Doug, there’s no sign of forced entry around the house. Could the front door have been left unlocked?”
“No. I remember checking it after Marvin went home and before I went to bed. And when you arrived I recall unlocking it to let you in.”
Hank nodded. “You did.” He turned to the others and looked at her. “Presley Ann, we’re doing everything we can to get Whit back to you. I understand Whit started daycare recently. Can you tell me about any strange occurrences?”
Everyone started talking at once, and suddenly Leah and Maria broke through the crowd. “I came as soon as Leah called me.” There were tears in her sister’s and Whit’s caregiver’s eyes, and Presley Ann didn’t hesitate to embrace them.
Leah said, “They’ll find him, Presley Ann, I know they will.”
“We’re sending a car to your aunt’s house to pick up Dorothy and Willie right now,” Hank said as one of the cruisers pulled away from the curb. “Your dad told me they both had keys to his house for emergency use. If they know something, we’ll find it out soon enough.”
Kendry said, “There was something else. The day Whit was born, there was a couple with Dorothy in her hospital room. We walked in on them attempting to coerce Presley Ann to give Whit up to them. Dorothy was browbeating Presley Ann. There was something off about both of them.”
“Besides the fact that they had no right to be there,” Jared muttered.
“You didn’t know them, Presley Ann?” Hank asked as he took out his smartphone and began typing notes on it. “Do you know their names?”
Presley Ann shook her head. “No, Dorothy said they wanted to take Whit off of my hands. Willie had also talked about them. I was exhausted so my memories aren’t really clear. The nurse on duty, Tracey, was surprised to find them in my room. The woman’s name was Marvelle or something like that. The husband was tall and had salt-and-pepper hair. He might’ve been close to his fifties.”
“Jules,” Kendry said suddenly. “His name was Jules. And yeah, her name was Marvelle. I remember your aunt calling them by name.”
“You could identify them?” Hank said, before he looked down at his phone when it beeped with an incoming message. He was tapping quickly into his phone as he spoke. “James and Vincent are at your aunt’s house now. They’re questioning her and the cousin. We’ll check area hotels and motels as well.”
“Thank you, Hank,” Presley Ann said as she swiped the tears from her eyes.
Hank nodded and said, “We’re getting him back, sweetie. Any other outcome is unacceptable.”
“Come inside, girls,” her dad said as he ushered all of them, including Maria, toward the house. She followed on numb feet. In the house, she made her way to the place she needed to be. Her old bedroom and now Whit’s room.
Hank didn’t stop her, merely touched her elbow and said, “Don’t touch anything, okay? For now this is a crime scene. And tell me if you see anything out of the ordinary.”
Her father had purchased a crib, against her recommendation, telling her that he wanted to be ready in case she ever needed him to keep the baby. His faith in his own abilities was probably being tested sorely this night, she thought. Resisting the urge to stroke the glistening golden oak railing, she recalled his pride as he’d told her he found a bed that could grow with her boy. It could be converted into a youth bed, and then into a twin bed as he grew, so he’d always have a place to sleep at his Paw-paw’s home.
She glanced at the changing table, her mind still awhirl, trying to make sense of thi
s. Surely Dorothy wasn’t that stupid. She herself was a mother. Wouldn’t she understand the bond Presley Ann had with Whit?
“She said that even if I did everything right, Whit would still disappoint me,” she murmured. She could hear the muted click of Hank’s stylus on the keyboard of his smartphone. “I don’t know why she said that.”
“I’m making a note of it. You never know what might shed light on the motivation.”
Her eyes scanned the changing table across from the crib and she went to the closet. “At least they took his diaper bag and his backpack. The wipes, diapers, and ointment are also gone. They took everything so at least he’ll be comfortable.” Tears clogged her throat and a tremble began in her core and grew in strength with each passing second. She closed her eyes as she felt Jared’s comforting presence beside her. She wasn’t sure how she knew it was him, but it was in his touch, and the way he pulled her back against his chest. Just in the nick of time, because the tremor grew into shakes that finally buckled her knees.
“How will they feed him?” she choked out. “He’ll be hungry soon.” Amplifying her anxiety, a familiar tingling wave of heat surged through her shoulders and her arms, making the fullness in her breasts ache painfully. She could barely tolerate her forearm pressed against her nipples to suppress the flow so she didn’t leak all over the place, the need to feed him was so strong.
More tapping from Hank and then he said, “Would he take formula?”
Presley Ann shook her head. “They could try but he won’t take it. We learned that the hard way at Maria’s. He’s going to be so hungry.”
Hank made note of everything he said and then spoke into his radio, saying something about the area grocery stores that might’ve sold formula tonight.”
His phone beeped and then he dialed a number and put the phone to his ear as he hurried from the room. “What do you have, Vincent?”
She dropped to her knees. Please, God. Bring him back to me.
Absentminded Angel [Divine Creek Ranch 20] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) Page 25
