Held (Gone #2)

by Claflin, Stacy

  "No." Alyssa covered her face. "No, you're not."

  Chad sat up straight. "Is this true, Alex?"

  He looked at the ground and nodded. "What were you thinking? Didn't you use protection?"

  Alex narrowed his eyes. "You never even gave me the sex talk, Dad."

  "Don't blame this on me!" Chad stood up. "Talk or no talk, you've had health classes. We signed the waivers for you to sit in on those discussions."

  "How could you do this?" Alyssa asked, her eyes filling with tears. "Alex, you're just a baby yourself."

  Alex's eyebrows came together. "Obviously I'm not, Mom."

  Alyssa looked at Zoey. "And you!"

  Zoey's eyes widened. She scooted closer to Alex.

  "We invited you into our home and cared for you like a daughter—this is how you repay us? By taking advantage of our son? He's only thirteen. Thirteen!"

  Valerie stood up. "She hardly took advantage of him. I'm pretty sure that he knew exactly what he was doing. Zoey didn't force him to ejaculate into her."

  "Mom!"

  Chad stood between Valerie and Alyssa. "Maybe we ought to sleep on this and discuss it when we're not all in shock."

  Alyssa stood up. "I don't see what that'll accomplish. It's not going to change anything." She looked at Zoey. "I know you could have had an abortion without telling your mom. Are you planning on keeping the baby?"

  "I'm not having the procedure."

  "So, you're going to raise a baby at sixteen? I suppose you're going to want Alex to pay child support."

  "What? No."

  "Of course he will," Valerie said, stepping forward. "He did this to her."

  "Okay, okay," Chad said. "What we all need is a break. We're too upset to discuss this right now."

  Alyssa glared at him. "What does that have to do with anything? We don't need to be calm—it's not going to change anything."

  Valerie moved around Chad and stared at both of them. "How could you two allow this to happen? I trusted you to take care of my daughter. Not only did she run into an intruder here at your house, but Alex and Zoey slept together right under your noses."

  "Oh?" Alyssa narrowed her eyes. "Like it couldn't have happened at your house? If you were so worried about it, why did you even have her stay here in the first place?"

  "I thought she was safe!"

  Alyssa took a couple steps closer to Valerie. "She never once got hurt, not even when someone broke in."

  "Hurt? What would you call this?"

  "Look, Valerie, you've left her over here plenty of times over the years. She's been spending the night since preschool, and you've always known we have a boy here. It hasn't been a secret."

  "Yeah, but I didn't think you would let this happen."

  "Let it happen?" Alyssa clenched her fists. "What exactly were we supposed to do? Stay awake all night to make sure they both stayed in their own rooms?"

  Chad stepped between them again. "Clearly, no one saw this coming—"

  "Except your son!"

  "And your daughter." Alyssa raised her fists. "Stop talking about Alex like he's some kind of monster. He's only thirteen. You think he would turn down the advances of a girl so much older than him? He's the—"

  "Oh, would you stop with the 'he's only thirteen' crap, Alyssa? He knew exactly what he was doing to Zoey."

  Alex stood up. "Stop! Would all of you just stop?"

  Everyone stared at him.

  "Zoey and I have been in love for a long time now. Like, way before Macy even disappeared. We didn't tell anyone, not even Macy. We saw each other right under all of your noses and no one thought anything of it, of us spending so much time together. I'm not sure why. I guess because nobody thought I was good enough for Zoey. But she thinks so, and you know what? I love her. She wanted to keep me out of this and not tell anyone it was me. But you know what? I told her I wouldn't do that to her. We love each other and you guys better get used to it."

  Alyssa's mouth dropped open.

  "You—" Valerie started.

  "And that's not all," Alex continued. "Yeah, we made a mistake the first time we did it. We should have used protection, but it just happened. We were so stressed about Macy being gone and we weren't thinking."

  Valerie glared at him. "I hope you enjoyed it, because you aren't going near her again."

  Zoey got up from her chair and grabbed Alex's hand. "That's where you're wrong, Mom. We didn't tell you to get your permission to keep seeing each other. We told you to let you know what's going on. We could have dealt with this all by ourselves, but since I'm not having an abortion, we thought you needed to know."

  Alyssa sat back down on the couch. "Where did I go wrong?"

  Zoey looked at her. "I'm really sorry about this, Mr. and Mrs. Mercer. Really. You guys are already overwhelmed with everything about Macy. I know because it's killing me too. And Alex." She held up his hand. "I don't want you guys having to worry about the news finding out about this. I won't tell anyone else that he's the one."

  "You think they won't figure it out, Zoey? They park across the street and have seen you come into our house countless times."

  "But that doesn't mean they'll figure it out. I'm Macy's best friend; they'll probably think I have a boyfriend somewhere else."

  Chad shook his head. "Alyssa's right. We appreciate you trying to protect us, but even if it was another boy, they would still speculate."

  Valerie's eyebrows came together. "She's trying to protect you guys, but who's protecting her?"

  "Mom, would you shut up?"

  Fury covered Valerie's face and she slapped Zoey across the face.

  Zoey's mouth dropped open. She put her hands on her face. "Mom!"

  Alex jumped toward Valerie, but Chad blocked him. "Like I said, we all need to calm down before we discuss this. We're only going to say or do something we regret later."

  "What's there to discuss?" Valerie yelled. "We're never speaking to any of you ever again. Come on, Zoey, we're leaving."

  "I'm not going anywhere. You hit me!"

  "That wasn't a hit. You're so dramatic. That's your problem: you think everything's worse than it is. It was a slap, and you're not injured. We're leaving."

  "No."

  "No?" Valerie asked.

  "You heard me. I'm staying here. At least you don't have to worry about me getting pregnant."

  Valerie gasped. "How dare you? I was never worried about that from the start—not here." She glared at Alex. "We need to go home and talk about getting that procedure done."

  "I already told you: I'm not getting it done. I could have done it without you ever knowing, so you definitely can't force me. If you're worried about what everyone is going to think, you're going to have to get over it."

  "We'll talk about it later. Come on."

  "I'm not going anywhere."

  Valerie looked at Chad and Alyssa. "If you let her stay here, I'm reporting you for kidnapping."

  "Kidnapping?" Alyssa exclaimed. "Have you lost your mind?"

  "If you do that, Mom, I'll report you for hitting me."

  "You wouldn't."

  Zoey narrowed her eyes. "Watch me."

  Alex put his arms around Zoey. "Can't you guys just calm down? We need you guys to support us more than anything."

  Valerie turned to him, raising her hand. "Support? You want support, you little—"

  Chad stepped in front of her again. "Put your hand down, or you really will have problems, Valerie. You don't want to lay a hand on anyone else. Understand?"

  "Don't tell me what to do, Chad. You have no idea what my life is like."

  "I do know there are laws, and you have no right to lay a hand on anyone."

  "Zoey isn't staying here. This is the last place I will ever leave her again."

  Chad looked at Zoey. "If you ever feel unsafe for any reason, you can come here." He turned to Valerie. "We know you're a good mom and you don't want to hit anyone. We're all under stress now, and I have no idea what's going to happen
tomorrow, but Alex is right about one thing. We need to pull together. We've always been friends. Heck, we've taken vacations together. Remember?"

  Valerie took a few steps back, looking deflated.

  Alyssa took Chad's hand and looked at Valerie. "He's right. We need to be here for both kids."

  Valerie's lips formed a straight line and she sat down.

  "Can we agree to sleep on this?" Chad asked. "There's really no way we're going to be able to have a reasonable conversation now. We need to calm down and process everything. All of us."

  "Fine," Valerie said. "But I'm not allowing my daughter to spend the night in the same house as Alex. If Zoey wants to stay here, then Alex comes home with me."

  Alyssa and Chad exchanged a look.

  "What do you think?" Chad asked her.

  It was a crazy idea, but she wasn't about to say anything to set Valerie off further. "I can live with that." Alyssa turned to Alex and Zoey. "Kids?"

  Zoey folded her arms. "I'm not going anywhere after she hit me."

  Valerie's eyes narrowed. "It was only a slap, Zoey."

  "I'm not going anywhere."

  Alex stood up. "I'll go over there."

  Zoey jumped up and glared at Alex. "I can't let you do that. I'll go home."

  "Aren't you afraid I'll hurt you?" Valerie asked, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

  "Not with a police cruiser across the street."

  Valerie shook her head.

  "Let's get back together tomorrow," Chad said, "and we can talk with clear heads."

  "All right." Valerie stood up. "I have evening meetings at work, but I can get away at lunch."

  "Lunch it is," said Alyssa.

  "I can't wait," Zoey mumbled.

  Phone

  Alyssa flipped through the channels, unable to sleep. She kept thinking about going back to that bar the next town over and drinking herself stupid again. It had been nice to escape from the pain and stress, even if it had only been for a short time and it was pathetic to get drunk alone.

  What if Rusty, the tow truck driver, wasn't there again? If it hadn't been for him, Alyssa wouldn't have gotten home that night. That wasn't entirely true. She could've called a cab, but then she would have had to explain to Chad why her car was at a bar.

  She needed a drink more now than she had before. How could Alex have gotten Zoey pregnant? Right under their noses, no less. Was it because she hadn't been paying enough attention to him? She and Chad had been so focused on Macy's disappearance that they hadn't been giving him the focus he deserved.

  They hadn't even taken him to a single karate practice. He probably felt like he didn't matter; that all they cared about was Macy. The poor kid was lonely and desperate for attention and if he and Zoey were already developing feelings for each other, then Alyssa had given him the perfect setup.

  Tears filled her eyes. This also was her fault. If she had kept a better eye on Macy, she wouldn't have been able to sneak out. And if she hadn't been so focused on Macy, then Alex wouldn't have thought he had to turn to Zoey. The hot, angry tears spilled down her cheeks. All of this was her fault. Her family was falling apart and she could have prevented it all.

  Alyssa put the remote down, ignoring a dog food commercial. She looked around the family room, filled with so many memories. The kids had taken first steps in here. Macy pretended to be a rock star countless times, singing along with her favorite songs. Alex practiced for his karate tournaments in here. They'd had countless movie and game nights. They'd had friends over, birthday parties, family gatherings, and the list went on.

  Alyssa swallowed a sob, not wanting to wake anyone. Chad and Alex had finally fallen asleep not that long ago. The three of them had spent hours talking, mostly listening to Alex. They had let him talk about anything and everything, wanting to make him feel like the most important person in their lives. They knew, too late, that they needed to give him more attention than ever before—not less, like they had been.

  He told them how much he missed his sister and how he wanted to punch half of the kids at school for making stupid comments. Alyssa had started to tell him that violence wasn't the answer, but when Chad reminded her that they were there to listen, she stopped talking. Alex went on to talk about how much he adored Zoey. At first, he seemed to be testing the waters, to see how they would respond. When Alyssa and Chad listened with judging, he had really opened up.

  It warmed her heart to see Alex opening up to them like that. She wished that it hadn't taken Zoey getting pregnant for that to happen. She wanted more closeness with him. Alyssa had always adored him, but had forgotten because of her grief over Macy.

  Something caught her attention on the news and she turned to look. She thought she had heard Macy's name. Not that it should have come as a surprise. Despite there being no new clues, she was still a story each night locally. The national stations had moved on, at least somewhat. They still brought her up once in a while.

  Alyssa had heard wrong. The news wasn't discussing her daughter, but instead showing a fire. The building looked familiar. It took her a moment to realize it was their dentist office. She realized everyone had missed their appointments a few weeks earlier.

  One of Macy's pictures from one of her online accounts appeared on the screen. In the image, Macy was talking on her new phone. It looked like a candid; probably one that Zoey or another friend had taken.

  Macy's picture shrunk and moved to the top right of the screen. A reporter held a microphone to some guy holding something. Alyssa squinted to see what it was. It looked like a broken phone.

  Her heart dropped to her stomach when she made the connection. Had someone found Macy's phone—smashed? She tried to pay attention to what they were saying on the TV, but she couldn't process the words.

  She pulled her own phone out of her pocket and scrolled, looking for the police department.

  "Detective Fleshman."

  "What's going on, Detective? Did someone find Macy's phone? The news, they—"

  "Mrs. Mercer?"

  "Yes, yes. What's going on with my daughter's phone? Is that what they're talking about? Is it true?"

  "We just got word. Some idiot looking for his fifteen minutes of fame went to the news instead of us with evidence. Officers Anderson and Reynolds just left to take care of the situation. You might want to prepare to come down to the station, Ma'am. Once we have it in our possession, we'll likely need you or your husband to identify it."

  Alyssa dug her nails into the coffee table. "So, it really could be hers?"

  "We have no way of knowing until we have it. But at the same time, it could just be some attention seeker with a similar phone."

  "Am I supposed to just wait until I hear from you guys?"

  "That's about all you can do."

  "I can't just sit around, waiting. Can we go down there and look at it when it arrives?"

  "We have to process it first."

  "Process it? What does that mean?"

  "It means paperwork. I know our job looks glamorous—" Fleshman chuckled, "—but a lot of our time is spent filling out forms."

  "Can you call me before you start the paperwork? That way we can at least get down there a little sooner."

  "Will do, Ma'am."

  The call ended and Alyssa threw her phone on the couch. If it really was Macy's phone, did it mean anything? When they found her bloody clothes, nothing had ever come from that. They were her clothes and the blood was hers, but it hadn't led to her.

  It felt like an eternity had passed since then. The world was still moving along as though nothing was wrong. Alyssa's entire life was upside down, and now with Alex's news, even more so. How was she supposed to deal with her daughter being missing and her little boy becoming a father? It didn't even feel real. Alex was just a kid himself.

  Not long ago, his voice had been cracking. He didn't even have braces yet! Alyssa put her face in her hands. What had she ever done to deserve all of this?

  Sighing, she looked bac
k up at the TV. They were still discussing the phone that appeared to be Macy's. How long until the police got the phone and called her?

  She leaned back, watching and listening. It didn't sound as though they really knew anything useful. The phone was missing the battery—she and Chad knew that. They had gotten Alex and Macy the most expensive phones available to keep the kids safe. A lot of good that had done.

  They would need to bring Alex's phone to the station. If the smashed up phone was in good enough shape, Alex's battery would bring it to life. They would know right away if it was her phone. She had a picture of herself with the ferret as the screen saver. Even if they couldn't get past her password, that alone would tell them it was her phone.

  What if they couldn't get the battery in? How would they know it was her phone or not? The guy who found it could have been lying. What if he just wanted to get on the news?

  Didn't she have the boxes the phones came in? The company had told them to hang onto those because they had serial numbers or something. She jumped up from the couch and ran to her room, straight for the closet. She dug around, looking for the boxes. She couldn't remember where she had put them.

  Alyssa made a mess of their walk-in closet, but she didn't care. She had to find the boxes.

  "What's going on?"

  She jumped and turned around. Chad stood just outside the closet, rubbing his eyes.

  "Someone found a phone that looks like Macy's. I'm trying to find the box, so we have the serial number."

  "I put those in the garage."

  "What? Why?" She stood up, bumping her head on a shelf.

  "So they wouldn't get lost. I know right where they are. Did the police call? I didn't hear it ring."

  Alyssa shook her head, picking up some of the things she had thrown on the floor. "I saw it on the news. Some guy found a phone that looks just like hers, but instead of taking it to the cops, went straight to the news."

  Chad rolled his eyes. "Of course. Are we supposed to go down to the station?"

  "Not yet. They don't have the phone, but as soon as they do, we can go."

  "Why can't they ever find evidence at lunch time? Let me get some pants on and I'll get the phone boxes."

  "Sure." Alyssa put the rest of the stuff away. She had nothing else to do while she waited for Fleshman's call anyway. His call—wait, her phone was in the family room. She dropped the slipper in her hand and ran to the other room. No new calls.