by Kat Mizera
“She ran away!” She quickly told him what they knew.
“Where do you think she is?” He was already heading towards the exit.
“I called and got the stops… if she was on the six thirty a.m., it would have stopped in Ocala around two forty-five and will be arriving in Orlando around four thirty. I don’t know where else she could be.”
“Did you call the cops?”
“Brock, this is my fault. She must have overheard my mom and I last night and ran away because she’s upset you and I are fighting. If I call the police, I may never get custody. Please, we have to find her ourselves.”
“Jesus, Ashleigh, this could go wrong twenty different ways—”
“Don’t you think I know that?” Ashleigh burst into tears.
“All right, don’t cry. I’m getting in my car and—” He stopped abruptly as his other line beeped. “Oh my god… Bella’s calling on the other line. I’ll call you back.” He disconnected with Ashleigh and answered the other line. “Bella?”
“Brock, I’m sorry—I’m lost, please don’t yell—I won’t do it again…” Bella was talking a mile a minute and sniffling.
“Honey, you need to slow down and tell me where you are.” Brock tried to remain calm so he could listen.
“My phone only has one percent battery left. I forgot my charger and there was a weird man following me when I went to the bathroom and he started asking me questions but Ashleigh said not to talk to strangers and then the driver asked someone where my mom was and I was scared and ran—”
“Bella.” He tried not to raise his voice but if her phone battery was almost dead, he needed pertinent information before they were cut off. “Do you know where you are?”
“By the station.”
“Which one?”
“I don’t know.”
He groaned, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath. “Can you ask someone?”
“No.” Her voice was a whisper. “The man is watching for me. I’m hiding by the diner.”
“What diner?”
“It just says diner, open all night.”
“Did you get on the bus at six thirty this morning?”
“Yes.”
“Are you in Orlando?”
“No. That wasn’t until four thirty. I had to get off early because of the bad man.”
“Do you see a street name?”
“No. I’m behind the big green garbage dumpster by the diner. So the man doesn’t see me.”
“What about Gainesville? Does that sound familiar?”
“Y-yes?”
“Ocala?”
“I don’t know.” Bella started to cry.
“Honey, I’m coming to get you, so I don’t want you to move, but you have to give me more information—anything—to help me find you.”
“Brock, I don’t—” The line went dead and Brock growled in frustration. He pounded his fist on the steering wheel, closing his eyes. She had to be in Ocala or Gainesville, based on the timing and the bus schedule. It would take him more than an hour to get to Ocala, but he couldn’t drive and research diners at the same time, so he called Ashleigh back.
33
Brock got to the Greyhound station in Ocala just after four o’clock and pulled into a parking space, looking around in frustration. The closest “diner” to the station was over a mile away. He put the address into his GPS and used that to guide him there from the station itself, crawling along at minimal speeds so he could look for a little blonde girl with a pink backpack. He was scared and frustrated. He understood why Ashleigh didn’t want to call the police, but they could sure use some help right now.
Ashley was boarding a plane heading for Tampa right now and he desperately wanted to find Bella before she landed. He drove up and down the streets around the station and the closest diner, but there were no green dumpsters—the ones he’d seen were brown or some dirty metallic color—and no little unattended little girls. His gut told him she wasn’t here, so he got back on the highway. Gainesville was only about forty-five minutes from here, and he was positive he could get there in thirty-five.
He saw the diner a block away from the bus station as he turned down the street and pulled into the first parking spot he found. Jumping out of the car, he looked around. The streets were busy, with cars and people everywhere. The diner was packed, so he went inside and approached a harried cashier.
“Excuse me, I’m looking for a little girl.” He opened a picture of her on his phone.
The woman nodded. “She was here, asked to use the bathroom. Seemed kind of scared, so I offered her something to eat, but when I brought out some fries she was gone. I don’t know where she went. Sorry.”
He sighed. Damn. But she’d been here, so hopefully she was nearby. He went outside and looked around. There were dumpsters everywhere, but Bella had said she was behind the one by the diner. He started with the two in the alley beside the building, but there was no sign of her and the alley was a dead end. He jogged back to the main street and down a block, checking for more, but there was still no sign of her. He turned to go in the other direction, calling out to her, panic setting in for the first time.
He went down the alley on the other side of the diner and this one led to a small parking lot for employees. There was a big green dumpster at the far edge of the lot and as he studied the area, he heard a man’s voice. Fear crept up his spine, a million bad scenarios flashing through his mind, but he had to find Bella. He moved forward slowly, listening intently.
“Come on, pretty one… let’s go for a ride.”
“No.” The voice was definitely Bella’s; he’d heard that defiant tone before and he started to run.
“Bella!”
“Brock!” Her voice was shrill and frightened.
He skid around the back of the dumpster to find a large, unkempt man with gray hair and a straggly beard throwing Bella over his shoulder. Without thinking, he reached for her, yanking her from the man’s grasp.
“What the fuck, man?” The man spun around with a knife in his hand. “This one’s mine—find your own.”
“Run, Bella, go get help.” Brock put her down and faced the man.
“Stupid motherfucker, I’ll gut you,” the man rasped, his eyes bloodshot and wild. “That pretty little thing is—”
Brock’s fist connected with the man’s jaw before he even finished his sentence. The man took a step back, his eyes glittering. He charged and Brock barely had time to lower his shoulders before he was dragged down. Brock had spent a lifetime being scrappy, though, and he had the other man in a headlock before he could defend himself.
The man was flailing his arms, trying to get away, but Brock held on, barely breathing hard.
“We can sit like this until the police get here,” Brock grunted. Finally, and only because he didn’t want to kill him, he released his hold and let the smaller man go. The stranger was high and mad, so the moment he was free he turned and threw himself at Brock again.
Brock mentally shook his head, wondering what the hell this guy was thinking. He had to know he couldn’t take someone Brock’s size when he was at his best; he definitely couldn’t handle him now that he was drunk or high. But he kept coming and Brock grabbed him by the arms, twisting them behind his back.
“Knock it off!” he growled. “You really want to do this?”
“Fuck you!” the man yelled.
“Not even in your dreams,” Brock shoved him against the side of the dumpster.
The man swung wildly, this time catching Brock in the same ribs that were still healing. He winced, gritting his teeth through the pain that shot through his side. He’d had about enough of this, but the smaller man wasn’t letting up, coming at him yet again.
“For the love of Christ, would you knock it off?” Brock yelled, putting up his arm to block another shot at his ribs. Everything blurred red and something inside Brock snapped. This asshole had gone too far—he’d been trying to kidnap Bella—so he was ending t
his now. He grabbed him by the throat, lifting him off the ground and holding him tight enough to choke him.
“Put him down,” someone yelled. “This is the police and you’re under arrest.”
Brock released the man and turned, holding up his hands. “This guy tried to kidnap my daughter.” He wasn’t going to bother with semantics right now; did it really matter if she was technically his foster daughter?
Bella came running through the crowd that had started to gather and burst into tears, throwing herself into his arms and sobbing. Brock hugged her tightly, stroking her hair and telling her everything was okay, though he wanted to shake her for being so foolish. A million things could have gone wrong for a little girl on a Greyhound bus by herself, but this wasn’t the time to harp on that. Apparently, he was getting arrested.
“That guy is crazy,” the man was blubbering now. “I saw the kid out here by herself and asked if she needed help. This guy showed up out of nowhere and started beating the crap out of me… I was just trying to help.”
“It’s okay, honey,” Brock was whispering to her, holding her tightly. This wasn’t going to end well, he could already tell by the look in the policeman’s eyes, but he needed to protect Bella.
“You’re both going down to the station,” the cop said, pulling out handcuffs.
“Please.” Brock held Bella close. “Not in front of her… I’m not going anywhere. My name’s Brock Lassiter—I’m a professional hockey player—I’m not a flight risk. Don’t traumatize her any more than she’s already been today. Please.”
The policeman eyed him but slowly nodded. “All right, let’s go.”
It was late by the time Ashleigh rented a car at the airport in Tampa and drove more than two hours to Gainesville. Brock had just been released when she got there, and was walking out to Dawn’s car with Dawn and Bella. Ashleigh ran straight to Bella, holding her tightly. Bella started crying all over again, apologizing as she tried to tell her what had happened.
“You can tell me about it tomorrow,” Ashleigh said quietly. “It’s been a long day and I was so scared… I can’t think right now so we’re going to wait before we talk about everything.”
“I was thinking we’d get a hotel room,” Brock said, approaching Ashleigh slowly. “It’s more than two hours back to Tampa and we’re all tired.”
“Sure.” She nodded, not meeting his gaze.
“There’s a Hilton nearby,” he said after a moment. “Let me make a phone call.” He got in his mother’s car and pulled out his phone.
“I’ll follow you guys,” Ashleigh called out to Dawn, who nodded. Bella automatically got into Dawn’s car and Ashleigh resisted the urge to yell at her. This had been a never-ending day, and she didn’t have any fight in her right now. The last thing she wanted was to stay in Gainesville even one night, but there wouldn’t be any flights out this late anyway so she didn’t have much choice.
Brock kept an eye on Ashleigh’s rental car as she followed him to the hotel and parked. They all got out and she pulled a small overnight bag from the back, walking over to join them slowly.
“I just had the most interesting conversation with my mother,” Dawn said as they walked into the hotel together. “Apparently, you left someone sitting with her.”
Ashleigh flushed. “Sorry, I meant to tell you…”
Brock glanced at her. “Ruby’s with my grandmother?”
Ashleigh managed a weak smile. “Yeah.”
Brock’s eyes widened and then he laughed. “Who d’ya got, Mom?”
Dawn frowned. “I still have to go with Mom, but I’m sure Ruby held her own.”
Ashleigh grimaced. “I’m afraid to ask.”
“Let’s just say my grandmother and your mom are kindred spitfire spirits,” Brock said, walking up to the desk. He got them checked in and they headed to the elevator. “We’ve got a suite, and Mom, you’re in a regular room next to us.”
Ashleigh started to say something but appeared to change her mind. Brock was glad, because he would have fought her on getting a separate room, and there was no point starting anything in front of Dawn and Bella.
“You’re going to take a shower and go right to bed,” Ashleigh told the little girl once they were inside their room. “Did you pack any clothes in your backpack, or just toys?”
Bella frowned. “You told me I should always have a clean change of clothes on my carry-on and since that’s all I had, I put in panties, shorts, and a T-shirt. I have my toothbrush and the stuff for when my hair gets tangled, too… Is that right? Did I do a good job packing?”
Ashleigh sighed. “Yes, you did. All right, go get in the shower. I’ll be in to check on you in a minute.” As soon as Bella was gone, she turned to him. “I don’t have the energy to argue tonight, so let’s not. Please.”
“I have no intention of arguing,” he said, reaching out a hand to brush her hair out of her face. “Let’s get Bella settled so we can get some sleep, too.”
She nodded, going into the bathroom to check on her.
Half an hour later, they sat on either side of the bed where Bella was nestled under a sheet. Ashleigh smoothed her hair back before leaning over to kiss her forehead.
“You have to promise you’ll never do anything like this again,” Brock said quietly. “I know you were upset about something you heard, but you have to talk to us. You can’t decide to do things on your own. It’s dangerous.”
Bella bit her lip. “But Grandma Ruby said you and Brock weren’t going to be married anymore, and then you said—”
“Grandma Ruby said Brock and I were either going to stay married or we weren’t. That means we’re trying to decide what to do. We haven’t decided anything definite.” Ashleigh wasn’t sure what else to say without getting into a conversation that would take far longer than she wanted in her current emotional state. “What you did is called eavesdropping, and it’s impolite. It also means you didn’t hear the whole conversation, you only heard parts of it, and look what happened? You misunderstood what we said.”
Bella looked like she was going to cry. “But—”
“Not tonight,” Ashleigh whispered. “We’ll talk about it tomorrow.”
“Okay.” Bella closed her eyes and after a few minutes, Brock and Ashleigh slipped out of the room.
He followed her into their room and watched as she collapsed on the bed, resting her arm over her eyes. “Whatever you’re going to say, go ahead and say it,” she murmured.
Brock was quiet for a moment. “Today was a real clusterfuck. It could have gone wrong a dozen different ways.”
“You think I don’t know that?” She lifted her arm to glare at him. “I thought I was going to lose my mind today. Not only could I lose custody, something really terrible could have happened to her.” Ashleigh was shaking and Brock gently took one of her ice-cold hands in his.
“We took care of it. We found her.”
“That’s not the point.”
“What’s the point?”
“The point is…” She paused to look at him and then looked away again. “God, I take two steps forward and ten steps back…every fucking day.”
“That’s not true.” He hated the defeated look on her face. “We got her back, safe and sound. Everything’s okay now.”
“You got arrested.” Her eyes met his again. “The whole reason you married me was—”
“Ashleigh, about that…” He took a breath. “I owe you an apology.”
“You don’t owe me anything.”
“Yeah, I do. I was afraid to tell you about my contract situation because I knew what you’d think, but you have to believe me—we were already married before my lawyer brought it up. You know as well as I do we were shit-faced when we eloped. I wasn’t sober enough to think about my contract. Shit, I wasn’t even sober enough to make love to you. You really think I would do something like that?”
“I don’t know what to think anymore.” She turned to look out the window, leaning as far away from him
as possible.
“Let’s be clear about something,” he said, his brows drawing together slightly as he looked at her. “Whatever else went wrong, the marriage was legit. We got drunk and eloped. There was no plan, no ulterior motives… Everything that happened that night was luck, destiny or some other spiritual thing I don’t believe in. Give it whatever name you want, but it wasn’t some elaborate plan to help me get my contract.”
She hesitated but then nodded. “Be that as it may, you got arrested tonight anyway.”
He gave her a weird look. “What the fuck else was I supposed to do? That asshole had Bella over his shoulder, trying to kidnap her. Then he pulled a knife on me… Was I supposed to just let him take her?”
“I’m not mad at you—just concerned, because technically, this was my fault.”
He shrugged. “I’d make the same decision ten times over if I had to.”
“And I’m eternally grateful. She and I are going to have some long talks about running away, and punishment is in her future.”
“Probably a good idea.” Looking into her eyes, there was no trace of the intimacy they’d shared over the last two months, and he wasn’t sure what to say. In the back of his mind, he’d held out hope their bond, the way things had been between them since the night they met, would somehow ease the tension. The secrets they’d kept from each other were tangible objects between them now, and she’d closed herself off from him. He could see it in the way she wouldn’t look at him, the way she remained as far away from him on the bed as she could—even with one of her hands in his—and mostly by the invisible wall of ice she’d erected around her heart. He could feel the chill from here and even an insensitive guy like him could tell it was all but impenetrable. He’d lost her.
“Look, we have a lot invested in this relationship,” he said at last. “If nothing else, we should stick it out until the adoption is final.”
“Thanks, but no.” She shook her head. “I’ve never relied on anyone but myself, and I’m not about to start now. I appreciate the offer, but this was a mistake. I fell in love with you and you seemed to have some feelings for me, but there’s too much distance between us…both geographical and emotional. There’s no reason to draw this out. It’ll only make it harder in the end.”
