After another squeeze, I pulled away and walked to the front door.
“Oh, Hudson and Molly were looking for you by the way.”
Turning back, I replied, “Really? Did they say what for?” No doubt they wondered where my sorry ass was at.
“Something to do with Harper?” she explained.
Sixth sense kicked in as I reached for the door and raced towards the car. I needed my cell, and I needed it fast.
As dread pooled in the pit of my stomach, I knew something was wrong.
TWENTY-FOUR
PHOENIX
“What do you meanshe’s not here?” I rasped, pacing back and forth in front of the house.
“Ma, Reed, and Micah are out looking for her now. Reeds at the bowling alley, Micah’s gone to the beach, and Ma’s at the gym.
“At thegym?” I questioned, wondering why she’d gone there.
“Harper goes to yoga there, remember.” Ah, shit, of course.
“I suggest we split up,” Hudson huffed, making a move towards his Ranger.
I stopped him in his tracks, saying, “What about her cell?”
“It goes straight to voicemail,” Molly cut in, wringing her hands together.
“Did she not tellanyonewhere she was going this morning?”
Hudson and Molly exchanged a worried look, “That’s just it, Nix. She didn’t come home at all last night,” Molly informed me with a shaky voice.
What!?It felt like I’d taken a bullet to the chest.
“And I’m just hearing this now?” I roared, moving towards her. I didn’t feel like I was being overly aggressive, but my brother must have thought otherwise.
Molly held her hands up as Hudson stepped in front of his girl. His protective mode had kicked in. “We only found that out ourselves this morning. Ma was up all night. I did call you, but you didn’t pick up. I remembered you were going to see Summers last night. That’s why Molly called Storm this morning,” he stated, clearly pissed that I’d used a harsher tone than he thought necessary with his girlfriend. At that point, I didn’t give a shit about anything. I just wanted to find Harper.
Panic clawed through my chest, and my throat tightened. I felt like I was having a heart attack. I grabbed my cell and started thumbing through my call log. I counted six missed calls from Harper last night, and those two text messages. The ones you had ignored!
I’m sorry.
Please forgive me.
I also had missed calls from Hudson and one from Reed. I felt like launching my phone across the drive. Instead, I slid it back into my pocket, racking my brains for where she could be.
A twinge of worry crept through me as I thought about the Creed family getting to her. Anton Creed and his prick of a son were still in prison, and I knew that. I just wasn’t being rational. I needed Harper to be found.
“What about the Creeds?” I husked, dashing a hand down my face. Having slept in last night's clothes, I felt like crap.
Hudson shook his head. “No chance, they’re still inside, and they have no reason to come after Harper.”
“What about the younger son Harper was seeing?”
“Nick? No. He lives with his grandad now on the other side of the city. He has no connection to his brother or father. As far as their relationship goes, that ship has sailed,” Molly explained.
“So where in hell is she?”
