Of course, I don’t get the luxury of feeling embarrassment when Otis is gone. It’s a first-world emotion that I wish I could feel.
Anything is better than the paralytic feeling of heartbreak.
“Hey.” Carter attempts to stitch me back up. “It’s okay. You’re okay.”
“Where is he?” I bellow.
His silence makes the answer obvious.
“Conrad.” Just saying his name makes me wanna rip off his balls and feed them to him like grapes. “He has Otis. How?” I shake Carter like he’s a sycamore tree, hoping that if I rattle him hard enough, I’ll get some answers out of him. “Oh my god, whata time to go mute. How? How could that be, Carter? We were upstairs. We would’ve heard.”
“Would we?” he says, his voice even more grave than before.
He has a point. But he’s supposed to tell me what I wanna hear.
Not the truth.
I was crying at the top of my lungs a short while ago. My focus wasn’t on Otis. It was on his father’s dick.
Was that when Conrad snuck himself into my home and took my child, while he was sleeping?
Or was it after? Whenwewere sleeping?
The time doesn’t matter.
“He’s definitely not here?” Carter asks desperately.
“You think I’d be running around like a mad woman if he was?” I comb through my hair, still knotted from earlier, when Carter was doing me upstairs.
I stare up at him and hope that he can offer me some comfort. But his icy features demonstrate just how serious this situation is.
His expression also shows how much he cares about Otis. For a man who couldn’t even give a shit to say goodbye, he’s come a long way.
Carter steps away and rakes a hand through his own matted hair. He presses himself up against the wall and takes the burner out of his pants pocket to dial the other two.
“There’s a situation. It involves Otis. We can’t find him. We think—yep, I’m afraid so. We need to get to work. Carmen and I will meet you at the clubhouse.”
“I’m not going to the clubhouse,” I interject.
“This is not up for debate, princess.”
He can princess me all he likes. He’s not gonna coax me out of my own home. What if Otis turns up?
“He’s found your address. It’s not safe to be here,” Carter says.
“Give me a gun.”
“No, Carmen.” Another aggressive rake through his hair. “We’re gonna get him back. In the meantime, we need you where we can see you. If there’s one thing worse than Otis disappearing, it’s you too. Let’s not forget that it’s you he wants.”
“He’s using Otis to get to me.”
“Exactly.” Carter points a finger at me. “He wants this reaction. So don’t give it to him. Rule number one when it comes to winning—don’t give the enemy your energy. That’s how they thrive.”
“Sorry for freaking out. It’s not like my worst nightmare has come to life or anything.”
Carter yanks my wrist and drags me to the front door—unlocked. All Conrad had to do was step right in. I forgot to lock the door earlier, too busy freaking out about Carter’s presence in my home instead.
Carter tows me out of the door and sits me on the back of his Harley. The one I drove back to mine a few days back is still sitting pretty out in the sun. I could drive it back to theclubhouse, but I’d much rather cling onto Carter and freak out from the passenger seat.
