“No, I could have sworn?—”
But I didn’t bother to listen. Storming away, I searched the entire fucking lot, coming to the only conclusion left. The truck was gone.
And there was only one person who would steal it.
“Fucking Wes,” I muttered under my breath.
“He stole it, didn’t he?”
“Looks that way. It wouldn’t have taken much. I told you that old truck was too easy to steal.”
“Right, because I could have foreseen a kid stealing my truck. Is he even old enough to drive?”
“No, but obviously, he has the skills to hotwire a truck. Maybe now you’ll upgrade.”
He shook his head. “I fucking love that truck. No way am I trading that baby in.”
“You won’t have anything to trade in if we don’t find Wes. He might sell it and use the cash to disappear.”
My chest tightened painfully at the thought of failing him so greatly that he would choose to disappear instead of living with me. I hardly knew this kid—had barely been around him for more than a month—and yet, I felt in some way that we were very much the same.
He had no one and was fighting to survive, much like when I was runningfrom my past, refusing to get close to anyone for fear they would judge me on my dishonorable discharge. It was a lonely world, but in some ways, it was easier knowing you were on your own than to trust anyone to have your back.
It was why I ran.
And I had a feeling he was running for the same reasons.
Whipping out my phone, I called Mav, even though he was just inside the hospital.
“Did you find him?”
“He has Jeff’s truck.”
“I’m on it. What do you want me to do when I find him?”
Coming down hard on him was necessary, but it also risked pushing him even further away.
“Just hold him.”
“Got it.”
Sighing, I headed back into the hospital. Bypassing all the concerned faces, I walked straight back to Blake, and the moment she saw my face, she knew.
“Where is he?”
“Gone.”
28
BLAKE
“What doyou mean he’s gone?” I snapped, storming out of the room toward the waiting area brimming with townsfolk.
“I mean, he took Jeff’s truck, and now he’s gone. Mav is tracking him.”
I huffed in irritation. How could I have let this happen? He was my responsibility, and now he was out there somewhere, all alone.
“Baby, we’ll find him. Mav already sent out an alert to the town. Everyone’s looking for him.”
