“I haven’t seen him.”
“Fuck! That irresponsible son of a bitch!”
“You don’t know if he left,” someone said. It could have been Slay.
I scanned the area but there wasn’t any sign of Corcoran.
“Listen, me and Slay are on our way to get you. Hold tight.”
“What if—”
“Don’t go there. We’re going to get her back.”
“But she’s the only family I have.” The same kind of emotion I felt when my parents died in the car accident, but I lived, threatened to bring me to my knees. Why did I lose everyone I loved? Why couldn’t the bad stuff happen to me instead?
“I’m your family, too. The Kings are your family. You won’t be alone, but believe me when I say, we are getting Kelly back. Because I can’t live without her.”
“Neither can I.” I put the dimes in my pocket and made my way to the parking lot entrance with my bike to save time.
“I’m almost there. Two minutes out,” he said. I couldn’t believe how calm he sounded. Maybe he was falling apart but hid it better than me. He was a lot older and should manage his emotions better like a King would do.
There was a lot of chatter going on in the background. I wanted to know what they were doing, but I didn’t question anything. It wasn’t my place. I was just a kid and they were grownups.
“I’m turning the corner. Throw your bike in the back and hop in.”
I saw him coming and the second he screeched to a stop; I did as he said. Once in the truck, he slammed on the gas.
Looking back at me in the rearview mirror, he asked, “You okay?”
“No.”
“Neither am I. It’s okay to admit your feelings. Just don’t let them control you during an emergency or a dangerous situation.”
“Good advice,” I replied.
They both looked cool as cucumbers. How was that possible? Clearly, I had some growing up and maturing to do.
“How long did it take you to call us when they took her?” Slay asked. “It took us six minutes to get to you. Did you call us the second they drove off?”
“Every second counts in these types of situations.” GQ flicked his gaze at me.
“I wasn’t sure if they took her at first.” I shook my head. “It must have been like two minutes. Did I mess up? I was on my bike and couldn’t call while pedaling so fast.”
“You didn’t mess up,” GQ replied.
“I’m just figuring out the timeline. That’s all,” Slay said, then he got on his phone.
“Eight minutes total isn’t bad, right?” I asked GQ, looking at him from the backseat. “We should be able to catch up to them.”
“Yep, not bad at all.”
“I wish Kel would let me drive my dad’s old Mustang. I couldn’t been on their tail from the get-go.”
Something flashed in GQ’s eyes. “That son of a pitch couldn’t have been so close.”
“Huh?” I had no idea what he was talking about.
“Which storage facility is the Mustang at?”
