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Chapter Twenty-Five
Carly
Dark clouds roll across the sky, blanketing half the city in darkness as the sun shines bright on the other side and it represents my mood perfectly. On the one hand, I’m happier than I’ve ever been because of Chance but as soon as I feel an ounce of that happiness, I feel guilty for even daring to be carefree for a moment. My sister is trapped in a hell I can’t even imagine and there is absolutely nothing I can do for her. Except worry.
Chewing on my thumbnail, I sigh and press send on my phone, hoping Mercedes will be as understanding as she has been for Ali recently. Although, it doesn’t look good when your two newest hires suddenly need a bunch of time off.
“Hello?” she answers, sounding breezy and uncomplicated. I envy her.
“Hey, Mercedes. It’s Carly.”
“Hey, Chick. What’s up?”
“I was wondering if it would be all right if I worked from home, today?”
There’s a pause and I hold my breath, waiting for her reply. “Yeah, sure. That shouldn’t be a problem. Is everything okay, though?”
No.
My world is falling apart.
“Yeah. There is just some stuff going on with my family I need to deal with and I’m afraid I would be too distracted to work if I came in.”
“Of course, Carly. Whatever you need.”
I let out a sigh of relief. “I want you to know this isn’t going to be a regular thing for me, either. In fact, I can’t remember the last time I called into work.”
“Hey, don’t worry about it. We all need to take a day to deal with shit from time to time. I get it. As long as the page goes live on time, I’m good.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll make sure we’re on schedule.”
“Perfect. Let me know if you need anything else, okay?”
“I will. Thanks.”
We hang up and I toss my phone on the couch, turning back to the window to watch the clouds swallow up the last few rays of sunlight. That’s fitting. My thoughts drifts to Ivy again and what she’s doing right now. Even if Julian’s not there, she has to be terrified and I hate that I have no way to reach her to tell her that I’m coming to get her as soon as the guys come up with a plan, which could be any day now. Whenever I ask Chance, he just tells me Streak is on it, but each day moves slower than the last. I hope she can feel it, though. I hope she knows I’ll do whatever it takes to make sure she’s safe.
“Hey, Princess,” Chance says, strolling out of the bedroom after his shower and I glance over at him for a second before turning back to the window. “You hungry?”
I shake my head and he sighs as he walks over to me. He slips his arms around my waist and pulls me into his body. It’s the only piece of comfort I can find these past couple of days.
“You’ve got to eat something, baby.”
I shake my head again. “I can’t.”
“Look at me,” he whispers, stroking his thumb across my cheek and washing away some of my stress. “We will get your sister out of there as soon as humanly possible but you not eating or sleeping isn’t going to help her. I know you’re worried, but you are starting to worry me.”
“How am I supposed to eat when she’s stuck at that house, scared out of her mind and waiting for me? She came to me for help and I’m useless.”
Sighing, he pulls me tighter and I bury my head in his neck, his familiar scent relaxing me further. I know he’s right but it’s not that easy. I’ve spent the last two days worrying that Julian found out she sent Rosie to me and hurt her again or worse. Thinking of my baby sister going through the same thing I did kills me, but the thought has crossed my mind that he may be forcing himself on her. My breathing stutters and Chance’s hand slips into my hair, massaging the back of my head.
“Let’s go do something today.”
Prying myself out of his hold, I shake my head. “No. I have to stay here.”
“Why?” he asks and I whip my head around to glare at him.
“She might need me.”
