Chapter 1
Slade
My arm stretches out over the bed, reaching for my girl. She knows better than to spread out on the bed rather than sleep in my arms. It’s where she belongs, but I guess I can’t hold her accountable for the things she does in her sleep…though I certainly have ways of punishing her. Wickedly, wild ways that’ll have her never wanting to leave my arms again.
Fuck, I love her.
As I feel her side of the bed, I find it cold and empty, making my eyes spring open and panic soar through me.
Where the fuck is she?
It’s an unspoken rule that Sky never wakes before me. She loves sleeping in. If that girl could trade places with Sleeping Beauty and spend the rest of her days curled up in bed, zonked out, she’d do it in a heartbeat. Don’t get me wrong, she’d demand to be woken for snacks and sex though.
I glance around her room, expecting to find her in here somewhere. She had a rough night finding out that Lucien was back in town. He’d gotten to Roman Westbrock and beat the living shit out of him, and while Roman didn’t confirm anything, he was sent here to deliver a message – Sky’s time is up.
I’ve never seen her so panicked and scared. There have been other times where Lucien has come through Aston Creek but every time, she was fierce and ready to fight, but last night, she looked defeated and it nearly killed me.
I don’t want her to give up. The second her hope begins to plummet, it’s all over. She needs to fight. She needs to survive because without her…fuck.
Sky needs to hold on a little while longer. I’ll be buying her a gun and taking her shooting today. She’ll feel better after that. More prepared at least and hopefully, it’ll give her what she needs to keep going.
She’s so strong. I’ve never met anyone like her. She’s going to be alright. I just know she will. After all, she has me standing right by her side and I’ll never let him hurt her ever again. I’ll kill him before he ever gets the chance.
I swing my legs over the side of the bed and run my hands over my face. We went to bed at 3 am and it feels way too early to be up. I grab my phone off the bedside table and light up the screen.
“Holy fuck,” I grunt under my breath. It’s 6 am. No wonder it feels too fucking early. I had three hours of sleep.
I push up off Sky’s bed and step into my jeans, pulling them up and fastening my belt before slipping my phone into my pocket. Skylah isn’t in here but considering both her closet and bedroom doors are open, I’d dare say she must have gotten up not long ago and snuck out so she wouldn’t wake me.
It’s stupid though. She probably had less sleep than I did. She should climb back into bed and get a few more hours of rest even if it means I have to lie here with her, helping to take all the pain away. Besides, I doubt there’s going to be anywhere in Aston Creek that I can get a gun before 9 am. We still have a few hours to kill.
I go to make my way out of her room when something sharp hits the side of my foot. I glance down and find Sky’s knife lying carelessly on the carpet.
My brows furrow. What the hell is it doing down there? Sky was clutching it when she went to bed last night and I can guarantee that it stayed in her palm all night long. Though to be honest, I’m kind of terrified that one night she’s going to accidentally take me out. All it would take is one bad dream and that knife would be the end of me, but usually, when she’s sleeping in my arms, she doesn’t need it.
Last night was different though. Very fucking different.
I reach down and scoop the knife into my hand, briefly looking over it before glancing out the open door. Why the hell would she put it on the floor? She never does careless shit like that, especially with this knife. It’s important to her, the only thing she has of her father’s. This thing practically lives under her pillow and if it isn’t there, then it’s in the palm of her hand.
I slip the knife into my pocket and make my way toward her door. Something doesn’t feel right here. It’s one thing for her to have gotten out of bed early if she couldn’t sleep, but to drop her knife on the floor and leave her bedroom door open. It feels…odd.
I get to her door and find the carpet beneath my feet soaking wet.
What the fuck?
I look down to find a glass of water has fallen to the carpet, it’s knocked over with a crack in the glass, sitting on Skylah’s jacket which I pulled off her last night.
My heart rate starts to increase. Something’s wrong.
“Sky?” I call out, hurrying out to the living room. There’s no sign of her and so I start checking the rest of the house. “Babe? Where are you?”
The kitchen is empty and so is the bathroom and by the time I reach Blake’s bedroom, I’m practically running. I throw his door open. “Sky?” I call, hoping she came in here to crash, needing the comfort of her brother while he’s busy in the hospital trying to heal.
“What’s with all the noise out here?” Shay questions, groggily stepping through her bedroom door, looking pissed to have been woken so early.
“Sky’s not here,” I rush out, pushing past Shay to look in her room.
“What are you talking about?”
“I mean she’s gone. I just woke up and she’s not here,” I say, starting to double-check every room I’ve already been through. “Her glass of water was dropped on the carpet, her knife on the floor, and her door wide fucking open. I’m telling you, Shay, he’s got her. He fucking took her.”
Shay starts shaking her head and begins furiously looking around her home. “No. I refuse to believe that,” she demands. “She’s got to be around here somewhere. Have you called Damian or Nessa? Maybe she’s with them. Maybe she went to see Blake.”
Devastation starts to cloud me, making it impossible to think straight. There’s no way. She wouldn’t just walk out of this house to visit her friends. She wouldn’t be that careless, especially with Lucien around. She knows what’s at stake.
I race back out to the living room and to the front door of the house. The locks aren’t locked, the bolt isn’t bolted, hell the door isn’t even shut the whole fucking way. She’s been through here. Sky would never leave the house without locking it, not unless she was taken…
Fuck.
I throw the door open wide and rush out into the yard, looking up and down the street, desperately searching for any sign of her.
What have I allowed to happen? She was taken right from under me. I told her that I’d keep her safe. I promised her. She put her faith in me and I let her down. I was supposed to protect her.
I failed her.
I start rushing up and down the street for any clue, sign, or hint that this is all just some sort of misunderstanding. She can’t be gone. I fucking love her. What am I supposed to do without her? How am I supposed to breathe without her?
I get a few houses down by the time I pull my phone out of my pocket and press it to my ear. I don’t even remember selecting a number to call but apparently, I did as it starts to ring.
Blake’s sleepy tone cuts through the phone only a few short seconds later as I hear Shay’s wailing sobs coming from the curb behind me. “What the fuck, man? Do you have any idea what time it is?”
“Is she with you?” I rush out.