Page 111 of Rum & Coke

“It’s okay. I did it once, and I’ll do it again. Things happen for a reason.”

“They do, but if there’s something you need to tell me …”

My heart ached and I wanted to tell her there was. I wanted to break down and cry, tell her everything, but I was scared of the consequences. If I told her, and the cops showed up, there would be a chance they were on Sebastian’s payroll, and then they would tell him, and I wasn’t sure what he’d do to me. Or Colton. But, there was also the chance they wouldn’t be. In the end, I decided I wouldn’t tell her this time. And next time—at my next appointment—I would make sure Colton was with me and take the chance that the cops who were called weren’t driven by money.

“Nope,” I replied. “The father is really happy and will take care of me and the baby.”

“Okay. Let me get some blood so we can run some tests, and then I will let you get dressed before you meet with the nurse.”

The appointment was long. After I spoke with the nurse, I scheduled my next appointment. I walked out into the waiting room where Mateo sat. He looked up, set the magazine down, and waited for me to walk completely through the door. When I did, I looked to my left and noticed Autumn sitting in the waiting room. She was reading on her e-reader, and I wanted to rush to her, wrap my arms around her and beg for help. I knew she’d dealt with abuse before because when I was at the range with everyone, she’d briefly told me why she taught self-defense. Now, I felt as though I was living in the same hell she used to live in.

“One second,” I stated to Mateo. “They have a bathroom in there, and I just realized I can’t hold it. I’ll be just a moment.” He nodded, and I walked back through the doors to a nurse’s station. “Do you have a piece of paper and a pen I could use?” I asked when the nurse looked up.

She smiled and slid a sticky note pad and pen in front of me. “Does this work?”

“Perfect. Thank you.”

I hurried and wrote Autumn a note:

Kidnapped by my boss. Send Joss. Can’t trust local PD.

I folded the yellow sticky note in half and handed the pen back to the nurse. “Thank you again.”

When I walked out the door again, Mateo was standing, waiting. I smiled up at him.

“Ready?” he asked.

“Yes,” I replied and started walking. Autumn was so engrossed in her book that she didn’t notice me. As I passed her, I tossed the note onto her screen. She quickly looked up. Our eyes met as I walked out of the office, and I prayed this would work.

Two months.

It had been two fucking months since I’d last seen Tessa, and I felt that shit in my heart every fucking day. This was why I didn’t do love. I guess a part of me had always feared my heart would break if I ever let someone in, though I didn’t think it would be under these circumstances.

Since I hadn’t heard from Joss, I stayed away from all my so-called friends. They obviously didn’t care about me. And fuck, I didn’t care about them. Who was I kidding? I fucking loved those people, but in my time of need, they did nothing. Sure, Joss told me she needed time before she could look into it, but what if Joss were kidnapped? She’d want to be rescued. It made me sick to my stomach to think of what was happening to Tessa every day. Was she abused? Sexually assaulted? Or just enjoying life in some gated community with rich people?

Why couldn’t Joss go to the house? Talk to Tessa? Get Tessa? I didn’t care that Tessa had told me she went on her own. I knew better, and Joss was FBI. Couldn’t they help? Couldn’t Joss work on this on her own time and just find out if Tessa was all right? Apparently the answers were all a big fat negative.

Fuck. Them.

I was having my nightly pity party with my Bacardi when there was a knock at my door. I moved to it, and after I saw who was on the other side through the peephole, I said, “What do you want?”

“Open the door,” Paul demanded. “We have news.”

I flung the door open so fast I thought I was about to rip it off the fucking hinges. “What news?”

“Sit down,” he stated. He and Joss walked in, and Paul closed the door behind him.

“Just tell me.” I leaned a hand on the wall, waiting.

Joss spoke. “Autumn saw Tessa at the doctor’s office.”

“The doctor’s? Is she okay?”

“We think she might be pregnant since it was the gynecologist.”

My mouth fell open. “What did you say?”

“Autumn was there for her weekly check-up because her baby is due any day now. When Tessa was leaving, she threw a note to Autumn.”