“Yeah. My dad sleeps on this couch,” he replied with a chuckle.
“Shh…turn this up.” I leaned forward, fighting against the drug-induced haze. Jacob laughed as he held the remote away from me, and I had to smack him on the chest to grab it from his hand. He leaned in to kiss me, and I ducked away from him to focus on the television.
The news was flashing a picture of a young blonde with large green eyes who had gone missing, and I gasped.
“She kind of looks like you.” Jacob stated the obvious as he took a drink from his soda.
“Taylor.” I whispered his name like a curse. He was still around, still lurking.
“Who?” Jacob asked, and I shook my head, turning up the volume.
She’d only been missing for twenty-four hours, which gave her a fighting chance of still being all right. My mind went to Colin. Was it possible that he had gone back to Taylor?
“My dad was working a case like this a few weeks ago.” He relaxed back in his seat and put his foot up on the glass coffee table.
“I should get home. It’s getting late.” I stood, swaying as I became lightheaded.
“Already? You said you were going to hang out.”
“Connor will freak out. He’s been extra worried with Colin taking off.”
He reluctantly stood up and stretched, clearly unhappy that I was going. I felt like a jerk for blowing him off, but Colin had once risked everything to save me, and I wouldn’t hesitate to return the favor.
“Are you mad at me or something?”
I sighed as I looked him over, hating that I didn’t care more about who he had been spending his time with. I knew he would be relieved and hurt if I admitted that to him.
“I’ll come over tomorrow. We can skip together.”
“Yeah?” He eyed me, and a grin spread across his face. “It’s a date.”
Jacob walked me to the fence, and as soon as I slipped onto my property, I took off full speed through the trees. I pushed the thought of having to face Taylor from my mind. I knew if I could find Colin, I could get him to come back.
I hurried up the front porch steps, panting as I opened the door and slipped inside. I instinctively glanced to my left, hoping he would be in the formal living room, lurking in the shadows and waiting to tell me he was worried about me. But the room sat as empty as my heart. The house was dark, and I slipped off my shoes and crept upstairs. Colin’s bedroom was straightened; no evidence of his destructive explosion remained. I had spent many nights curled up in his bed, calmed by the fading scent of his No. 1 cologne. I’d run my fingers over anything he might have touched in hopes of figuring out where he may have gone. There was nothing to go on, no remnants of our past anywhere. It was like we had never existed until we moved in with Connor.
I walked back into the hall, and my eyes went to the third-floor steps. The office. I took them two at a time, pausing as I made it to the doorway. This was my last hope of finding him. He hadn’t returned any of my calls or messages. I turned on the light and stepped inside. The desk had a few folders on top of it. Flipping them open, I realized they were for unrelated cases. I glanced around the room, hoping something would stand out. The file cabinet had locks on each drawer, and the coffee table that sat in front of a brown leather love seat only held magazines. I rounded the desk, cringing at the memory of the girl on her knees. I pulled open each drawer, groaning when I was met with only office supplies. Shit. My shoulders sagged as I walked back to the light switch before eyeing the copy machine. I flipped the lid up, but there was nothing in it. I hit the button to print the last scan, and out came an address and the letters “D.O.G.” scrawled across the top in Connor’s handwriting.
I glanced around the office as I tried to come up with a plan. I’d been driving Connor’s car to school when I actually felt up to attending. I didn’t allow myself to have a second thought. I hurried down the steps and into Colin’s room. His gun was still on top of his dresser in his closet. I carried it across the hall to my room and tucked it into my book bag. Next, I grabbed my laptop and googled directions. It was about forty-five minutes away, just outside of Jackson. That was plenty of time to find Colin and convince him to come back to me.
It was killing me not to leave immediately, but the last thing I needed was someone realizing I was gone and reporting the car stolen. I lay down in my bed and stared up at the textured white ceiling as I recalled the last day I was face-to-face with Taylor Woodward.
“There you are.” Taylor’s hand came down on my shoulder. I looked around for Colin, but he had been busy all morning with tasks Taylor had given him. “I’ve been wanting to catch up with you, see how you’re adjusting.”
“I-I’m doing well. Colin has helped me a lot.” I took a deep, cleansing breath so I would stop stuttering. “How is my mother?”
He looked down at the floor before his eyes met mine. “That’s one of the reasons I came to see you. Have a seat.”
I sat down on Colin’s bed. I spent almost all of my time in that tiny cabin as opposed to the large single-room women’s bay that offered no privacy. Taylor sat next to me, and I slid away from him fractionally. He placed his hand on my knee, and a shiver ran up my spine.
“Your mother had a long struggle, but she was having trouble keeping anything down. I called in a specialist, who prescribed her medicine, but her body couldn’t fight anymore, and she passed away.”
“What?”
His grip on my leg tightened, and I suddenly felt like I might vomit. “That’s not possible. Food poisoning doesn’t last for weeks.” I was trying to make sense of what he was telling me, but I couldn’t wrap my head around the news.
“Are you saying I’m a liar?” he asked, his head cocked at an angle, and a challenging glare in his eye.
“N-no. Of course not.”
“Because if that’s the case, perhaps you staying here isn’t the best idea.”
Oh God. My mother was dead, and now I was going to be kicked out on the street. I felt dizzy.
“I really need to see Colin. Where’s Colin?” I rubbed my hands over my eyes as I struggled not to break down.
“Colin is with his girlfriend.”
My heart stopped, ripped from my chest.
“Didn’t you know?” he asked, and I shook my head, tears unabashedly streaming down my face now. “It’s all right. He’ll be back later. I’m here now.” He wrapped his arms around me in a tight hug that pinned my arms to my sides as he pressed a kiss to my temple, pushing me onto my side and his weight coming down on top of me.
“What are you doing? Stop it!” Panic set in, and I screamed Colin’s name at the top of my lungs until a hand that smelled of mildew covered my mouth. I struggled in his grip, kicking my foot repeatedly into his shin as I lay on my side, immobilized.
Finally, like an answered prayer, the door flew open, and Colin blocked out the sun as his frame filled the doorway. His eyes were wide, and he lunged at Taylor, prying him off me. I scrambled to get out of their way, rolling onto the floor and gasping for air.
Colin was on top of Taylor, his fist pummeling into his face and blood soaking into the blanket.
I could hear myself screaming, but I sat frozen, watching in horror as Colin turned into a monster. Finally, my words got through to him, and he paused, his hand still in the air ready to hit again, his breathing ragged. He glanced down at Taylor, who lay unconscious, and then Colin’s eyes were on me again.