The Bad Things (Book 5)

Chapter 5. Games

            I paced back and forth in Hayden's living room. The door bursted open. I spun around. Hayden and Sean came through the door.

My heart thudded unsteadily. I had to ask, but I wasn't sure that I wanted the answer. "Anything?"

"No. You?" Sean asked. Concern distorted his features.

Tears built in my eyes, and I shook my head. "No." My hands were cold and clammy.

Hayden wrapped his arms around me. "It's been three hours past the time she was supposed to give her back to you. I think you should just call the cops, Abby. We searched for an hour," Hayden said.

I had gone home to wait for Stormy, and when two hours passed, I came back to tell Hayden and Sean she was gone. I clutched onto Hayden's shirt, and my tears stained it. "I'm going to kill that stupid bitch," I spat. I couldn't lose my cool yet, but I felt it slipping. My daughter needed me. I grabbed my phone off the coffee table. As the phone rang, I placed a hand on my forehead and rubbed it fiercely.

Hayden stood behind me.

The dispatch woman answered. I explained in a rush that my sister-in-law took my daughter and hadn't come back yet. The woman said she would send a cop over.

"I need to go home. The cop will be there soon," I told Hayden after I hung up the phone.

"Come on. I'll get you there," he said.

"I'm coming," Sean said.

The three of us ran down the steps and into the parking lot. We jumped into Hayden's Challenger. Hayden peeled out of the parking lot and raced back to my house.

We pulled up to the dark house. Mom hadn't got home from work yet.

"The cop isn't here," I muttered impatiently.

"He'll be here," Hayden said. "Let's go inside."

"Sean, call Mom and tell her what is going on," I said. There was no way I could tell my mother that Stormy had gotten kidnapped without falling apart. We climbed out of the car and started for the house.

"Do you think it's a good idea to bother her with this while she is working?" Sean asked.

"Are you kidding? She would probably be more upset if you didn't," Hayden said.

"I agree. She would tear us apart if we didn't tell her," I said. I took my keys out and unlocked the front door.

I turned on some of the lights while Sean called Mom. Hayden followed me through the house. I stopped in the kitchen and started a pot of coffee. While the coffee brewed, I started to clean the counters. A hand caught mine. My eyes locked with Hayden's.

"You need to relax. We'll get her back. I'm sure she hasn't gotten very far. I'll help you find her. I promise," Hayden murmured.

My throat tightened, and I looked down at my hand as I spoke. "You don't understand. She's my whole life. I don't know how to live without my daughter. Every good choice I have ever made is because of her. I'm still alive because of her."

Hayden grabbed my chin and forced me to look at him. "You're right. I don't have kids. I don't understand what that is like, but I see the pain in your eyes. It's killing me that I can't fix it. I do know you need to keep it together, though, for Stormy."