Secrets And Lies

Despondent

Axel

Sloane didn't say much at the station. She did what she needed to do and only said monosyllables if she needed to speak. I was worried that Ryan would break down while she recounted everything that she could remember in the report, but she only shed a few silent tears.

After going through the motions, Quade and Ryan came back to the house with us and stayed the night. They both refused to go home, not that anyone asked them to. They wanted to be here for Sloane in case she needed them and I wanted to be here for Sloane and Ryan. I was worried that my girlfriend would be plagued with nightmares after the huge revelation. But oddly she only had one and it was completely different than any she had before. It didn't have to do with her attack, but it had everything to do with Sloane. Ryan dreamt of Van hurting her.

I reassured her that Sloane was safe here and there was no way that Van could get in even if he somehow knew where I lived. She reminded me that Sloan couldn't stay hidden away forever. I knew that, but I was banking on Mike getting an arrest warrant and putting the jackass away.

After an hour of coaxing, Ryan finally went back to sleep. However, her fear then became mine and I couldn't stop the images of Sloane possibly being hurt from branding my brain. Not only by the hands of Van but by her own if all of this broke her like life broke my brother. This went on well past the sun coming up.

My worry became too much. I needed to check on her. I grabbed my phone off of the nightstand so my alarm wouldn't wake Ryan up and left my girlfriend sleeping.

Hoping that Sloane was asleep, I cracked the door of the guestroom open instead of knocking. The bed was empty and still made, letting me know that she probably didn't sleep at all. Figuring since my mom and him were the only ones she would talk to right now, I made my way downstairs to make sure that she was in the other guest room with Quade.

As soon as I rounded the corner, I saw Quade coming out of the downstairs bathroom.

"Is Sloane in your room?" I asked.

"No." His brows came together and my heart skipped a few beats.

"She's not in the other guest room."

"What do you mean she's not there?" Quade asked, worry feeling his voice.

"Just what I said. She's not in there. Don't panic. I'm sure she's with my mom." I told him, but I was starting to inwardly panic too.

"Don't panic?! She's not with your Mom. I ran into your Mom and Dad an hour ago. They went to the courthoise to see what they can do about getting the restraining order approved faster."

"Fuck!" I scrubbed my hands over my face.

"Yeah, fuck.  I told you that she wouldn't last long here." Quade reminded me as he ran to the front door.

I wasn't far behind. He pulled the door open and we both exhaled in slight relief when we saw Sloane's white Camaro still parked haphazardly in the driveway.

"She's here somewhere." Quade said, looking a hell of a lot more relieved than I was.

"That only makes me feel a fraction better."

Quade shook his head vigorously. "Don't go there, Mathews. She's not your brother."

"Can you blame me?"

"No."

I pulled my phone out and called Sloane but it didn't even ring before going to voicemail.

"Her phone is off." I crossed my arms.

"Do you think she could be in your brother's room?"

"I cant fathom why she would be. She found him, Quade. You know her better than I do. You know that there's no way that she would step foot in there."