Finding Daddy [Book 1; Daddy Series]

21: Awkward Shops and Pizza

I panic, crumbling the note, shutting off the CD player and running out of the room down to my room. I flip on the light and run over to Ashton shaking him.

“Ashton! Wake up!” I was to the point of almost yelling when his eyes open, looking at me with confusion present on his face.

“Babe, what the hell are you doing?” he says rubbing his eyes and leaning up on his elbows

“Ella’s gone,” I say, whatever sleepiness he had in him automatically disappeared.

“What?”

“I walked past her room and there was a CD player playing. It was a recording of her and Luke talking. A note was attached and it said that she was with Luke,” I say, Ashton sits up rubbing his eyes and standing up. He hastily grabs my phone from my hand and dials a number.

“Damn it!” he says frustrated, “Luke didn’t answer,” he runs a hand through his hair, making him look a lot sexier and I probably would like it a lot more if I weren’t in the middle of looking for someone who’s practically a sister at the moment.

“She didn’t answer either,” he says gesturing to my phone, Ella’s contact open on the screen, I sigh, pulling my hair band out and putting it back up in a messy ponytail. I have a habit of playing with my hair when I’m nervous.

“We’ll find her,” I say confidently, “Where’s somewhere Luke would go?” I ask him. Hoping that we could stalk Luke since we don’t know much about Ella

“There’s this place he always use to go, and then stopped going to it as much a few months back,” He says, I walk over to my closet grabbing a pair of jeans and a sweatshirt, “Where are you going?” he asks

“To find these two,” I say stating the obvious.

“No, you need to stay here in case they come back. We can’t both be out. Plus what if one of the twins wakes up and they don’t know where we are? Just stay here, love, I’ll be back soon,” he throws on a black tee shirt and grabs his keys.

“I’ll see you soon,” he whispers in my ear as he kisses my forehead giving me a quick hug. I stand there with jeans and sweatshirt in hand, worrying like no other.

--

I sit in my office, trying to get work done since it’s obvious that I’m not going to be going back to sleep anytime soon. The front door opens and I race to it, only to be confronted with Ashton.

“No luck?” I ask the obvious; of course he didn’t find them. If he did, they’d be with him. He shakes his head.

“Where else could they be?” I ask him and he shakes his head frustrated, brushing past me and into the kitchen.

“Listen, I understand you’re upset, I am too, but we have to talk. We aren’t going to find her if we don’t talk,” I say, he sighs stepping closer to me.

“I know, I’m sorry…it’s just…never mind,” he says cutting himself off and walking to the fridge, opening it just to shut it quickly.

“We’ll find her,” I say, more to reassure myself more than him.

“What are you guys blabbing about?” Michael asks rubbing his eyes and stepping into the kitchen, in just boxers. Ashton and I ignore the fact he’s standing in our kitchen half naked, and answer his question, telling him what I saw and how Ashton just got back.

“Luke said something about Romero’s Pizza Palace earlier,” Michaels says, and then his eyes get wide, slapping a hand over his mouth. “I wasn’t supposed to say anything,” he says sighing. His hand releases his mouth and falls to his side. He shrugs and walks back to the living room, to go back asleep I assume.