by S Cinders
Kim’s lips trembled, “Now that I am having a baby with my estranged ex-husband that has been sleeping with my sister’s best friend and supplies my parents with drugs? I sound like I should be on a daytime talk show. How did things get so confusing?”
Nate guided Kim back to the car and buckled her in, “Or you could think of it as you are pregnant with the child you always wanted. You have met the man who will love you more than life itself and you are finally cutting ties with the parents who tried to destroy you. From the way I see it, you are an inspiration Kim—not daytime drama fodder.”
A tear escaped her damp lashes, “I love you, Nate. So much that it scares me a little, but the fact that you didn’t walk away after tonight tells me that you might just love me too.”
He growled, “You know I love you!”
His phone rang, and he went to ignore it, but when he saw Elliot’s name he answered.
“Fuck,” Nate said under his breath, “We are on our way.”
“What is it?” Kim clutched his sleeve.
“Mandy is missing.”
CHAPTER 34
Approximately seven and a half months before—give or take a day or two.
“Mandy, come on, I really need your help tonight. I’ve already promised Emma that I would find someone else to work for the party!”
Mandy looked up at her roommate who was standing in the middle of their tiny apartment with one hand on her hip and an intent look on her face. It seemed to Mandy that Shay always needed something.
“Look, Shay, I would be terrible at it. I haven’t waitressed before, and I have two left feet. Besides,” Mandy gulped feeling self-conscious as she looked at the other woman who was dressed in the skimpiest of outfits. “I don’t think I could wear something like that.”
Shay rolled her eyes, “Please, Mandy you are smoking hot and if you would wear something other than those frumpy business suits you bought at the salvage store for work someone might just notice how gorgeous you really are.”
Mandy didn’t feel like her clothes were frumpy, she looked professional. She felt that working in an office one had to present themselves accordingly. But Shay wouldn’t understand that. Mandy was quiet, hardworking, dependable, and often according to the Shay—boring.
Shay was her complete opposite. She was wild and carefree, the life of the party and friends with everyone. It wasn’t unusual for her to bring a man home at night, hell it would be strange if she didn’t.
Many people couldn’t understand how their friendship worked. How could two people with such different tastes possibly be best friends? Emma asked this very question all the time. She and Shay were alike in almost every aspect. Emma loved to go out and party, pick up guys, and occasionally share them with Shay.
What Emma didn’t like was Shay’s friendship with Mandy. It could have been jealousy. Mandy didn’t know what else to account for it. She had never been rude or unkind to Emma. But it was apparent that even the way Mandy stayed out of her way irritated Emma.
Mandy had long since stopped trying with the girl. That is why this request for Mandy to help with Emma’s family catering business didn’t make sense. Emma had never wanted Mandy around before.
And that wasn’t all of it. Mandy wasn’t sure what kind of catering company had their waitstaff go around in tube tops, short shorts, micro minis and barely their bodycon ensembles. Some of the things that Shay left the house into work had her looking more like a streetwalker than a waitress.
Mandy sighed, “Emma hates me, there is no way that she really wants me there. Is this a setup so that she can humiliate me somehow?”
Shay puffed out her bottom lip, “Emma doesn’t hate you! She doesn’t understand why you don’t like her and won’t come out with us.”
Mandy knew this to be a lie and wasn’t about to fall into that trap. “I have no issues with Emma, but I don’t want to go, Shay. It’s not my kind of thing.”
Shay’s eyes hardened, “Look, if we don’t find another person to work tonight, Emma and I are going to be in so much trouble. We both promised to find someone extra to help, and I said I would bring you. If you don’t want to do it again after tonight, you don’t have to. But Mandy if you don’t come they will fire me. How are we supposed to make rent if I don’t have a job? This means a lot to me, Mandy. I wouldn’t ask you otherwise. You are my best friend. I really thought I could count on you.”
Mandy set the book down that she had been reading, “One night, Shay, I will help out one night. But you need to find someone else to take the job. I am not interested.”
Shay bounded over to Mandy wrapping her in a large hug, “Thank you, thank you, thank you! I knew that you wouldn’t let me down! You are the best, Mandy. I love your guts!”
Mandy smiled and pushed out of Shay’s arms, “I love your guts too. Alright, what do I have to wear?”
MANDY TUGGED AT THE bottom of her short flapper dress with one hand as she tried to balance the tray of bit size sushi in the other. The skimpy uniform, if one could call it that, barely covered her ass cheeks. If it weren’t for the fringe, Mandy would have flashed half the party by now.
Her boobs were pushed up and forward so that they looked like an offering to whomever she faced. Thankfully they had been given masks that covered two-thirds of their faces. She wasn’t recognizable and knew that for a fact because Shay had almost walked right by her.
When Mandy grabbed her arm, Shay had squealed with delight seeing Mandy all dolled up for once. Emma had even said that Mandy looked good. That in itself was the highest praise Mandy had ever gotten from Emma.
When the guests arrived at the venue, it was apparent to Mandy that they were from a completely different world than the one she was used to. More than one guest had come in a limo, and many others drove cars that Mandy couldn’t even pronounce let alone think of riding in.
When he arrived, time seemed to stand still for the briefest of moments. Mandy had just served a couple some champagne and turned to go and return the empties when she caught a glimpse of his dark hair.
She allowed her eyes to trail from the top of his head to the broad shoulders he could have only earned in the gym. From there he tapered down to a flat stomach and lean hips. Mandy would be willing to bet her right ovary that the man was cut underneath that expensive suit.
He wasn’t wearing a costume, only a black mask that matched his perfectly tailored suit. Another man walked in behind him, he was blonde with a wide smile and knowing eyes.
The two of them were perfection and Mandy might have gone on staring if the dark-haired man hadn’t caught her gaze. A slow smile spread across his handsome features, and Mandy felt her insides melt.
Holy fuck!
Mandy quickly turned around the got back to what she was supposed to be doing—serving, not ogling the guests.
His eyes remained on her the entire night. She felt naked under his gaze, but rather than intimidating her. It made Mandy feel empowered—strong.
This wealthy handsome man wanted her, Mandy. He didn’t want the broken girl that she was in her real life. He wanted the attractive waitress that gave him shy smiles as her eyes raked over his incredible body.
It wasn’t surprising that as the party dwindled down, he approached her. Shay had ripped off her mask and was making out with the blonde man from before. It was obvious that Shay had drunk too much. They were told that the alcohol was for the guests, not the staff. But Shay often came home inebriated after work, so this wasn’t anything new.
When the dark-haired man had approached her at the hotel bar, Mandy had only hesitated for a second. But when she saw his kind smile and heated eyes, she was caught—hook, line, and sinker.
One drink at the bar turned into two and then a half dozen. By the time they stumbled up to his hotel room, she was tearing at her own clothes in-between trying to get him out of his.
The stranger was just as needy as Mandy, nearly ripping all of the buttons from his shirt as he wrenched it off. Tha
t first time they didn’t make it to the bed. He took her right against the door. The handle was pressing on her back as he sank inside of her.
Mandy had never felt so full, so whole, in her entire life.
The first time turned into two and then a third. And as he pounded into her from behind, balls deep and moaned, Mandy came for what seemed like the hundredth time.
He had begged her for her name the next morning. But Mandy knew that this had been a fairy tale. Men like him don’t stick with girls like her. So, she had merely kissed him with all of the pent-up emotion of what could have been and escaped into a taxi before the real world could taint their perfect night together.
TODAY
Tears streamed down Mandy’s cheeks as she stood in front of the same hotel from that fateful night.
The doorman seeing the pregnant women rushed out to greet her and ushered Mandy inside. She knew that she couldn’t afford to stay long. But, it was Christmas, and perhaps this small indulgence for only one night would be alright?
In the morning she would have to call Kim and her parents. Kim would be worried, and her parents would have to be told that she couldn’t give them any more money. Mandy didn’t want to think about that conversation. Nor, did she want to think about where she and the baby would go.
The doorman led her up to the least expensive room available and helped her with her bags. When Mandy tried to tip him, the man shook his head, “You look like you will need that more than I do.”
Mandy looked down at her swollen belly. More tears rushed to her eyes, “Thank you, Sir. Merry Christmas!”
The older gentleman nodded and gently closed the door.
In half an hour there was a knock at the door, room service had been ordered on the house for her.
She ate a few bites and then fell into a dreamless sleep.
CHAPTER 35
Elliot felt a panic like no other when he came home to find Mandy missing and Mrs. H in hysterics.
“I was cleaning up the supper dishes, Mr. Brand. That is the only time that I wasn’t with her. How could I have left that poor girl alone. She could be anywhere out there in the freezing cold.”
Elliot was doing everything in his power to remain calm. But all he could picture was her wandering the lonely city streets. He had been a fool to react so harshly. He knew that now. Everything about her spoke of survival, and that is what Mandy did, she survived.
She had lived through the most auspicious of upbringings. Mandy had endured living in poverty, getting fired from her job, moving back in with her abusive parents, gossiping co-workers, and an unplanned pregnancy.
All the hurt that he had been feeling about her keeping secrets from him washed away. He felt ten years older and at least ten more the wiser. She hadn’t kept the baby from him to manipulate anything. Mandy was protecting herself and her unborn child.
He was proud of her and what she had done with her life.
If he had any doubts as to how much he loved her before they were smashed to smithereens. How often had he wished that the baby really was his? Elliot knew that it was ridiculous to be jealous of something that had happened before he met her. But he had been jealous of the man that had been with her.
Elliot was jealous of himself.
“Who have you called?” Elliot took Mrs. H’s hand in his larger one. She seemed frailer than usual and her thin weathered hand shook in his.
“I called your cell phone and when you didn’t answer I called Nate’s. He said that they had just come from Mandy’s parents and she wasn’t there. Robert is out with one of the cars searching the streets. I have called every hospital in a thirty-mile radius. Mr. Brand I am so sorry that I lost her.”
Elliot shook his head and led her to a comfortable chair, “You are not to blame, Mrs. H, I am. I wasn’t thinking clearly. I should have stayed to talk about things instead of running off to try and gather my thoughts. I didn’t dream that she would leave, but it was stupid of me not to consider it. Mandy wouldn’t stay where she didn’t think she was wanted.”
Mrs. H nodded and then asked, “What about that Shay woman? Would she know where Mandy went?”
Elliot shrugged, “It’s possible, I don’t have her number, but Kim should. How long ago did you speak with them?”
Mrs. H was about to answer when there was a pounding on the door. Elliot raced over and wrenched it open. Nate and Kim stood there looking stricken.
“Have you heard from her?” Kim blurted out.
Elliot could hear the fear in her voice and it shook him to his core. “No, not yet. Is there any possible way that she could have gone to Shay’s?”
Kim wrinkled her brow, “I don’t think it is likely, but we can check.”
She pulled out her cell phone and dialed a number. After a moment someone answered, and Kim asked about her sister.
It was seconds before the conversation was over and Kim was scowling at her phone, “The bitch hung up on me.”
“Should we go over there and see if she’s there?” Nate suggested.
Elliot was grabbing his jacket, “That was just what I was thinking. Mrs. H would you please stay here and phone if there is any news?”
Mrs. H agreed and hurried them out the door. It was strange that Mandy had come to mean so much to her in such a short time. But Mrs. H, not being able to have children of her own, found a rather large piece of her heart being stolen by the slight woman who was so desperately in need of love and family.
ELLIOT RACED UP THE dank corridor of a fifth-floor walkup. He ignored the way it smelled of mildew and piss, something that as a child he had been used to. When he reached Emma’s apartment he pounded on the door, not caring about what the neighbors might think.
After a moment a latch was slid open and the door creaked as an eye peered out between the chain and the doorframe. He recognized Shay from his home.
“Where is she?” Elliot demanded.
Shay’s eyes widened, “Mandy’s not here.”
“Who is it?” a sultry female voice asked.
Shay turned her head to answer the other woman, “Nobody, Emma, just a friend of Mandy’s.”
Shay found herself being shoved to the side as the tall voluptuous woman removed the chain and posed for her guest. The negligee that Emma was wearing was hardly suitable for December.
Her nipples tightened against the cold and Emma’s lids lowered, “Hello there, handsome.”
Elliot wasn’t sure there had been a time in his life when he wanted to kill someone more than that moment. These women were no friends of Mandy’s.
Kim and Nate came huffing up the stairs and saw Emma striking her come and get me look. Nate grimaced and looked away. Kim walked right up to the door.
“Have you two skanks seen my sister?”
Emma’s eyes narrowed, “Lost the pregnant nun, have you?”
Kim wanted to re-evaluate her no violence policy, “Have you seen her or not?”
Shay opened the door wider so that she could be seen, “I haven’t seen her since the apartment.”
Kim ground her teeth, “Do you know that because of you she is out on the streets? What did my parents promise you, Shay? Oh, and I heard about how you and Andrew have been bumping uglies. Well, you are free to have him with my blessing.”
Shay looked a little ashamed, but that quickly morphed into something cold. “I can’t help it if you want my sloppy seconds.”
Kim lunged, and Nate grabbed her just in the nick of time.
“First off, Shay, you were a drunken mistake before I ever met Kim. I don’t even remember most of the night, so it couldn’t have been that fantastic. And second, the fact that you slept with her husband while they were married only makes you a whore. It says nothing about who Kim is,” Nate growled.
Emma dropped the come-hither look and grabbed the door, “She isn’t here, and she isn’t welcome. So, I guess we are done here.”
Elliot shoved a foot inside of the door before she could close it.
&
nbsp; “If either of you goes near Kim or Mandy I will destroy you.”
Shay gasped, “Are you actually threatening us?”
“No, sweetheart,” Kim spat from Nate’s arms, “That’s a promise.”
Elliot nodded, “You heard it from the lady.”
He moved his foot back and the door slammed in their faces. Nate let Kim go but held onto her hand as they started back down the five floors to the street.
“I just don’t know where she could be,” Kim’s voice warbled with emotion.
Elliot called to check in with Robert and Mrs. H. She hadn’t been found at the coffee shop, wandering the streets, or at the office.
Elliot wracked his brain for another place that could possibly mean something to her, and then it hit him.
“I’ve got to go!”
Nate frowned, “Do you know where she is?”
Elliot’s words trailed behind him as he ran to the car, “It’s a long shot, but I think she might be at the hotel where we first met.”
“I pray to God that she is,” Kim answered and watched as Elliot flew into his sports car and peeled out into the street.
CHAPTER 36
When someone knocked on the door the second time Mandy wondered what else the kind doorman could have sent up to her. She never dreamed that when she opened the door Elliot would be standing there.
His hair was crazier than she had ever seen it. Mandy could only assume that it was from him raking his hands through it out of frustration or fear. The look on his face when she opened the door was so raw and real that it felt like a punch to the gut.
She had figured that the next time she saw him she would have her shit together enough to handle a polite conversation. But there was nothing polite about the way his eyes raked over her. The possessive glint was far too prominent in his eyes, and the way he growled when yanking her to him was damn near perfection.
She didn’t want to cry, but the more she fought it the increasingly tender he was as he held her stroking her back. Elliot hadn’t chastised her or yelled, he hadn’t even spoken. His body needed the reassurance of hers next to him.