by Nikki Ash
“Hey Marco, want to head to the park to go skateboarding?” I need to get out of here and get some fresh air.
“Yes!” he yells running to his room to get his skateboard.
“Make sure you brush your teeth after you get dressed!” I yell down the hallway. I sip on my coffee and think of how to approach this conversation. I don’t want to fight with Caleb. We have never fought before. I want him to open up and talk to me.
“Do you want to come with?” I ask Caleb after a few minutes of silence.
“I can’t. I have some apartments I need to look at.” He says it quietly so Marco can’t hear but do you know any kids who don’t have super hero hearing?
“Why are you going to look at apartments?” Marco asks coming around the corner dressed and with his skateboard in his hand.
“Marco, I think we should talk,” Caleb says solemnly.
“When I moved in here with Hayley and you it was never to be forever. I was hurt and couldn’t walk up the stairs. But I am better now so I have to find my own place.”
Huh. That’s ironic considering he told me he was mine and wasn’t going anywhere, ever. I guess ever was a lot shorter than I thought.
Marco looks absolutely crushed and for the first time I understand what parents mean when they say they want to shelter their children from all possibilities of being hurt. “You don’t want to live with us?”
I know I should jump in and help Caleb but I feel the same way as Marco.
“It’s not that… this isn’t my home. This is your home and Hayley’s home.”
“But you said you were together… Plus,” Marco adds without waiting for an answer, “Hayley has been really scared about the people leaving the threats. You can’t leave us. Please.”
Oh damn… how will Caleb react to that? I keep my mouth shut. Caleb looks at me begging for help and I just raise my eyebrows in defiance. He is choosing this not me. I am certainly not going to help him push us away and run.
He sighs. “How about I look at a couple apartments but I will wait to move until I know you both are safe? I will wait to move until after the trials are over.”
Marco doesn’t seem satisfied by the answer but nods his head ok. Caleb gives him a hug goodbye and leaves without saying a word to me. Something in me snaps and I send him a text without thinking too hard about it.
Me: If you want to be a coward and leave… fine! But you are choosing this. I don’t even know what I did wrong… I deserve better than this.
A few minutes later I get a text back.
Caleb: You do deserve better. I’m sorry.
He’s sorry? Seriously? That’s all he has to say… well fuck him then! I am not going to get run all over because of his past while he doesn’t even give me a chance to be there for him.
Caleb
I look at three different apartments and every single one I compare to Hayley’s home. None of them feel right. Sure they are nice as hell; the money my dad left me means I can pretty much rent or buy anywhere I want. The apartments I looked at have enough square footage to fit Hayley’s house inside the kitchen alone. They have state-of-the art appliances, and one of them even comes furnished. No, the problem isn’t the apartments themselves. The problem is none of them include Hayley and Marco. There’s not a single item money could buy that would compare to what it feels like being with Hayley and Marco. If only it was that easy.
Now I am at the bar drinking away my sorrows that I have created myself.
“Another one?” the bartender asks giving me a wink letting me know if I wanted to I could take her into a bathroom and fuck her right there on the sink. The thought makes me feel sick. The only woman I want touching me is Hayley.
“No thank you. Just a water please.”
“Sure thing,” she says with another flirtatious wink.
I don’t even know how long I sit at the bar thinking but my mind goes to the last couple months and how happy Hayley has made me. I realize for the last seven years I have been doing nothing more than simply surviving. But the day Hayley brought me to her house I finally started living. And what do I do when shit gets rough? I push her away; when the truth is I should have pulled her closer. I should have explained to her how I have been feeling. I am so hell bent on trust being so important yet I didn’t even give Hayley a chance to prove I could trust her. I tell her I would love to have a baby with her yet I haven’t even told her how much I love her, how much she means to me. I want to adopt Marco and instead of asking her to marry me so we can do it together, I get upset and run away. I look around the bar and wonder what the hell I am doing here when every single solution to my problems lies within two people and both of them are at home.
When I arrive at the house I notice Hayley’s car isn’t in the driveway. I look at my cellphone and see it is after two in the morning. Where the hell could she be at this time of the night…well, morning…
I unlock the door and walk through the entire house. Nobody is here. The lights are all off and the beds are still made from this morning. I pull out my cellphone again and pull up the tracking app I set up for Hayley months ago. It shows about an hour ago she was in Marco’s old neighborhood. I hit update but it says her phone is offline. I try again but it doesn’t update. Why the hell is she in that shitty neighborhood?
I dial her number, my hands shaking. I have the worst feeling in my gut but I am refusing to think it out loud. Her phone goes to voicemail and I start to freak out.
I pull back up the app and click Marco’s name. It shows he is here in the house. I run to his room and see his phone sitting on the end table of his room. Fuck!
I try Hayley’s number once more but it goes to voicemail. I send a group text to all the guys asking any of them if they have seen or heard from Hayley. I know she went to the park with Marco today but she should have been home by now. I call the number on the card to speak to the detective in charge of my case.
“Detective Bradley, this is Caleb. Hayley and Marco are both missing. I don’t think it’s a coincidence she received several threats and now I can’t find them. Hayley’s phone last showed her in Marco’s old neighborhood before it was turned off.”
“Ok, Caleb. We will head over there now to check things out.”
“Thank you, sir.”
I know I should sit and wait for the police to see what they can find but I can’t sit and do nothing. I grab the gun from the lock box I purchased shortly after almost being killed. After I got approved for my concealed weapons permit I purchased a Smith & Wesson .40. I keep it locked up and out of Marco’s reach with the ammunition separate but it makes me feel better knowing I am prepared in case anything happens, especially with Hayley feeling like she’s being watched and all the threats we have received. I put the gun into the front of my pants and grab my keys, jump into my truck and head to Marco’s old neighborhood. If the app is correct she was last somewhere around the industrial building near where I saw Marco meet Hector and Santos to exchange money that day I was following him.
I don’t even want to think about the possibilities of what Marco and Hayley could be going through right now. I am praying this is all a misunderstanding and they are safely at one of our friend’s houses but I would rather expect the worst and hope for the best. While I am driving I get several texts from our friends and her family saying they haven’t seen or heard from her. Hannah texts saying Hayley posted a picture of Marco skateboarding earlier at the skate park. I forward it to the detective remembering I didn’t mention the park during our conversation. Then I text Cooper, Bentley, and Kaden telling them I think Hayley and Marco were taken.
I get to the neighborhood and drive around looking for anything suspicious. I don’t see Hayley’s car anywhere. I drive by Marco’s old house and it’s vacant. I get out and walk around the house but it’s empty. I feel my phone buzz and see a text from the detective.
Detective Bradley: Officer found her car abandoned at the skate park earlier and reported it.
/> Fuck! There’s no way she would have just left her car there.
Me: Hector and Santos had to have taken her!
Detective Bradley: Meet me at your house. Don’t do anything stupid.
I want to keep searching for Hayley but I know driving around isn’t going to get me anywhere. I need to be smart about this. If it was Hector and Santos who took Marco and her it’s because they want something. I head back home and when I get there the detective is there along with his partner. I think his name is David.
We walk into the house and as I sit down on the couch to get down to business, David is bent over in the doorway. “Did you see this?”
I get up from the couch and grab what he’s holding. It’s a photo of Hayley and Marco both tied up and looking scared. Hayley looks to have a large bruise on her face. I flip it over and on the back is a note.
I warned you over and over again but you didn’t listen. Maybe now you will listen. One million in cash dropped off to the park under the bench where the car is parked by 10 a.m. or they will be killed.
“What the fuck! How did I not see this shit before when I came home?” It was dark that’s why I didn’t see it and I wasn’t looking on the ground for fucking clues.
“Fuck! Since I didn’t drop the charges they want money… and I am what? Supposed to sit here for eight fucking hours and wait to drop off the money and hope they are ok?”
“No, you aren’t,” Bradley says. He is making calls and trying to get Intel on the guys. I feel so fucking useless. I don’t even know where to start looking. This is entirely my fault! If I hadn’t left Hayley to go look at apartments I would have been with them at the park and this never would have happened. It doesn’t go over my head every time she received a threat she was alone. I should have taken the threats more seriously. I should have insisted the police do something more. I kept thinking the trial would come around and these guys would be locked up with the other two that didn’t get out on bail. I shouldn’t have let my guard down. Now Hayley and Marco are God knows where scared and possibly hurt.
“What do we do?”
“We are having a couple officers go to Hector’s and Santos’ houses to check things out. We are also having the tech department pull up the cameras at the park from earlier today. Unfortunately other than a few anonymous threats since the graffiti on her car, there hasn’t been much to go off of.
“I can’t just sit here. The tracker showed her near the industrial building. I need to go there and check it out.”
The front door swings open and I pray it’s Hayley and Marco but it’s not. It’s Bentley, Cooper, and Kaden.
“What the fuck is going on?” Bentley asks.
“They were taken?” Cooper asks.
“Yeah.” I show them the picture.
“So what the hell are we doing here? We need to go find them,” Kaden growls out.
This is why these guys are my best friends. They would do anything for me as well as the ones I love.
“We are having forensics take the picture. We are hoping they can pinpoint a location the photo was printed at or taken from,” the detective states taking the photo from me and handing it to someone on his team.
“A million? We can give the guys that and they must know if they hurt them they won’t get their money,” Bentley says.
“Yeah well I am not sitting and waiting seven more hours to find out.” I grab my keys and head out to my truck.
“Wait, you aren’t going without us,” Kaden says. All three guys jump into my truck.
“Ok but I am the only one with a gun so let me handle it, please. I can’t have anyone hurt because of me.”
“We got your back,” Cooper says, holding up a gun similar to mine and so do the other two. How the hell did I not know they all have guns?
Detective Bradley: I can’t stop you but if you find them please call for backup. Don’t go in on your own.
I don’t bother texting back. I don’t want to have to lie to a cop, and there’s no way I am going to find my girl and kid and sit around and wait for him to get there.
We are driving around the neighborhood for about thirty minutes and I am getting frustrated as fuck having no clue where Hayley can be when I see the same expensive vehicle I have spotted several times now.
“That’s the car,” I point out. “Hayley and I have seen this car parked near us several times.”
I park my truck and quickly text the detective sending him a live location of where we are.
I take my gun out and take the safety off; the guys do the same thing.
We all walk up along the side of the building. It’s the same warehouse Marco met the guys at but around back. The only way to get to the door is a small alleyway. If it weren’t for the car being parked here I would have completely overlooked it. We stop at the vehicle and look inside. Nobody is in there but on the floor of the car I can see Hayley’s phone. She has to be close by. When I feel the hood it’s cold telling me it’s been parked here for awhile.
I hear soft footsteps coming up behind us and I turn and point my gun ready to shoot anybody that is a threat. It’s the detective and several other officers. The detective puts his fingers to his lips and I nod. We walk toward the door of the building when I hear a woman scream so loud it send chills down my spine. I know I should wait for the detective to give some kind of orders but I don’t. I try to open the door but it won’t open, so I step back and shoot the lock out.
When the door flies open the scene in front of me is one I will never forget for as long as I live.
Chapter Fifteen
Hayley
Nine hours earlier…
“Oh my goodness! Marco! You are like a skateboarding God! Who taught you to skateboard like this?” I am watching Marco do ridiculously cool tricks using his skateboard and I am absolutely amazed. The kid is so talented!
“I used to skateboard here all the time before Cooper started the MMA classes, and usually after the classes I would come here to practice, plus my friends and I practice at school during gym.”
I pull out my phone and switch it to live to record him doing his tricks and then post it to Facebook. It’s a beautiful day here and getting out helped take my mind off Caleb and the fact that while I am here with Marco, he is off looking at apartments.
A little while later Marco comes over to me and sits down.
“Umm… so I have a question,” he says nervously.
“What’s up?”
“Your parents said I can call them Nana and Pop; those are nicknames for grandparents. Right?”
“Yes,” I say pretty sure where this is going but scared if it’s not going in the direction I think it is I will be heartbroken.
“And if they are my grandparents, it’s like you are my mom. Right?”
“Well I would definitely be honored to be your mom if that’s what you are asking. I know you already have a mom so I think that would be up to you.”
“My mom wasn’t a good mom. I’m old enough to know that.”
“She wasn’t perfect but she loved you the best she could.” I seriously hope I am not botching this entire conversation. I probably should have looked up the right things to say. I am already messing up this whole parenting thing and it’s not even official yet.
“What if I wanted to call you mom?” My heart tightens in my chest at his words.
“Then you would make me the happiest woman in the entire world… But only on one condition.”
“What’s that?” he asks nervous again.
“I can call you my son.”
“That would be awesome. Do you think Caleb would let me call him Dad?”
The heart constricts at the idea of Caleb and I being parents to Marco. He has been close to Marco for so long I could never keep that title from him, even if he doesn’t want to marry me and formally adopt Marco.
“That is something you would have to ask Caleb but I am pretty sure he would be honored. He loves you almost as much as I do,”
I say with a playful wink.
Marco laughs.
“Speaking of new names. I have some good news. The adoption went through and on Friday we will be going before the judge to make it official. You’re legally mine, kid.” I reach over and give him a hug and he hugs me back. “I love you, mom.”
I choke up but compose myself quickly. “I love you too, sweetie.”
Marco runs back to the ramps to skateboard some more. I want to text Caleb to tell him about this conversation but don’t want to bother him while he is apartment hunting. He needs his space. If he needed or wanted me he would be here with us. I can’t make someone try.
I look at the time and see it’s almost dinnertime and since it’s a school night we need to get home to eat and get ready for tomorrow.
“C’mon Marco, let’s go.”
“Coming, Mom!” he yells. He has no idea what the significance of those three little letters mean to me. All I can do is make sure I do everything in my power to earn the title that precious little boy has given me.
I hit the button to pop open my trunk. Marco takes his pads off his elbows and knees and then takes the helmet off throwing it all into the trunk slamming it closed when he’s done. I hit the key fob to unlock the doors and just as we are about to get in hands come around me, one hand covering my mouth. I try to scream but it’s muffled. I am then blindfolded and handcuffed with my hands behind by back and then thrown into the back of a vehicle where I can hear Marco screaming so I know he is with me.
“Cållate,” I hear a man scream out. Marco immediately stops screaming. I shift my body so I am touching Marco’s body with mine letting him know I am here with him.
The guys talk minimally in Spanish and a few minutes later the car comes to a stop. Since I am blindfolded I have no idea where I am. Then I remember I have my cell phone in my back pocket. Without being able to see I try to unlock it and dial whatever number comes up first. But before I can even unlock it, the phone is smacked out of my hand and I hear it crack like it is being stomped on.