“Oh my God,” I gasp.
“Whoa.” Derek lays a hand on my arm. “You okay?” I just stare at him, I can’t find the words, I’m not sure I have any words at the moment; my brain is still trying to process what I think it’s pieced together. “Hey, Peyton, what is it?” He lightly shakes my arm, bringing me out of my trance.
“Nothing, sorry, it’s nothing. I’m fine.”
“You sure you’re okay?” he asks again, a concerned look on his face. I smile at him, he’s one of the good ones.
“Honestly, I’m fine. I’ll be back as soon as we’ve swapped details. He can’t have done too much damage, right?” I laugh. “It’s a parking lot, everyone’s pretty much stationary.” I leave the room quickly, before he can question me further, question me on something I still can’t quite believe.
I walk out into the afternoon air and head towards the corner where I parked, I see him straight away, he’s a little taller than me, lean, almost skinny with sandy hair and wire framed glasses.
“Hi,” I say as I approach. “I’m Peyton, I understand we’ve had a bit of an accident.” He doesn’t speak for a few seconds, just stares at me, a strange look on his face. “You okay?” I ask. “Did you hurt yourself at all?” My eyes scan his body for any visible injury, but I don’t see anything obvious.
“Forgive me,” he says, “I wasn’t expecting someone so attractive.” I just smile awkwardly at him.Please don’t make this uncomfortable.“The damage is round here.” He leads me to the passenger side of my car.How did he damage there?A tingle of awareness runs up my spine, but before I can act on it, he’s on me.
“Get in the car,” he whispers as something sharp prods into my side. “Get in nice and carefully, I don’t want to have to hurt you.” I click the unlock button on my keys and open the passenger door, I take a quick look around, but there’s nobody here to help. There’s a few people nearer the hospital doors. If I shouted loud enough they would hear me, but they wouldn’t get here before he’d have a chance to use the knife currently pressed into my side.
“I wouldn’t if I were you,” he snarls menacingly. “I will kill anyone that tries to stop me.”Oh God.My hands tremble as I lower into the seat, I feel a prick in my neck and quickly turn to see him pulling a needle out of me.
My last thoughts are of Bennett before everything goes dark.
Chapter Thirty
Bennett
At least I’m not covered in blood this time; not that it’s anything she hasn’t seen before or something I have to try to hide anymore. Still, it’s not something I want to flaunt in front of her face either. But tonight was just following him, checking to see if I was right, if he’s the one I need. He is; they always are.
I stop by High Tides to change and pack a bag of clothes. I know she won’t be here, it doesn’t stop me from hoping, though. A hope that is soon dashed the minute I pull up the empty drive.Little brat, will she ever do what I ask?
I’m in and out within a matter of minutes and back in my car driving the five minutes to her place; desperate to see her. Yes, I’m a needy fucker when it comes to her.
“Where the fuck is she?” I mutter to myself as I pull up outside hers to find her car missing.
I use my key to let myself into her place, a key I had cut for me without her knowledge. Little D comes charging up to me meowing like he hasn’t seen anyone for too long, confirming what I already suspected. Peyton hasn’t been home.
I fish my phone out of my pocket and dial her number, it rings several times before going to voicemail. I hit redial as my gut begins to tighten with worry; is she still at work? She should have been back hours ago.
I make my way into the kitchen to feed Little D as my second call goes to voicemail. While he’s munching away on his awful smelling food I search for the number for the ER. My call is answered on the third ring with an abrupt ‘yep’, I guess they don’t get many external calls.
“Hi. My name’s Bennett, I’m Peyton Lawson’s partner.” There’s no way I’m calling myself her boyfriend, that shit is for kids. “Could you tell me if she’s still there? I expected her back hours ago, and I’m getting worried.”
“Oh, God no, you haven’t heard from her either?” My blood runs cold as her words register. “We’ve been trying to get hold of her since she went to check her car after the accident. She never came back.”
“What accident? When did this happen? Christ, how long has she been gone?”What the fuck is going on?I got Barclay, there is no threat to her, so where the fuck is she?
“Let me get Derek for you, he’s still on shift and he’s been worried sick.” She places me on hold, every second that ticks by is torture.
“Derek speaking.”
“Derek, it’s Bennett Miller, I’m Peyton’s partner.”
“Justine has just told me that Peyton’s not with you.”
“No, she’s not home and she’s not answering her phone.”
“Shit,” he mutters under his breath. “I knew something wasn’t right.”
“Derek, I need you to tell me everything.”
