Chapter 31—If Only

~~Axel~~

We’d miscalculated. Gravely miscalculated. Jock, Geneva, and I had assumed Bria would focus on one of us. We’d never expected her to take off with her daughter.

Jock was beside himself, worried sick about Teagan. She was in danger, and we all knew it, even as we pretended everything would be okay.

It’d been forty-eight hours since anyone had heard from either of them. We found Teagan’s phone in her bedroom. Either she’d forgotten it or her mother had requested she leave it home.

I managed a few hours of fitful sleep the last two nights. My dreams were disturbing and not restful despite Geneva’s comforting presence, but the one that woke me up was deeply disturbing. In my dream, Bria and I were in a dark forest. Teagan was a few feet away. With an insane laugh, Bria lifted a gun to her daughter’s head. The bang was deafening, and gunpowder filled my nostrils, almost choking me.

I jerked awake. Sitting up, I attempted to get control of my shaking. I was breathing hard. My body was in a cold sweat despite the warmth of the bedroom. The dream seemed so real, and before I was fully awake, I desperately surveyed the room for a body.

Geneva stirred and rose. “Axel, what’s wrong?” She was alarmed, and I didn’t blame her. I probably resembled someone having a heart attack or something.

“Bad dream.” I pulled her close and breathed in the scent of her hair, finding solace in her arms.

“Would it help to tell me about it?”

“I just want you to hold me. I don’t want to talk.”

She held me tight, no questions asked. My heart beat wildly, and I sought to gain control of myself. I had to be strong for Jock and Geneva.

I had to be. Right now, she was my rock, and maybe that was what being a couple was all about. One was strong when the other was weak.

We lay wrapped together until my breathing and heart rate returned to normal. Geneva drifted off again, and I didn’t want to wake her, but there wasn’t any way I was sleeping.

Extracting myself from Geneva’s arms, I let her sleep. I took a shower and dressed in the same clothes I wore yesterday. I’d call Steele to bring over a change of clothes later. I walked in bare feet to the kitchen.

Eunice was already making breakfast. Jock sat at the counter and looked worse than shit. He still wore the clothes he’d had on two days ago. His hair stood up on end, reminding me of a cartoon character who’d stuck a finger in a light socket. His eyes were bloodshot, but it was the emptiness in them that scared the shit out of me. He was a defeated man. If he’d slept any, it’d most likely taken place on the couch, where a blanket and pillow were stacked haphazardly.

They’d called in an FBI agent to assist in case she’d gone over state lines, and he was talking on a phone when I appeared.