Startled by the sound of her father’s voice, I whirled toward the living room. What was he doing here? A second later, a bear of a man came through the door. Syd’s father had scared me shitless as a kid. Mr. Bell was the kind of man who shopped at the Big-and-Tall section and could give someone a look that made most guys want to run for the hills. He drew up short, midway through yanking off his wool gloves, when he saw his daughter. A look of horror flashed across his face, and then his cheeks went red with anger.

His gaze moved from his daughter to me, and I wanted to crawl into a fucking hole. I was a big, motherfucking letdown. I’d let his daughter get hurt. I couldn’t be more of a fuck-up than that.

A second later, a smaller figure darted around Mr. Bell. Syd’s mom looked like a child standing next to her husband. Syd’s “vertical challenge” was all from her mom, as were the thick, dark hair and heart-shaped face. The startling blue eyes were her father’s, though.

“Baby,” Mrs. Bell cried out, nearly knocking an officer over in her rush to get to her daughter. “Oh, my God, what happened? Look at you. What happened?”

Syd broke away from the cop and met her mom halfway, throwing her arms around her.

“Kyler.”

The sound of my name was like dropping steel down my spine. I turned to her father and, in that short period of time, Sydney and her mother were gone.

Mr. Bell took a step forward, and he was one of the few men in this world who made me feel about an inch tall. “What in the hell happened to my daughter?”

Chapter 21

Sydney

Being home was a relief, standing in my heated old bedroom, surrounded by all my things from childhood straight up to my teen years. But I’d been in this funk since we’d arrived in Hagerstown three days ago.

I needed to get peppy or something. Christmas Eve was in two days, and it’d always been my favorite holiday—the food, the family, the presents—everything about it.

Meh.