Page 60 of Home Ice

"Chloe?"

"Lily? I need help."

CHAPTER 40

TEAM

BRANT

"I'm going to murder them. No. If they did anything to that girl, I am going to make them fucking wish I would murder them." My thoughts fill with scenes from every testosterone-driven revenge film I've ever seen. I try to remember the most creative ways of hurting someone. None of them are enough if these assholes did anything to Chloe.

But it's not an if. I know they did something. I knew as soon as I saw Lily's face when she answered the phone. The way her eyes went wide and all the color vanished from her face. Before Lily said a word to me, I had my car keys and Silver's leash. I knew we were going to get that girl, no matter where she is.

Her own fucking parents? I don't care what a child does. She should only ever feel unconditional love from her parents. Never this.

"They are so fucking dead."

"Brant?" Lily puts her hand over mine. I look down and see how white my fists are from strangling the steering wheel, so I make myself ease up and take a breath. When I look over at her in the passenger seat of my SUV, I try to smile. But the muscles of my face don't move. I know the look I'm giving her. I've seen it on game film from the time I was a teenager. It's the look I get when I decide to single-handedly save a game. Or, apparently, save a teenage girl who never did anything to anyone.

Lily raises her eyebrows, as if she's asking if I'm okay. Asking if I'm able to control myself. I nod.

"Chloe, honey? I'm putting you on speaker to rest my hand, if that's okay. It's just me and Brant and Silver." After a second, Lily pulls the phone away from her ear. She points at me, and mouths behave. I give one quick nod and then turn back to the road. This section of US-6 is pretty straight, and my car has a hands-free driving mode, but it's already flashing its angry alert at me because it knows my eyes aren't on the road.

"Hey, Chloe." I don't know what to do, so I try to sound upbeat. Like this is a normal conversation we might have on any day. Not one while we're two hours into a three-hour trip at one-thirty in the morning to rescue her from her abusive fucking parents.

"Hey." Her voice is so weak and raspy that I try to crush the steering wheel again. I bite down on my lower lip, hard, and press on the accelerator. There's no way I'm making this girl wait another hour before we get to her.

We pull up to the location she gave us after just thirty-five more minutes. It's literally the middle of nowhere, and I can't see anything except wire fence separating the field from the road. She gave us the exact coordinates, so I know this is the right spot. Before tonight, I didn't even know phones could do that. I'll have Chloe show me how to do it. Some other time. When things are settled. Right now, the only thing on my mind is finding her, and every fraction of a second that goes by without seeing that blonde hair of hers makes my breaths grow more shallow.

"Stop!" Lily throws her hand out in front of me and then points to the left side of the road. "Chloe," she says to the girl on the other end of the phone, "that's us. We're the ones in the SUV that's bigger than a bus. Are you able to come out?"

"Yeah." As she says it, I see a slight movement behind a bush about a hundred feet from the side of the road. A head nodding. If I hadn't been looking right there, I never would have seen it. Even now, staring as she slings her backpack over her shoulder, I wouldn't recognize her. After a few steps, I realize why.

Lily must notice it at the same time I do, because I hear her draw in a shaky breath, and then she throws her door open and darts out to the field. They get to the barbed wire fence at the same time. Lily looks confused about what to do, but Chloe just lifts one boot onto the middle run of wire and climbs it like she's been doing it her whole life. Maybe growing up in this area, she has.

When they get back to the SUV, I'm standing outside with the backdoor open. Silver's leash is wrapped tight around my fist to keep him from darting out of the car. From the time we slowed down, it was like he knew she was close. He raced from left to right looking for her, and now that she's here, he'll throw himself at her if I let go.

"Hey, girl. We missed you." I don't even think. I put my hand on her head to playfully ruffle her hair, but there's nothing there now other than stubble. Even in this dark, I see the watery reflection in her eyes when she looks up at me. "Get buckled up," I tell her, cutting her off before she tries to say anything. I'm not sure if she could without crying. And I sure as fuck know I can't handle seeing her cry. Not without finding out which of these scattered houses on the side of the hills belongs to her parents.

When she and Lily are both in the backseat, I give one last look around, almost hoping some redneck bigot is coming our way. But there's no one. So I climb behind the steering wheel. In the backseat, Silver is dancing. He spins and jumps until Chloe puts her hand on the side of his neck, but she doesn't pet him. It looks like moving her arm would take more energy than she has right now. He must understand because he lies down against her, resting his head on her lap as I turn around to go back to the highway.

On the way home, I watch Lily and Chloe in the rearview mirror more than I watch the road. They're drawn tight with their arms wrapped around each other. Both of their cheeks are gleaming from tears, but neither of them says a word. Possessiveness sweeps over me as I look at them. They're my girls, and I will do anything to protect them.

When I look in the mirror again, I catch Chloe's eyes on me. She flinches, but she doesn't look away. Neither do I. Lily's head is resting on Chloe's shoulder. I'm not sure if she's asleep, so I try to communicate silently with Chloe. I try to tell her that she's loved. That she can always count on us. That she did the right thing by calling Lily tonight. That we'll go however far we have to go anytime she needs us. But damn, it's hard to say all that with a look, and when I see the tears building in her eyes, I know I'm doing fuck-all to make her feel better.

"I'm so sorry."

Fuck.

I check for traffic behind me, and then pull over to the shoulder of the road. If Lily was asleep, the slowing of the car and the roar of my tires passing over the rumble strip at the side of the road wake her. I'm sorry for it, but this isn't something I'm going to do at seventy miles-per-hour. When I stop, I turn around. Chloe is chewing her lower lip now like she's scared of what I might say, so I don't say anything at first. I just hold out my hand. She looks at it and then back at my face, like she's not sure what she should do. "Let me have your hand."

She looks down again, but then rests her hand on mine. Her nails look so plain. Every time I saw her in Salt Lake, her nails were painted. Always bright colors. Always perfect for her. This doesn't seem like her at all now.

"I'm never going to tell you how to feel, but I am going to tell you I'm not sorry. I'm not sorry you called Lily when you needed her. And I'm not sorry I drove all this way to get you. I'm sorry that you had to call anyone for help, but I'm glad you were brave enough to call us when you needed us."

Lily puts her hand on top of ours, and something in my chest swells. It's a simple act that players do at every level. Everyone puts a hand in to show that you're more than just yourself. You're a team.

"I never fought back. I didn't even try." Chloe's voice is little more than a whisper. "They promised things would be different, and it kind of was at first. We fought about my hair, but they let me keep it. Down to my shoulders. A compromise. And for a couple of weeks, they didn't say anything. But then Mom started criticizing little things. The way I sat. Or walked. The clear nail polish I wore. And that would get Dad going. And he doesn't stop once he starts."

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