Page 10 of Creed

Even in the dark of night, I see his face blanch as he swallows, his throat bobbing nervously. Before he gets to answer, I hear shuffling behind me.

Oh, yeah. Jolene is still standing there, looking a little lost.

“You should go…”

“Jericha,” she finishes for me.

“Right, like I said.” I gesture to the door. She gives me an awkward smile and moves in like she’s going to kiss me, so I turn my head and offer my cheek. She makes a dejected noise but pecks it anyway before sauntering out of the shed.

I don’t do soft. I don’t do affection. Or romance, or anything of the sort. None of the girls in this Podunk town have ever appealed to me like that so I never bothered trying. I’m getting the fuck out of this town soon anyway, so starting anything would be a waste of time.

Once Jericha is out of sight, I turn my attention back to Asher as I exit the shed, closing the door behind me. I make my way down the path, Asher right on my heels, and Dani follows at his side.

“Fuck, man, I was with her at the bonfire making her s’mores and she was fine. She wanted to make her own and seemed distracted enough that I could…step away for a minute.” He says, his voice strained.

“Step away?” I turn to look at him as we approach the bonfire site and see the guilt marring his and his girlfriend’s faces. “You left your sister alone so you could get your fucking dick wet? It was your turn to watch her! What, you couldn’t fucking wait so you left your nine year old sister alone in the fucking woods?!” I question, fucking livid that he was thinking with his dick to ever think leaving her alone in these goddamned woods would ever be okay.

I mean, I let my dick steer me tonight, too, but fucking Christ, I at least made sure that Asher had eyes on Collins before I left her for my lack-luster bit of fun.

“The fuck are you getting mad at me for? You did the same fucking thing!”

Is he fucking serious right now? Deflecting motherfucker.

“She’s your sister, Ash!” I yell in his face. “And I made sure you had her before I ever left the bonfire!”

He huffs a defeated sigh, then hangs his head in shame at my shouting. Good.

I look over to Scott—Bear and Ayla’s adoptive brother who threw this party, who’s also just sitting in an old lawn chair watching the whole debacle. “Scotty, did you see which way Collins went?”

“The kid?” He asks and we nod, but he shakes his head, “Nah, man. The fire was empty when Bear and I got here. We did hear commotion in the woods a while ago and he went to check it out. He hasn’t been back since.”

Without another word Asher, Dani and I take off, calling for Collins along the path back to the house.

“Collins!” I yell out, Asher doing the same.

We walk the paths a few more minutes before we split off to look in different areas. Asher heads toward the guest house, Dani to the front yard, and I head for the main house.

I pull out my phone to see if anyone’s tried to contact me about her.

No signal.

Shit.

“Ash, has anyone tried calling you?” I ask as we emerge from the woods, picking up the pace to get to the house.

He pulls his phone from his pocket and shakes his head. “Nothing, I’ve got no service out here, so I’ll have no clue if someone tried to call me until I get service.”

“Why the fuck did we even bring her?” The question is meant more for myself and I don’t think Asher even heard me with how far ahead he’s jogging. We should’ve left her at home with a phone to fucking dial 9-11 if there was an emergency.

Having to drag her everywhere is such a fucking inconvenience.

I nearly stop in my tracks at the horrible thought that just materialized in my brain. My stomach twists and I feel like a piece of shit for even thinking it.

Collins is the sweetest little kid and I’ve never once thought of her as a burden or an inconvenience. It’s not her fault that she’s got garbage for parents and it’s certainly not her fault that we have to take her with us on occasion when we go places. That girl would sooner suffer alone than to make anyone feel obligated to care for her.

If anyone is to blame tonight, it’s Asher and his fucking asinine plan to drag Collins to this rager of a party tonight. I knew it was a fucking horrible idea to bring Collins here, and he pushed to do it anyway. Asher was so desperate to sleep with Dani tonight that he was thinking with his dick instead of his brain and now she’s fucking lost somewhere and we can’t find her.

Fuck!

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