Page 11 of Creed

She’s not my sister but I feel just as protective of her as her brother. Though right now he’s on my shit list for the way he left her alone.

I turn just a few feet from the house and stare at the expanse of the back yard, scanning for any signs of her little blue jacket standing against the moonlight.

“Stardust, you out here?” I call into the darkness. I listen for a response, but I don’t hear anything other than the distant sound of the residual partiers and the thump of music coming from inside the house. Nausea roils my stomach at the thought of her being scared and alone.

Heading inside the house through the basement I scan the room for her but it’s hard to tell with the dim lighting. “Collins!” I call out over the music.

I walk up to a group of guys sitting on a couch, each with a water bottle in their hands. I figure they’ll be the most sober enough to answer questions without giving some form of drunken response. I run a hand down my face as I approach them and ask if they’d seen her. I don’t bother giving a description because she’s the only fucking kid here at the party. They all shake their heads but one of the guys said they hadn’t been sitting there long enough to know if a kid had walked by at some point, but he’ll keep an eye out for her if she comes through.

Doesn’t make me feel better though. I grip my hair before shoving my way through the intoxicated partiers basement and get to the stairs. I take them two at a time, calling out for Collins the whole time.

Guilt starts to course through me that I can’t find her. I should have stayed with her. Her sweet soul is too fucking innocent and kind to be left alone like this. Her own fucking mother and father don’t give two shits about her well-being, so all she has is Asher to raise her, and basically me, too, with as much as I’m around them.

“Stardust? You up here?” I yell as I round the top of the stairs. Still no sign of her and I’m officially fuckin’ panicking. My heart starts pounding and all I can hear for a moment is my own pulse whooshing in my ears.

Where are you, kid?

I feel sick as I picture her big green eyes full of fear, frantically getting more and more lost somewhere on the property as she scrambles to find her way back to us. I shove the horrid visual out of my mind as I move as quickly as I can throughout the main level, checking each of the rooms and finding nothing. I curse and pull out my cellphone to call Asher.

“You find her?” he asks breathlessly when he answers.

“Fuck. No, I only just got cell service again, and I’m about to check the upstairs but no one should be up there. Have you seen Barrett or Ayla? Have they seen her?”

“No, I haven’t seen them, and Dani just came back from the front yard and she wasn’t out there either.”

“Okay, let me check the top floor, it’s the last place before I call the fucking police.”

Asher is quiet before he murmurs, “Okay.”

“She shouldn’t have been here in the first place, Ash. We shouldn’t have been here with her. We should have fucking stayed home.”

“I fucking know, Creed. I. Fucking. Know.” I can hear the pain and regret in his voice, but I’m still fucking pissed at him for making shitty decisions when it comes to his sister.

As soon as I hang up, I head for the stairs. I’m halfway up the flight when I hear the sound of a guitar strumming a familiar tune. As soon as recognition of the song hits, a soft, raspy child’s voice floats to my ears.

I know that little voice.

Relief floods my body as I rush the remaining steps, taking two at a time, following the sound until I’m led to the last door at the end of the hall with a decorative plaque that has Ayla’s name on it.

“Stardust—” I call out as I fling the door open and rush in. My words are cut off and I stop in my tracks when I take in the scene before me.

Barrett sits on the end of Ayla’s bed playing a familiar David Bowie song on his Gretsch while Ayla sits in the window nook with the little form of Collins tucked into her side. She’s singing the song word for word, but when her eyes lock onto mine, she stops. Her bottom lip wobbles and her eyes well with tears as she sits up and practically throws herself off the ledge and runs straight to me.

Before I get the chance to crouch down and scoop her up or even say another word, Asher rounds the corner into Ayla’s room, colliding with my back. I stumble forward half a step but quickly recompose myself. The effort isn’t worth dick when he practically shoves me to the side to get to his sister.

“Collins, God, there you are, Bug.” Asher breathes a sigh of relief as he rushes around me to her, scooping up her little form into his arms and squeezes her tightly to his chest. “You scared me! Why the hell would you wander off like that? You fucking scared me to death. You can’t do that.” He scolds her and it instantly pisses me off.

I’m shocked and appalled that this is what he chose to say to her now that he’s found her, when it’s his fucking fault that she felt the need to wander off in the first place. I want to snap at Asher, to tell him to stop being a prick to his sister, but I know Collins doesn’t handle yelling or confrontation well, so I begrudgingly bite my tongue and opt to shove Asher’s back with my boot to silently let him know he’s being a dick.

He staggers before falling back onto his ass and hugs Collins tight, rocking her back and forth and whispering in her ear.

Fucker better be apologizing to her.

But my anger is quickly replaced by some other really uncomfortable emotion when she pulls back and looks up between me and Ash with the biggest, saddest jade eyes I’ve ever seen. My heart cracks at the lingering fear festering behind her eyes. The confusion at why she’s being admonished by her brother. The guilt of being the cause of Asher’s anger.

Her bottom lip wobbles again and a broken squeak of a sob escapes her throat. She slaps a hand over her mouth like she’s trying to hide or take back the sound, but that one sound is all it takes for all of the anger Asher was feeling in that moment to disappear completely. I watch as she wraps herself around him, clinging to him like a lifeline while she buries her face in his neck and fully cries.

Her little hands grip his t-shirt so tight that her knuckles turn white. Asher shushes her as he sways side to side and pats down her hair that is now pulled back into a short braid.

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