Page 111 of Hey, Daddy

His hands separated, and he showed me two wires. “If I touch you with this, it’ll stop your heart.”

Fear slid through me, thick and viscous.

I didn’t have the feeling that I was getting out of this alive, and even worse, Haze and Shasha would find me, but only after I was no longer here to be saved.

No matter what, always try to help people. Instead of saying “fuck off” say “how can I help you fuck off?”

—Nastya to Haze

HAZE

The buzz of my phone alerted me to the outside world.

I pulled it out of my pocket and glanced down at the notification that my phone had just given me: Nastya’s sugar was really low.

“Shit,” I said as I pulled away, wiping my eyes.

“What?” Desi asked from her perch on the chair close to the door.

I stood up, ignoring the copious amounts of hair that was all over my clothes, and gave Finn one last horrified look before holding my hand out to Desi.

“Nastya needs a snack,” I said.

Desi was more than aware of Nastya’s issues, and I’d talked to her about what to do if Nastya ever exhibited signs of hypo or hyperglycemia.

“Blood sugar low?” she asked, swallowing hard.

“Yeah,” I said. “Let’s go.”

I pulled out my phone to see just how low it was when I saw I had multiple notifications about it.

One of which had me confused because when I looked at the location setting on my phone, it was to see that Nastya was no longer where I’d thought she was—with me.

And sure enough, when I got into the lobby, she was no longer to be found.

My phone rang in the next second, and I put it to my ear and said, “Do you have Nastya?”

“No,” he said. “That’s why I was calling you. We got disconnected, and she’s not answering me back.”

“Hey, man,” I said when I saw the vet. “Do you know where my girl went?”

The vet frowned. “She was outside talking on the phone.”

I went outside and didn’t see her anywhere.

“Her location says that she’s at Mom’s house, Dad,” Desi whispered.

“Fuck,” I growled. “Shasha, man, I might need your help.”

I then explained to him everything that had happened in the last hour.

“Do you really think that Nastya would go over there to kick Mom’s ass?” Desi whispered.

She sounded…happy.

Like she wanted to do it herself.

“Honestly, I wouldn’t put it past her,” Shasha interrupted. “I’ll head there.”

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