Page 94 of Hendrix

I bit my lip nervously as I watched him walk outside and look both ways down the road. After a few seconds, he turned left and disappeared.

“I can’t believe this,” I whispered to myself. “First time I’m trusted to take two little girls out, and I misplace them.” My hand went to my belly. “It’s not looking good for this little one.”

Lulu waved a casual hand. “I own a kids’ clothing store. If I had a dollar for every time I’ve seen a child pull a Houdini on their mom, I’d be a rich woman.”

“Their parents will never trust me again,” I muttered, worrying my lip with my teeth. “I’ve literally had them in my care for two hours, and already, I’ve had a meltdown and lost them.”

“It’ll be fine,” Lulu assured me. “It’s a safe town. The most unsavory element is the biker club, and I guess you’re covered there.”

“Thanks,” I told her sarcastically.

She laughed softly. “Sorry about what I said earlier about your man. He’s right; I shouldn’t listen to gossip, and there are always two sides to a story. The last thing I want to do is upset you, especially in your condition.”

“It’s okay,” I said reassuringly. “It’s not the first time one of Hendrix’s conquests has been thrown in my face, and it probably won’t be the last. We weren’t together then, so as much as I feel like strangling him sometimes, it’s not fair for me to give him shit.” I pointed down at my belly. “And it’s not like I refrained. I was married to somebody else.”

Her eyes rounded. “I think we need to go out for a girls’ dinner. I’ve never met anybody as interesting as you. This town’s boring.”

“You wanna see the action up at the hotel,” I muttered. “You’d change your views on boring pretty quickly.”

“That would be awesome,” she breathed just as the bell tinkled over the door again.

I turned to see Hendrix walking over the threshold with Gigi holding his hand. “Anna. We need to go,” he barked.

“Where’s Addie?” I demanded, swiftly gathering up the bags of clothes.

“Can’t find her,” he stated, leaning over and taking them from me.

The tightness grew in my stomach.

“She saw a cat and went to look,” Gigi wailed. “I went to look for her, but she’d gone.”

Hendrix put her down, and I leaned over and smoothed a hand over her hair, trying to calm her. “It’s okay, baby. We’ll find her.”

She grabbed my hand and burrowed into me.

“Do you want me to call the sheriff's office?” Lulu asked.

“I’ll do it,” Hendrix muttered, his mind clearly elsewhere. “Gonna take you girls to Picasso’s shop. You’ll be safe there.” With a curt nod in Lulu’s direction, he guided me and Gigi toward the door and out into the street. The tension gripping my body was so sharp it burned my flesh. My mind kept conjuring images of Addie, all alone and frightened.

It was all my fault. I shouldn’t have let the girls out of my sight.

Through the recesses of my mind, I could hear Hendrix talking to Blade on the phone, barking orders as he guided us through the doorway of a nondescript building with a dark exterior.

Picasso appeared and ushered us inside before guiding us to an artist’s workstation in the corner of the reception.

I gazed around the place, so deep in my thoughts that I didn’t take in the beautiful artwork covering the walls or the light and airy feel of the place, which was a stark contrast to the darkness of the outside décor.

“What’s the status?” Picasso demanded.

“Anna was down at the kids’ clothes shop,” Hendrix relayed. “The girls went outside to wait, and Addie took off after a cat. Nobody’s seen her since.”

Slowly, I closed my eyes.

“You spoke to the sheriff?” Picasso asked.

“Nope. Nothin’ they can do that we can’t. Blade’s sending the boys up to do a sweep of the town, and Colt’s already looking at cameras and tapping into any nearby doorbell footage. If the law’s involved, my hands will be tied should I need to make an example of some asshole for thinkin’ they can take what’s ours.”

I closed my eyes against the nausea rising through my stomach, and a strangled sound left my throat.

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