Page 52 of Saving Tracey
I debated answering it. I had called Miss Brinson, and she had told me that Tracey hadn't made it home yet. She wasn’t answering my phone calls, either.
I was just hoping she was walking really slow and that nothing had happened to her. I was trying to give her the space she was asking for, but fuck, it was hard.
"Hello?" I asked, answering anyway. If he was calling, I knew it was something serious.
However, I didn't realize just how fucking serious it was.
"Hey, kid, how are you doing?"
"Fine," I muttered. "I'm waiting on a phone call. What's up?" I asked, trying to cut the conversation short.
"I've got a girl here; she's passed out, but I recognized the hoodie she was wearing. You used to wear the damn thing all the time when you were younger." My heart constricted, desperate for it to not be Tracey that was passed out. She had been wearing my hoodie that she had found buried in the depths of my closet when she left.
"What does she look like?" I asked cautiously.
His next words described my baby girl—the love of my life. I cursed, snatching my bike keys up from my nightstand and shrugging my jacket on. "Do you still live in that same apartment?"
"Yeah. Come on over."
He hung up the phone, and I ran out of the door.Jesus Christ, how the fuck had she ended up all the way on the south side?I thought she knew her fucking way home!
Fuck, anything could have happened to her!
After I kicked the stand down on my bike, I made a run for the stairs to the rundown apartment building. Once I reached Gabriel’s door, I banged on it, impatiently waiting on him to open it. It wasn’t long before I heard the lock unclicking, and he swung open the door.
Gabriel hadn't aged much in the past few years. He still had the normal scruff on his face, and his eyes still held a million secrets. His hands were still scarred, and that same leather jacket was still settled over his shoulders.
"She's on the couch."
I walked past him, stepping into the familiar apartment. My eyes landed on her almost instantly. She was passed out on his couch, a small throw blanket draped over her. "What the fuck happened to her?" I ran my hand through my hair, breathing a little bit easier since she didn’t have any bruising that I could see.
Gabriel shrugged at me, shoving his hands in the pockets of his jacket. "Some burly asshole was chasing after her. The poor girl was running for her fucking life. The man called her his daughter or something like that."
"Fuck." I linked my hands above my head, leaning my head back to look at the ceiling. Gabriel watched me, his eyes not giving anything away.
Nobody had any idea the bastard was out of jail.
"I need a goddamn drink.” The urge to destroy something was almost overwhelming.
I looked down at Tracey when she groaned softly, slowly coming awake. I knelt beside her, ignoring Gabriel’s curious eyes on my back. As far as he knew, I was still that same heartless, asshole kid that he had taken under his wing all those years ago.
That kid he knew would never get close to anyone in a billion fucking years.
But she was different.
Her beautiful green eyes fluttered open, and she looked over at me, surprise lighting up her features, not having expected me to be in front of her. "Trevor, what . . ." Her voice trailed off when she took in her surroundings. "Where am I?"
"You're at my place," Gabriel spoke up. Her eyes snapped over to him, and I grabbed her hand gently in mine, automatically noticing the panic setting in her eyes. She hated being surprised. "Remember me?"
She nodded slowly, turning her attention back to me. "Are you okay?" I ran my fingertips over her cheek, so relieved that she was awake and okay.
She nodded in answer. "I just feel like I've been run over by a truck, and my head hurts,” she admitted, “but I'm okay."
She sat up completely, and I pulled her face to mine, kissing her tenderly. She responded instantly, her hands reaching up to wrap around my wrists loosely.
"You had me fucking terrified, Tracey," I admitted gruffly when I finally pulled back from her. "Where the hell is your phone? Why didn't you call me?"
She felt her pockets, her eyes widening in alarm. “I—I don't know." She looked at Gabriel, but he just held his hands up at her.
