Page 57 of Walker

I count the shots, the seconds, the minutes, dying inside waiting for my guys to come back to me. I need them.

Rebecca is terrified; she is across the room, staring at the door. “Come here if you want,” I tell her.

She lets out a thankful sob, crawling her way over to me. I tuck her into me. “Are you hurt anywhere?” I ask her, even though it would kill me inside if he had hurt her.

“No, he was going to until he saw you on the news, those pictures of you walking.” I close my eyes at that, so it wasn’t for nothing. “He dragged me out of the basement where he was keeping me and then we got here. There is another girl down there, she’s really sick.”

I start shaking hard at that. “Do you know how to get back there, so we can go get her?” I ask.

She nods. “Please I want to get her out, she looks just like Josh. I think she was his sister, maybe?”

My mind goes back thinking if he had a sister. Did he? I sit up straight when it hits me, he did. She was around ten years old when he went to jail and their family moved.

“Oh my gosh! He did have a little sister. The detective said she was missing!”

There’s a knocking at the door. I look over the desk and see Darren standing there. I bite back a sob at the sight of them, I was so scared that something could have happened to them.

I run to the door, unlocking it and throwing it open, crashing into their arms. “God, I was so scared.” They hold me so tightly.

“Summer,” Walker says.

I look at him, leaning my head back. “He’s dead, baby.”

My legs give out. Darren lifts me off the ground, holding me bridal style as I cry. I don’t just cry, it's an uncontrollable, full body heaving. It’s years and years of pain, fear, so much.

“I can’t believe it’s really over; can I see the body?” I ask.

“Are you sure you want to?” Darren asks.

“I think I need to.” He sets me on the ground. I take their hands letting them lead me through the office until we come to the main lobby.

I see the detective sitting there, hurt. He reaches out, touching my forearm and I go to the body lying in front of him, with many bullet holes in his body.

He really is dead.

“We need to tell my parents.”

It hits me. “Wait! Rebecca said there was another girl in the basement. She remembers how to get there,” I tell the detective and he squeezes my arm. “Go home Summer, you have done everything you can, you can rest now.”

I close my eyes at his words, they have a huge impact on me. How I yearned for those words so many times.

“I hope that I never see you again,” I tell him jokingly.

He laughs, hugging me. “Girl, me too.” He lets me go and I walk past Josh without looking back. It's time to close this door on my life, it’s over.

“Let’s go home,” I tell them, taking their hands.

“Home baby.” Darren kisses the top of my head and Walker grabs my ass. “Don’t think I forgot about your teasing, baby.”

Oops.

CHAPTER 14

SUMMER

ONE MONTH LATER

“What the fuck?” someone says waking me out of a deep sleep. I turn over and see my dads standing at the foot of the bed.

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