Page 19 of Sleepless Pact

I get the sense this has something to do with me, so I decide to speak up.“Is this about me?”I ask, but David doesn’t respond.

“Answer her,” Phillip tells him.

“Yes.”

“Oh gosh.She found me, didn’t she?”I ask, fear slicing through my heart.

“I wouldn't say that,” David says but doesn’t elaborate.

“Who’s found her?What is it?”Now Phillip is getting worked up.

“Let me show you.”David heads into the open living room and grabs a tablet to turn the TV on.

My face is on the television with a bar below it that says “missing person.”I can’t believe my mother went to the police.That’s her number one rule.No policeever.She must be desperate.

I listen to the news reporter warn others to approach me with caution.That I’ve been in and out of psychiatric hospitals and I could be a danger.Heat blooms in my cheeks as embarrassment takes over.Then tears fill my eyes.Both Phillip and David turn to stare my way, and I fight not to cry or show any emotion.

“I...ah...haven’t been to one in a while,” I say, because it’s the best response I have.

She only sent me to them wherever I tried to escape.When I got caught, I would throw a fit and be unable to control myself.My mom would have her doctor institutionalize me, telling them I was having an episode.I wondered at times if she was right.What if I am crazy and that’s why I have to be locked away from the rest of the world?I suppose a crazy person probably doesn’t know they’re crazy.

David’s eyes narrow on me like I might attack them.Then I see my mother come on the screen, and she’s crying.When she says my name, it snags both of their attention, and before I can even think of what I’m doing I grab my shoes and purse off the floor and creep toward the doorway.

I slowly open it, but it must make a noise because Phillip shouts my name.I ignore him and bolt out the door before he can stop me.He has a private elevator, so when I hit the button it slides open instantly and I rush inside.Over and over I hit the close button, knowing Phillip is running to catch me.

“Audrey!”I hear him bellow half a second before he appears and the doors close.I put my shoes on while the elevator descends, knowing I’m going to have to make a run for it when the doors open again.

I’m not going back to my mother.

Ever.

ChapterFourteen

PHILLIP

“Goddamn it!”I cry out as I hit the elevator doors with my fist.“Get it back.”I turn in time to see David shaking his head.

“It’s too late.”He looks at the emergency door to the right where the stairs are, but we’re too many floors up for it to be faster.

“I want someone downstairs on the ground.NOW,” I order, and David pulls out his phone.“Get security to stop her before she does something stupid like run out into traffic.”

I’m already thinking about how I found her and how that might have been the very reason she was running to begin with.Enough of this charade, enough of the half-truths.I’m ready to put an end to this.

I let out a frustrated growl as I hit the button over and over, but the elevator refuses to appear.

We were right in the middle of the most perfect moment of my life, and then it was all shattered.My cock was deep inside her body, and I’d just cum in her warm, wet heat.She was spread out before me completely bare and dripping in jewels and my release.I felt something when we connected, and it changed me.

Now she’s gone, and all I can think about is getting her back.

While I wait on the elevator, I run to the other room and grab another shirt.David is still on the phone, but thankfully the doors open as soon as I get back and we both hurry inside.On the way down to the lobby, I hear him talking to people and asking for an update.

“They can’t find her,” he says when we reach the lobby, and I curse as I go running out the door.

I’m not sure what I expect to see, but she’s nowhere to be found, and I don’t have the first clue on where to start.She could be anywhere, and her mother is telling people she’s dangerous.

“Fuck.”I run my fingers through my hair in frustration when I see David talking to a few people nearby.

“Did they see her?”I ask him, and he nods.

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