Cherished (Wanted #4)(67)
Author: Kelly Elliott

“Let me go look, but I’m standing in the lobby, and I don’t see Jessie anywhere.”

Fuck! I fucking told her to wait.

“Josh, please find her. Please,” I said, my voice cracking.

“Scott, I’m looking. I don’t see her anywhere. She’s not in the lobby or in the bar. What’s Trey’s last name?”

“Um…his last name is—”

“Walker,” Lark said.

I snapped my head over and looked at Lark. How in the hell did he remember Trey’s last name? Did I even tell him Trey’s last name?

“Uh, it’s Walker. Trey Walker.”

“Give me a second to talk to the front desk.”

I let out a shaky breath. “Okay.”

I could hear Josh talking to a girl. “You saw him? Was he with a girl? What do you mean she seemed like she didn’t want to go?”

My heart was pounding. What is going on? What is she telling Josh?

“Josh! What’s she saying?”

He kept talking to the girl, ignoring me.

“Josh! What in the hell is going on? Where are they?”

I felt a hand on my shoulder.

“Scott, calm down, okay? Jessie wouldn’t go with him anywhere. Maybe they walked outside to the pool or something.” Azurdee said.

I looked at Lark as he took his phone out before hitting a number.

He looked at me and said, “Tell Josh to get the license plate Trey gave the hotel. Most hotels want a license plate number. Josh might have to charm the person he’s asking.”

“Josh…Josh…” I said.

“Yeah, sorry. I was trying to get information from the front desk.”

“Get his license plate number!” I practically screamed through the phone.

I heard Josh asking the girl.

Then, I heard him tell her, “She might be in danger. I need that plate number.”

I felt sick to my stomach. Jessie. Oh god…if he puts a finger on her, I swear to God, I’ll kill him.

“I need a plate ran and tracked…hold for it,” Lark said.

Josh said the plate number, and I repeated it to Lark. He gave the number to whomever he was talking to.

“Five…no, make it two.” He hit End on his cell and set the phone down. He glanced at me and then quickly looked in the rearview mirror at Azurdee.

I turned to look at Azurdee, and she looked scared to death.

I gave her a weak smile. “Don’t worry, Azurdee. I’m sure everything is fine.”

She tried to smile back, but the single tear that slid down her face about killed me.

“You’re a terrible liar, Scott,” she said.

I turned back and looked out the window.

Lark’s phone rang, and he quickly answered it. “Talk to me. Okay. Keep on it. Let me know if the direction changes.” He hit End and punched the gas even more.

“Lark?” I asked.

“He’s headed toward Austin.”

“Wait. How do you know that?” Azurdee asked.

“It’s part of my job to be able to find people,” Lark said in a quiet voice.

“Oh,” was all Azurdee said as she sat back in her seat.

I tried to calm my beating heart. Dear Lord, please…I’ll do anything you want. Please don’t let him hurt or take her from me.

“What else did Josh say, Scott?” Lark asked, snapping me out of my prayer.

“He told me the girl at the front desk said that she had noticed Jessie sitting there with Trey. She told Josh the only reason she was watching was because she had liked Trey, and he had taken her out a few times, so she was a bit jealous to see him talking to another girl. She heard Jessie telling Trey to stop this before he regretted doing it. She had a line of people checking in, but when she glanced up, she saw Trey had Jessie by the arm, and he was quickly guiding her out of the hotel. She said Jessie looked scared, but the girl didn’t think anything of it at the time.”

Lark slowly looked at me. “If you called the cops, we can’t prove that she’s been kidnapped.”

“Kidnapped!” Azurdee called out from the backseat.

“We can’t prove it unless the front desk girl saw something else. See if they have a security camera and if they will let Josh see it.”

I called Josh back. “Josh, is there any way you can ask to see if they have a surveillance video of Trey and Jessie leaving? Buddy, you are awesome. Call me back as soon as you can.”

I looked at Lark. “Josh had his mother come up to the hotel and start talking legal bullshit. They are both about to watch the video now.”

“Oh god. Oh my god. What if he…the baby…” Azurdee said.

I hadn’t even thought of the baby up to this point. “I’ll fucking kill him,” I whispered.

My cell phone rang, and I answered to hear Josh saying something to his mother.

“Josh? What’s going on?” I asked.

“He had a gun. He had a gun pointed at her side the whole time they walked out of the hotel. Mom is on the phone with the Austin police department right now. You said they were heading to Austin, right?”

I couldn’t talk. My whole world flashed in front of my eyes—Jessie at our wedding and giving birth to our child and sitting on the back porch together in our rocking chairs. She’s my whole world.

“Scott? Scott? Scott!”

I heard Josh, but I couldn’t answer him.

The next thing I knew, Lark took my phone and started talking to Josh. Everything went quiet, and all I could see was Jessie when she had woken up this morning and leaned over to rest her chin on my chest.

“Sometimes, I think I’m dreaming,” I whispered as Jessie looked into my eyes.

The smile that spread across her face caused my stomach to drop just a bit.

“Same here. I can’t believe how happy I am. The wedding, the baby—everything is just falling into place for us…finally!” she said with a laugh.

I ran my hand through her hair, and every now and then, she would let out a soft moan that moved through my whole body.

“Do you want a boy or a girl?” I asked her.

“I want a girl. I mean, a healthy baby would be perfect, boy or girl, but…I would love a little girl. What about you?”

I sat there for a minute or two and thought about it. “A boy would be pretty cool. I could teach him about hunting, riding, the business, how to smile at a girl and melt her panties,” I said, laughing as Jessie hit me in the side. “But a girl…oh man. I’d love to have a little girl to do all that with and just spoil her. I’d make her feel special and always let her know how cherished she is, just like her mama.”