“Hello?”
“Jay!” The moment he heard Ashlyn’s voice, he knew something was wrong.
“What happened?”
“There’s a-a man here and h-he came in-into the h-house.”
“Calm down, Ash. Take a breath. Who’s there? Where’s Em? Are you okay?”
He could hear her take a quick breath. “I don’t know. A man came to the door and then just barged in. He w-went straight to Em’s room and locked the door! I c-can’t get in.”
“He’s in there with her now?”
Jay didn’t hear the answer to his question, he was already halfway down the hall, pulling on a pair of pants and racing for the door.
Son of a bitch. That son of a bitch was with Em. And he wasn’t.
Heart pounding so hard it threatened to break a rib, he raced out the door and threw himself behind the wheel. If that damn truck didn’t start, he swore to God he’d rip it to shreds with his own two hands. Heeding his warning, it turned over with very little sputtering and Jay tore out of the drive, plowing through a bank of snow that had been piled along the sidewalk.
His head spun with terrifying possibilities, drowning out the squeal of his tires against the slick pavement. Thoughts that threatened to call up the meager dinner he’d eaten. Ahead of him, a streetlight flashed to red and Jay slammed on his brakes. Goddammit. Stomach muscles cramped painfully as his entire body heaved, but nothing seemed to be coming up. Except maybe his heart in a final attempt at escape before it could be utterly destroyed. If something happened to her . . . Because of him . . .
The combination of dread and exhaustion blurred his vision. Without waiting for the light to turn green, Jay put the pedal to the metal and hauled ass toward Ashlyn’s. It was a ten minute drive. Jay somehow managed to break just about every traffic law there was, along with a few laws of physics, and made it there in under four.
He was breathing so hard he sounded like he’d just run the whole way when he burst through the front door to find Ashlyn in tears in the living room. “Where is he?”
“Gone. He left.”
Jay’s chest hollowed out. “Em?”
“She’s in her room.” Thank God. “She locked the door and I can’t get her to open it or come out. She won’t even talk to me. I don’t know what’s wrong.”
Jay stormed down the hallway to where Ashlyn pointed him toward the only closed door. Gripping the frame with both hands, he took a deep breath to calm some of his nerves. The last thing he wanted to do was frighten her further.
“Em? It’s me, Em.” Keeping his voice even with so much fear and rage coursing through him was more than a challenge. “Open the door.”
No response. No sound at all. He tried the handle and nothing. It was still locked from the inside.
“Em, if you don’t open this door, I’m going to assume you’re hurt in there and bust it down.”
He wouldn’t have heard the soft click of the lock being thrown if the rest of the house hadn’t been so deathly quiet. Jay was inside in less than a heartbeat. The door bounced off the wall with the force of his entry as he scanned the empty bed followed by the rest of the room until he spotted her curled in a little ball on the floor in the corner.
“Em?” He approached cautiously. He didn’t want to spook her, but he needed to be closer. To see her, touch her, hold her. “Baby? Are you okay? Did he . . . did he hurt you?”
Jay’s voice cracked on his greatest fear and Em finally looked up at him. Tear tracks marred her face, but when she shook her head no, relief swamped him like a tidal wave.
“You’re okay?”
She nodded, but he couldn’t believe it was true until he saw it with his own eyes. Reaching for her hands, she let him pull her to her feet, where he surveyed every last inch of her. No cuts, no bruises, no welts, and she didn’t appear to be in physical pain.
Ashlyn breathed a sigh of relief behind him and Jay turned to find the girl pale and continuing to cry, silently.
“I will be right back.” With a quick squeeze of Em’s hand and one more glance to assure himself she was real, he steered Ashlyn back out into the hallway.
“I’m so sorry, Ash. This never should have happened. He never should have come to your house and . . . Are you okay?”
She swallowed hard and nodded. “Who was that?”
“My father,” Jay ground out.
“That man was your—”
“It’s a long story.”
Ashlyn nodded. “I’m not asking.”
Jay gaped at her, bewildered. This girl had taken Em in, handled her shit and his, and she wasn’t even asking for an explanation? The bastard had been in her house, for chrissakes. The only kind of people who were that understanding were people with secrets of their own. Whatever Ashlyn’s were, they were buried deep.