Rush (Roam Series, Book Four) (23 page)

I thought back to only hours before, and the flawless ceremony that ended in her becoming Mrs. Violet Rose Rush. The moment she’d taken my hands by the ocean, I’d known that everything would finally be
right
.

And
that I had the sexiest wife- in every universe.

I held her close, telling her again and again how lucky I was, marking that moment as the best in any of my lifetimes.

The traditional father and bride dance was next, and Violet had chosen The Fray’s
You Found Me.
Half-way through the song she stopped dancing when West whispered something to her, simply pressing her face into his jacket. I could tell by the way she held her shoulders that she was trying not to cry.

My
eyes wandered over to Roam. She held Christopher on her lap, his head in her hands as she smiled down at him. Her hair was pinned up on her head in an attractive mess of twists and braids, and the sparkly clips reflected the light from the dance floor. The cross-shaped birthmark on her shoulder caught my eye.

From the very corners of the banquet hall, the decaying walls began to crumble in vertical sections. I closed my eyes, gripping the
seat of my chair.
Don’t go back to the castle, don’t. It’s your wedding day. Roam is fine. Everyone is here.

I knew Roam was on some kind of medication from our long talks about the other world; she opened up to me when she was at her worst,
explaining that she couldn’t talk to West about some things without breaking down or fainting.

But she asked him to hurt her…

What Troy had done to her?

I shook away the sickened feeling,
letting the elegantly decorated walls of the reception hall creep back toward the ceiling.
Fight it, Rush. You’ll end up in a padded room if this keeps happening.

I reached for
my glass of champagne, and then ignored it.
Fuck this- I need a beer.
I almost started toward the open bar before realizing that the song was ending, and it was time to dance with my mom.

When I caught my mom’s expression, she looked like she was in physical pain. I knew she and my father were disappointed that it wasn’t Roam sitting next to me, and the strangeness of me marrying West’s daughter wasn’t lost on them. I escorted my mother to the floor,
waiting for the music to begin.

“
You’re so young to be getting married… both of you are. Wait. Please, Logan.
” My mother’s pleading voice right before the ceremony still nagged in the back of my mind. “
You have your entire lives.
”

If only she knew how long that would be.

Half-way to the floor, a chill began at the nape of my neck and crawled down my spine. I had recognized the exact same feeling before the mortar attack.

Something is wrong.

“Logan?” My mother asked, and I searched for Morgan, finding her cuddled close to Jason. I turned to West, meeting his eyes through the semi-darkness.

He knew it before I did.

“Where’s Eva?” He asked seconds before taking off through the hall, and I left my mom standing on the dance floor. The DJ looked around, confused, as I scrambled from table to table.

“What’s wrong?” Violet
ran to the dance floor, and I pointed at the doors.

“Go check the restrooms. Where’s Eva? The flower girl- Eva- where is she?” I shouted, and at that point the urgency in my voice was enough for the DJ to cut the music.
Roam stood with the baby in her arms, her face completely white.

“
She was running around… with Lacy,” she turned in a circle, gripping Christopher to her chest. Lacy, my cousin’s six-year-old daughter, sat near the banquet table with her mother. I nearly tripped over the tablecloth running to them.

“Where’s Eva? Where’d Eva go, Lacy?”

Lacy, her wide, brown eyes filling with tears, shrugged and pointed toward the doors. “She had to go potty.”

“She’s not in the restroom,” Violet burst through the doors, and West appeared next to her,
shouting to one of the security guards he’d hired for the reception.

“I’m sure she’s just playing in the hall somewhere,” my mother assured me, reaching for Christopher. “
Roamie, go look for her.”

“Roam,” I grabbed her by the upper arm, shaking her from her terror-trance. “
Don’t fucking faint.
Eva’s gone.
Find her.
”

“Logan!” My mother reprimanded my harsh tone, but I watched Roam take a deep breath, turning to my mother.

“Carol, please keep Christopher.
West
,” she ran for him, and he spoke quickly to her.

The
look on his face told me everything that I needed to know. Roam crumbled, shaking her head, and he caught her in his arms.

The confusion and turmoil
led to all of the wedding guests searching the entire building and the grounds. Violet turned toward the ocean behind the hall, and then back to me, breaking into tears.

“She wouldn’t have gone in the ocean, Vi,” I gripped her to me, a million fears stealing my ability to complete a rational thought.
What if she did go in for some reason?
She can swim, but the under-toe… she’s immortal, she’d live…

“Mr. Rush,” a
server thrust a piece of paper at me, her worried expression drawing my attention. “I saw a man carrying a sleeping little girl to his car. He said ‘she’s had a big day’ and asked that I give this to the groom… with his congratulations.”

“What color was her hair? The little girl?” I nearly tore open the folded paper.

“Red.”

Jesus Christ-
“West!” I shouted, my eyes scanning the words on the piece of white copy paper.

Rush-

I won’t hurt her, but you will. When you’re gone- for good- I’ll return her to her parents. Don’t bother searching for her.

She’s safe.

“It’s Cole,” Violet shook her head, lifting her eyes to us. “He’s the only one who knows. He said he was trying… to save our world.”

“She’s just a baby,” I turned to
Roam, rage taking over my words. “
Why weren’t you watching her?
”

“Logan!” Roam snapped her face to me, tears streaking her cheeks. “We were all watching her!”

“
Fuck you,
” West snarled, stepping in front of Roam.

“
Stop!
” Violet cried, trying to push between us, but I held his heated stare, crushing the note in my hand.

West
searched the hall and focused on Christopher. “Roam, get the baby. I called the police. They’ll put out a missing child alert-…,”

“Oh
my God
,” she folded over, and Violet caught her, lifting her horrified eyes to mine.

“How could you say that to her?
Blame
her? What’s
wrong
with you?” She demanded, turning to West. “I know what Cole looks like, I’ll come with you to the station-…,”

He shook his head firmly.
“I don’t want Roam and Christopher unprotected.”

“I’ll stay with them.” I looked down, my ears ringing with the noise around me. “Just go. Vi, go. Cam, come on, I’m sorry,” I reached for her, but she shoved away from me, running to Christopher.

West waited for her to return to his arms. “Keep your phone on. Baby, go with Logan. Stay in the house.”

She carried
their crying son in her arms, attempting to soothe him. “I want to come with you-…,”

“I’ll go, I’ve seen him
, I can give them a description,” Violet assured her, turning to me. “I’ll be back soon,” she promised, reaching for me.

I returned her hug. “
I’m sorry.
”

“
Stop. I know
,” my new wife hushed, gathering the skirt of her gown into her hands and following West to the doors.

Roam threw me
a damaged look before heading for my car.

Two hours later, I was trapped in another nightmare.

Roam was there, as usual, but this time Troy was not. Police swarmed the house, taking statements from my friends, my family, from Morgan, from Laurel… No one had seen anything, no one knew anything, and no one could understand how this could happen with the level of security in place.

My phone lit up with a text from Violet.

This is going to take a while. How’s Roam? I love you.

I texted back quickly.

She’s holding it together. Tell West I’m sorry for what I said. Love you too.

“Why hasn’t the
alert gone out yet?” Roam threw her phone at the couch, gesturing to my phone. “Was that West?”

“Vi. They’re still putting a description together. The server identified his car as a black Nissan Maxima,” I added, scrolling through West’s last texts. “Her description matches
Mathison’s.”

“I can’t believe this is happening,” s
he cried, lowering to the couch. I sat next to her, covering her shaking hands with mine.

“We’ll find her. He said he won’t hurt her.”

“She’s probably so scared,” she whispered, her voice trembling. I pulled her into my arms. She released her hair from the pins, letting the long, brown waves tumble over her shoulders. “There are too many people here, Logan, I can’t breathe.”

“Morgan,” I called, and she turned away from the kitchen, walking to me. Her own face was swollen and red; she’d obviously been crying. “I’m going to take her over to the cottage. Will you keep Christopher?”

“Of course. Roam,” she reached for her sister’s hands. “We’re all here for you. I’ve got Chris. West is working with the police. We’ll find her. Okay? She’s not hurt. He’s trying to protect her- to keep her
alive
, remember? He thinks he’s doing something good. He won’t hurt her,” she repeated, as if trying to convince herself.

“
Thanks Morgan,” she answered brokenly, and I helped her to her feet, leading her out the back doors.

The cottage was silent. I walked her to the bedroom, gesturing to the closet. “Why don’t you change, Cam? I need to get this tux off. Take the bathroom. Come on,” I reached blindly into the dresser drawers, grabbing the first tee-shirt and pair of shorts of Violet’s that I could find and placing them in her hands.

She nodded and closed the bathroom door.

I peeled
off the uncomfortable tux, digging clean jeans and my favorite tattered, black Iron Maiden tee-shirt out of my duffle bag. All of my clothes were still at home, and my parents had planned to have them shipped out to me if we decided to stay in North Carolina.

Eva
. I lowered to the foot of the bed, absently gathering the contents of Violet’s overturned purse and shoving them back into the bag.
Please, God, don’t let him hurt her.

Roam appeared in the bathroom doorway, Violet’s shorts way too short on her tall frame. She tugged at the tee-shirt, her eyes sweeping over me. “You took that shirt to Afghanistan with you?”

“I had to hide it from you. I knew you’d burn it the moment I was out of sight.”

She tried for a smile, glancing at the clock on the nightstand. “I need to go back with Christopher-…,”

“Morgan has him. My parents are there, Jason is there, Laurel and Mike are there. Everyone wants to help. Try to get some rest until West gets back from the police station.”

She carefully sat down next to me,
pressing her knee against mine. “I’ll never be able to rest. You know that.”

I stared at the hardwood floor, tucking my arm around her. “I’m sorry for being an asshole at the hall. I didn’t mean- that it was your fault-…,”

“I know. But it does feel… like my fault. All of this.” She gathered her hair to one shoulder, turning to me. “The pain you’ve gone through… West has gone through… Violet… the more I think about it, the more I feel like it all started with… me. With me and Troy.”

“Makes total and complete sense.”

“I’m serious. I don’t know what happened… exactly… in that first life in Icepond, but I feel like I am the one causing all of this.”

“
You know that the guilt that you’re feeling is… because of what Troy
did
to you. You’ve talked about this with me.”

“But it’s more than that.” She argued,
shrugging. “I don’t know. The medication helps,” she spread her hand over her flat stomach, her eyebrows drawn together. “I started the meds again after Christopher was born.” Her fingers laced together and began to twist.

I reached for her wringing hands, falling back on the bed. She followed suit, and we stared at the ceiling just as we used to in our family homes when we’d talk for hours, our heads touching
lightly.

Sighing, I traced my fingers over hers.
“I’m zoning out- lately. In that mortar attack- I was in the castle, when it happened. Mentally. It comes over me… and I’m in a nightmare in a forest or a dungeon, or in the castle… Honestly, I’d rather dream about Afghanistan.”