Page 75 of This Time I'm Keeping You
“Inhale and exhale.”Sam shot him a look.“Another one,” he ordered.
“I need her,” he got out.“I don’t think I can live without her.”
He heard his sisters sniff, and then Thomas too.
“Will you three man up!”Sam snapped.“We’ll get her back, bro.It’s our vow to you,” Sam said.
“How?”Nick demanded.
Sam screeched to a halt in the parking lot outside the police station.Billy walked out the doors as they approached.
“You can’t go in there, Nick.”
“Why the fuck is Davy here and not in his house like you said he was?”Nick snarled.
“Because he paid an impersonator to walk about his house,” Billy said.“The police just knocked on his door and talked to the guy.”
“Christ!”Nick looked at the sky.“How can those fuckers be that inept?I want to speak to Denton.That asshole knows where my girl is, and I want her back.I’ll stand out here until you let me in.”
“Not happening,” Billy said.“I’m interviewing him now.”
“Good timing, then,” Sam said.“We can help you.”
Billy jabbed a finger in Sam’s direction.“You’re not helping, so shut up.”
Nick’s phone rang.He took it out of his pocket and checked the number, but it had no caller ID.
“Answer it on speaker,” Billy said.
Nick did as he asked.
“Hello, this is Malcolm Davy,” a nasal voice said.“Don’t speak or threaten me, or I will hang up.”
Nick opened his mouth, but Thomas put his hand over it.
“I want my friend released, and then I will return Poppy to you.”
Nick shook his brother’s hand from his mouth.
“You’ve been stalking her for years.Don’t tell me you’ll release her now,” he said.“I’m going to fucking destroy you if you harm her, Davy.There will be no place you can hide that I won’t find you.”
“Shut him up,” Billy hissed, taking his phone before Nick could stop him.“This is Detective William Atherton, Mr.Davy.What is it you want?”
“I want my friend back, and you have him.”
Billy waved everyone inside and followed.Clearly, he didn’t want to have this discussion on the street.
“What my cousin said stands,” Billy said, leading them all through the reception area and into a small room to the right.He then shut the door.Looking at each of his cousins, he placed a finger on his lips.“You have been stalking Poppy for years.Why would you stop now?”
“If you want Poppy back,” Em whispered in Nick’s ear, “shut up.”
It went against everything inside him to drop into the seat she nudged him to.
Nick fixed things that were broken.He helped his family when they needed it.He was never helpless.That was for other people.A problem solver, his mother called him.
He couldn’t do anything for Poppy in that moment but listen to this asshole dictate his terms.It was a type of hell he thought would haunt him for the rest of his life.
“I want my friend back more, and it’s the least I can do for him.I will get Poppy, but not now.”
