Second Thought

Chapter 28

Alexander’s POV

            All I could think about what how that phone disconnected in the middle of talking to Serenity. Something was not quite right. When she said that Liam would not hurt her, I knew that was not exactly true. If Liam stayed away from liquor, he would be mostly alright. Even then, I still did not trust him around her. Even though she has yet to see it, my brother has an angry side, which mostly comes out when he has been drinking. I have even seen my brother get extremely violent a handful of times. That is why he decided to stop drinking, and he found Erina.

            I was swerving in and out of lanes trying to find my way to this damn hotel. It was a mixture of the alcohol I had consumed earlier and the fact I was trying hard to focus on this GPS. My GPS was letting me know that I was getting so close. Sure enough a few moments later I was pulling into the hotel. The sign reading Sweet Side. My heart started beating faster and faster as I got closer toward the office door. As I swung it open, a man appeared from behind the counter. “Hello sir. Could you help me find my brother? He checked in earlier with a young woman. She is beautiful brunette with long curly hair and a soft pale looking face.”

            “Oh yeah, I remember her.” Of course he did. “They checked into room 105 but guessing by the way the car roared out of here earlier, I doubt they are still there. Looked like they left in a hurry.”

            s**t! “If it is okay with you, I’d still like to check out the room.” He nodded, handing me the small key dangling from a small key chain. Turning around, I quickly made my way over to the room until I was standing in front of the door. Putting the key into the lock, it turned, opening on its own. I stepped inside, hoping to find some trace of where they may have gone, but no trace of them was in sight. Carefully examining the room, I found a balled-up piece of paper. It was so small I almost did not notice it. Reaching down for it, I began scanning it carefully. It was a list, written in Liam’s handwriting. It read:

1)      Make Serenity see the truth about Alex

2)      Devise my plan

3)      Watch as Alexanders world falls apart

4)      Pick up the pieces and show her compassion until she forgets about him

5)      Find a place for us to start over

        I had to stop reading. My brother was devising a plan to take her from me. Over my dead body! Crumpling the paper back up, I threw it in the trash. My hand connects with the wall. Controlling my anger at this point was almost impossible to do. My own flesh and blood was trying to steal away the woman I loved. I would find her if it were the last thing I did. Again, I pulled out my phone, dialing Liam’s number. This time the bastard picked up. “Liam. I am only going to say this once. You better hope I never find you because you are a dead man. We can stop all of this now if you let me talk to my girl.”

        “Alex, she isn’t with me.”

        “You want to run that by me again?”

        “Serenity took off. In my car.”

        I could not hold back the laughter that escaped me. “So, she got the upper hand. Good girl. I assume she did that because of how drunk you are.”

        “No that isn’t it. She kicked me in the balls.”

        Now he had my attention. The only time a woman ever kicked a man in the balls was if he was trying to violate her. I felt my skin burn with fire. “Why would she do that?” I asked, but I already knew the answer.

        “I was a little rough with her.” Even though we were only talking over the phone, I heard the chuckle that came from the other end of the line. The only thing I could think about was his hands touching my girl.

        “Your dead.” I ended the call. Images of his hands caressing her body flooded my mind. No other man lays his hands on her. The wraith my brother would endure by my hand would make him regret ever laying a hand on her. Where do I go from here? I needed to find her before something else happened. There is no worse feeling than knowing the person that you desperately loved was lost and in danger, you unable to help them.

**

        Two days, it has been two days and no word from Serenity. I was losing my damn mind. I was back home. I had already called every contact I knew and had people searching everywhere for her. Liam had tried to call a handful of times, but I didn’t bother to answer. Facing my brother was the last thing on my mind. All my focus was on finding my love. Every call I got was a dead lead. No one knew where she was. She was out there all by herself, not knowing where she was, probably not understanding what to do. Hopeless, that is what I felt. After hours and hours of coming up empty, I got a call. There was a friend that owed me a favor a few towns over and said that he saw Liam with Serenity. Maybe I should have answered his calls after all, now knowing they could have been her. Guilt cowered over me like a black cloud consuming me from the inside out. He proceeded to tell me that they were walking out of a police station. A police station. How the hell did he pull it off? After all the calls I made, I should have been the one notified before my brother. Again, I was out of the house and on my way to get more information, following the lead of breadcrumbs that were slowly leading me closer to her.

        I have been waiting in this police station for over an hour, losing nothing but time. Finally, an over-sized officer walks toward me signaling for me to follow him back to what I assumed was his desk. “Officer, what can you tell me about the woman that was released to my brother?”

        “For starters, he claimed he was you. He said she was his girlfriend, that they had gotten into a fight and she stormed off in his car. Said he did not want to press any charges and demanded we release her to him.”

        “How did she end up here in the first place?”

        “We brought her in off a tip we got about a stolen car, one of my officers pulled her over and brought her here. They left together a few hours ago.”

        “Did either of them say where they were headed?”

        “No, they didn’t. I’m sorry about this Mr. Woods. I’m not sure how we let that one slip.”

        Another dead end. What is the purpose of me following lead to lead if I’m not getting anywhere?