Page 35 of Thirteen Years
“That may be them. Just give me the envelope. It’ll scare her enough.”
Larry rolled his eyes and reached into his pocket.
His eyes widened in panic.
“It’s not here! It must’ve fallen out.” He made to go left down the outside hallway towards the back of the building and Beck's window.
“I really gotta pee!”
I tensed, hearing my ex wife’s voice.
Larry looked at me in panic.
It took everything in me not to turn around and confront the bitch there.
I pointed towards the trees and we ran.
Chapter 24
“Super glad that you guys didn’t burn the house down,” Becks said playfully, turning to look in the backseat of my truck at Natasha.
“Mom,” she giggled, “It was fun! We ate pizza and watched movies. Lacey even let us try some of her makeup,” she added.
Becks grinned at her, and turned back around, “I’m glad you enjoy spending time with them, baby girl.”
I pulled into their parking lot and we all got out. Becks ran ahead of us, “I really gotta pee!” she exclaimed.
I laughed as I opened the back door to help Nat jump down out of the truck. Before her sneakers hit the pavement, I heard Becks cry out in fear, “Lucas!”
Something in her tone stopped me. A chill went down my spine. I grabbed Nat’s arm gently, “Hey, sweetie. Would you mind sitting in the truck while I go see what’s wrong?”
I looked down at her, fear edging its way into my mind. I wanted to run to protect Becks, but needed to keep Nat safe. Rebecca would have my ass if I didn’t take care of Natasha first.
Nat looked up at me, nodding her head, unsure. I picked her up by the waist and sat her in the back of the truck again, handing her my cell phone, unlocking it,“You lock these doors, Natasha,” I said calmly, “if anyone else approaches this truck, you call nine-one-one, and then Paul, you got it?”
She nodded again, and I stared into her blue eyes. “It's all okay, just a precaution, alright?”
“Ok,” she whispered. I didn’t walk away until I heard the truck lock and then sprinted into the apartments’ outside hallway towards Becks’ door.
She stood with her back against the wall and her hands over her mouth. She glanced over at me and then behind me, “Where’s Nat?”
“Locked in the truck with directions to stay there until we know what’s going on. What the hell happened?” I asked, grabbing her arm and looking her over for any injury. She pointed behind me and I spun around.
The lock and handle were broken off of her apartment door, but they hadn’t been able to get inside with the safeguards I had in place. Since they hadn’t breached the doorway the alarms hadn’t gone off, or alerted our phones.
“Fuck,” I growled. I tugged her behind me, “Go get in the fucking truck with Natasha. Call Paul. I’m checking around the building.”
She nodded and started to step away. I grabbed her hand, “Hey,” I said.
I watched her dark eyes meet mine, tears were welling up in them, “I’ve got you. You’re both okay,” I assured her.
She exhaled shakily and nodded again, trying to smile. I leaned down and kissed her briefly. “Truck, now” I said, pointing back across the lot.
I was clenching my fists as I stalked down the outside hall and around the back of the building. Nothing seemed out of sorts back here, but Rebecca’s apartment was at the front of the building, on the bottom, right corner. She had three windows. The living room, Nat’s room, and her room.
I turned to walk towards the front of the building from the back and saw Nat’s window first. It was fine, nothing touched. I started to settle a bit, hoping it was a random break in. It wasn’t unheard of. I approached Becks’ window next and my heart dropped to my feet. There were footprints below the window left in the mud from some recent rain, something looked smeared under her window along the siding, and an envelope was on the ground. I bent down to pick it up and checked the front of it. It simply had a printed sticker on it that said Becks.
I pushed my fingers trying to feel. It felt like a USB thumb drive. I scowled. This couldn’t be good.
