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24
Bobby
Come Home, Baby
She’s been gone for more than eight hours.
We’ve spoken to the police, we insist they do more, but they’re not interested. She’s not missing until their invisible twenty-four hours is up. The crushed bracelet isn’t enough for them, and the marks in the gym parking lot are now covered with new snow. There’s nothing for them to investigate, so they’d rather suck each other’s dicks and play on their phones.
Jack wavers from anger and lashing out one minute, to breaking down and crying the next. The crying moments kill me. Every tear he sheds rips strips from me, body and soul. I’m failing him by not being able to fix this, and I’ve failed Kit because I didn’t prevent it in the first place.
We’re no closer to knowing where she is, and Rita and Chris have disappeared into thin fucking air. Renee’s no help. She’s unconscious and in the same hospital we were in hours ago, but she’d rather sleep than help. Jimmy’s still with Iz, but he texts every hour for an update. Each time he asks, I feel more and more dead at the lack of answers I have for him.
The rest of us are back at our house. AtKit’shouse. I don’t know where else to go. I don’t know where to look or what to do. I’m fucking useless, and she’s somewhere hurting, bleeding, and scared.
Jon and Aiden silently sip their coffee at the table, and Jack wanders the house as though in a trance. He’s a little boy missing his mama, and I have no idea how to help him.
And me? I’m gripping desperately to my sanity and trying to ignore the booming tick of the clock hanging on the wall. I’d rip the batteries out and smash it if I could, but it’s Kit’s, and I can’t bring myself to touch it.
It screams at me.It’s two a.m. and your pathetic ass hasn’t found her.
I never went looking for love, I never wanted this, and now I know why. The agony at not knowing where she is, if she’s hurt, if she’s crying and waiting for me to save her…
The fact I can’t, hurts so much more than any hit I could ever take in the octagon.
I just want her to come home…
I walk laps in the carpet between the kitchen and the living room in an attempt to relieve the pressure in my chest, when the sound of the phone ringing on the wall echoes through the house and has four noses flipping up like dogs on the hunt.
I rush forward and almost tear the phone from the wall in my urgency. “Hello?”
“Hello, this is Nurse Robens from the hospital.”
I deflate at the familiar voice. “Nurse Robens, hi. Is this about Iz? Is she okay?”
“No sir, well yes, she’s fine. But this is not about her. I’m looking for Jack Reilly. Is this Jack?”
My heart hammers painfully. “No, this is Bobby. You’re looking for Jack?” I wave at Aiden, and he runs from the room shouting Jack’s name.
“Oh, Bobby, hi. Yeah, I’m looking for Jack. If you could just pass him the phone that would be–”
“Why do you need him? What’s going on?”
But I know. In my heart, I know.
“Please just put Mr. Reilly on the phone, Bobby. Quickly, please.”
Jack runs into the room with Aiden a foot behind. His eyes wheel with terror. “Okay, he’s here, hold on.” I grab his shoulder and pull him close, but instead of passing him the phone, I put it on speaker.
“Hello?” His voice cracks. He’s not stupid. “This is Jack. Have you found Kit?”
“Jack, hi, this is Nurse Robens. I’m calling because you’re listed as next of kin for a Ms. Catherine Reilly…”
I stare at the side of his head and will her to finish her sentence. What will she tell us? Is Kit okay? I want this lady to hurry the fuck up and put me out of my misery. But at the same time, I don’t want to know. I’m terrified of living a life without Kit in it.
“…honey, Kit was in an accident. She was transported here by ambulance, and she’s in surgery as we speak. We need you to come immediately.”
“We’re on the way.”
