She's Cold✔️

Chapter Thirty Five

"Search the damned house! She can't just disappear into thin air!" Shane realized that shouting and raining hell on his staff wouldn't bring back Josie if she'd indeed been taken away like before. But he was helpless and out of his depths, knowing that she'd been taken right from under his nose before certainly wasn't helping matters. It killed him to be back in this situation, not knowing who to contact, not knowing how to reassure the people who were concerned about her.

"You should have married her straight up, save us all this stress! This is bullshit!" Maria spat, then poured herself a drink.

The only times he'd seen his mother drink was when they had issues with his father, sooner or later, he knew he had to keep her away from the bottle. Sooner would do nicely, he decided. A drunk Maria was ten times better than a hungover Maria. He could deal with all her drunken rage, but he'd always been helpless when it came to the morning after, when it came to realising that the security blanket you had on was gone. And feeling helpless was something he didn't want, didn't identify with and he wanted to keep that feeling to the barest minimum for his mom.

"Ian just called, she's not at her apartment. But one of the neighbors had seen her go in, stayed for a few minutes then she left," Eric said.

He tucked his phone back into his pocket, then turned to look at his best friend. In the past week, the poor guy had aged five times his actual age. He looked as if the problems of the whole world was shackled to his shoulders. Eric couldn't blame him, there was only so much a man could endure. Especially when it came down to the woman he loved, and it was evident from the haunted look on Shane's face that he did love Josie.

"We'll find her, I know we will. Now that we've established the fact that she left on her own, we can rest easy. She probably needs time, she's been through so much," Daisy said. She sat beside Maria, a supportive arm wrapped around the older woman's shoulder.

Eric's phone rang again, and three set of eyes swung to him. "It's Ian, maybe he has news,"

He listened for a few minutes, then passed the phone on to Shane.

"Ian? What's up man?"

"She's fine, she called. She said she needed time to figure it out, she didn't want you to stop her that's why she ran. But she said she's good, she'll keep in touch."

"Can you text me the number? Maybe I could talk to her?"

"Sorry Shane, but she asked me not to give it to you. I promised her."

Shane staggered towards a chair, refusing to believe what he was hearing. Josie didn't want to talk to him! She left him and was refusing to make contact! He heard his name being called, saw his mother wobble towards him, felts his heart break into a thousand irreparable pieces. Then he picked himself up with a strength he didn't really have. "Okay, just let me know."

"Sure man, if she calls I'll update you."

"Thanks buddy."

"Shane?"

"What?" He squeezed his eyes shut, willing for everything to stop so he could take a breath and keep up.

"Thanks a lot. For everything you did for the orphanage and for my lil sister. I really appreciate, without you we'd be lost. I owe so much to you,"

"It's all good, thank you too."

"You'll get her back. She bottles things up, hide them till it all gets too much. And then it blows up in her face and she just needs time to regroup and set her priorities straight again. I guess her running away is her own way of reducing the casualties. But I know her, and I've got this feeling that soon she'll come back to you."

"I know." He really didn't know that. They'd spent so little time together. He handed the phone back to Eric and lowered his head, trying to find a way to react to everything he had heard. He was wondering what to do and how to move on. It wasn't his fault he wished he was with her, he didn't want her fighting a battle alone. She was supposed to be his, they were supposed to fight together. There was nothing he wanted more than to be with her, and watch the shit blow up in their faces. He did not mind, because he knew that with her, with Josie he could face anything and win. But the most important battle of her life, she'd chosen to go solo. Because she didn't trust him enough and didn't want him to help or to just be there with her. To fight their demons together.

And so he cried, it was something he could do on his own. He let all the pent up and anger and frustration out. The fear that had gripped him for the past week swallowed him whole. His worst nightmare had come upon him, he'd tried to salvage everything, but somehow he'd lost the only thing that mattered most to him. And the only thing that hurt worse than not knowing where she was or being with her was the fact that she didn't need him. The fact that she'd decided that he couldn't help her, that she was stronger without him. Especially when he was helpless and weak without her.

Maria cradled his head in her laps, he didn't know how he had ended up in that position, but it didn't matter. He was lost without Josie.

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