Counting Sheep

Chapter 33

I AM BAAAAAAACK!!!!!! It has been so long and I am so sorry for that--it has been kind of a rough past month, not even going try to lie. But, I feel like I am in a place mentally that I am ready to come back and to finish- to finish not only a chapter so to speak but a whole book ;) I am so excited for you guys to read this! I love you and your support means more than I could ever even try to explain...I hope you know that. And I hope you know that you are loved. Xoxoxo -Hannah <3

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CHAPTER 33: Julian thunders through the house, racing out the door as he goes down the pathway away from Caroline's mansion. He can hear Antonio shouting from behind him, but it's drowned in the ringing in his ears.

 He had to get to them.

 He had to get to Hazel and Layla.

 Jumping in the car, he starts it, feeling the rain hit his face in sliding wet drops that he barely feels. Antonio gets in the car right before Julian drives off, barely managing to slam the door shut before Julian peeled away from the house and down the road. 

"Julian," Antonio tried to say after a long few minutes of driving in tense silence.

 "Don't. Speak." Julian growled softly, the words barely audible as he broke all possible speed limits. 

"I am sure they are fine," Antonio said, ignoring his feral command. "Dave is watching over them. They will be fine. I'm sure. They are probably just at home fast asleep."

 Julian swallowed hard, trying to focus on the road while praying that what Antonio said was right. 

He thought of his girls. 

Visions of the three of them playing and laughing flashed in his mind's eye-torturing him slowly and painfully.

 He thought of Hazel's sweet little smile-of Layla's laugh. His fists clenched around the wheel as the powerful wind blew at the sides of the speeding car. 

Nothing could happen to them.

 He simply wouldn't survive it. 

They had started his long cold dead heart and he didn't want to go back to the emptiness he had known for so many years because without them that's all there was. 

Emptiness. 

Sadness. 

He didn't want to go on without them-it was as simple as that. 

The weather only worsened as they drove and just as they were around 10 minutes away from the house, traffic was backed up horribly. 

Cars honked their outrage while people shouted at the hold-up of their daily lives. 

Julian practically shook with the need to get to Hazel and Layla when finally a police man walked up to the car door, a wet notepad in hand and wearing a squeaky raincoat. 

"Men," He said formally and Julian could feel Antonio tense up beside him at the officer's presence. Julian knew that if the officer had any feeling that something was off he would want to search the car and if he did that he would find all the weapons stashed in the back. 

But Julian couldn't think of that, could barely think enough to speak so Antonio leaned forward and spoke for him with an easy, but tense smile.

"Officer, good day. You are looking well. What's the hold up?" He asked lightly.

 The officer laughed and leaned against the car door. "Oh, it seems like a power outage. Someone cut the lines and it doesn't help that it was storming so bad." He said and Julian's muscles only tensed further.