Colby's POV
My heart broke for Julia. I knew she was trying so hard to stay strong for me but I could hear how broken she was.
I wanted to go home. I wanted to be with her and tell her everything would be alright but I needed to stay here until I knew it was safe to go back.
The people we were working with were clearly pretty dangerous and I wasn't about to risk the people I loved
The chances of this plan involving Julia or the kids was slim to none, but it was still a possibility and I wasn't going to risk anything.
The next couple days were tedious, none of us really knowing what to do or what to expect. It wasn't until another note showed up outside of the office.
"Let me see." I said as Jake handed me the note. "It makes no fucking sense again." He said and handed me the paper. On this note four numbers, 4985.
"It's the start of an address." I said and looked at Sam's computer. I wanted so desperately to log into it and see what he's been working on behind the scenes.
I remember when I was in this office and in this gang I would talk directly to other people with no consultation with the others.
When you're in charge there are so many things going on behind the scenes and it was usually fine for it to be closed interactions.
The fact that Sam was missing and there was no sign of where he could be meant there was a lot of information on this computer.
I just wished I could figure out the fucking password.
"How do you know?" Corey asked as I shrugged. "I used to be fucking good at this shit." I said and leaned back.
"Hey, you're still good at it." Jake said as I nodded. "Yeah, this is an impossible situation and you're six months into retirement. Don't be so hard on yourself, man." Nate said as I nodded.
"I just wish you could hack into his computer." I said as he sighed. "I would hack into it if I could. We set it up so nobody gets in. If I could hack it, so could others." He said as I nodded.
I felt my phone buzzing in my pocket, so I pulled it out seeing that Julia was FaceTiming me. "Alright, everyone out." I said blandly.
"Ooooo he's gotta have phone sex with his girlfriend." Corey teased. "Yeah, we gotta go because she's gonna be moaning his name in a second." Jake said as I rolled my eyes.
"OUT." I said and pointed towards the door. "He doesn't scare me like he used to." Jake said as they slowly left the room.
"Don't say shit like that, he'll literally kill us." Corey said as I nodded.
I thought about pulling a gun on them just now to show I wasn't one to fuck with but I think they knew that.
Just because I haven't really been overly aggressive didn't mean it wasn't there deep down.
Once they were gone I answered the phone to see Julia's face pop up. I couldn't help but notice that her eyes were bloodshot as if she had just got done crying.
"Hey, sweetheart. Are you okay?" I asked as she nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine." She said with a small smile. "I can tell you've been crying." I said as she looked away.
"Everything is fine. I just watched a sad movie with Jenna." She said then panned the camera over to Jenna.
"Hi, Colby." She said with a wave. "Hey, Jen. How are things going there?" I asked as she looked at Julia. "Just fine." She said then finally looked at me.
"Ohhkay..." I said, trying to figure out what the hell they were hiding from me. "What are you up to?" Julia asked as Carter came into frame.
"Colby! We miss you. Julia is so lame sometimes." He said as Julia pursed her lips. "I'm sure she's only being lame because she cares." I said with a nod.
"Or she's a loser." Carter said then ruffled Julia's hair. "Whatever. The kids just wanted to talk to you." Julia said then handed the phone to Carter.
"What's going on, man?" I asked as he plopped down on the couch next to Jenna.
"We just want to know when you're coming home. It's been almost two weeks." Carter said as I sighed.
"It'll be a little while longer. I'm sorry guys." I said as Sam popped his head into frame.
"Is other Sam okay?" He asked as I nodded. I obviously couldn't tell him that every day he wasn't found was a larger chance he was dead.
"He's still going through a tough time." I said then quickly changed the subject.
"You're quiet, Jenna. Was that movie really that sad?" I asked, slightly prying at the fact that Julia had been previously crying.
"Yeah, it was sad." She said with a nod. "COLBYYYYYYY!!" Juniper screamed as she came running over.
"Hey, kid." I said with a smile as she snatched the phone.
"I need you to come home because sissy is really sad about it." Juniper said as Julia groaned. "Juniper, I told you I'm fine." Julia said as Juniper shook her head at me.
The truth was I knew that Julia was sad and I knew she was hiding it but Juniper confirming it made my heart break.
"Your sissy is stronger than she thinks, but she needs you and the rest of your siblings to give her lots of love." I explained as she nodded.
"Like this?!" Juniper asked then attacked Julia with a hug. "Exactly like that." I said with a laugh.
"We miss you." Carter said as I nodded. "I miss you guys, too. It's getting late though, you guys should get to bed." I said and raised my brows.
"You can't tell us what to do, you ditched us." Sam teased as I nodded. "Don't be mean to him or he'll never come back!!" Juniper screeched causing me to laugh.
"I'm coming back. You guys just need to go to bed so I can talk to Jules." I said as he nodded. "I get it. You guys want to be all smoochy and stuff." Sam said as I nodded.
"Yup. So you have a choice to stay and hear it or you can go to bed." I hummed causing Carter to get up and throw the phone at Julia.
"Goodnight guys." Julia said and watched as the older kids left. "Sissy, will you tuck me in?" Juniper asked as Julia nodded.
"I'll call you back, babe." She said then hung up. I sighed then leaned back, looking at the notes in front of me.
I had a sick feeling that these people were playing with us, stringing us along so they could distract us.
Right now felt like the calm before the storm and I wasn't ready for what was coming.
I've been timid about getting into the action but we seriously needed to start training. Whoever we were fucking with was smarter than us.
I couldn't just let these people win. If I was going to be back in the game, I had to be fully back.
No more holding back.
I sat after to get mildly concerned when Julia didn't call back. I assumed that she might have falledn asleep but the only thing I could think about was her being in danger.
I needed to use that fear and rage to get out of here and get back to her.
I did some work, making a schedule to get some training in.
It hasn't been long since I've shot a gun but it's been forever since I've been in actual combat with someone.
I was rusty and it was honestly the first thing I should have done. If someone were to attack me right now, I assumed that my instincts would kick in but you just never know.
Once I was done planning the next couple days I decided to go back to the house to get some rest.
"Hey, Colby?" Stas asked as I went to go upstairs. "What's up?" I asked as she sighed.
"Uhhh...do you have any idea when Sam will be back?" She asked and shifted awkwardly.
"No idea, why?" I asked as she looked up at me. "Kat went back home...she couldn't handle all of this and I guess I'm just worried about her." She said as I nodded.
"We're working on it. It's good she went away, especially since she's out of the country." I explained as she sighed.
"It's really cool that you came back. Is Julia okay with it?" She asked as I nodded.
"As okay as she can be. Goodnight, Stas." I said then went up the stairs.
I didn't want to be harsh but I didn't want to talk much about my relationship.
The girls were always trying to be in my business and if even if I trusted them fully, I didn't feel comfortable talking about Julia to anyone besides Nate, Jake, and Corey.