© Copyright 2012
All work is property of Leah Crichton, any duplication or reproduction of all or part of the work without explicit permission by the author is illegal.
AN: Wanted to say thank you to everyone for the votes and the comments. I'm having a hard time these days finding time to write let alone repsond to all comments but please know that I read each and every one and love to get them. Hope you all have a great week.
Alexa’s hands shook so badly, steadying her finger enough to push the redial button on her phone required immense effort. She’d been trying to get through to him for the last five minutes.
Lindy paced back and forth, adding to the frantic energy which already clung in the air. “Hurry up!”
Alexa had neither time nor patience to be bossed around. “What do you think I’m doing?”
“Obviously nothing,” Lindy waved her hand. “So do nothing faster!”
“Shut up and let me think for half a second.” Who else should she call? Gabby popped into her mind but that was not a good idea. She'd freak out about Alexa's little outing and probably drag Sadie back kicking and screaming or drugged into oblivion.
Her eyes fluttered to Sadie. She was crouched in the corner of the cafe. Her hands covered her ears the same way she'd been with the rainstorm and she mumbled incoherent rants about the poor counter guy, whom she was utterly convinced was going to try to kill her.
It all happened so fast. One minute they were ordering their sandwiches, the next Sadie exploded into a screaming fit when the man at the counter pulled out a knife with a large, serrated blade to cut a baguette. Her shrieking shocked him so badly, he dropped the knife and threw his hands up as if he was being robbed.
Sadie shook and began uttering words that made no sense, despite both Alexa and Lindy’s efforts to convince her everything was fine.
C’mon Sawyer, she thought, pick up the damned phone!
It felt like time had stopped. As the phone continued to ring on her umpteenth attempt to reach Sawyer, he answered the phone with a nasty, “What?”
She didn't have time to over-think why he was in such a bad mood. Her words tumbled out without a breath in between. “I know you’re at band practice and I’m sorry but you have to come. It’s Sadie.”
The venom in his voice faded, “What about Sadie?”
Alexa sucked in a breath. “I made a big mistake.”
“She locked herself in her closet again?” Sawyer guessed.
Oh but this was so much worse. Alexa shook her head, knowing Sawyer couldn't see her. “No. We aren’t at Paper Planes.”
“What? Where are you?”
“At ‘A Real Slice’, you know that deli on the corner of ninth and sixth?”
“You took Sadie out of Paper Planes?”
“I wasn’t thinking right,” Alexa admitted. “I’m sorry. I messed up.” She fought tears that stung her eyes. “Oh Sawyer, I'm so sorry.”
It was difficult to determine if he was more pissed off or worried. “Don’t take your eyes off my sister. I’m on my way.”
The end of the line went dead.
Alexa pocketed her phone and crouched in front of Sadie, remembering to keep a safe distance. Sawyer was the only one permitted in Sadie’s safe zone. To invade that space as an uninvited guest would only make things worse.
