Page 102 of Wright Together

“I get to be in control for once?” I teased.

His eyes flared. “You’re on top. You’re in charge.”

“Yes, sir.”

He grinned at the nickname and then flipped me over. My body slammed back into the mattress, his body covering mine. “On second thought,” he murmured against the shell of my ear.

“Control freak.” I ran my nose along his jaw.

“All my favorite pet names. What are you going to call me next?”

“Dom,” I said, running a hand down his chest.

His eyes flickered wide for a second. “What does that make you? My defiant, feisty little thing?”

I grinned. “I accept defiant, feisty little thing, thank you.”

We were both startled from our foreplay banter by an obnoxiously loud buzzing sound.

“Alarm?” he asked.

I shook my head. “Shouldn’t be. I don’t go to the gym this early.”

We both waited for it to stop, and just as I relaxed, it started up again. Something settled into the pit of my stomach. There was only one phone number I let through my Do Not Disturb mode.

“Do you need to get that?” Whitt asked.

“Yes,” I said regretfully. “I think it’s Bailey.”

Whitt rolled back onto his side of the bed as I scrambled out of the comforts of the comforter. I dug through my purse and pulled out my phone. As I’d expected, Bailey’s name was on the screen.

“Hello? Bails? Everything okay?”

“It’s me, Eve.”

“Dad.” I shuddered.

Whitt’s head popped up in alarm at the name. I turned away from him. I didn’t want to know what was coming next. I didn’t want him to see my reaction to whatever my dad was about to say.

“Why do you have Bailey’s phone?”

“Is she with you?”

“Bailey? No, she’s not with me. Why would she be with me?”

“Because she’s gone and she left her phone behind.”

“Gone?” I asked, my distress mounting. “What do you mean gone?”

“I don’t know, Evie,” he snapped. I could practically feel him pacing on the other side. “She went to the gym yesterday to practice for volleyball and hasn’t come home.”

My insides froze over.

“Yesterday?” I asked, my voice like ice. “You mean, she’s been gone a whole day, and you’re just now contacting me?” He didn’t say anything right away, and that was when I realized, “You had no idea she was gone last night.”

“I had a church function, and we stayed out late. I didn’t know she wasn’t home until this morning.”

Fury tore through me. “I cannot believe you did this. You’re supposed to be watching her.”