Unexpected | Calum Hood

41.

Calum

I can hear my blood pumping behind my ears as I scale the front steps two at a time.

"Jes!" I scream. My voice shakes and I pause in the entryway waiting for a reply. I listen for any movement but don't hear anything.

Where the fuck is she? I drop my bags and race through the house throwing open every door on the bottom floor before racing up the steps and checking the second floor. I've checked every room in the house. She's not here and neither is P.

My chest tightens as I begin to panic. Where could they be? Did something happen to them? I pull at my hair trying to think straight.

I grab my phone from my back pocket frantically pressing my mum's name.

"Calum?"

"Mum! Have you heard from Jessie? I just got here and her and P are gone."

"Breathe. They're here. Come over."

"Thank God." I exhale hanging up the phone. The relief floods me for a moment before I feel nauseous my anxiety catching up with me. I rush to the bathroom and spew my stomach's contents. I wipe my mouth and rinse it out with water, wiping the stray beads of sweat away from my brow. They're safe. They're fine.

I head back down the stairs and out to the garage. I hop in my car and pull out, tires squealing as I drive into the night. I've never sped like this in my life. I weave in and out of the light traffic doing anything I can to reduce the time between me and the people I love more than life itself.

I make it to Jessie's old house in record time, 13 minutes for what's typically a twenty-five minute drive. I crash through the door to find my girl waiting for me.

I close my eyes as total relief washes over me. I can see her, hold her, protect her. My hand reaches behind her, pulling her against me and I kiss the top of her head before she tilts her chin up to kiss me properly. I feel the wetness of her fresh tears but I'm too lost in the feeling of having her in my arms and being able to taste her for the first time in weeks to worry about the circumstances of our current moment.

I finally pull away and hold her at arms length to look at her.

"What happened? Are you hurt? Why did the alarm go off? Where's PK?"

"Deep breaths." She says helping to calm me though I should be the one doing this for her.

"You scared me half to death."

"Come on, let's go sit down and I'll tell you what happened."

"Where's Paisley?" I ask again when we're seated in the living room. I'd forgotten how comfortable her couch is.

"Your mom's watching her in the guest room she had just got to sleep when you got here."

I nod, fighting the urge to race to the guest room and see for myself that she's okay.

"What happened?"

"We were just in our usual nightly routine. I got up at midnight to feed her and she was basically done when I heard someone come in the front door. I freaked the fuck out. I didn't know what to do but I grabbed P and we went out the back and ran over to the neighbors and I called your mom to come get us."

"Whoever it was must not have stayed long. No one was in the house when I got there." I tell her.

"They didn't find what they were looking for."

"Do you know who it was?" I question.

She nods her head and stares through the darkness looking everywhere but at me.