SIXTEEN

NATHAN

It had been half an hour already. I was standing in front of Matt's and Beyer's, hoping she would return somehow. She always waited for me to come pick her, so maybe she hasn't really gone home.

But she always gave me a call whenever she went to bring in a new shipment and would be returning late, so I know to wait for her then. But now, no nothing. She wasn't even picking her calls.

I tapped my feet impatiently against the hard floor, alternately thinking up ways I would break her leg when my contact found her and how to deal with the many traffic rules I would shatter on my way to the hospital if it turns out she is hurt.

Suddenly, I was enshrouded in the bright light of a car. I put my hands in front of my face and tried to make out the outline of the car. Soon, I noticed it was coming towards the store.

My heart leaped in hope even as my fists clenched in anger.

If that was a man bringing her back to the store, well, he would be a sorry man before two