A/N: I'm super sorry it's taken so long. There has just been such a restraint on my mind when it comes to this chapter. I honestly couldn't figure out where to take it from here and I know I stopped at a really crappy point and I promised I wouldn't take forever and then I did. But I just started college and I had a really rough break up and depression for the past few months and things have been hectic! If you have any suggestions, PLEASE let me know!

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Kelsi wasn't there.

Ryan knew that he and Kelsi were supposed to meet up after he got out of class. They had made a definite plan, and Kelsi never canceled their plans. If she did, she always called him. She always had a reason. It was always something really important.

But Kelsi wasn't answering her phone.

He headed to his apartment, but she wasn't there. He thought maybe she had gone back to wait for him and had fallen asleep and didn't hear her phone. Maybe she was with Adele, or Brandon?

He sat on the couch and called Adele.

"Hello?"

"Do you know where Kelsi is?" He wasted no time. Something didn't feel right, and Ryan needed to know that Kelsi was safe and okay somewhere. He needed to know he was worrying over nothing.

"Oh... No, sorry. I haven't talked to her today. Didn't she have lunch with Brandon?" Damnit.

"Yeah, I'll ask him. Thanks." He didn't say goodbye. He was already walking to his neighbor's apartment. He didn't knock, he just went in.

Brandon was sitting on the couch with a text book in his lap.

"Fuck."

"Ryan? What's up, man? Aren't you supposed to be meeting Kelsi?"

"I don't know where she is. She isn't answering her phone. She's been acting weird all week and now she's gone, Brandon. Do you have any idea where she could be?" Brandon paled.

"Oh man, I sure hope she was wrong," he muttered, throwing his books off of his lap.

"What do you mean by that?" Ryan asked, following Brandon as he went to grab some shoes and his keys.

"I mean—when I had lunch with Kelsi earlier, she was telling me about how she's felt really paranoid lately because she thinks some guy is following her." Ryan froze.

"What? What guy? Who? Why didn't she tell me?" Brandon shook his head.

"Some guy she used to date—said she thought she saw him a while ago when you guys were out shopping and she's been really freaked by it."

"Not Jeremy."

"Yeah, that was his name." They were already climbing into Brandon's car. "Last I saw Kelsi, we were on campus for lunch. I know a couple people who were around when I left—maybe they saw where she went." Ryan nodded, hoping someone had a clue. "So what's the deal with this Jeremy guy? Kelsi told me he wasn't real great to her."

"No, actually, she has a restraining order on him." Jeremy looked surprised.

"Then if she thought she saw him, why wouldn't she call the cops or something? I know she said she didn't wanna seem crazy, but if he's that bad..."

"Kelsi was terrified of the guy. He used to beat the crap out of her."

"Holy shit." Brandon stepped on the gas a little more.

They found one of Brandon's friends, a guy named Jake, who he thought had been nearby after he left Kelsi to go to class. "Oh, yeah, I saw her," Jake said. "Yeah, like a minute after you left, she got up to leave and some guy walked up behind her and started talking to her. She seemed real weird about it, so I watched to make sure he wasn't bothering her, and she seemed kinda aggravated, and he looked kinda pissed. I figured he was pissed cause she was ignoring him, but he grabbed her arm and they started talking and it seemed like they were fine, for the most part, and they left... walked off campus, somewhere. I saw him when he got here, too, he was parked near me and just sitting in his car."

"Shit," Ryan said, panic filling his entire being. "What kind of car? Do you know the license plate or anything?" Jake paused.

"White '93 Escort... crappy looking thing, had Washington state tags, I thought it was weird... Is everything okay?" Ryan was already calling 911 and walking away while Brandon explained what was going on.

Ryan gave the police Jeremy's name and what he knew about his car. He knew Kelsi had been acting strange. He should've never left her alone.

Jake looked freaked when Brandon explained what happened. He felt guilty that he didn't stop it, but he couldn't have known what was going on. It wasn't his fault.

Ryan knew the police wouldn't normally get up and panic over a kidnapping that was less than 48 hours ago, but the restraining order and their past history put Kelsi on the top of the list.

He needed to know what else he could do.

A cop met up with him and agreed to let Ryan go with him to patrol, looking for Jeremy's car.

"Excuse me—what's going on?" A red-haired girl asked as Ryan followed the cop off campus.

"Investigating a kidnapping, ma'am," the cop replied, not looking at her.

"Short girl—glasses, brown hair?" Ryan stopped.

"Yeah—did you see something?" he asked anxiously.

"Oh my God, I tried to tell the school security earlier but they wouldn't listen—I saw some guy bash a girl on the back of the head and drag her off to a white car..."

Ryan felt his heart stop. He knocked her out. It was definitely Jeremy, from what Jake said about the Washington tags, but now he knew that Kelsi definitely wasn't safe. She was hurt and missing and most likely unconscious.

Another officer stayed to question the girl and Ryan got in the car with the other. He kept calling Kelsi's cell, not knowing what else to do.

A call on the radio said they knew Jeremy's license plate number, so it would be easier to find. Ryan felt like he was going to throw up. He had never been so afraid in his life.

Ring... ring... ring... ring... *Hi, this is Kelsi, I-*

Ring... ring... ring... ring... *Hi, this is Kels-*

Ring... ring... "Why hello, Mister Evans."