Missing (The Brannock Siblings Book 3) (22 page)

"No, she isn't. I just came home for lunch." Panic
started to flood my chest thinking something had happened, but Lily quickly
squashed it.

"Don't worry. She was fine when I picked Aidy up. I'd
bet you a million dollars that she just forgot her phone. She was so distracted
this morning so it probably slipped her mind to take it with her. She did say
she was going to be working on a couple of pieces, I just wasn't sure
when."

Relief washed through me, "She's probably at the
studio. I can go get her."

"That's okay. Will you actually have her call me? I
wanted to run something by her, but Aidy gets out of preschool soon so I really
can't stay long."

"Yeah. I'll take her some lunch and have her call. You
need someone to watch Aidy? Because if she can't, I'd be happy to as long as
work allows it."

"Oh my God, I think I love you, Gus."

I laughed and gave her a hug, "Of course you do. What's
not to love?"

"So modest," she giggled. "No, it actually
includes both of you
and
Aidy, but I need to check with my sister
first."

"Sounds good."

We said our goodbyes and I promised to have Aiden call her
the minute she was available. I packed a quick lunch, hoping she was hungry and
willing to be in my presence for more than a minute, then made my way across
the street to her studio. Being surrounded by what she loved most always made
it easier to talk to her. She always looked so peaceful when she painted. I
needed her calm for what I was about to tell her, needed her in her happy place
so she could make a rational decision. If she argued, I was going to argue
back. Until that talk with my dad, I hadn't wanted to push her, but there was no
choice now.

I'd take the risk if there was
any
chance of making
her mine.

I walked into the small apartment and looked around. Her
paintings were everywhere, from bright and colorful to dark and depressing. The
variety always surprised me. The woman could put any emotion on a canvas and
make you understand it. Pictures were stacked on the counter to the point of
falling over and nearly tumbling to the ground.

She had organized her supplies on a bookshelf standing
against one wall and everything had its place. This was what she was born to do
and I hoped she never gave it up.

My eyes searched her out until I saw the top of her red hair
peeking over a huge canvas. Her entire body was hidden from view except for her
bare feet that were tapping against the cloth covered floor. Her toes were
covered in drips of every different color paint and it looked sexier than the
perfectly painted toenails I saw on other women.

What I wouldn't give to help her clean that paint off every
single day. The ideas running through my head would certainly make her blush
from her bright red hair to her paint covered toes.

I shut the door, but she didn't hear it and was completely
unaware that I was even there. I didn't want to startle her, but smiled at the
opportunity to sit and watch her work without her knowing. Creepy? Maybe.

I quietly set the bag of food on the ground by the door and
stepped closer. I shifted enough to the side so I could see everything but her
face. She was humming softly and I noticed the ear buds in her ears and the
iPod sitting on the small table next to her.

Her cut off shorts and white tank top were covered by a dark
green apron with splotches of paint all over it. Her hair was pulled into a bun
at the back of her neck, frizzy and wild, so damn sexy in the sunlight
streaming in from the window. That light was placed so perfectly and was so
bright, I could see specks of dust floating around her, giving the scene an
ethereal glow.

My eyes devoured every inch of her as she leaned back to
observe the area she had just colored. She must have seen me out of the corner
of her eye because she nearly toppled off of her stool in the next moment and
her eyes widened as she focused on me standing there watching her.

"God, Gus! Make some noise next time would you!"

I chuckled and moved toward her to get a good look at the
painting she had been working on.

"No! Stay back. You can't see this one until it's
done." She hopped off her stool and rushed over to me.

"Okay, fine. I won't look."

"Why are you here?"

"I brought you lunch," I replied and pointed at
the bags of food still by the door. "And Lily wants you to call her."

"Why didn't she just call
me
?"

I narrowed my eyes at her and she paled, just now realizing
what she had done. "Oh shit!"

"Yeah, oh shit is right. You forgot your phone. You
promised you would be careful, Aiden."

"I'm sorry, okay?" she snapped, taking me by
complete surprise. Looked like Red was wanting to come out and play. Well, I
was ready and there was no way she was going to get out of this.

"What if something had happened, huh?"

"Nothing
did
happen as you can see, so get off my
back about it. I won't forget my phone again. Plus, it's not like I would have
time to call anyway if someone busted in here."

Panic flared when the image she painted took shape. The
thought of someone hurting her… I would fucking lose it.

"Don't say shit like that, Red. You said yourself
you've felt like someone was following you. Just don't be so ignorant next
time."

"Ignorant?
I'm
the one being ignorant?"

I started to ask her what the hell she meant by that but my
phone rang and she huffed and walked away to clean out her brushes. Lily's name
flashed over the screen.

"Hey, Lil. Aiden is right here and was just about to
call you."

"Oh good, I realized it would be better to ask you both
while you are together so put it on speaker."

I looked over at Aiden who was angrily organizing her
brushes and sighed. "Yeah, okay. She wants to talk to both of us,
Aid," I said gently. She dropped her things and stomped over with her arms
folded over her chest.

She was furious and so fucking exquisite. If Lily didn't
sound so nervous about what she needed to ask us, I would have tossed the phone
away and kissed her like the starving man I had become.

I covered the phone before placing it on speaker and quietly
whispered, "The minute this call is done, we need to have a talk."

She paled once more, but didn't refuse. Let her be nervous.
I was done waiting for her to come to her senses.

"Go ahead, Lil."

"Okay, so Chad wants to spend time with Aidy and get to
know her and I was going to wait a little longer before I did something like
this, but he practically begged me and I thought it would be so much easier if
you two were there as kind of a buffer, ya know? So…" she paused and then
rushed out, "would the two of you please come over for dinner
tonight?"

"I can't," Aiden replied instantly.

"What? Why not?" Lily cried.

"I have a date."

Silence.

Blood rushed to my head and I felt my fists clench, the
plastic of the phone still in my hand, creaking viciously. Aiden refused to
look at me. This had to be some kind of a joke, just a way to get out of dinner
or make me feel guilty for being so stern with her. She had to be getting back
at me. But Aiden wasn't that kind of person. When it was something as serious
as this, she wouldn't do something so juvenile. Right?

"A date?" I breathed.

"Who the fuck are you going on a date with?" Lily
screamed over the phone, seeming even more pissed off than
I
was.

Aiden gaped, obviously shocked that her sister had used the
'F' word. It didn't even register to me because it was the exact same question
I was screaming in my mind. I couldn't speak, couldn't even move, so I just
listened to the two sisters argue about the one thing that could destroy me.

"I answered a message on the site this morning and he
asked me to go to dinner tonight."

"I thought you were deleting your account!" Lily
shouted. "And why the hell do you think it's okay to go out with the guy
after talking to him once? That's just stupid, Aiden!"

"Seems like
everyone
thinks I'm stupid today, so
why not give them a
real
reason to," she bit out.

"Aiden…"

"No! I'm going and neither one of you should try to
stop me. You both tell me how much you want me to be happy and to just live my
life. Well, this is me living it." She finally looked at me, her angry
glare softening when she saw me already staring at her. "I'll be careful.
I just need to move on with my life."

"Move on from what?" I spit out.

Her eyes filled with tears, but she refused to let them
fall. "I think you know, Gus."

I wanted to throw the phone against the wall and pretend
like none of this had actually happened. I wanted to tell her she wasn't going
out with some dickhead she just met and she was going to listen to me if it
killed her. I wanted… so many things, but I couldn't do a God damn thing
because in a way, this was all my fault.

"We'll talk later, Lil," I said quietly and ended
the call, refusing to take my eyes off of her. She stood there like a statue,
bold and beautiful and ready for anything I had to throw at her.

"Move on from what, Aiden?" I repeated gently.

Her unshed tears quickly dried up and the Red I had known
from the very beginning was all that I saw. Only this time, I was so in love
with her and so extremely jealous that I couldn't see clearly. I needed to
leave before I said something I would truly regret.

"I don't know why you even care, Fergus. You're
obviously dating and living your life, so why can't I?"

"I'm not dating anyone."

"Don't be so obtuse. I'm sure you and Cindy have a
wonderful time together without the baggage I so obviously carry."

"Aiden-"

"Just go, Gus. I have a lot to do and no time to do
it."

"Aiden-"

"GO!" she screamed and I took a step back. She
sucked in a sharp breath and held it for several long seconds before blowing it
out slowly and tearing my heart out all over again. "Please."

The look on her face told me there was nothing I could say
right now to fix it. I forced myself to move and every step away from her felt
like I was trudging through three feet of wet cement. She wanted me gone and I
wasn't stupid enough to think I wasn't too furious to stay.

I pulled hard on the door and it slammed shut behind me, but
I didn't stop. I had pushed and pulled with her when I should have been shoving
and yanking.

Now I was too late.

***

Hours later, after returning to the station only to realize
that I was completely useless, I sat at my desk and sulked like a child,
feeling worse than I had when I walked out of that apartment. Evan hadn't asked
questions, but he wasn't stupid either. We'd spent the afternoon on the phone
with the families of Johnny and the little girl who had been taken before him.
Their answers to our questions hadn't changed. They couldn't think of a single
person that they knew or had even casually come across that would do something
like that. There was no unusual activity to their accounts, nothing unusual in
their general day to day activities, and no word from the kidnapper ever since.

They wouldn't admit it, but they were suffering. Not knowing
why
their child had been taken was almost as bad as the actual taking.

I felt like we were just turning in circles, like my entire
life
was just turning in circles. The captain kept us busy with a consult on another
case and for a moment, I thought the day would turn back around.

It didn't.

The minute I stopped thinking about work, I was thinking
about
her
and it all came flooding back. I felt like a 16 year old girl
pining after her high school crush. It was ridiculous, but fuck if I could do
anything to stop it.

When my phone rang and I saw that it was Con and Emily, I
almost didn't answer. When I finally did, it was exactly what I had expected.
They immediately started in on how much they loved Aiden and the tightness in
my chest felt like a vice squeezing the life out of me.

"Are you going to be with her again tonight?" Emily
asked excitedly. "I wanted to talk to her about Ash's bachelorette party.
I think her and Lily would have a blast with us."

"No. She's going on a date tonight," I said
flatly.

"What? But I thought-"

"Em, baby will you give us a minute?" Con said
tenderly.

"Oh, sure. I'll talk to you later, Gus. I love you. You
know that right?"

"Yeah, Em. I do. Thanks."

I heard a click on the line, then a rustle and the sound of
a door shutting. Then it was just me and my brother.

"What did you do?" he asked immediately.

"Nothing."

"For some reason, the only word I can think to tell you
is
exactly
. You did
nothing
."

"Listen, Con. I've spent weeks trying to get her to see
what we have and she wouldn't let her guard down. I can't penetrate that wall
she has and I don't think she wants me to. For a while there, maybe, but then
all of a sudden, it was gone."

"You love her?"

"Brutally," I growled, hating how uncontrolled I
actually felt about my feelings for her. "I can't even find the will to be
mad at her. I just want her to be happy and if she doesn't want to try with me,
what can I do?"

"Smack yourself in the back of the head for me, that's
what you're going to do."

"It's too late, Con."

"Bullshit," he barked. "It's never too late
to fight for her and Mom would kick you in the balls if she heard you say
that."

"Well, it's too bad Mom's not here, huh?" I was an
asshole and I immediately begged forgiveness if Mom had heard me say that from
wherever she was.