Missing (The Brannock Siblings Book 3) (5 page)

"I'll call you later this weekend once I talk to Con,
okay?"

"Sounds good. I might get called in, but I'm supposedly
off for the next few days."

"Good. You need a break, Gus. You boys work so damn
hard and I'm proud of you, but you need to live your lives, too. Take a
vacation from playing hero. Ya know?"

"Yeah. I know."

"Any plans this weekend?"

I wasn't going to say anything and I was shocked that Con
hadn't already, but I needed some advice. "Yeah actually. I, uh… I have a
date tomorrow night."

"You do?" she shrieked, forcing me to pull the
phone away from my ear as she celebrated.

"Yeah."

"Wait, is it like the usual. A fling or something like
that?"

"No, Ash. I've been talking to this girl for a while
now and I'm serious about it. I'm not getting any younger and I don't have the
time to be wandering around looking for action."

"No, you don't," she stated firmly. Then I heard
her talking to someone and the deep voice that responded made me panic.

"I gotta go, sis. Tell Luke we'll have a talk."

"Wait, he wants to know who this girl is," she
said quickly, but I wasn't going to get sucked into that conversation. Luke was
just waiting for the chance to get back at me for the shit I had given him over
the years. Especially over the last several months.

"Can't. Got a case, love you. Bye."

I hung up and let out the breath I had been holding since I
heard Luke in the background. Aiden was right. Payback
is
a bitch.

The thought of my snarky little neighbor made me smile and
Linc noticed.

"You that happy about becoming an uncle?"

My head snapped up and my brow furrowed. I didn't think I
was smiling
that
big, but apparently I was and I didn't like that it was
because I was thinking about Red.

"Sure. I can spoil him or her as much as I want and
send him back to Mom and Dad. What's not to be happy about? Except for the fact
that it's my little sister and one of my best friends and if it had happened
any other way, the man would be in the trunk of my car on the way to Lake
Michigan."

Linc laughed and went back to his report, cursing his
computer when it froze up yet again.

My words might have changed the subject out loud, but my
mind refused to give in. Red was still there and I needed to get her out before
tomorrow night or MysteryGirl wouldn't give me a chance.

"Let's go over everything so far, yeah?" I asked,
hoping that burying myself in this case would be enough of a distraction.

Linc slammed his fist on the desk, "Stupid fucking
computers. We can't do shit until I call IT and find out why the hell our
system is so slow today. We'll have to work with that huge ass pile," he
pointed to the folder overflowing with papers on the edge of my desk,
"until they fix this."

He picked up the phone and started dialing while I flipped
through the pages, chuckling at his extremely low tolerance for any kind of
technology. "Who's got the honor of working with your cheery ass
tonight?"

Linc smirked when someone answered his call, "Donny, my
man. Got another freeze up."

Poor Donny.

***

I didn't get home until eight thirty the next morning and my
head was spinning with exhaustion. Linc and I had finished our reports in
record time, but the new evidence and a few pots of coffee had kept us going
for longer than we had anticipated. It was Linc who finally cut me off mid
sentence and told me he wanted to go home to his wife and 'get some' before he
slept the rest of the weekend. Who am I to deny him that?

I needed some shut eye before I got ready to go meet my girl
anyway.

My girl.

I chuckled to myself, not because I was being a complete
sap, but because it was the only thing about the day that felt right.

As I made it up the stairs to my floor, I heard women
talking and laughing and the telltale sound of a child giggling up a storm. I
smiled to myself and wondered how I had never run into little Aiden before.

"Don't worry about it, Lil. We'll be fine."

"Okay, if you're sure. I'll try my best to leave as
early as I can. This bitch has got her head so far up the manager's ass that I
swear to God I can't tell where she ends and he begins. If she feels like she
needs to, she'll keep us all day."

I couldn't help but laugh. Seeing this tiny slip of a woman
use such harsh words was entertaining. Plus the look of pride on Aiden's face
was that much more amusing, until she saw me walking toward my door and that
expression turned into a fiery glare

"Oops. I said that kind of loud didn't I? Do you think
Aidy heard me?" Lily whispered and looked into the apartment with a grimace.

"Lil, I'm pretty sure she didn't, otherwise she would
have already run out here to repeat it."

"Well, that's not
my
fault," Lily
countered. "
You're
the one that has introduced her to the wonderful
world of Aiden curses. I swear to God, you'll be funding her Master's degree
with that swear jar she has."

Aiden chuckled and I stopped in my tracks. The low rasp of
it was the sexiest thing I had ever heard and for some strange reason, it
knocked out the whole of my exhaustion.

"Hey, Gus," Lily sang with a small wave.

I shook my head slightly and found my bearings once more,
avoiding Aiden's gaze at all costs. "Hey, Lily. Good to see you
again."

"Same here, handsome. Found out you had never seen my
Aidy before."

I rolled my eyes because of course Red would have informed
her sister about my little scene the week before. "Yeah. Never got the
chance. Hope I didn't scare her."

Red made a sound that sounded on awfully lot like 'Pfft' and
leaned against her doorframe.

"What's that supposed to mean, Red?" I asked, feeling
like I had just been thrown the ultimate insult.

"It means," she said slowly, bristling at my
nickname for her, "that you couldn't scare a child if you wanted to."

"Why not?" I stepped closer.

Lily, obviously noticing that the situation was about to
turn into one of
those
arguments, immediately chimed in with,
"You're just too pretty, Gus. Kids would flock to you before running from
you."

Aiden glared at her sister and I grinned, using all the
charm I could muster and aiming it at Lily. "Well, thank you,
darlin'." I turned to Aiden, unable to keep it in, "I could be scary
if I wanted to be."

"Ha!"

"Aiden Murphy! You be nice," Lily demanded.

"I'm a scary guy," I continued defensively,
because I felt the need to drop my maturity down to negative one thousand. I
narrowed my eyes at Aiden, "I just choose not to be."

"That doesn't make any sense."

"
You
don't make any sense."

"What?"

"You heard me." God, I was really starting to suck
at comebacks and this woman was driving my cleverness and sanity down to levels
I had never experienced before.

"What does that even mean?" she huffed and crossed
her arms under her chest, pushing her breasts up and drawing my eyes downward
for just a moment. I prayed she didn't notice, but my luck was shit today.

Of course she noticed. Lily noticed so why wouldn't
she
.
And it was so obvious that she noticed, I thought I was going to end up with my
eyeballs burned out, her glare was that intense.

"You know what? I don't have time for this," she
said with a flick of her wrist and turned to walk back into her apartment with
Lily hanging back for a second longer and giving me a shrug.

A part of me was so damn grateful she had the ability to end
the conversation because I was seriously struggling. Another part of me wanted
to say something,
anything
, that would make her stay just a few minutes
longer. She had always been hot. Sexy. Now more than ever she was unmistakably
gorgeous. Fiery. And fuck if it didn't turn me right the hell on.

Not something I needed to dwell on when I had a date later
that night with the one woman who had ever understood me. The one woman who
could make me laugh more than anyone and the one woman that I knew without a
doubt I would fall in love with after meeting her.

That
was the woman I needed to focus on. Not my cute,
snarky neighbor with the blazing red hair and chocolate brown eyes, who was the
ultimate challenge for witty banter. She was my nemesis, not my match and I had
to remember that.

After having a door shut in my face once more, only this
time at a large enough distance that I didn't feel the breeze from it, I turned
back to my apartment.

Red was a fireball of emotion. Yesterday afternoon had been
proof of that. I hadn't planned on helping her with the armload of crap when I
first saw her struggling to get into her apartment. In fact, I watched her for
a long moment and thought she looked the most vulnerable I had ever seen her
and I wanted to freeze time just to enjoy it a little longer.

Then I realized how badly she actually
was
struggling
and the gentleman in me moved quickly. Her apartment had been a surprise. Of
course I had seen inside of it before, but never noticed that the clutter
wasn't garbage at all. It was actually stacks of really amazing paintings and
pictures that until then, I had no clue she was the creator of. All the tubes
she had been struggling to keep in that bag were actually paints. I wanted to
ask her more about the paintings, but up until then, I had been an asshole and
had no right to know more about her personal life.

I didn't
want
to know more. I just wanted to be less
of an asshole if I could.

Ash always said my sarcasm would get me into trouble one day
and I was feeling that day closing in fast, especially after the last few
run-ins with Red.

Red.

It was hilarious how badly that nickname pissed her off
because I was one hundred and fifty percent positive that a lot of people
called her that.

I strolled into my bedroom and threw my keys on the dresser,
followed by my badge and gun and stripped down to my boxer briefs. After
setting my alarm to wake me up an hour before I had to meet MysteryGirl, I
settled into my bed and shut my eyes.

Tonight was the start of something incredible. I could feel
it in my bones.

***

I settled into the booth and tried to avoid the heated gaze
from the hostess when she asked if there was anything else I needed.

"Thanks, I'll just wait for my date to get here."

Her exaggerated smile never faltered, but she went back to
her post quickly and I wondered if I should have chosen another restaurant.
This one was fancy, but not overly fancy to give the impression that I spent my
free time at fancy places all the time. It was fancy enough, though, that every
employee looked like they owned the place.

I adjusted my tie and tried to relax. After checking the
time once again and seeing no incoming texts or calls, I forced myself to calm
down. MysteryGirl - and it would be great to know her actual name after tonight
- had texted me thirty minutes before saying she would be a little bit late,
which was fine with me. I had run into Lily on the way out, who was on the
verge of tears after picking up Aidy. I tried to help her out by being a
listening ear, so I had been running a few minutes behind, too. Lily had
apparently been through a hell of a day at work and felt awful for picking her
daughter up so late.

"Was Red upset?" I had asked.

She laughed and wiped under her eyes with one hand while
holding tightly to Aidy's hand with the other. "God, no. She's never upset
with me for
anything
. I just wanted her to have a stress free night with
her date and all. She needs this, ya know? I hope she has enough time to get
ready."

"She will. She hardly has to do anything to look good
anyway."

I hadn't meant to voice my thoughts, but there it was, and
Lily beamed.

"Why can't you two get along?" she asked on a
sigh. "You're perfect for each other, but neither one of you sees
it."

Before I could answer, little Aidy chimed in with,
"Because Aunty Aiden said everyone is too much smarter than him and it
makes him a big meanie head."

I stopped midstride and Lily clapped a hand over her mouth.
It took me a minute to process what the little girl had said and instead of
feeling insulted, I was trying to figure out how she knew so many words.

"How old are you, Aidy?" I asked and her smile
nearly split her face in half.

"I'm five," she all but shouted and held up a hand
with all five fingers perfectly straight and spread apart as far as they would
go. The bright purple nail polish caught my eye before she dropped her hand.

"I'm so sorry, Gus," Lily gasped.

I just smiled and shrugged, "No worries. She's probably
right, but don't tell
her
I said that." I winked at Aidy and
pointed up the stairs. Lily chuckled and kept her eyes straight ahead.

The rest of the walk out of the building was silent and I
couldn't for the life of me think of anything else to say because a five year
old had put me in my place thanks to Red.

I'd spent the drive to the restaurant thinking of
intelligent comebacks for the next time I saw her and had filed away several
that would work no matter what she had to say.

I checked my phone once more and saw that there was a text
that had come in while I was lost in my thoughts.

MysteryGirl: Almost there.

I have never been nervous for a date before, but this one
was important. It was the first time I had been completely honest with a woman
about my past and the first time the woman knew that this wasn't just about
getting into bed together.

She may not know specific details, but she knew enough about
me
. She knew details about my past that no one else did and it had taken
a huge weight off of my shoulders. She liked me for me, no matter what - or who
- I had done before her. It was refreshing and very necessary for me now that I
had watched Ash and Con's lives change so much because they had found
the
one.
I wanted that for
me
and I was going to get it no matter the
cost.