Need (24 page)

“I can’t talk about it, Cal. I’m sorry. Not here.”

“Where, then? I’m not going to hurt you. I hope you know that.”

“It’s not that.”

“Then what is it?”

“I have . . . I panic when I talk about . . . it. I can’t . . . not here.”

Cal looked around at all the people, and just nodded. “I came by to see you last weekend. Did Coleman tell you?”

“Yes.”

“Well, that’s something, I suppose,” he sighed, seeming almost disappointed. Did he think Stephan wouldn’t tell me? “He said he would, but I didn’t know.”

I asked what I’d been wondering for a while. “Why do you hate him so much?”

“I don’t.” At my skeptical look, he continued. “Okay, okay. It’s just that the man has everything, and it was handed to him on a silver platter. He’s what, twenty-four, twenty-five? He runs one of the largest foundations in the Midwest and lives in a penthouse in one of the most expensive parts of downtown. And what did he do to earn it?
Nothing
. It was all given to him dressed up in a nice fancy bow.”

“So you don’t like him because he has money?”

“It’s not that he has money,” he said hesitantly. “It’s that he didn’t work for it.”

I didn’t like the way he was talking about Stephan, and I shook my head disagreeing with him. “You don’t know anything about him. He’s helped lots of people. He’s helped
me
so much. You shouldn’t think bad things about him.”

“How has he helped you, Anna? Tell me. Why is it that I should get on the Stephan Coleman bandwagon?”

I felt a mixture of anger at Cal for being so unfair and an ache in my chest I didn’t understand. I needed to defend Stephan. It wasn’t a want, it was a need, growing deep inside me that overrode everything else. “Because he saved me! He got me out of that horrible place.”

It wasn’t until the words left my mouth and I realized what I’d just said that the panic seemed to fill me. I knew I had to get away. Looking up, I saw a sign for the restroom. Without thinking, I got up and ran toward it, not stopping until I was safely locked inside the stall. I needed Stephan.

Stephan

My day was going well until I received the call from Brianna telling me Ross wanted to have coffee with her. There was no way I was allowing him into our home with her, without me there. I wasn’t thrilled about her having coffee with him at all, but she wanted to see him, and I wasn’t going to hold her hostage. She was allowed to have friends, even if I didn’t care for them. Since the call, I’d been distracted. I tried to reply to e-mails, but kept having to reread them three and four times because my mind would wander.

    Calling Tom to walk her to the coffee shop only eased my mind fractionally. I trusted Tom. He’d been working the front desk for years before I bought my condo, and had always shown the highest professionalism. He’d even called me once he returned to the building, letting me know Brianna had arrived safely and met with her friend. It did nothing to calm me. 

I was anxious and knew something could easily happen to trigger one of her panic attacks. She was still fragile. The littlest things set her off.

I tried to refocus on work, but it was useless. Shutting my computer down, I grabbed my jacket and went to tell Jamie I was going home for the day. At the very least, I would be closer to her. Maybe that would make me feel better.

Just as I reached my car, my phone buzzed in my pocket. Brianna’s name lit up the screen. I answered the called, but before I could get anything out, I heard her sobbing. 

“I . . . I need you. I . . . I . . .”

“Shh. It’s okay Brianna,” I said, not wasting any time getting into my car. “Where are you?”

“C . . . coffee . . . shop.” She hiccupped.

“Are you safe?”

“Yes,” she said, seeming to have calmed down a little.

“Stay where you are, and keep talking to me. I’m on my way.”

“Okay,” she whispered.

“Tell me what you did this morning. Did you read any more of your book?” I was trying to distract her. Even breaking every speed law, it was going to take me at least five minutes to make the normal ten minute drive, and that was if too many red lights didn’t stop me. It was downtown Minneapolis, after all.

“Yes. Only a chapter.”

“What do you think so far?”

“I . . . I like the history.”

“Yes, I liked that about it, too. You don’t see that many books written about the Italian side of things during World War II.”

Pulling up to the curb outside my building, I jumped out and walked as quickly as I could to the coffee shop.

“I’m here, Brianna. Where are you?”

“In the bathroom.”

It wouldn’t have taken me long to find it even if I’d not already known where it was located. Several people were crowded around the door leading to the women’s bathroom. There with them, standing as close to the door as humanly possible, was Ross.

Pushing my way through the group of people, I reached out to open the door. Ross’s hand landed on my arm for a brief second before my glare caused him to pull it away. I walked inside leaving him, and the others, behind.

“Brianna?”

The door to the back stall flew open and Brianna appeared. Her eyes were red-rimmed from crying, and her hair was a mess.

I opened my arms and she ran into them, starting to sob again. “Shh. You’re fine now. I’m right here.” She held on tighter as I rubbed her back trying to soothe her.

I had no idea how long we stood there. It took a while for her to completely calm down, although her sobs did lessen quickly. With some paper towels, I cleaned the tearstains from her face. It would also have been nice to get her some water to drink, but short of drinking directly from the faucet that wasn’t going to happen.

“We are going to go home now.” 

She nodded. 

I wrapped my left arm around her, and opened the door.

There were still a few people lingering, but most had thankfully moved on. Ross, however, was one of the few remaining. He looked at me with an unsure expression before dropping his gaze to Brianna. A frown pulled at his lips, but he didn’t say anything. For that, I was grateful. I wasn’t in the mood for his attitude.

Without saying a word, I guided Brianna through the coffee shop and out onto the sidewalk. Although the day was warm, her arms stayed wrapped around my middle as she huddled close. I felt Ross behind us, but chose to ignore him. With no idea what happened, I was trying to be rational and not lash out at him, as difficult as that was.

We walked inside my building, and Tom was there waiting for us. “Good afternoon, Mr. Coleman. I put some money in the meter for you. Did you wish for me to have your car taken to the garage?”

I paused. Putting money into the parking meter hadn’t even crossed my mind. “Yes please, Tom. That would be most helpful, and thank you for putting money in the meter for me.”

“You’re welcome, Mr. Coleman,” he said as I continued to move toward the elevator. “I hope you feel better, Miss Reeves.”

Brianna didn’t respond, but I didn’t expect her to. The elevator doors opened, and we stepped inside. Ross followed.

The ride up the elevator was quiet, as was the walk to our condominium. Ross was practically breathing down my neck as I opened the door, led Brianna inside and over to my chair, but thankfully he remained silent. Once she was situated on my lap, her head resting on my shoulder, I spared him a glance. He was watching us with what appeared to be curiosity, rather than the contempt I’d seen on his face in the past.

I didn’t offer him a seat, but he eventually sat down on the couch a few feet away. Brianna was still clinging to me, although she was now picking at the buttons on the front of my shirt, so I knew she was better.

Sending her into another panic was the last thing I wanted to do, so I worked to control the tone of my voice. 

“What happened?” I didn’t care which one of them answered me as long as one of them did.

Brianna

“It was my fault,” I whispered.

“No. It was mine.” Cal’s voice echoed through the room, cutting off anything else I was going to say. The force behind it made me curl farther into Stephan, and his arms tightened around me.

“Explain,” Stephan demanded, and I knew he wasn’t talking to me. He’d never spoken to me like that, even when I’d messed up and ignored his calls.

“I was trying to get her to tell me what happened to her, but she wouldn’t. Then you came up. It was a short conversation that ended with her yelling that you saved her and got her out of some horrible place. I knew she was protective of you, I just didn’t think she’d react like that.” I wasn’t looking at Cal, but I heard movement, and the next time he spoke, I could tell he was standing. “You won’t tell me what’s happened to her.
She
won’t tell me . . . I’m supposed to be keeping her whereabouts from her father, who I might point out, has contacted me looking for her. Someone needs to give me a reason why I’m lying to an old family friend who, to my knowledge, is desperate to find his missing daughter!”

I cringed. From what Stephan had told me, I’d been pretty sure John was looking for me. Hearing Cal confirm it—that he’d been in touch with him—sent shivers down my spine.

“If Brianna wants you to know what happened to her, she will tell you when she’s ready. Is it too much to ask for you to respect her wishes?” Stephan asked.

“When it puts me in the middle of a situation where I’m clearly missing a huge piece of information, yes, it is too much to ask.”

I didn’t have to look up to know they were both sneering at each other. Cal had never been one to back down when he thought he was right. I couldn’t see Stephan backing down either.

“Sir?” I whispered. Stephan’s eyes left Cal’s and focused on me. “Will you tell him? Please? I don’t think . . . I don’t think I can without . . .”

“Are you sure?”

I nodded.

“Okay,” he said, kissing my forehead before turning back to Cal. “I’m going to give you the short version. It will tell you what you need to know. Anything else and you are going to have to wait for her to be ready to tell you. I will warn you now, if you push her again and she’s not ready, you
will
be answering to me. Are we clear?”

Cal was silent for a long moment. At first, I didn’t think he was going to answer, but finally he said, “All right.”

I felt Stephan nod once before he started talking. “Up until two months ago, Brianna was held captive as a slave by a wealthy man outside of the city. She had many things done to her, and she has a very difficult time trusting anyone, let alone men. And from everything I’ve been able to find so far, it looks as if Jonathan Reeves is involved.”

“You think Sheriff Reeves sold his own daughter into slavery?” Cal asked. I could hear his disbelief.

“Yes, but more importantly, Brianna believes it. He told her a car was coming to pick her up. That same car took her to her new Master.”

Silence filled the room, and my curiosity won out. I glanced up to see Cal standing there with his mouth opening and shutting, but no sound was coming out.

Stephan noticed my change in focus, and brought his lips to my ear. “You okay?”

“Yes.” I nodded. “Is Cal . . . ?”

As if hearing his name broke him out of the trance he’d been in, he found his voice again. “Is that true, Anna? You think your dad . . . ?” 

“Yes,” I croaked out. It was still so hard talking about this.

“I don’t believe it,” Cal said, but his words didn’t seem to be directed at anyone.

“Believe it,” Stephan said. “As long as Brianna feels he’s a danger, Jonathan Reeves cannot know where his daughter is.”

Cal’s gaze lingered on mine for a long time before he spoke again. “All right. I won’t say anything, but you have to know he’s not going to give up. He’s going to find her eventually.”

Stephan’s chest rose and fell harshly beneath me. “I know.”

Cal left a short while later, after promising not to mention anything to my father. For the rest of the evening, Stephan stayed close to me. He rarely let me out of his arms, let alone his sight.

We ate Chinese food curled up on the couch watching a movie. I didn’t watch much, and I don’t think he did either.

When the movie finished, he pulled me onto his lap. “I want to talk to you about what happened with Ross today.” 

I nodded. I’d known this was coming. 

“Do you know what triggered your panic?”

Yes, I knew. And looking back at it now, it seemed rather silly. “I was embarrassed,” I mumbled, ducking my face into his shoulder.

“What were you embarrassed about?” he asked, tucking my hair behind my ear.

“I got upset with Cal for continuing to think bad things about you, and I yelled at him. When I looked up, everyone was staring at me, and . . .”

“And you panicked.”

I nodded. “I didn’t know what to do. I just wanted to get away, to hide. The first thing I saw was the restroom, so I ran in there as fast as I could and locked myself in the back stall.”

His lips grazed my ear. “Thank you for calling me.”

“I didn’t know what to do. I just . . . I needed you.”