“Wait.” I held the folder in the air. “Did you investigate Lola?”
His lips flattened into a thin line. “Damn straight I did. You’re gonna want to know what I found, especially as you’re going home for—”
I slammed the folder on the table, causing sheets to scatter across it and onto the floor. I didn’t need him investigating her, as far as he was concerned she didn’t exist. This was the exact reason I hadn’t told any of them when I was searching for a safe house. They didn’t understand—they’d never understand.
“Keep your fuckin’ investigative file and go fuck yourself.” I stomped past him, my anger rising to a boiling point.
“B!” I heard his footsteps pound on the floor, but ignored him all the way to the door. “Just read it, you don’t know—”
I pulled the door open, stepped out, and slammed it behind me, cutting him off.
Seven days. She’d be alone for seven days, and I couldn’t even trust that my team would look after her. All I could do is put the time to good use and come up with a plan on my own to get her out of there.
Chapter Eighteen
LOLA
I scrolled down the webpage, getting more despondent the more I searched. Each listing got more expensive as I went down the page, and I realized this might not work. I had enough for a deposit and to get myself set up, but I had a budget. Apparently, my budget was next to nothing.
I huffed out a breath and clicked for the next page, knowing nothing will be on that one either, but there was no harm in searching.
The house was ridiculously quiet, Hut having come and gone yet again, but this time he’d ignored me altogether, and I was so thankful I couldn’t even put it into words. My head pounded, and my throat burned, but it was nothing compared to my swollen eye. I could barely open it, but I wasn’t going to let it stop me from searching for a way out of this place. If anything, the bruises marring my flesh boosted me to move quicker, to put the plan in motion, and finally put an end to all of this.
A listing at the end of the ten pages caught my attention, and I clicked on it, my stomach somersaulting as I scanned the words.
Holy shit. I could afford this place.
I searched the apartment block, going on to Google Maps and looking at the area. It was only a ten-minute walk to the diner, and five to the college. It was the perfect location. I hit expand on the pictures and frowned at the state it was in, but I didn’t really care. My mind was already mentally writing an email to the agency as I opened another tab. Within a couple of minutes, I’d sent it and was staring at my screen waiting for a response.
My laptop pinged, and I practically jumped off the bed. My hand moved to my mouth, trying to hold in the squeak as I clicked it open. And there, typed in black and white, was a time for an appointment to view it and a request for references.
Shit. This was happening. This was really happening.
My gaze flicked over to all my belongings lined against my wall, and my fingers itched to start packing them, but I was getting ahead of myself. I was thinking too much into it. I needed to slow down. First, I had to email them back Sal’s information, and then wait three days to view the place.
A deep breath rattled my chest, but a smile spread on my face. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d been so happy, so unequivocally happy. I was so far in my own head that I didn’t hear anyone coming up the stairs until knuckles were rapping on my door. The sound burst my bubble as fast as a pin to a balloon.
“What?” I huffed and slammed my hands on my hips as I turned to stare at the door.
“Lola?”
Goose bumps prickled over my skin at Brody’s voice, and I leaped forward to open the door. “Brody?” My voice was low, scared to say his name too loud in case anyone else was in the house.
His head snapped up, his dark eyes swirling. “I need you,” he stammered out as he clutched my doorframe.
I took him in, my gaze landing on the dried blood and dirt on his hands. “What happened?” I grabbed his arm, looking out in the hallway and then dragged him into my room, locking the door behind us.
“I…” He stood in the middle of my room, making the space look smaller than it already was. “Some shit went down.” He shook his head, his eyes focusing on me, halting on my swollen eye. “I can’t tell you.”
I pursed my lips. “I don’t think I want to know.”
“You don’t,” Brody said, his voice getting deeper. The silence stretched between us, but he didn’t move from his spot on the floor.
“Brody?”
He didn’t answer me, his eyes looking at me but he wasn’t really here, he was in his own head, back to whatever had happened.
“Old man?”
His mouth tipped up into a smirk. Finally. This was the Brody I knew. “Sorry,” he murmured.
“Where’d you go?”
He shook his head and stepped forward. “Nowhere important.” His hands gripped my hips, and he yanked me toward him. “I need you.”
“I’m right here,” I whispered.
His lips slammed against mine, his hands grasping my waist and picking me up. I had no idea what was happening, or where his mind was at, but it didn’t matter right now. All that mattered was that he needed me.
Our clothes were gone within seconds, and then his lips were creating paths over my body, pulling my puckered nipples into his mouth and letting them out with a pop. He was ravenous, and it made me all the more excited. Caveman Brody was one thing, but desperate Brody was an entirely different beast.
His finger slipped between my folds, circling my clit, and then dipping inside. He wasn’t slow, he was fast and hard, something I craved right then. His teeth sank into the soft flesh of my inner thigh. The pain mixed with the pleasure had a moan blasting out of me. I’d never been so turned on in my entire life.
“Brody…” I panted for breath as his tongue lapped over my nipple.
He looked up at me, his eyes were the darkest I’d ever seen them, a raw need shining in their depths. He growled low in his throat, causing my stomach to flutter.
Brody didn’t glance away as he added another finger and rubbed his thumb against my clit. Words had escaped me at this new side of Brody. He wasn’t waiting for me, he was taking whatever he wanted, and I was freely letting him.
“I need to fuck you,” he dictated, his voice dangerously low.
I opened my mouth to answer him, but words had escaped me. My body was on a euphoric high only Brody could create. He pulled his fingers out and pushed up onto his knees. I couldn’t look away as he brought his glistening fingers to his lips and sucked all of my juices off them.
“Tastes like goddamn heaven,” he growled out, lining up and thrusting into me with one swift move. “I can’t go slow, Lola,” he warned.
I shook my head, wrapping my arms around his biceps and lifting my hips to meet his thrust. “I don’t want slow.” I gasped at the sensation of him against my inner walls. “I want hard, fast, desperate.”
“Fuck!”
He slammed his lips against mine, pushing in and out of me to a bruising rhythm. Just as I was about to explode, he spun us so I was on top, but he didn’t move to lie down. He stayed upright, his chest against mine, our eyes level, and his hand at the top of my spine, holding my neck in place.
“I don’t know how this happened,” he whispered and pressed his forehead against mine. “I don’t know how I fell so goddamn hard.”
He wasn’t saying the three words I wanted to hear, but he was telling and showing me what I meant to him. I never doubted his feelings. I could see from each intense stare he liked me—more than liked me—but this was different, it almost felt like goodbye.
Our sweat-slicked bodies rubbed against each other, each thrust bringing me closer and closer to the ecstasy only Brody could bring. The burn started low in my belly and spread to my spine. My head flung back, my chest pushing into Brody’s face, and it was the pressure of his teeth around my nipple that had me d
ipping over the edge.
My body tensed, my moans mixing with his as he reached his high; there was nothing better than reaching it at the same time. There was something special about undoing each other.
We panted to catch our breaths and stared at each other. No words were needed at this moment. It was just us here. Him and me. Brody and Lola. Us.
Music being switched on downstairs had both our eyes widening, and we pulled apart to yank our clothes on. I moved over to the door, putting my ear against it to see if anyone was coming, but when I’d counted to one hundred, and no one had bounded up the stairs, I let out a sigh of relief.
“Lola.” Brody’s voice had me turning around, and I frowned at the way he sat on the edge of my bed. His legs were open, his arms resting on his thighs, and his hands dangling between them. “I need to tell you something.”
“Okay…” I bit down on my bottom lip and pressed my back against the door, trying not to freak out like I did in the diner.
“Come here.” He moved his arms, spread them wide, and I walked right into them. His head was level with my chest, his hands rubbing at my sides and finally settling at my hips.
“I have to go away for a week.”
I frowned. “You do?”
“Yeah.” He sighed and pressed his forehead to the valley between my breasts. “My gran died, and I need to go take care of it.”
I gasped, my fingers pushing through his hair to pull his head back. “Oh, Brody. I’m so sorry.”
“It’s fine.” He blinked up at me. “We weren’t close, but I gotta be there.”
“I understand.” It was on the tip of my tongue to tell him about the apartment I was going to view next week but now wasn’t the right time.
“When I get back, we need to talk.”
“Like we are now?” I grinned down at him, loving the way his silky strands of hair slipped through my fingers.
He chuckled, the sound washing through me and making me relax. “Yeah, but that talk will be different. I have an idea on how to get you out of here.”
“Okay…” I trailed off, waiting for him to expand, but when he didn’t, I asked, “So you’re going away?”
“Yeah. I leave tonight, but I’ll be back in a week.”
“You’ll be back?”
“Yeah, darlin'.” He stood and pressed his forehead against mine. “I promise. I’ll be back, and then it’s just you and me against the world.”
I smiled, a kind of smile that could only be produced when someone promised you a lifetime of happiness. I wasn’t sure whether it would last our lifetime, but I’d do everything to make sure it did because this feeling didn’t ever happen twice. “I’d like that.”
LOLA
I’d never had such obvious bruises on my body that I couldn’t hide, but the purple ring around my eye and the swelling that had finally started to go down after three days were a bright-red flashing sign.
Jan had gasped when she saw me, fussing over me like I guessed she did with her daughter, but Sal hadn’t said a word. He’d stared for a beat, and then turned away. I wasn’t sure which one I preferred, but either way, I was dealing with it.
Hut had been the nicest he’d been in a long time, talking to me like he used to, and it yet again reminded me that the Emerson I knew was still in there somewhere.
“Lola?” Jan’s voice rang out from the hallway.
“In here!” I called. I’d finished my shift ten minutes ago and was trying to get my nerves under control, ready to meet the realtor. Today was the day I could change the course of everything. I could change my life with one apartment. It only took one action to change the path you were on, and this was my action.
Jan’s red hair made an appearance a second before her face did. “Sal needs you to head to his trailer. Something about a form to fill in?” She frowned at me, a question on her face, but I had no idea what form they were talking about.
“Okay,” I said, grabbing my bag.
The diner wasn’t as busy as it had been a couple of hours ago, just a few stragglers drinking coffee between main meals. I ambled out of the diner and around the back.
Sal’s trailer looked more like a moveable bungalow came into view, and I spotted Sal sitting on his own makeshift porch. “Hey, Sal.” I smiled and halted a few feet away. “Jan said you needed me to fill in a form?”
He patted the empty space next to him. “Take a seat, Lola-Girl.” His voice was serious, the first sign this was not a conversation I wanted to have, but I moved forward anyway and sat next to him. His gaze flicked over my face, stopping on my eye. “Your brother do that to you again?”
I could lie. I could tell him I’d fallen over right onto my face, but I didn’t have the energy—not anymore. “Yeah.” I let out a breath, my shoulders sagging. “He was...worse this time.”
“Only ever goes one way when it starts,” he grunted out. “It won’t get better.”
“I know.” I worried my bottom lip, feeling the burn of tears behind my eyes. “But I have a plan.” The weight that had been on top of me started to lift. “I’m getting out of there.” I lifted my shaky hand and swiped away the tears that had escaped. “I can’t live my life the way he wants me to.”
“You want out.” I turned to look at Sal. “I get that.” His pause stretched between us. “I don’t like seeing you like this, Lola-Girl. Makes me wanna get my .45 out of my hiding spot and do some damage.”
I laughed. I shouldn’t have, but the image of Sal doing just that was way too vivid in my mind. “I don’t need you to shoot people for me, Sal.” I placed my hand on his arm and smiled. “But I could use a reference for the apartment I want to rent.”
“Already done and sent thanks to modern technology.” He covered my hand with his. “I’m here, Lola.” His Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed. “You need anything, you come to me. Don’t go tryin’ to do everythin’ alone. You have people who care about you, even though it feels like you don’t right now.” He pulled in a breath and gave my hand a squeeze. “Now”—he stood and placed his hands on his hips—“we have somewhere we need to be.”
I frowned. “We do?”
“You think I was gonna let you go view this apartment alone?” He scoffed and started to walk toward his truck parked alongside his trailer. “I know the guy who owns the block, so this is just a formality. Get in, we got a new life to go capture.”
And he was right. A new life was so close, my fingertips were grazing it. This wasn’t about leaving Hut, and it wasn’t about stopping the violence Hut was sending my way. It was about me. About starting a life I wanted to lead.
I stood and took a step toward Sal, the first step to that new life.
Chapter Nineteen
LOLA
I stared at Cade as he scribbled down the answers to his homework, pride flowing through me at how well he was doing. He only had a couple of weeks left in the school year, much like me, and we were both feeling the pressure of end-of-year assignments.
He was practically buzzing when he came into the diner half an hour ago, ready to get on with his work with the promise of a milkshake and fries afterward. He’d blitzed through his papers faster than ever, and I couldn’t have been prouder.
My elbow dug into the hard surface of the table as I thought about the last week. It had been seven days since I last saw Brody, and although we’d texted back and forth a couple of times, it was nowhere near enough.
You and me against the world.
Butterflies rippled through my stomach at his remembered words, and I couldn’t stop the huge smile that spread across my face. He’d be back tonight, and I could tell him my plans.
The apartment I’d gone to view was in a bad state, but the rent was the right price, and it was nothing I couldn’t fix. The area seemed okay, and I’d even walked by after one of my shifts late at night to check it out too. I can remember hearing on some show that when you were buying a house, to go at different times of the day to get a real feel for it. I may not
have been buying it, but I was going to be living there alone—unless…
No, I wouldn’t let myself think about it. Brody would be back tonight, and then we could talk it through, figure out what we were doing, and go from there.
“Finished!” Cade blew out a big breath causing the papers in front of him to flutter. “Thank god for that!”
I chuckled, pulling his work closer and checking how he did. He pulled his cell out, probably to check on his social media like he usually did when I was going through his work. “Damn, Cade. You aced it!”
“I know.” He flicked his gaze up to me and smirked. “It’s because I have an awesome teacher.”
I rolled my eyes, but the heat spreading over my cheeks couldn’t be stopped. He was fifteen and already a heartbreaker if the messages he’d shown me over the months were anything to go by.
“Come on, genius, I’ll treat you to a burger with your fries.”
“Yeah?” His voice sounded like a hopeful five-year-old who’d been told he could have some cookies with his milk. For all the bravado Cade oozed, he was still a little boy inside. “Mom never lets me eat burgers.”
I frowned at this small piece of information as we grabbed our bags. “She doesn’t?”
“Nah, says something about dead animals and a documentary she watched.” He rolled his eyes. “If you ask me, it’s complete BS. Even Dad agrees.”
It was the first time he’d mentioned his dad in a while, and I didn’t want to push him talking about it, but my ears perked up at the mention. Sal had said Cade’s dad had to go away a lot, but I just figured maybe he was one of those guys who came and went as and when he wanted. The shining of Cade’s eyes at his name told me differently.
Fallen Duet: Brody & Lola: Free Fall & Down Fall (Easton Family Duet Boxsets Book 1) Page 20