Zion’s grin was rueful. “Not at first and I must’ve gotten a bit mouthy because he slapped me. Then he pulled out a knife, a switchblade I think, and started waving it around. I turned to start running again but he managed to grab me. In the scuffle of me trying to get away and him trying to hold me, his knife gave me this.”
My eyes followed Zion’s finger as it traced down the long scar. “That was when I took off for a second time, hitchhiked down to Cortez and went to one of the safe havens there to get into foster care.”
“Found him,” Bell announced. “Entered Cortez’s system one week after his sister. On the same day 911 received the call about his parents. Were you the one who called?”
“Yeah,” Zion admitted. “It didn’t occur to me to notify anyone before Anton threatened me about calling the cops. But there was something about the way he said it that made me think nobody knew they were dead. So I made the call.”
It was Patel’s turn to sigh as he reached for a couple of folders and then sigh again as he flipped through the pages. “What about you Miss James? Do you remember any of this?”
I immediately bristled at being the focus of the men’s attention. “N-no. I’m sorry, but I don’t remember anything before the age of six.”
“Nothing?” Zion’s voice seemed to wheeze on his question and my heart broke for him and all he’d related. “Not me leaving you at the Fire Station that morning or your stuffed bunny or anything?”
I started to shake my head in the negative, unwilling or maybe even unable to add to the man’s obvious pain. But Rio cut me off before I could even speak.
“She has nightmares.” I twisted to look up at him, trying to break his hold even as his arms tightened to keep me captive. “Nightmares where she whispers for someone not to leave her and afterward cries in her sleep.”
Of all the unmitigated gall! Who was he to expose my night terrors to not only my alleged brother but the cops as well? I parted my lips to deny what he said but the ass-hat went on before I could find the words to blast him, dammit.
“Even has a stuffed bunny with old-fashioned buttons for eyes on her dresser,” he continued, looking to Chief Patel instead of me, the one who was hell-bent on glaring him to death. “Don’t know about a locket though.”
In my mind’s eye I could see the piece he referred to, snuggled in the lowest drawer of my jewelry box. A gold locket on a thick chain I never wore because it was too large to sit comfortably or look stylish with most of my outfits, but that I’d had for flipping ever. Gazing up at Rio, half-pissed and half-amazed at the stuff he remembered, I turned to look at Zion. “I have it. The locket, I mean.”
Swiping at the moisture of his hairline and upper lip, the stranger with the scar, the one who called himself my brother relaxed back into his chair. “Dad said they were important. Both Mr. Buttons and Mom’s necklace, though I don’t know why.”
His lips quirked in a caricature of a smile and I felt my own mouth tilt up in reply. It was a tiny island of détente in an otherwise chaotic room where cops talked with other cops and where Pookie moved to get on her daddy’s lap. Providing me and Zee a moment to build an initial connection.
One that hadn’t been there earlier.
And I have to admit, my heart labeled it as ‘good’.
Chapter Twenty-Two
As soon as we cleared the outer doors of the police station Rio reached into his back pocket, a move I now knew signaled he was going for his phone. “Need to check in with DB and talk to Max.”
I nodded and accessed my camera bag because I had a call of my own to make, one that couldn’t wait before we even got back to Rio’s jeep. So as Rio went to one side of the large portico of Grantham’s administrative building, I went to the other as I scrolled through my contacts.
She answered on the first ring.
“Di?” Why did my voice quiver on the shortened version of her name? I coughed to try and cover it, but she caught it and had no qualms in pointing it out.
“What’s wrong Vonnie?”
I scrunched my face up, telling myself it was only because of the afternoon sun but the truth of it was I didn’t want to be making that call. Not to her. And not about the rest of it.
Clutching my phone with both hands, I paused before whispering. “I met my brother today,” while wondering if I spoke the truth.
“Oh my,” she breathed. “He called yesterday afternoon, asking for your address, saying he wanted to meet you. But I didn’t give it to him, Vonnie, I swear. I told him I would try and work something out, set up a meet if you were willing to see him.”
“It’s okay, Di.” I could tell from her voice, the way each of her words ran into the next that she was nervous, anxious even about my reaction. But I’d told her true. “So is Zion Edward James really my brother?”
She heaved a sigh in what I counted as relief before replying. “Yes, he is. I’ve received calls from him from time to time since you were first placed with me. Although I think he started calling himself ‘Zee’ once he went into the Navy.”
That would make sense, especially in light of all he’d admitted to back in the interview room. If I’d gone through all he had, I’d want to reinvent myself as well. “Did you know about what happened to us? Back before I got to your house?”
“Not much,” she replied. “Carmen knows a lot more than I do. My job was just to keep you warm, safe and on the right path.”
“You did, Di. You absolutely did.” My heart was yelling at me to ask her why she hadn’t told me about him before—the phone calls especially, but we’d get to that another time. Sometime when I wasn’t feeling so vulnerable and raw.
Sensing another person near, I partially twisted to see Zion hovering and I couldn’t help but scan him, trying to get a read on what he was feeling. But I didn’t know the man who claimed to be my only surviving family member. “I’ve got to go, but we’ll talk later, okay?”
“Tomorrow is Phoebe’s fitting at the bridal store,” she advised in a much steadier tone than before. “And you’ll have to pick out your bridesmaid’s dress.”
Shit, I’d forgotten the appointment but probably wouldn’t have remembered despite all the other crap in my life. Because I absolutely and totally didn’t want to be a part of what was sure to be nothing but a squeally, girly affair. “Okay, see you there.”
I barely heard her response, almost completed pushing at my screen to disconnect the call when he started speaking. “Do you have time to talk, V-Vonnie? I know this is a shock and all, but I think there’s still stuff we need to talk through.”
I stared up at him, noting his hair was a dark red where mine was a lighter color, more of a strawberry blonde. As previously determined, we had the same shape and color of eyes as well as the identical pointed chin and broad forehead. But he was tall where I was definitely not, broad where I was narrow and he had a deep southern accent, while I had none.
Still I shocked myself (as well as him) when I blurted out, “So why’d you leave me? Why’d you take off when I was so little and needed you so much?”
He rocked back on his heels as his expression broke apart in a way I could only name as heart-wrenching. And I watched it happen, inch by painful inch. He nodded and looked away, doing that deep swallow I’d witnessed back in the interview room as he took some time to answer. “That’s what I want to talk to you about, if you’ll give me the time.”
There was more to his request than just asking for my time, I knew. A wanting not only to clear the air, to catch up on each other’s lives as one sibling to another. But to confess and be forgiven for whatever had gone down in the aftermath of our parent’s death.
Rio interrupted our moment as well as my thoughts when he came to stand next to Zion, clapping on large hand on the other man’s shoulder, the one not involved in holding his pooch. “I’m starved. How about you two? What say we go back to Vonnie’s place and call for a pizza? Or should we swing through one of the drive-thru places for burgers and shi
t?”
How could he sound so calm, so upbeat in light of all that had happened? Didn’t he know or realize how my life had been bombed to hell and beyond? An explosion that not only involved the police, but ferreted out a man who claimed to be my long-lost and forgotten brother?
And none of that included the fact Rio had taken it on himself to invite a virtual stranger to my home without clearing it with me first!
“If she’s got beer, then a pizza works for me,” Zion mumbled. “But a burger ain’t outta the question. As long as beer remains the constant.”
“Got cha covered, bud,” Rio shot back, his smile almost forced as he looked to me. “Your vote, princess? Pizza or burgers?”
Taking Pookie from his arms, I placed her on the steps and muttered something along the lines of, “whatever”. Without looking behind to see if either man followed, I descended the stairs only to realize at the bottom I didn’t know where I was going, where Rio had parked his jeep.
So my tone might’ve been the tiniest bit sharper than usual, with just the smallest edge of frustration as I shouted to Rio over my shoulder. “Which way’s the flipping car, dickhead?”
It didn’t help my attitude one bit when both men’s laughter followed me down the sidewalk.
*.*.*.*.*
Rio was happy to see Vonnie’d engaged the alarm before she’d left earlier. When he’d installed it, he’d wondered if she’d use it as much (or as little, actually) as she did the spyglass in her front door. Using his phone to reset the system, he glanced up when he realized instead of playing hostess to her brother, she was going back towards the bedroom instead.
“Zion? Beer’s in the fridge, take-out menus are in the drawer by the microwave,” he advised without looking at the other man, but at the now empty space of the hall. “Order a couple of large pies but no vegetables on one of them.”
“Okay,” Vonnie’s brother replied, walking into the kitchen. “But you can call me Zee.”
“Uh-huh.” Rio wasn’t paying a damn bit of attention to the stranger in what Rio was coming to think of as home. “Think I’ll go check on my girl.”
Giving a soft double knock on the closed bedroom door, Rio waited until he heard her give the okay to enter. He’d seen his spitfire in a lot of different moods, ones he couldn’t anticipate and was frequently surprised by. And he didn’t want to add to whatever she was working through at that moment. His eyes took in her posture as she stood in front of the dresser, her eyes on her own reflection as she held the well-worn, stuffed rabbit to her chest. “How you doing, princess?”
She shrugged and Rio thought she winced at the action. “Okay I guess.”
He didn’t like the flatness of her voice or the lack of expression in her eyes. Moving to the bed, he sat on the edge and spread his knees. “C’mere, spitfire.”
“Wh-what?” He was glad he was able to get her attention before she zoned out completely. “Why?”
“Just come here, Vons.”
She took a couple of steps forward but wasn’t close enough in Rio’s opinion. So he rectified it by using a hand on each her hips and gently tugging. “’Cause I wanna make sure you’re all right.”
With him sitting, they were damn near the same height, which he considered a boon. “Are you all right?”
She took in a shaky breath. “It’s been a pretty emotional day.”
“Yep. It has and it’s not even noon.” His observation gained him a small smile. “I know you told the cops what happened and I won’t make you run through it again—at least not right now. But I want to make sure you didn’t get hurt in all that went on.”
She blinked at him as if trying to make sense of what he was leading up to, where he was going with the conversation. So he continued. “I want you to strip down to your underwear.”
“Excuse me?” The fact she clutched her once-furry, childhood toy tighter undermined the sarcasm in her answer.
“I want to check and make sure you’re okay. Lance said your brother tackled you right before he fired his round. I just want to see if you’re bumped up or bruised.”
“Yeah, about that,” she started slowly. “What was that anyway? Or do you guys just whip your guns out willy-nilly and start firing at things?”
Rio couldn’t help but grin at her description. “No. Lance got a little…overzealous. And he knows he got a little ahead of himself. I’ve already talked to Max about it and Lance will get an earful about how to handle things going forward.”
“Good.”
Rio’s grin broadened. “You’re stalling, babe.”
That got him a glare and snappy, “no, I’m not. But I’m not stripping on demand either, soldier boy.”
God she was cute, especially when she was quasi-pissed. “Just your shirt. I want to check your upper torso to see if you have any bruises or scratches from Zee taking you down.”
Her eyes remained narrowed but her jaw appeared less tense than before. “Just to check? No grabby hands or copping a feel, but just to look at where I hurt?”
She hurt? Oh fuck to the no. Since he had been hoping for a kiss and maybe a couple of caresses or five, she had him dead to rights. But all those thoughts went right out of his head when she admitted she was in pain.
“Show me, Vonnie,” he ground out in a much firmer tone than before. And must’ve been the right way to say it because she set the bunny down on the bed next to him before pulling the sweater she was wearing over her head and throwing it on top of her childhood toy.
Rio’s eyes wanted to go to the creamy mounds encased in pink lace…until he saw the light purple and red streaks encircling each of her biceps. Without thinking, he reached for her hands to pull her arms out to the sides so he could see the full extent of what had been done to her. And he couldn’t help trailing his fingers over the marring of her beautiful skin. “They hurt?”
She nodded, drawing his attention to her face, her soft expression. “Ache, more like,” she replied almost on a whisper.
The fire flaring in his head and gut were hard to control, but he had to tamp it down since the asshole who’d caused it was not only an unknown, but still out there somewhere.
And she was there, right there standing between his knees.
His hands moved to her back as he pulled her even closer, enough so he could tuck his face into her neck as he held her close to his heart. Her arms went around his back, one palm cupping the back of his head before she threaded her fingers into his hair.
“Maybe I should be asking if you’re okay,” she breathed, pressing her head against his.
Rio closed his eyes and swallowed deeply. How much was he willing to admit? That he wanted to tear through Grantham to find the son of a bitch who’d tried to snatch her off the fucking street? About the mayhem his fingers were itching to inflict on the ass-hat who’d dared touch her?
About how very much he wanted to throw her on the bed and pound himself into her in order to reaffirm she was very much his and his alone?
“Just wish I’d been there, princess.” It was the truth, albeit a small portion of it.
He wasn’t sure but he thought she replied with a simple, yet shaky, “me too.”
Allowing a few moments to pass, as he both gave and took comfort in her embrace, Rio finally decided enough was enough and put a firm lid on his rioting emotions. “You still up for talking with Zee?”
“Zee?”
“That’s what your brother asked me to call him.”
She started to pull back, but did it slow. “I’d like to hear more about my parents. But I need a shower first.”
“Then that’s what’ll happen.” He didn’t let her get far and pulled her back in for a very involved kiss that found both of them breathing heavily afterward. “You take your shower and I’ll keep him occupied.”
“Thanks, soldier boy.” Her eyes were warm and held a twinkle as he finally let her step away. “And thanks for dropping everything to get to me.”
“Always, spitfire,” he
avowed, standing and moving to the door. He wanted to say more, but didn’t have the words (or the balls) to say the rest that was in his heart. But the very fact that he wanted to, that he had more to say rode him hard as he exited and went in search of their guest, who was straddling one of the barstools and sipping the last of his beer.
“Let your dog out,” Zee laconically announced apropos of nothing. “She’s still out there, trying to take a dump. One I will not be cleaning up, by the way. And from the way she’s straining, I’m thinking you need to try a different brand of dog food.”
Rio went to the sliding glass door and saw the man was talking true. But Rio wanted to explore another subject before Vonnie appeared. So turning to face the kitchen, he just let it out. “I’m all for you and your sister getting acquainted, to even being in each other’s lives.”
“Glad you approve,” Zee snapped back, coming off his seat and moving to the fridge.
Rio didn’t like the edge of smart-ass in the man’s tone. “But you hurt her and I’ll hurt you.”
Zee paused in reaching for his second beer and shifted his eyes to the larger man. Holding up a cold one Rio’s way in question, Zee grabbed another bottle as well. Popping the tops, he moved to where Rio stood. “I get that. But that goes double for you. You hurt my sister and there’ll be hell to pay, man.”
“You think you can take me?”
Zee brought the beer to his lips and took a long drink before replying. “Think? No. Know for a fucking fact? Absolutely.”
They stared at each other, taking one another’s measure before Rio asked, “what branch?”
“Navy,” Zee replied with a rueful, shit-eating grin Rio found himself copying. “You?”
Rio had to admit, he liked Zee’s style. “Army.” He let that sink in for a moment then added, “Rangers.”
Zee chuckled and added his own addendum. “Seals.”
“Which just means you’re both a couple of specially-trained bad asses,” Vonnie interrupted. “Now will you stop playing ‘whose dick is bigger’ and get me a beer? Has anybody ordered pizza yet? I’m starving.”
Vonnie: Book Two of Broken Girls Series Page 19