by Hadley Quinn
“I said two minutes, not five,” Cole said, totally ready to give him a hard time as they peeled onto the street.
“Well my bad,” Van scoffed, brushing off dirt and pieces of pavement from his body and clothes. “I didn’t realize the bathroom had such small fucking windows so high up.”
Cole could smell cinnamon now filling the car. “Have you been drinking Fireball?”
Van barely smiled as he wiped the blood on his elbow with his shirt. “I had a shot at the bar. It was my cover until I made it to the bathroom.”
Cole considered that, his mind automatically playing out the scene in his head. Sounded legit and totally what he would have done. And bottom line…they both made it out unscathed.
Well, sort of.
He looked over Van quickly and asked, “You okay?”
“Yeah, no sweat,” he shrugged.
They drove for a few seconds in silence.
“I mean that was kind of awkward, man,” Cole told him suddenly. “All those years being thrown around in a cage and you couldn’t drop out of a window without looking like a fucking dead walrus?”
Silence ensued again, but then they both started to laugh.
“Hey, my pants got caught,” Van explained. “And the chicks in the bathroom were—”
“Chicks?” Cole laughed. “You used the women’s bathroom?”
“Hell yes,” Van answered him.
Cole laughed again, but then shrugged. “Yeah, I’d do the same thing.”
“And shut your damn lipstick mouth, fool. You been trying your hand at a new career?”
Cole swiped his hand across his lips and groaned. Sure enough, bright red lipstick was smeared all over his skin. “Something like that,” he replied.
They both chuckled a bit and the silence took over again. After a few minutes of heading west, Van said, “Sorry about taking so long.”
Cole barely nodded. “Don’t worry about it. We made it.”
“I’m not as stealth as you are.”
That was funny, and Cole wanted to agree, but he had to come clean. “Well to tell you the truth, I’d just pulled up when the window shit out your lifeless body.”
Van looked at him and shook his head, but then he laughed. “For real though, man. You’ve got a pretty interesting job. Is it always like this?”
With a shrug, Cole answered, “Sometimes. But I don’t like it when I have to worry about other people.”
“Message received,” Van nodded. “But I had to come with you. You know that, right?”
“Yeah, I do know that.”
The SUV was quiet for another minute.
“So where are we headed now?” Van asked, checking his phone again. “I still can’t get a hold of my sister. All I got was a fucking ‘I’m fine’ response from her a bit ago.”
Well at least that was something. “Don’t worry, we’ll find her. And we’re not leaving until we do.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
Cole pulled up to the house that Scarlett had once occupied. He wasn’t sure if she still did, but he’d soon find out. It was after ten p.m. but there were a couple of lights on inside. He didn’t know what he was going to find, but it was the next stop on his list and he needed to check it out.
“I’m gonna go wander around the house, okay?” he told Van. “You wait here.” Before Van could object he added, “Keep an eye out for anyone and buzz my cell.”
He stepped out of the SUV and walked up the sidewalk. He couldn’t see anyone inside, but he traveled along the side of the house to look through windows. The living room was empty, the kitchen was empty, and so was the back room. He approached the last window that was lit and subtly peered through the two-inch gap in the curtains.
It was an office of some sort, with a loveseat and a chair that faced a television. Leah was sitting on the couch, Scarlett was in the chair, and both of them seemed to be in a conversation.
Cole pulled himself back and leaned against the house, taking a moment to think. What the fuck was going on?
The windows upstairs were dark, so he left the house and returned to the street. Van was anxiously waiting for his findings.
“Leah’s in there. With Scarlett. No sign of Mills.”
Van stepped out of the SUV and headed toward the house.
“Hang on,” Cole said, grabbing his arm. “Let me think for a second, okay?”
“I haven’t been able to talk to my sister the entire day,” Van spoke firmly. “I wanna know what the hell is going on.”
“I do too, but there could be a simple explanation for it. Don’t jump the gun, okay?”
Van sucked in a breath of air. “Fine. So what do we do?”
“Does her phone ring or just go to voicemail?”
“It rings four times and goes to voicemail. I’ve already left five messages.”
Cole motioned for him to follow until they came to the office window and told Van to call Leah. When he peered into the room again, he saw Leah pick up her phone, check who was calling, and set it down again as she said something to Scarlett.
She completely ignored her brother’s call.
“What?” Van asked impatiently. He wasn’t able to see in the window from where he was standing, but he stepped forward to get a look. Cole motioned for him to be quiet, but to also make the call again.
Van did, and witnessed Leah ignore it.
Van turned abruptly but Cole let him go. He wasn’t sure what to think of this situation, but maybe he just needed to let brotherly nature take its course. That could be the best option at this point.
Van was pounding on the front door when Cole came around to the front. Through a window he could see both Scarlett and Leah step out of the office but they didn’t come to the door.
“Leah, open the fucking door!” Van yelled, pounding on it again.
Cole stopped next to Van and checked if the door was locked. It was, so he said, “I think I heard someone scream, right?”
Van took the hint and literally busted the door open in one try. When Cole walked in behind him, both Scarlett and Leah were standing there with their mouths open upon seeing them.
“What in the fuck are you doing here?” Leah exclaimed.
“Why the hell did you break my door?” Scarlett yelled at him.
“Leah, what in the fuck are you doing here?” Van growled at her. “First you tell me you’re with Cole—which you’re obviously not because I am—and then you repeatedly ignore my phone calls. What the hell is the matter with you?!”
“I texted you that I was fine an hour ago! And I’m waiting for Alex to call,” she glared at him. “My battery is about to die and I don’t have a charger.”
“I don’t give a shit. I call you, you answer the phone. Got it? There is no question about it. Especially when you’re here in another state and I don’t know what the fuck you’re doing.”
She was obviously pissed but didn’t reply. She groaned and dropped down onto one of the couches, seeming to look to Scarlett for answers.
So Cole decided to ask Scarlett instead. “What’s going on?”
She calmly motioned for them to take a seat, but Cole chose to stand. Scarlett sat on the couch with Leah and said, “I hear you caused a scene at Inn Deep looking for me. At least I’m assuming it was you.”
He met her gaze with a challenge. “Technically I was looking for Leah, not you.”
“And why would you find her there?” she asked with a deliberate condescending shrug.
Oh, she just really wants to piss him off right now…
“I didn’t expect to find her there. It’s about the information I gathered when I was there.”
“And?” she goaded him.
God, he wished she wasn’t a female. He’d seriously kick the shit out of that snarky smile on her face. “So when do we get to meet up with Harold Westman?” he asked, folding his arms across his chest.
She studied him for a long while. “You’d better be careful about what you’re stickin
g your nose in.”
“Are you threatening me? Because honey, that’s not gonna work. It was your choice to play this fucking game with me, not mine.”
She narrowed her eyes at him. “You have no idea how wrong you are.”
Well that caught his attention. Not only did he hate being wrong about something, he especially hated being told he was wrong. And the look on her face… He was trying to read between the lines. He still had a few theories he was working through, but if she wouldn’t cooperate, he had no choice but to treat her like the enemy.
“Who the hell is Harold Westman?” Leah asked, looking between them.
Cole looked at Leah and said, “I want you to come back to New Jersey with us.”
Scarlett eyed him from the couch. “You still don’t trust me around your precious cargo?”
She smiled at him and it made him furious. He could feel the adrenaline getting riled up in his body and a memory seemed to flicker off and on in his head…
“You need to trust me,” his father said as they were driving home from somewhere. “Forget about what you just saw.” His dad was bleeding all over his face, blotting the blood from his mouth and nose with his shirt as he drove. He’d been in a fight. No matter how much Cole wanted to go for help, his father had made him stay in the car.
And then he’d told him to never say a single word about it ever again.
Did that really happen? What the hell was he remembering? Pieces of that scene had been played over and over until…
He’d blocked it out at some point. Taking his frustrations out at the gym…he’d fight until he couldn’t remember anymore. Or, until the memory had a different outcome. Cole wasn’t afraid of anyone from that day on. Never again. If he could go back in time and change the situation, he would have killed those men with his bare hands—
“Thoughts caught your tongue?” Scarlett asked him.
“Van, take Leah to the car,” Cole instructed through clenched teeth.
Van grabbed Leah’s arm and pulled her off the couch but she resisted. “You guys need to chill with the bossiness, okay?” she protested. “Scarlett has been trying to help.”
“By being shady and disrespectful?” Van snapped at her. “Come on, let’s go.”
“I’m not going anywhere without Alex! That’s why I’m here, so would you guys butt out of my life? I just want to know what the hell has been going on with him. He said he could explain it better in person.”
“If Alex is alive, I don’t want him to see you,” Van growled at her. “Do you get that, Leah? It’s done, it’s over, and I forbid you to have anything to do with him even if he does magically appear out of nowhere!”
“He told me to meet him here!” she yelled at him.
Van took a deep breath to compose himself, but Cole turned to Scarlett and asked, “Is that true? Alex is coming here?”
Scarlett’s hesitation gave him mixed feelings, but her response was, “I know nothing about Alex or his whereabouts. He was the one that bought her a flight and told her to meet him here. I have no part in any of it.” She looked at Leah and said, “You need to just go with your brother, sweetie. I don’t want to be in the middle of this bullshit.”
Leah’s confusion was apparent. “What? I don’t understand why you’ve been acting like seeing Alex is suddenly a bad choice.”
The look on Scarlett’s face was telltale. Cole knew that look. It was the look of someone completely in over her head.
“You know this is why I came here,” Leah added angrily. “Now he wants to see me and you’re against it.”
“Leah, like I said a bit ago, you don’t need to be at his mercy. Yeah early on I said I’d help you find Alex, but that was before…” Scarlett didn’t finish the sentence.
“Before what?” Leah asked.
Cole had to intercede. He stood right in front of Leah and put his hands on her shoulders. “I am really upset right now. I honestly don’t know how much longer I can deal with this. I want you to come back with me, okay? We can sort this out somewhere I feel more comfortable.”
“Alex is coming,” she said softly, looking him in the eyes. “He’s on his way. I talked to him earlier. He’s tying up some loose ends and he’s going to explain.”
Cole measured his thoughts very carefully. “Leah, I get that you want answers, but not this way. Let’s do this on our terms, okay? So it’s safe for everyone.”
She sighed. “Damien Glenn is dead, Cole. Someone killed him.”
He paused to let her words sink in. “What? Are you sure?”
“Yes. I mean that’s what Scarlett told me. Damien was shot in his sleep by one of his ex-girlfriends. The police arrested her this morning.”
Cole looked back at Scarlett. “Is that true?”
Her expression was steely but she answered, “Yes.”
“And you’ve seen Alex?”
She wouldn’t answer him.
“What about Emilia Denton?”
It took her way too long to answer. “I don’t know anything about that. Maybe it’s being dealt with by the authorities,” she added, giving him a look that definitely had a hidden meaning.
Cole had about five seconds to generate a response. It was a decision he was unsure of, but his instinct told him to go with it.
He turned back to Leah and took her hands in both of his. He deliberately looked deep into her eyes so he could have more influence on her. “You have to trust me on this, okay? Please, Leah. Come back to Jersey with us. There’s something going on here that I don’t want you to be in the middle of and I’ll explain after we leave. And plus, I have something for you. Call it an early birthday present, but I think you’ll like it.”
Her eyes searched his for understanding, but it was the smile that made his heart change pulse. She looked hopeful and optimistic, and it utterly destroyed him inside.
“Really?” she asked.
“Yeah, really. I need to get back to Jersey, Leah. And if you still want to talk to Alex, I promise we’ll find a way to get the answers you need, okay? Doing this on your own… I understand why you’re here, but you should have discussed it with me first.”
“I couldn’t get a hold of you,” she replied evenly. She acted like she was waiting for an explanation, but Cole wasn’t even going to go there. She added, “Besides, I know how much being in the middle of this has pissed you off. I was trying to be considerate by giving you a break while I figured it out on my own.”
He eyed Scarlett for a reaction and just barely caught her motion with her head for them to leave.
“Van, take Leah to the car,” he said.
Van came and put his arm around Leah to lead her to the door, but Leah resisted again, looking to Scarlett for some sort of backup. “Why are you suddenly against me seeing Alex?” she asked.
Scarlett sighed. “I suggest you go to the car with your brother.”
Van whispered something in Leah’s ear, and whatever it was seemed to convince her to turn for the door with him. But then she stopped and looked at Cole, pleading silently for him to give her a better answer.
“It’s okay.” He gestured for her to leave.
“But—”
“Go with him, Leah. Now.”
She scowled at him but went out the door. Van waited, clearly sticking around to lend whatever hand he could.
“All three of you need to get out of my house,” Scarlett said. “I don’t have time for this. Go. Leave.”
Cole didn’t question it. He also didn’t say a word. This was indeed more cards on the table and he didn’t want to show his hand too soon.
The three of them made it to the SUV, and Van climbed into the back seat with Leah. Cole was grateful to have him there, not sure how things may have turned out otherwise. Leah still didn’t trust him like he wished she did, but she’d have to learn the hard way this time.
“What the fuck is going on?” she asked, still with a bit of alarm in her voice. “And why the big rig?” she added as Cole spe
d off down the road.
“Thought maybe we’d have to tie you up and throw your ass in the back seat,” Van replied. “And believe me when I say I would not have hesitated if it came down to that.”
She scoffed. “I had no idea you guys were going to come all the way here.”
“Well, if you’d listen to the damn messages we left you—”
“I had almost a dozen messages when I got off the plane. If I listened to them all, my phone would be done with. I don’t have any money to buy another charger. And what the hell was all that at Scarlett’s? Jesus, you treat me like a kid,” she sighed.
Cole’s mind was spinning a thousand miles a minute right now. But the one thing he was happy about was that Leah was safe and they were taking her back to New Jersey. In fact, he couldn’t be sure his luck was going to last too long, so he decided to continue driving north and just keep on driving for now. At least he wouldn’t have to deal with a scene at the airport if she changed her mind.
“You guys are keeping something from me,” she said after a few minutes.
“Ditto,” Van grumbled. “I can’t believe you lied to me and came all the way to Miami. And against Cole’s wishes.”
“I got a phone call. I didn’t have time to think about it and just left on the flight he booked for me.”
“Why didn’t you just tell me?”
“Because I—I just… I don’t know. Because you wouldn’t have let me go?”
“Damn straight I wouldn’t have let you go,” Van agreed. “I don’t even know what you were thinking, Leah. You put—”
“Okay, I got it!” she exclaimed. “I’m not used to having anyone to report to, all right? Give me a fucking break! Why are you treating me like a damn child?”
“Because you’re acting like one. Don’t you ever think of anyone else but yourself? I get that you’re used to looking out for just you, but you need to realize that there are other people that care about you and only want what’s best for you. If you grow the hell up and understand that, then maybe I could trust your decisions more.”
“What the fuck is your problem? That’s what I’m trying to do! I’m trying to take care of my own life without dragging you guys into it!”