Her Loving Hero

by Caitlyn O'Leary

  “Got it.” Wyatt tucked the card into the pocket of his shorts and grinned. Gray sure understood how Emily operated.

  15

  Wyatt pulled up to the townhouse and saw Emily’s car parked out front. That boded well that Ben should be inside. He bounded up the path and the three steps to door and let himself inside.

  “We called you,” Ben complained as soon as he entered his house. “Both of us. You didn’t call us back.”

  They were sitting at the dining room table huddled around Emily’s new laptop and Ben’s cell phone. There was tinny music coming out of his phone. Ben had been looking much better yesterday, than he did today.

  “Maybe you should be resting,” Wyatt suggested.

  Two pairs of angry eyes looked up at him. “You’re not understanding, we have a situation. It’s not nap time,” Ben growled.

  “Mr. Mazur?” a disembodied voice on his phone asked.

  “Yes, this is Ben Mazur. I need to know if my little brother Kyle was at school today.”

  “I’m sorry but we can’t give you that information. You are not his legal guardian.”

  Ben looked like he might explode. “Let me talk to Ms. Harborin. She knows who I am, and she’ll tell me Kyle’s status.”

  “I’m sorry, but our policy clearly states that-”

  “Get me Principal Harborin on the phone right now,” Ben demanded. Emily put her hand on his forearm, trying to settle him down, but Wyatt could see it wasn’t helping.

  “She is no longer the Principal, she left last year. I can see in the computer files that you were on the call list in the past for Kyle and Luke, but their father had you taken off. You’ll need to take this up with him.”

  “All I want to know is if Kyle attended school today,” Ben bit out.

  “Again, I can’t give you that information. I need to answer another call. Good-bye.”

  Emily slipped the phone out of Ben’s hands before he had a chance to throw it. She had good instincts. “What’s going on?” Wyatt asked.

  Ben stood up and swayed slightly before grabbing hold of the kitchen counter. “I can’t reach either Luke or Kyle. Neither of them is answering their cell phones. Luke didn’t show up to work today at the auto supply store, and you just heard the run-around I got at Kyle’s school.”

  “What has you worried?” Wyatt asked.

  “I fucked up,” Ben said. His face was pale. “Last night I told Luke about you and how you hadn’t abandoned us. I just wanted him to know he and Kyle had a soft place to land out here in California with you.”

  “That’s good. You didn’t fuck up, Ben.” Wyatt looked over at Emily trying to figure out what the hell was going on. “You did the exact right thing.”

  Ben laughed harshly. “You don’t remember Luke then. He has a temper. I told him not to do anything. Not to confront Dad. We had to stick with the plan. He promised he would. But now I can’t get ahold of anyone.”

  Emily raised her hand. “I’m sorry but I’ve got to get to LAX. The girl’s plane is due to land in four hours. I don’t want to tell them to take a taxi.”

  “Shit. Already? The twin beds still haven’t been delivered.” Wyatt said. He pulled out his cell phone. Time to call in reinforcements. Gray picked up on the second ring.

  “Yeah?”

  “Can Emily come borrow your SUV to pick up her sisters from LAX?”

  “Hold on,” Gray said. Wyatt waited. “How soon does she need to leave?” Gray asked.

  “Em, what time is their arrival?” he asked.

  “Four hours from now.”

  “I heard her,” Gray said. “Riya will be at your place in twenty minutes, they can drive up to Los Angeles together. It’s safer that way anyway.”

  Wyatt felt his chest relax just a little bit. “Thanks, Gray.”

  He relayed the information to Emily. She nodded and they both turned to look at Ben.

  “Ben, you need to go and sit down,” Emily coaxed.

  Ben turned on her, fire in his eyes. “I’m fine standing.” Emily flinched, and Wyatt was between his brother and his woman in a second.

  “You need to take it down a notch.” He grabbed his brother by the arm and pushed him back down into the kitchen chair. “Now don’t get up again, you’re about ready to pass out. We don’t have time for that.”

  Ben looked over at Emily and saw her pale expression. “I’m sorry,” he said sincerely.

  “It’s fine.”

  “No, it’s not. I’m just so damned worried.”

  Emily smiled and patted his shoulder. “Wyatt will figure out what to do.”

  “I came home to tell you two that I’ve got to be back to base and out of here in now,” Wyatt looked down at his watch, “three and a half hours.”

  Emily sidled up next to him and looked at his watch. “And I’m leaving in seventeen minutes.”

  With those words, Wyatt felt the band around his chest start to tighten again. He needed to say good-bye to Emily without Ben around. He also needed to figure out the shit with his two missing brothers, and he’d just dismantled the Batcave.

  “Em, follow me,” he said abruptly, as he tugged her hand. She followed him into his bedroom, and he shut the door behind them.

  “I’m so damn sorry about leaving you with all of this,” Wyatt said as he cupped Emily’s face.

  Beautiful blue eyes looked up at him longingly. “We’re on the clock. Less apologizing, and more kissing.”

  The door closed behind Emily and Riya and Wyatt turned to look at his brother who was barely keeping it together. “So, what do you think has really happened Ben?”

  “If they were okay, Luke or Kyle would have called me. I’ve called everyone I can think of, and nobody knows anything.”

  “So, they’ve gone off the grid? Got it,” Wyatt said. “We’re bringing a buddy of mine into this.”

  “You have to go, right?” Ben asked.

  That was the question of the day. “I’m going to see what Kane can come up with. He’s in Virginia, because of the time zone differences, he’s flying out later than we are, so he has a little more time to work on this.”

  “But he’s going wherever you’re going?”

  Wyatt nodded.

  “ETA?” Ben asked obliquely.

  Wyatt shrugged.

  “Fuck. And I’m pretty much useless. I can’t keep my shit together.”

  Wyatt sat down across from his little brother and looked him in the eye. “We all want to be tough guys. But the truth is, these injuries knock you all to shit. I’ll deny it if you ever tell someone I told you this, but I felt fucking tired, dizzy and hormonal after my injury. What you’re experiencing is normal. And don’t think it will stop anytime soon.”

  “Wonderful,” Ben said bitterly.

  “You’re alive. So, let me call Kane, we’ll see what he turns up. But Benny, I need you to know something.”

  “I’m here now. If I have to beg off this mission so I can help with Kyle and Luke, then that’s what I’m going to do.”

  Ben slapped the heel of his hand against his eye. “If you make me cry, I’m going to fucking kill you.”

  “Did your brother ever tell you what kind of report he’d filed?” Kane asked Ben.

  Wyatt had Ben sitting on the couch with his feet up. He’d called Kenna, the kid should have had his meds, be in bed and asleep. Instead Wyatt had a cooling towel around his neck and was force feeding him a grilled cheese sandwich while Kane browbeat him over the phone.

  “Luke mumbled something about getting the bastard locked up.”

  “Worse than that,” Kane said through the phone. “He put together a file showing how he was cheating the county for disability payout. He had quite a comprehensive file, pictures included that showed him replacing a water pump, bowling, and lifting five cases of beer at one time. Not the kind of thing someone with a debilitating back injury should be able to do.”

  “Is that what he was supposed to have had?” Ben snorted with disgust. He d
ipped his sandwich in the tomato soup and took a bite. “Should you be able to bowl?”

  Kane laughed. “Not so much. Not according to the MRI I’m seeing, it should be impossible.”

  “You have Leonard’s MRI?” Wyatt asked as he sat down in the chair next to the couch. He checked his watch to see when Em and Riya would be arriving.

  “I have all of Leonard’s phony medical records that have been going into the state, as well as the report that your brother Luke submitted to the South Bend police department. If he had sent them to the right people, this would have been huge. I bet he’s an A student.”

  “You mean you haven’t checked?” Wyatt said as he pinched the bridge of his nose. “Kane, just fill us in.”

  Ben kept his head down and ate faster.

  “This is bigger than just your piece-of-shit stepdad, Wyatt. There is an entire operation that is set up to bilk the state on phony disability claims. If they find out about Leonard Mazur, it will go toppling down.”

  Ben’s head popped up from his food. “How big. The clinic sure, but what else?”

  “I’ve got to do some more digging, but just from the eleven cases I’m seeing from the state prison that have gone through this clinic, I would say we’re talking over a million dollars in pay out over fifteen years.”

  Wyatt jumped up and grabbed his keys out of his pocket. “That’s all well and good, Kane. But did you find out if Kyle got to school today? Did you track down his and Luke’s numbers? Any hope of tracking them?”

  “No and no. They’re both on the same cell phone plan owned by your stepdad, and he cancelled it yesterday. We’re flying blind.”

  “How much more of your time do we have before you have to go wheels up?” he asked.

  “Man, I’m sorry, I gotta go on this mission,” Kane sounded contrite. “How about you?”

  “Gray’s the one pushing me to delay things until this is settled.”

  “I’ve always liked your boss. I’ll be able to help for another half hour before I leave for Oceana.”

  “You’ve done great. I’m not asking you to stay back. You have my contact. I have a laptop, but it doesn’t do nearly the job I need for this. Send me what you have before you leave, I’ll have my regular system up and running by then.”

  “I’ll see what I can do to still run checks from the air.”

  “Bullshit, you’re going to have your hands full with-” Wyatt stopped himself as he looked at Ben. “You’re going to be focused on the mission. Just send me what you have. With that, I can work with local authorities. It’s just a matter of tracking Kyle and Luke. But I’d say Leonard is finally going to get what’s been coming to him.”

  “Hey Wyatt, did I just see you look at me with a guilty expression on your face?” Ben asked before he slurped down the last of the soup.

  “Maybe.”

  Kid didn’t miss a trick, even with a head injury.

  “Are you worried that I’ll be upset if you get Dad put away?”

  “Among other things,” Wyatt admitted.

  “As far as I’m concerned, I’m all Leeds. That was Mom’s name, and that’s the name I believe truly belongs to me. So, feel proud and happy if you help put away my sperm donor.”

  “Oh my God, look at the size of that mall,” Kristi pointed over Emily’s shoulder. “What’s the name of it? Is that a Ferris wheel? Do we have time to stop?”

  It had been four hours in stop and go rush hour traffic. Emily wasn’t even driving, and already her head was pounding. It didn’t help knowing that Wyatt’s brothers were going through real problems, while Kristi was behaving like a spoiled little princess.

  “Can we pull over?”

  “We are not going to-”

  Emily stopped herself when she realized it wasn’t Kristi asking, it was Carly. She looked pea green. “Are you in pain?” she asked.

  “The pain medication is making me nauseous, and I’m going to throw up,” the teenager said as she punched the button to roll down the window. Riya didn’t say a word; she just calmly made her way over to the right-hand lane so that she could take the next exit.

  “Just stop anywhere,” Carly pleaded.

  Riya pulled into a gas station and Carly fumbled with the door handle, and practically fell out of the car before making it to the trash can and upending the contents of her stomach.

  Emily heard Kenna’s voice coming in through the car dash as Riya explained what was going on.

  “Emily, can you find out what medication she’s been taking?”

  Kristi thrust Carly’s purse to the front seat, and Emily handed it to Riya. “You look, I’m going to help Carly.”

  She took a bottle of water and a packet of tissues out to her sister. Carly was holding her arm tight against her body, her forehead was sweaty, and her eyes looked glassy.

  Great Mom, you couldn’t make the flight. Nice.

  Emily helped Carly wipe up. “Here take some of this, swish it around in your mouth, then spit it out.”

  Carly did it and gave Emily a grateful smile.

  “I’m going to go into the little gas station shop and see if they have ginger ale, okay?”

  Carly leaned back against the vehicle and nodded gratefully.

  By the time she came back Riya had Carly back in the car. She handed a packet of crackers and ginger ale to her sick sister. “What did Kenna say?” she asked Riya.

  “Between the flight, rush hour, lack of food and meds she’s not surprised this happened. We need to get her home and to bed as quickly as possible. She needs sleep.”

  “Me too,” Emily muttered under her breath.

  It was dusk by the time they got to Wyatt’s townhome. Carly was asleep but Kristi was going a million miles a minute as to what activity needed to happen tomorrow. The fact that her sister was injured and ill didn’t matter to her in the slightest.

  “How are you putting up with this so well, Riya?” Emily asked Riya as they headed toward Wyatt’s door.

  “I have sisters. Indian sisters. You’ve never seen the lead up to a big Indian wedding. My sisters went clinically insane for about two weeks. I hid under my bed for a month afterward. This is nothing.”

  Emily was laughing when Wyatt opened the door, but she immediately stopped when she saw just how anxious he looked. Then she did a triple take. “What are you still doing here?” she demanded.

  “Change of plans. You’re stuck with me, think you can handle that?” he said quietly against her lips. “Why don’t you introduce me to your Kristi?”

  16

  Emily did a round of introductions and didn’t blame Riya in the slightest for bailing as soon as the luggage was unloaded. Since she’d left, Wyatt had managed to get the beds delivered. He truly could work miracles.

  “Carly, why don’t we get you into bed. Kenna said that was the best thing for you,” Emily said.

  Emily about did a fist pump when Kristi let out a big yawn. “Honey, are you tired too? Jet leg can really hit you hard.”

  Kristi looked about five years old when she gave another huge yawn and her blonde hair drifted around her shoulders as her head nodded downwards. Emily went into the guest room and helped them get situated.

  Despite how tired she was, Carly caught Emily’s arm in the hallway and dragged her into the bathroom. “Are you okay? Do we need to find a hotel?”

  “Huh?”

  Where was this coming from?

  “Emily, there’s only three bedrooms and five of us. Are you sleeping double with Scott, I mean Wyatt?”

  They’d already had a little bit of a blow-up about that a half hour earlier, but Carly just wasn’t up to her fighting weight, and Wyatt had managed to put a stopper in the whole thing by saying how much she’d impressed him in Oman.

  “No, we’re not sleeping double.”

  Carly leaned heavily against the bathroom wall and blew out a deep breath. “Okay, no sleeping double. But there are definite vibes.”

  “Carly, you need to sleep,” Emily said.


  “Where are you sleeping? Where’s Wyatt sleeping? I want to make sure that we’re not pushing you into something you’re not ready for.”

  Emily felt her heart melt. If her sister didn’t look like she would either pass out or throw-up on her, she’d hug her.

  “Trust me Honey, Wyatt is not pushing me past my comfort zone. He’s one of life’s good guys.”

  Carly nodded, then lurched to the toilet and heaved.

  Emily helped her into bed and called Kenna again while Ben and Wyatt were back putting the Batcave room back together.

  Kenna figured that now all of the opiates were out of Carly’s system, she should be on the road to recovery, and she could start taking Tylenol for the pain. She put her phone down on the kitchen counter next to Ben and saw that there were four missed messages from an unknown number.

  “Ben, somebody’s really trying to get ahold of you,” Emily said as she held out his phone to him. “You had it on vibrate.”

  Ben put the phone on speaker and played the message.

  “I’m calling from the pay phone here at the bus station in South Bend,” the young man’s voice said.

  “It’s Luke,” Ben said excitedly.

  “Kyle’s with me. I need you to wire us some money so we can catch a bus out to San Diego.” He ended the call by saying, “This is the number to the pay phone, I’m not sure I’ll hear it. It’s loud like a fucking bus station, but I’ll also try to keep calling you.”

  Emily glanced over at Wyatt and saw his look of stunned wonderment.

  “That’s quite a family you have there, Mr. Leeds,” she whispered softly as Ben dialed.

  “Can you believe it?”

  “Of course, I can, they’re like you and their older brother.”

  “Luke! Where the fuck have you been? You fucking asshole, why did you run off like that? You scared the living hell out of me. Do you-”

  Wyatt held out his hand. “Hand the phone to me,” he directed Ben.

  Ben put it on speaker before handing it over, continuing to berate his younger sibling.