“What do I wear?” Aurora asks me. “I don’t really have anything here.”
“Let’s hit the mall,” I tell her and see her eyes go to Cassie.
“I can borrow something from Cassie,” she says, and Cassie nods.
“Why don’t we just go to the mall?”
“Because,” she says, turning, “I’m going to go and check out Cassie’s closet.” She walks out of the room, and my eyes go to Cassie.
“What’s going on?” I ask her, and she looks down and then up again at me.
“Brandon,” she says quietly, “because of me, we have no money.” Her bottom lip quivers. “She never spends any money on herself, and we share clothes.”
I hiss out. “Things are going to change,” I tell her.
“I figured that, but someone needs to tell Aurora that because if I know my sister, there is no way in fuck she’s taking a handout, or your credit card, or your money.” She leans on the table. “Notice she went food shopping?”
“Don’t swear.” I point at her. “What do you mean food shopping?”
“She made a list of everything we’ve eaten in the past three days, and we picked it up yesterday on the way here.”
“Fuck,” I hiss.
“Don’t swear.” She smirks at me.
“Tonight, I’m going to give you my credit card. You do all your shopping online, and you buy whatever you think she will like. I don’t give a shit how much it costs. My woman is going to have a closet filled with fucking clothes.”
“You know she is going to ground me, right?” Cassie says. “When she finds out that I did it behind her back.”
“I’ll handle it,” I tell her, going to the fridge and noticing more eggs in the container. My cleaning lady comes in once a week and stocks the fridge, so I shake my head. “Also, you said you want to change schools?”
“Yeah,” she says, “I’m done with all that, and I’m ready to move on.”
“There is a high school five minutes from here; my sister went there. Today, you talk to her, and if you think you’ll like it, we’ll go visit.”
“But it’s kind of far from our apartment,” she points out, “and the gas alone would be too much to drive me there.”
“You aren’t moving back to that apartment, so get comfy,” I tell her. “This is where you’re staying.”
Her eyes widen. “You really like her.”
I nod my head. “Yeah, I really, really like her.”
“If it wasn’t for me, she would still be in school getting her degree to become a social worker.”
“Yeah, let me handle that,” I tell her and walk out of the kitchen to the bedroom. I walk into the closet and find she has one pair of jeans folded on the shelf with two t-shirts. All her clothes fit in a tiny fucking square.
“Hey, there you are,” she says from behind me, and I turn to look at her. “What’s the matter?”
“Nothing.” I shake my head, not even sure how to start the conversation. She walks over to me, her hands going to my stomach. “I like you here.” I start with that. “I love your stuff mixed with mine.” My hands hold her hips. “I love coming home and having you in my bed.” I bring her close to me. “I love waking in the morning and having breakfast with the two of you.”
“I love all that too.” Her hands move to my face. “More than you know.”
I bend to take her lips, and our tongues rush out to meet each other. My hands go to her ass, pulling her even closer to me. “We need to get ready,” I tell her. “We have to be there at one.”
“Okay,” she tells me, picking up her jeans on the shelf. “I’m going to go shower upstairs and meet you back here.” She doesn’t wait for me to answer. One hour later, I’m wearing my blue jeans and a black long-sleeve sweater with white little stripes. The sleeves pushed up to my elbow.
“Girls,” I say, shouting upstairs, “let’s go!”
Cassie comes down first in white jeans and a purple top, grabbing her jean jacket and white runners, while Aurora walks behind her. She is wearing her tight blue jeans, rolled up at the ankle. A basic t-shirt that fits her loosely, black on top and white on the bottom with gray lines. Her hair loose and over her shoulder. A simple pink lip gloss shines on her lips. “You look beautiful,” I tell her, kissing her, the stickiness of her gloss on me now. She raises her hand and uses her thumb to wipe it off my lips. “Let’s go.”
“We have to stop by the supermarket,” Aurora says as we get into the car.
“Why?”
“I’m not showing up empty-handed.”
“Babe, there will be more food than we know what to do with.” I look over at her, pulling out of the driveway.
She turns her back toward the door and crosses her arms across her chest. “I’m not showing up empty-handed, Brandon. So either you stop at the supermarket, or we don’t go.”
“Babe.”
“No,” she says, and Cassie laughs from the back. “Then stop at the flower shop, and I’ll bring flowers. I’m not going to meet your family for the first time with nothing.”
“Just do it,” Cassie says. “It’s just easier than hearing her complain.”
“I don’t complain,” she says as I just nod my head, going toward the flower shop. I don’t get out of the car because I know if I try to pay for it, she might turn herself around and walk back to my house. She walks out a couple of minutes later with the biggest smile on her face and a huge bouquet in front of her. “Look at what I got,” she says. “All this for under thirty dollars.”
“How come?”
“Special of the day,” she says. “And tulips are my favorite.” She smells them, and I pull off, heading to November’s house.
When we pull up, we see about thirty cars. “How many people are coming to this barbecue?” Cassie asks from the back.
“I have a huge family,” I tell her as I park. “My sister, November, has four girls.” I smile. “Asher is my brother-in-law. He has four brothers, and they are all married.”
“That’s a lot of people,” Aurora says.
“Yeah, it can be overwhelming, but they are the best family you can ask for,” I say, getting out of the car and waiting for her to make it to me. I grab her hand and entwine our fingers while Cassie walks next to me. We walk around the back, and the noise of everyone gets louder and louder. When we push the fence open, we see kids running around chasing each other. “There is my dad,” I say, pointing at my father who stands at the grill next to Asher and Nico.
We walk to them. “Hey, guys,” I say to the two of them when they turn around.
“Hey, son,” he says with a big smile, handing the spatula to Nico and coming over to us.
“Dad, this is Aurora and her sister, Cassie.” I point at them. Aurora takes her hand out of mine and holds her hand out to shake his, but he hugs her instead, squishing the flowers she bought..
“Aren’t you beautiful,” he says to her then goes to Cassie. “Another beauty,” he says to her.
“Dad, that’s enough,” I tell him, smiling.
“It’s not everyday I see my boy with his girls,” he says. “Nico, come meet Brandon’s girls.”
Nico comes over, nodding his head at Aurora. “We met before. Cassie, nice to meet you.”
“Honey!” Dad yells for my mother who is bouncing a baby on her hip when she turns around and makes eye contact with me. She smiles and gives the baby back to someone I’ve never met.
She walks down the steps, making her way to us. “Honey, you came,” she says, putting her hands on my cheeks and giving me a kiss next to her hand.
“Mom,” I tell her, take a deep breath, and puffing out my chest, “this is my girl, Aurora, and her sister, Cassie.” I put my arm around Aurora’s shoulder. “Baby, this is my mom, Kathleen.”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, I’m sorry these got” Aurora starts and hands her the squished flowers in her hands. “Thank you for inviting us.”
My mother grabs the flowers. “Thank you
so much; these are lovely,” she says as she smells them.
“Hey, I thought I heard someone say you were here.” My sister walks up to me, kissing me on my cheek. “You must be Aurora.” She looks at her.
“This is my sister, November,” I tell her, “and that big goof walking this way is her husband, Asher.” I point at Asher, who’s making his way to us, and watch as he almost gets a kid’s head in the balls when they run into him.
“Look who finally decided to show up,” he says when he finally makes it to us, then turns to Aurora. “You must be the woman who has my brother-in-law in knots.”
“I don’t know about in knots,” she says, and slowly but surely, everyone comes around to introduce themselves. Cassie takes off with the kids, keeping them entertained and playing tag with them. Everyone welcomes them with open arms, and it’s no surprise she has everyone smiling.
When we finally leave, my mother gives her a big hug. “You’ll come over next weekend. It’ll be just us,” she tells her.
“That sounds lovely,” she says, smiling at my mother. “Thanks again for having us.”
“No, thank you,” she says softly to her, “for putting that look in his eyes.” I hug my mother and father and then walk to November, who stands with her arms around Asher’s waist.
“Hey, can you come by the house on Monday?” I ask her. “Aurora found some things in the books that look weird.”
She looks at Aurora. “Yeah, for sure. I have to get the girls to school, but I can come over after. Are you working tonight?” she asks me.
“No, I’m changing my schedule,” I tell her, and she smiles at me.
“Really?” Asher smirks at me. “Mr. all bad, no time for fun Brandon is taking Saturday off? The busiest day of the week?”
I roll my eyes at him. “It’s under control. And if anything happens, they know they can call me.”
“Oh, we know that,” November says, “but it took you finding Aurora for you to see it.”
“Okay.” Cassie laughs, clapping her hands together.
“We’re going,” I tell them. Grabbing Aurora’s hand, I walk with them out as the sun’s finally setting.
“What do you guys want to do when we get home?”
“I have a history project I need to work on,” Cassie says, “but I’m exhausted, so I might just crash now and do my project tomorrow.”
We pull up to the house, get out, and all of us drag ourselves inside. “Do you guys mind if I just go to my room?”
“No, Cassie,” I tell her, tossing my keys on the table at the front door. I walk to the living room, throwing myself on the couch and grabbing the remote. “Come here, baby.” I move to the back of the couch, giving her room to lie down with me. “What do you want to watch?” I ask, flipping through the channels while she settles so her back is against my chest.
“Oh, the Kardashians,” she says, and I look down at her. “What? Everyone watches the Kardashians.”
“Not everyone,” I tell her, flipping to HBO, which is playing The Notebook. “I’ve never seen this movie.”
She raises her head to look at me. “Are you saying you’ve never watched the ‘if you’re a bird, I’m a bird?’”
I squeeze my eyebrows together. “What?”
“The horror,” she says, grabbing the remote from me and increasing the volume while we watch the most depressing movie of all time. I zone out when he takes them in the boat or some shit.
The phone ringing somewhere around me wakes me up and stirs a sleeping Aurora, who is lying on my chest. I reach into my pocket to grab it and see Kenton’s name. “Hello,” I say.
“Hey. Where are you?” he asks me, his voice tight.
“Home, why?”
“Fuck,” he hisses out. “I need you not to freak out right now and promise me you can keep your head on your shoulders.”
I sit up right away, Aurora’s hand flying off my chest, the hair on the back of my neck sticking up. Aurora must sense something because she sits up and asks, “What happened?”
“Your father is a minute out,” he says, and I look at Aurora, thinking it’s about my mom. “What the fuck is going on?” I get up and stop in my tracks when the doorbell rings, and I rush to open the door and see my dad.
“You ready?” he asks me, and his eyes avoid Aurora, who is standing quietly behind me.
“What the fuck?” I ask, putting Kenton on speakerphone.
“I’m at Jerimiah’s house,” he says, and I look upstairs at Cassie’s door.
“Cassie!” I yell, and Aurora runs up the stairs two at a time.
“She’s inside,” he says quietly when I hear Aurora yelling from upstairs.
“She’s not here.” She runs out of her room to the railing and looks downstairs.
“Where the fuck is Cassie?” I yell into the phone when my father comes to me.
“Son,” he says, grabbing my shoulder, “we have to go.”
“Where the fuck is Cassie?”
“She went undercover for the feds,” he says, and I take the phone and pitch it across the room. Aurora cries out, holding her hand over her mouth.
My father looks up at her. “Let’s go so we can get your sister home. Yeah?” Then he looks at me. “Go get your woman, and let’s go get her sister.”
I nod at him and go upstairs to pick up Aurora. “We need to go and get Cassie and bring her home.” She looks at me with fear in her eyes.
“I can’t lose her,” she says, gripping my arms. “I have no one but her.”
“You are not going to lose her,” I tell her. My father’s phone rings, and he answers.
“Yeah, we are coming,” he says, hanging up the phone. “Let’s go,” he says, turning to walk out as I follow him. I stop again when I see that my truck is gone.
“She took your truck,” my father says as he gets into the car. I get into the back with Aurora, and we remain quiet till we pull up to the house or at least as close as we can get. The police have sectioned off the street. We park and try to go through the barricade but are stopped.
“My sister is in there!” Aurora yells at the officer who says she can’t pass.
“He’s with us.” I see Kenton coming to us with someone beside him wearing a blue bulletproof vest. The police officer moves out of the way, and the three of us walk around him.
“Where is she?” Aurora asks them.
“I’m Cody,” the cop says to us. “She’s inside the house.”
“How did she get into the house?” I ask, putting my arm around Aurora’s shoulder.
“She called me yesterday and asked for my help,” Kenton says. “She begged me for help.” He looks at me. “She said she was done being the victim.”
“Then they called me, and we got this plan set in motion for her to wear a wire.”
“Are you fucking insane? Making her go in there wearing a fucking wire?”
“It was supposed to be in and out,” Kenton says, “but—”
“But what?” Aurora asks.
“But”—Kenton looks down—“the FBI raided while she was in there.”
“You and me.” I point at Kenton. “We are going to have fucking words for this one.”
“There are five people in there; Jerimiah, his sister, two of her friends, and Cassie,” Cody says, and Aurora starts sobbing beside me. “The negotiator is trying to talk him down, but it’s more than we ever knew.”
“He’s got a meth lab in the basement of his house,” Cody says.
“So you’re telling me that my sister is in there, in a fucking meth lab, and you guys had no idea?” Aurora says loudly, so loud people around start looking at her.
“I promise you we will do what we need to and make sure she comes out of there unharmed.”
“I don’t want your promises; I want my sister back. I want her back here with me.” She looks over at Kenton. “How could you do this and not tell us?”
“She wouldn’t let me. She refused to get you involved,” Kenton says, an
d all of a sudden, a gunshot goes off. We all whip our heads around, looking at the house, as the sound of Aurora yelling fills the night.
Chapter Seven
Aurora
When I get my hands on my sister, I’m going to wring her neck—after I make sure she’s okay, of course. I’m standing here, but when gunshots fill the air, everything in me gives out. My knees buckle while my hand flies to my chest, and I yell out. “NOOOO!” Brandon holds me up on one side, and his father comes over to hold me up on the other side.
I look toward the house and see someone throw something in the open window and then SWAT kicks down the door and rushes in. All you hear is yelling and screaming. “Get down!” and “Put your hands where I can see them!”
It seems like forever before the cops come out. First, Jerimiah emerges in handcuffs and two officers holding him on each side. I wait, holding my breath as I hear through Cody’s radio that they need an ambulance. “We have a gunshot wound,” they say, and the sobs come out of me.
I watch the house as the EMTs run in with a stretcher, and another police officer comes out with a blanket around a girl I have never seen, and then I see Cassie, walking out of the house with a blanket around her. She starts scanning the area, looking for me, and when she finally sees me, she runs, leaving the blanket behind. I run to her, and we hug each other. Brandon’s arms go around us. “I’m so sorry,” Cassie says as she sobs. “So sorry.”
I let her go, grabbing her face and looking at her. “You’re grounded,” I tell her, “till you’re thirty.” I laugh at her through tears, and my heart starts to beat normally.
“Hate to break this up,” Cody says, “but we need to bring her into the station and get a statement.”
“She’s not doing anything without a lawyer present,” Brandon says. “She’s not issuing one fucking word.”
“It’s okay, Brandon,” Cassie says, “I think we have everything we need on the wire tape. The minute the SWAT team arrived, his sister went crazy. Started blaming him and his greed for picking up the heat. She told us everything.”
“Oh my god,” I say, putting a hand to my mouth.
Untitled Until Brandon Page 6
