by Alexa Davis
If this was any other situation, I might have been questioning her motives, wondering if she was only after my money, but since Annie turned down my investment, that clearly wasn’t the case. Her feelings had to be genuine.
She stirred in my arms, a happiness spreading across her expression. The last time we slept together, it had been a little awkward afterwards. Annie ran off and when we saw each other, she told me it had been a mistake. I had the sense that things were going to be different this time.
“Hey, beautiful,” I murmured to her.
“Hey, yourself.” She looked up at me with those gorgeous brown eyes, making my heart melt. “How are you feeling this morning?”
“I’m good, thanks. What do you have planned for today?” Now that we weren’t meeting with Harry, I wondered what she thought was going to happen. If she wanted to hang out with me, then I was more than happy to take time off work. It wasn’t every day I got to spend time with such an awesome woman.
“I don’t know. I’m not sure about what there is to do in Portland. Maybe you’ll have to show me around, unless you’re too busy.” She spun around onto her front, biting down on her lip as she gazed at me.
That look was so natural, so sexy that I almost wanted to dive upon her and jump her bones. In fact, now that the idea was in my head, that was all I wanted to do. I leaned in, about ready to press my lips up against hers, when my phone blasted out, distracting us both.
“You hold that thought,” I grinned happily at her as I slid from the sheets to try to find where my phone had fallen the night before. “I’ll be back soon.”
I padded across the room, completely naked and hoping that I was giving Annie a good show, getting her even more riled up before I got back into bed with her. I was fully in the mood now, my cock standing to attention, aching for her in a way that it hadn't ever done before.
To be perfectly honest, I was annoyed that I had to stop what I was doing to answer my phone, an emotion that got even worse when I noticed a number that I didn’t recognize plastered across the screen.
“Hello?” I answered, allowing my disdain to drip from my tongue. “Who’s there?”
“It’s me,” came the glum reply. I didn’t need to ask twice. I knew who it was. I would recognize that voice anywhere. It was my brother, calling me from some unknown destination, probably stuck somewhere after a night of partying. It wouldn’t be the first time he’d lost his phone and money.
“Garrett, what’s wrong?” I sighed as my cock deflated. If he was in any kind of sticky situation, that would instantly put a halt to whatever was about to go down between me and Annie. “Where are you?” What a fucking nightmare! How did he always seem to pick the perfect fucking moment?
“I’m in jail.”
“What?” He couldn’t stop his story there – I needed details. My brother was always a shit, but I’d never had a call from jail before. This was bad…worse than before. “What the hell happened?” I ran my fingers through my hair and moved into the bathroom where I could stare at my very distressed expression firsthand.
“Oh, I don’t know,” he sighed, sounding irritated. “I was at a party last night, and maybe I had a couple too many.” Oh God, I didn’t like where this was going. “I might have been in an accident.”
“Did you drive?” I exclaimed angrily. How dare he put others at risk? How fucking selfish was that? “Why couldn’t you just get a cab?”
“Oh, don’t be an asshole. I just need you to come and get me out of here.”
“What happened? Did you get a DUI?” My temper was fuming inside of me. I had no intention of going anywhere until I knew what I was in for.
“Not exactly…” he trailed off, making me incredibly anxious. If it wasn’t that, then it had to be worse, and I really didn’t want that to be the case. “The accident was bad. Someone died.”
I dropped the phone in shock, unable to even begin to comprehend that. Now my brother’s drinking had reached the level of out of control where he’d killed someone. He wasn’t just hurting himself and others around him; he was a killer. That would never go away, no matter what happened afterwards. He would always be that.
Jail.
Court.
Newspapers.
Those words circled around and around in my mind, causing my chest to get tight with terror. Just when I thought Garrett was getting better, he did the worst thing that he’d ever done to me. Well, not just to me: to everyone.
“…hello…are you there…?”
I suddenly realized he was still on the other end of the line, so I grabbed the phone with my trembling fingers and promised to get down there as soon as possible. I needed details, I needed everything, I needed to understand. Much as I wanted to abandon Garrett to deal with his own mess, I couldn’t. Not while none of it made any sense to me yet.
I staggered back into the bedroom, grabbing at random clothing items as I went. I felt like I was having an out of body experience, like I had no idea where I was…
“Are you okay?” Annie’s kind voice eventually burst through my shock barrier. “What happened?”
As I glanced up at her, my vision was blurry, as if she was barely there. “I erm…I’m sorry,” I did my best to explain. “I have to go. Garrett, my brother, is in jail. There was some kind of accident.” I just couldn’t bring myself to tell her everything; it was far too awful for words. “I need to see what’s going on. He isn’t too far away, so I shouldn’t be too long.”
“Oh, of course,” she shot back, instantly understanding. “Is there anything I can do for you?”
Make all of this go away…change my brother’s behavior…take me away from this nightmare…bring my parents back so they can deal with this.
“No, thank you,” I sent her a very weak smile. “I will…I’ll keep you updated.”
I didn’t want to leave her on her only weekend up here in Portland, but I didn’t have any choice at all. I had to go; that was it…
***
I had been waiting for two very long hours, my temper bubbling inside of me the entire time. When I eventually arrived at the police station, I was told that I couldn’t see Garrett until he’d faced the judge, and I had been waiting ever since.
It was starting to send me insane.
I couldn’t stop myself from thinking, from trying to imagine what might have happened, from inventing the worst in my brain. I hoped that when I eventually did see Garrett, I would learn that it was just my imagination running away with me, but somehow, I wasn’t totally convinced that would be the case.
“How long is he going to be?” I asked the receptionist for what felt like the hundredth time. She didn’t answer me; she simply shrugged, getting as tired of this situation as I was. This was just getting ridiculous; I couldn’t find out anything specific until I spoke to him directly, and the way that things were going, that wouldn’t happen any time soon.
And the more than time went on, the worse my brain could come up with.
“Mr. Gains,” someone finally called my name, causing my heart to leap into my throat. Much as I’d been waiting for this moment, now that it was here, I didn’t feel ready to face it.
“Here,” I practically whispered, forcing myself up onto my feet. I had to face this, to get through it, however I felt inside. If I didn’t, I might never find out anything. “Where is Garrett?”
The police officer didn’t answer me. Instead, he led me into a room where my brother was sitting with handcuffs around his wrists. As if that sight wasn’t shocking enough, as if that didn’t totally stop my heart from beating for a moment, he also looked like hell. His hair was all disheveled and muddy, his eyes seriously bloodshot, and there was a giant cut across his forehead.
I knew that he’d been in an accident, but now I could really see that. It hit me all over again that someone had died.
I sat down opposite him as the officer left the room, feeling awkward, unsure of what to say. I didn’t feel like yelling, I wasn’t sure th
at I could ask the right questions, I just felt…stuck.
Fortunately, or unfortunately, Garrett didn’t seem to be sharing my fears. “You are going to bail me out, aren’t you? That is why you’re here.” There was an aggressive tone to his voice, one that really took me back. Someone was dead, and all he was thinking about was himself.
“What happened?” At least his crude words managed to loosen my tongue. “How the fuck did you manage to end up in this situation?”
He sat back in his seat and actually rolled his eyes at me. “You aren’t still harping on about that, are you? I told you. I drank a little too much, I drove, there was an accident…”
“How much? How much is too much?” I shot back in an angry whisper. “How the fuck did someone end up dead?”
“I can’t really remember,” Garrett replied, with what I could swear was a smirk on his face.
That was it for me. I was done. No way would I bail someone out who didn’t even understand the seriousness of what he’d done. He actually seemed to think it was some sort of joke.
Clearly, there was never any real intention of turning his life around, and for me, this had to be the turning point. I couldn’t keep protecting someone who wouldn’t ever listen to me. That wouldn’t get me anywhere; there simply wasn’t any point.
“I’m not getting you out of here,” I told him as an angry red overshadowed my brain. “You don’t seem to get that this is serious. Someone lost their life because of your drinking. You need to be punished for that.”
“Oh, don’t act like you’re so fucking perfect,” he sneered, as I turned to walk away. “You can’t seriously be thinking about leaving me here. You’re my brother, the only family I have left…”
Guilt gripped my heart as I got to the door, and I did pause just for a brief second, but then I realized that he needed to be there. Someone died, someone lost their family member, their friend, and he needed to get that.
I pushed the door out, tuning out his aggressive yells, and I left him there. I didn’t stop moving until the fresh air hit my face, until I felt like I could really break down, but just before a frustrated tear could make its way down my cheek, a soft voice grabbed my attention.
“Hi, Justin, are you okay?”
Annie, the only person in the world I could have tolerated at that moment.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Annie – Saturday
It took me a while to work out what was going on, to figure out why Justin was going to the police station rather than the hospital to visit his brother after an accident, but as it became crystal clear, I felt awful. Garrett had clearly caused an accident, possibly even hurt other people…and I knew that I needed to be there for Justin.
There might not have been a whole lot that I could do, but I had to at least try. If he shut me down or pushed me away, that was fine, I would understand that, but I didn’t want to just do nothing.
I had waited outside the nearest police station I could find for him to come out. I kept contemplating going inside, just to check that he was still there, but I couldn’t quite bring myself to do it.
There was something about police stations that would always creep me out. I knew the officers in there only had the public’s best interests at heart, I knew they only wanted to help people, but I always found the buildings a little intimidating.
And then I saw him. He looked terrible as he staggered through the front doors, and that made me glad I’d come. I wanted him to know that he wasn’t alone, at least not while I was in Portland.
“Hi, Justin, are you okay?” I asked as soon as I got close enough to him. He spun around to look at me, his eyes distracted and distant, as if he wasn’t quite sure where he was. I reached forward and touched his arm lightly, trying desperately to bring him back to me.
“I…I know you might not want to, but I brought you a sandwich, just in case you’re hungry.” I felt like an idiot for saying that in such a clearly awful time, but I had to say something, I needed an excuse for being there. “But if not, I can just take you home…or whatever.”
“I…yeah, that would be great. Thank you,” he stammered, allowing me to take the lead.
I got him into the front seat of my car, where he looked really out of place. I handed him the pre-packed sandwich from the nearest grocery store, which he opened and started to eat very slowly. I wanted to ask him what had gone on in there, but I didn’t feel like it was my place to do so.
“Oh God, what am I going to do?” he finally groaned, throwing his head into my hands. “This is bad – this is really bad.” I rubbed his back, still not asking anything, just in case he really didn’t want me to. If he was going to tell me anything I wanted it to be his decision, no pressure from me.
“Garrett has fucked up this time. It’s really bad, and I don’t know what to do. He’s been caught drunk driving.” Instantly, as soon as those words left his mouth, I felt my blood run cold. Nothing good could come from the end of that sentence. “I don’t know too much about it, he was vague on the details, but someone is dead.”
“Dead?” I clapped my hand across my mouth in shock, unable to keep any of it inside anymore. “Oh fuck, what are you going to do?”
“I don’t know,” he shook his head slowly, a wet shine taking over his eyes. “The worst part is that he didn’t even seem to care. He was more concerned about me bailing him out than the feelings of the people surrounding the dead person… I just don’t know what to do.”
There wasn’t anything I could say to that, and to be honest, I didn’t think Justin expected me to say anything. If anything, he just needed someone to listen. I could do that – there just wasn’t any advice that I could offer.
“When I told you before that he’s always been troubled, it’s never been like this,” he exclaimed, throwing his hands above his head as if it was hitting him once more.
“He’s always just been a bit of a nightmare. When he mentioned to me a while back that drinking was becoming a problem, I didn’t pay too much attention. I just thought it was an excuse. Then, when he began working for the company, I thought it was all going so much better. I didn’t think I’d ever have to worry about him again. I just…I don’t get it. And, I don’t understand how he doesn’t seem to care about the pain he’s caused.”
Justin sighed deeply, a sad sound that made me want to hold him close to my chest, to offer him all the comfort in the world. But before I could act upon that urge, he started talking again.
“I mean, we did have a pretty bad argument the other day, where he said some very shocking things.” He looked intently at me, as if he were trying to work out how much he could trust me. In the end, it seemed that I passed the test. “He told me that Mom didn’t die from sickness. Actually, he thinks he found evidence that she killed herself. Her suicide note, blaming my dad and his cheating ways for her death.”
“Woah.” My parents had always been happy together; I had no idea how much learning all of that would affect a person – not that it excused what Garrett had done, of course.
“Yeah, so maybe that sent him into a tailspin. Maybe that led him back to the drinking…I don’t know.”
“So, is there nothing else you can do here?” I asked cautiously, sensing that he needed to get away from this environment. He was clearly messed up over it all and he didn’t have the full picture, so if there was nothing he could do, then sitting here wasn’t healthy.
“No, I suppose not,” he shook his head sadly. “We might as well go. But I can’t go to work, not now. I need to…I suppose there’s a lot that I need to do. Maybe sort out a lawyer. Much as I totally hate what Garrett has done, I can’t leave him with no lawyer.”
“Yeah, I agree,” I told him. “Shall I take you back to your place? Once I’ve dropped you off, I might head back to Florence to give you the space you need to organize all of this.”
I felt awful to have our alone time together cut short, but this situation couldn’t be helped. Maybe, if things went t
he way that I wanted them to, we would have more time in the future to spend time together. This didn’t have to be the end.
He looked at me with puppy dog eyes, making me melt inside. I wanted so badly to help him, but I just didn’t know how. “Will you stay with me? Just one more night. I don’t want to be alone. Not at the hotel, at my home.”
“Of course!” If that was what he needed, then I would give him that. I wouldn’t have really felt right driving back home leaving him in such turmoil, anyway. “Let’s just stop off at the hotel on the way and get my stuff. Then I’m all yours, whatever you need me to do, I’m there.”
“Thank you, so much,” he gasped at me, almost smiling through the inner pain. “I really appreciate you. You’re amazing.”
***
Admittedly, I actually felt in the way at Justin’s home for a while. While he rushed around speaking to lawyers and seeking advice, all I could do was make him endless cups of coffee. I wished that I could offer some real help, that I knew what to do, but I didn’t.
However, once he was done and ready to relax just a little bit, I sprang to life. I cooked him dinner, ran him a bath, and helped him through the stress. I did all the little things for him, so his mind could be occupied on the bigger issues.
Despite all of that, it wasn’t until we snuggled up on the couch together that he started to speak out once more. It seemed like the stress of the day had loosened his tongue and he started to talk about things that he might not have otherwise.
“I don’t know what to think, with regards to what Garrett told me, you know?” he started, stunning me to the core. I didn’t expect that topic to ever come up again since it seemed to cause him physical pain, yet here we were talking about it once more.
“I always just assumed that Mom got sick, but the more I think about it, the more I realize no one ever told me that. I’m older than Garrett, so I should be able to remember more, but it’s as if my memories are a little warped. Like, if I think about it now, I can recall her being sick, but there are small parts of it that don’t quite add up. So maybe she did kill herself.”
