Chapter 24
Chapter 23
He slowly stepped away from her, setting her back on her feet, he kissed her gently and headed out the door. He stood there waiting for the water to start. When it finally did he headed to the living room where Ben was holding Cierra, the way he wanted to hold his darlin’ right now. It was becoming clear that was the way he’d always think of Bree, as his.
Ben looked up at Justin, “Is she okay?”
“I think so, she’s taking a shower now, are you okay, Cierra?”
“Yeah, I’m fine, to Bree, I managed to find a couple people here in town she can talk to, Ben was getting ready to head over to Iris’s.”
“Okay, sounds good, will you call the places, Cierra, ask them to come here to talk to her, the first one who says yes hire them, after a background check.”
“Sure thing, boss.” Cierra ran her hand along Ben’s arm.
Man, he wanted that contact from his darlin’, but until they knew he couldn’t cross that line. And wouldn’t. he watched Ben leave and Cierra jumped on the phone.
He began to pace as he waited for Bree to get done with her shower then he could take his.
“You’re going to wear a hole in that floor, Justin.”
He turned to look at Cierra, “Sorry.”
“Justin, what’s wrong?”
“What’s not wrong? I want a girl I have no clue about, what she likes, dislikes, what t5r6will and won’t set her off, I almost jumped off a stupid bridge for her, and I don’t know a damn thing.” He rubbed his hands over his face roughly.
“She wants you too, you know that right, she missed you as soon as you left,” Cierra began and then stood. “Do you think Ben and I know everything about each other? Ben doesn’t know everything about you, nor do I, but we’re still here, Justin.” She laid a hand on his shoulder. “You’re still our friend, and we’re yours, you know that guy would have taken me today, I would have ended up like her, but she stepped in as soon as she realized I was in trouble, the first opportunity she got to run away she did because those other girls are in trouble, she has a good heart, Justin, and you see it.”
“But I thought the worse when you called and said she was gone, like it was a diversion to stop us from finding Marnie and the others, I am terrible for her.”
“You still came, you saved her twice from that dirt bag, you care about her, Justin, everyone can see it, you just have to let yourself see it and do it.”
“But what kind of man am I to care about an eighteen year old, that’s fourteen years between us, if I’m lucky that she is eighteen, what kind of life can I offer her?”
“A good one, Justin, age is a very stupid number and if you two fall in love, no one will stop you, like you said you were going to jump off a bridge for her, you’d go through hell and high water for her, just as Ben would do for me, you
already love her, Justin.”
He pulled back from Cierra. He searched her soft cornflower eyes as her words sunk in. He was a pig. He fell in love with such a younger girl, a girl who didn’t even remember having a childhood. He gritted his teeth and stormed out the apartment and slammed the door shut hard, continuing to storm down the steps to his bike. He tore out of the parking garage.
Cierra let out a sigh as she watched Justin storm away. Maybe she had said the wrong thing. She had never seen him battle himself like this before. She bit her lip as she sat in the computer chair running her fingers through her hair.
Hopefully if he got some space he’d figure things out for himself.
Justin pulled to a stop at the bridge he almost lost Bree. He gritted his teeth, she wasn’t his to lose, when was he going to get that through his head? But he wanted her to be his.
He let out a huff, hating himself, shutting off the engine, he stared at the metal rail. Why had she even come there? He should have stayed and talked to her. Tried to understand how she was feeling.
His phone began to ring shrilly, “Mathers.”
“Justin, you need to get over here now.” Iris’s voice sounded a bit panicky.
“Iris, calm down, what’s wrong?”
“Clay says he needs to talk to you, now.”
“Okay, on my way.” He hung up and jumped the bike to life and headed to his sister’s. Maybe Clay recognized the drawling. One could only hope.
He rushed to Iris’s and flew up into the driveway. He killed the engine and headed inside. As soon as he walked in he ran into Ben, “What’s going on?”
Ben held his hands up, “Ask Clay, they’re in the kitchen.”
Justin headed down the hallway with Ben behind him. Clay was looking very distraught as he bounced his leg and drummed his fingers against the square wooden table. Justin pulled out a chair and sat down, “What’s going on?”
“How did Ben draw that picture?” Iris began.
“The girl I found, she remembered a name, Bree, and she described that man when we got to my apartment for Ben, why?” Justin laid his hands on the table leaning forward a little.
“That man is Tanner Ericson, Dezerea’s husband.” Clay mumbled.
“So, she’s your niece, she’s Emmy.” Justin ran a hand over his mouth. “Can we check the DNA against you, just to be sure.”
“No.” Clay answered shortly.
Justin tensed a little, “Why?”
Clay ran his hands over his face and through his short brown hair, “There’s a reason Dezerea and I were never close, we aren’t blood, I was adopted.”
“Shit.” Justin hung his head, he was so close, so damn close. “Who can I run the DNA against then?” he demanded.
“I’ll have to call my mom, see if she’d do it, I was hoping I wouldn’t have to call her, she’s going to be so disappointed in me for losing Marnie.”
Justin let out a sigh, “Clay, we’ve got to do this, please? And I’m going to find Marnie and the others.”
Clay hung his head as he pulled out his phone slowly and began to make a call, “Mom? I need your help, when’s the last time you saw Emmy and Tanner?”
Clay’s face paled as he looked first to Iris then Justin, “When?”
“Why didn’t anyone tell me?” Clay demanded. “I see, I need you to come here, I need you to give some of your DNA, since Tanner is gone.”