Chapter 12
Inside Gayle’s, whichwas pretty packed for a Thursday, the five of them, Logan had insisted on coming, chose the bar over a table.
“First round”s on me,” Logan said after they all ordered. Brandon noticed for the second time that night that Mel was giving dirty looks to his brother.
“Do you know what that’s about?” he asked Leah, indicating with his head to Mel.
“I do,” she said matter-of-factly. “But girl code prevents me from telling you.”
“I thought that boyfriend code outranked girl code?”
“Not in this case.” She shrugged and took a sip of the beer she had ordered.
“Just tell me this...did Logan do something stupid?” His brother, while successful in his career, seemed to lack normal social skills.
She touched his arm. “It’s cute that you are concerned. But as far as I know he hasn’t done anything.”
Not totally sure he believed her, he let it go. “Did I mention that you look hot?” And she did. She was wearing a pair of ripped jeans and a flowy shirt. And for the first time since he’d met her, she had on makeup. It wasn’t like she needed it but it made her look sexier than she already did.
“Oh, only half a dozen times.” She laughed and threw her head back.
“I wanna dance!” Carly shouted at her, pulling her to her feet. “Come with.”
Setting her beer down on the bar she leaned into him. “Come save me in a couple of minutes.”
Her warm breath lingered on his neck as he watched the three girls head to the dance floor.
“You’ve got it bad,” Logan said and moved to sit next to him.
Refusing to deny it, in part because it was true, he instead asked. “Why does Melanie seem to hate you all of a sudden?”
He took a slow drink of his beer. “I honestly have no idea.”
“I thought you guys were close?”
“So did I,” he said. “Ever since I got back last week she has been standoffish and angry.”
He pointed his beer at his brother. “Fix it because I don’t want your shit seeping into Leah’s life. Or mine.”
“This is the real deal then, you and Leah?”
“I want it to be,” he said quietly.
“Does she want it to be?”
“For now,” he said. In reality, he had no idea. She seemed game to make a real go at this. But her life, to put it mildly, was a mess. How would she feel when it all settled down?
“I’d say to take it slow,” Logan said, “but I can already tell you are in deep.”
“You say that like you don’t like her?”
“Just the opposite actually. She’s really cool and funny as hell. I can totally see why she is friends with Carly and Mel.”
“They are like The Three Amigos, aren’t they?” He watched them dance, all of them looking happy and carefree. “It’s almost like together they are stronger.”
“Yeah.” Logan turned to watch. “What’s happening with the guy who followed Leah here?”
“Nothing,” he said. “There is no sign of him anywhere.”
“Are you thinking he’s dangerous?”
He sighed and continued to watch Leah dance. “That’s just it, I have no idea. His history shows nothing that would make me think he was, but after talking to the cop in New York, I don’t know, man, something just seems off.”
“I’ve left the cameras up in town, just in case. But I haven’t seen anything in the pictures.”
He turned back, placing his empty bottle on the bar and signaling for another. “I hate having the girls alone in that big house with no neighbors within shouting distance.”
“I could have Tony come take a look. Maybe we can have him put a security system in at their house?”
That wasn’t a bad idea. Tony had done the system in his own house and it was state-of-the-art. But he knew Carly and Mel and he was starting to know Leah. “How do you propose we get them to go along with it?”
“Dude, I can’t do everything. Figure something out.”
Brandon would have to because having Leah safe, and also Carly and Melanie, was too important.
They left the bar after just another drink, dropping Logan at his house on the way back home.
That night, like the last, Brandon fell asleep with his arms wrapped tightly around Leah. He didn’t think life could get better.
––––––––
The week passed ina blur. Between Leah getting ready for the studio’s open house and him frantically searching for Will Huntington along with his regular police chief duties, there was barely time to breathe let alone have fun.
He had yet to broach the subject of getting a security system, but that had less to do with him being afraid to approach them, and more to do with hectic schedules.
At least that is what he’d told Logan when he’d asked.
The day of the open house came and all three girls were stressed to the max. Brandon had made sure that he wasn’t on duty so that he could be around to help with anything they needed. Plus, he’d added extra patrols, figuring that the town would be bustling with people.
Carly was by far the most insane with nerves. She had barely slept the previous night, keeping everyone else in the house awake with her questions. And Brandon got it, she was putting up a lot of money to get this business off the ground. A lot of her own money. But Melanie had the same amount invested and she was much calmer. At least as far as he could tell.
And then there was Leah. She’d paced back and forth in her bedroom for hours, questioning each and every decision she had made in the last two weeks. Brandon tried to help, telling her that everything was going to go fine. After about the third time of saying it, he realized that if he didn’t just shut his mouth, not only would he not be getting sex anymore, but that he might be dead.
So he kept his thoughts to himself and just watched as she went over it all. Finally around two-thirty in the morning, she fell exhausted, into bed.
“Brandon, have you seen Logan?” Melanie shouted as she rushed past him, not stopping for his answer. “He was supposed to be here ten minutes ago.”
“I haven’t seen him,” he said loudly since she was already halfway down the hall.
There were only a few more minutes before the open house was due to start and he was putting the finishing touches on setting up a banner.
“Looks good,” he heard Leah’s voice and turned to find her looking up at him. When she had left the house that morning – after only 3 hours of sleep – she had been wearing old jeans and one of his sweatshirts. And seeing her in his clothes had stirred something inside him. But now looking down on her, she was dressed in black dress slacks and a polo with the studio logo on the right-hand chest.
“You almost ready to open the doors?” he asked, climbing back down the ladder.
“Yep. Carly is up front and Mel is changing.”
Looking around the studio, he said, “You guys have something special here.”
She shrugged. “It’s Carly and Mel. They are the ones with the dream.”
“Hey,” he said and touched her shoulder. “It’s you too. I’ve seen how hard you have worked and how much you love it.”
A smile lit up her face. “It’s funny. This isn’t the life I pictured for myself but now...now that I’m here doing it, I don’t know why it wasn’t always the plan.”
He gave her what was planned as a small kiss but ended up being a lot longer.
“No time for that,” Mel said, grabbing her hand and ripping her away from him.
She laughed and gave a little wave with her other hand. “Here we go!”
Folding the ladder, he put it back in the storage closet before meeting up with the girls in the front lobby.
Standing to the side he watched them give each other quick hugs before unlocking and opening the front door.
Dozens of people filed in, some he knew and some he didn’t.
“This is pretty impressive,” Logan said, walking up to stand next to him.
“They’ve done something pretty cool here, both for themselves and for the town.”
“You staying all day?” Logan asked him.
“Plan to.”
“Yeah, me too.”
Looking at his brother, he saw dark circles under his eyes. “What’s going on with you?”
Shrugging, Logan looked at his feet. “Just dreading this trip next week.”
“Are you ever gonna tell me why you hate traveling so much, all of a sudden?”
“If I knew, I’d fucking tell you. All I know is that when I’m here, I feel happy and when I’m anywhere else, I am miserable.”
Brandon got it, but only in the sense that he loved it here. He’d only ever been away a few times; college and vacations, and each time he couldn’t wait to get back. But Logan, he had been gone for years and had never really had a home until he’d moved back.
“How long is this trip?”
“Two weeks. Two very long weeks.”
“Yeah, I feel really sorry for you, bro.” He joked. “Two weeks surrounded by hot models.”
“It’s not as fun as you’d think,” he said and pushed off the wall, walking away.
Shaking his head, Brandon quickly searched for Leah in the now very large crowd. She was talking to a woman and two children, showing them the brochure that held all the pricing and classes.
Strolling through the studio, he saw that there were at least a hundred people milling around. He was just about to head outside to take a look around when Melanie came up to him.
“If Carly or Leah asks, tell them I had to run home for a second. I forgot the DVD that has the slideshow on it.”
“Absolutely,” he said and continued to make his way outside where he found his mom.
“Hey, Mom,” he said, moving to stand next to her. “What brings you here?”
“That’s a silly question. I’m here to support Carly and Mel.”
His mom had yet to meet Leah and as far as he knew she had no idea that he was dating her.
“Are you working today?” she asked.
“No, I thought I’d be here in case they needed me.”
“Does ‘they’ include the new girl?”
She said it in a way that told him she knew all about him and Leah. He should have been shocked – would have been if it were any other person. But, of course, his mom knew. She knew everything.
“Her name is Leah,” he said, not confirming or denying.
“I know her name,” she said, “and she’s a very nice girl.”
Whoa that was news to him. “When did you meet Leah?”
“Why does it matter when or even that I met her?” She raised her eyebrows in the way she always had when he had been a teenager and she had questioned him.
“It doesn’t,” he said, refusing to look her in the eyes for fear that she would know he was lying.
She was quiet and when he looked back at her he saw she was smirking. “You are so obstinate. More so now than as a child. To answer your question, I met her in the market. I didn’t know her and I accidentally knocked over a whole display of paper towels. She was in my line of fire but instead of being mad, she took the time to help me re-stack them.”
That sounded like Leah. “Did she know who you were?”
“You mean, did I tell her the big lug she was dating was my son?” No. I introduced myself as Alice and left it at that.”
Hanging his head he asked, “How long have you known?”
She slapped his arm. “Since last week when I was told by my friend Gayle that you were at the bar looking all cozy.”
Fuck, how had he forgotten that his mom and Gayle from Gayle”s bar were friends? “I wasn’t keeping it from you, per se,” he told her.
She pursed her lips like she had something to say but then sighed. “I figured that out on my own, you know, being an adult and all. Plus, I talked to Katie at the station and she filled me in on the strange man who might be following Leah.”
Was nothing a secret in this town?
“Do you like her?”
He looked into his mom’s excited face. He kinda wanted to lie just to keep her off his back. But the truth was, this was too big to lie about.
“I more than like her, mom.” At her small clap he held out a hand to stop her. “But you have to let me do this at my own pace. You will scare her off if you come barreling full force at her.”
She scoffed. “I have never and would never do such a thing.”
“Lie and lie,” he said matter-of-factly. “You always get ahead of yourself and then things go up in flames.”
“Hmfph,” she said as she crossed her arms over her chest.
“Mom,” he said softly, “I want you to get to know Leah, I do. But can you let me get to know her first?” His voice was pleading.
Her face softened. “She’s that important to you?”
“She is,” he acknowledged.
“Then I’ll leave you be but, and you just need to be aware, your dad knows too.”
He sighed. He’d deal with him later. “Where is dad?” He looked around to see if he could spot him.
“He’s coming later with Mike. We thought coming at separate times was better.”
Mike was his dad”s brother and Carly’s dad. “That was smart.”
“Hey Bran,” Logan said, walking up to him and their mom. He kissed their mom on her cheek before saying, “Carly is looking for Melanie. Have you seen her?”
“She went home to grab something real quick.” He looked at his watch, concerned. “But that was over twenty minutes ago.”
“She’s not answering her phone either,” Logan said. “And it’s not like her to not answer Carly.”
“Why don’t I run by the house and see if she is still there? Maybe she needs some help?”
“I’ll go.” Logan stopped him. “You’re needed here.”
“I better go back inside then,” he told his mom. “The place looks really great,” he said to her at the last minute.
Entering the building again, he refilled stacks of pamphlets and picked up garbage. He was just going to check bathrooms to make sure they were fully stocked when his phone rang.
“Logan,” he said, holding it to his ear after seeing who it was.
“Bran, you have to come now!” He was breathless and frantic.
“What’s wrong, what happened?” He maneuvered through the people to make his way out of the studio. Logan was not a cry wolf kind of guy. So Brandon was on full alert at his crazed voice.
“Mel, she’s hurt and the house was broken into. Hurry please!” he pleaded.
He had never heard his brother sound so frightened. And hearing that Mel was hurt – Mel who was like a sister to him – had him running through the parking lot to his car.
The three-minute drive was torture. Pulling up to the house, he barely had the car in park before jumping out.
“Logan!” he shouted.
“In here!” Logan yelled back from inside the house.
The front door was open and when he stepped in the house, fear that he’d held at bay for the drive, was now front and center. The whole place looked tossed. Furniture was tossed, thrown about the room, and anything that had ever been on a table or shelf was now on the floor.
Looking around he finally spotted Logan kneeling over Mel on the floor in the corner.
“What the fuck happened?” he rushed to their sides.
“I don’t know, I came in and found it and her like this.”
“I’m fine,” she said, trying to sit up with Logan practically holding her down.
“You are not,” he said. “Please just stay still until we know for sure that you are okay.”
“Did you call 911?” he asked his brother.
“Yeah, after I called you.”
Standing, he removed his gun from the holster. “I’m going to check the house to make sure it’s empty.”
Moving quietly and steadily through the house, he checked each room and aside from the mess, there was no sign of anyone.
Descending the stairs he heard Mel and Logan arguing.
“Logan, I am fine. Will you just let me up?”
“Logan,” he said from the bottom of the stairs, “she knows herself. Let her up if that’s what she wants.”
Logan shot him a nasty look but gave in and let Melanie sit up.
“Can you tell me what you saw, Mel?” Brandon looked around the room. He was trying to stay calm and be the cop but inside he couldn’t stop thinking that this could have been Leah.
“Not much,” she said. “I came in and I was in such a daze that I just rushed to the corner here where I left the DVD. That’s when I finally noticed the room and turned. That’s all I remember before waking up to Logan shouting at me.”
“Logan,” Brandon said, all business now, “tell me what you saw?”
Logan huffed out a breath. “Do we really have to do this now?” he said, annoyed.
“Yes, we have to do this. The sooner people talk after an incident, the more they remember. In order for me to find whoever did this, I need the details.”
“When I got here,” Logan started, “the door was open, so I walked right in. The place looked as it does now,” he indicated the room “and I freaked when I called Mel’s name and she didn’t answer. I heard a moan and that”s when I noticed her over here on the floor.”
“And you didn’t see anyone or hear anything?”
“No.” He shook his head. “There was nothing.”
“Fuck!” he swore. His normally quiet town had now had two break-ins in two weeks and he was sure that little prick, Will Huntington, was involved in both of them. But what was worse was that this time someone got hurt. Someone who was like family to him.
“Hey guys,” Mel said, still on the floor. “Carly keeps calling my phone.” She held it up so that they could see. “What should I do?”
Logan looked at him, his face saying that it was his call.
“Answer it.” As much as he would like to keep this from them for a few more hours so they could finish the open house, he knew they would be pissed off if he did.
“Hello,” Melanie said into the phone as he turned to go meet the incoming ambulance.