39. Veronica #3
“And did you? Find any proof?” Noah asks, turning to face him as we all do.
“From what unclear footage we can get, yes, it does appear to be him. But I would like to think he was not intending any harm to Miss Ford. With the length of space he was leaving between the two vehicles, I believe he was only sending a message,” Julian informs us, like he’s talking about the weather and not a man clearly threatening us in some way.
“What message?” I ask.
“Not to get too comfortable. That he is not going anywhere.”
“And the car he was using? Do you have anything on that? Maybe that could be a lead,” Ronnie questions next as she chews her lip.
“We’ve already looked into it. It was a rented car under fake registrations.” Jessie smiles sympathetically.
“So, another dead end.” She sighs, coming into my chest for comfort.
She’s always acting so bravely, but I know deep down this is still affecting her. I see her looking over her shoulder every now and then when we’re out in public. I see the way her eyes search the place when we pass through the lobby at home.
How she jumps slightly every time the desk clerk asks if she needs him to call a town car because she was too focused on looking around that she didn’t even notice him standing there. I wish I could end this all for her right here and now, help her the same way she’s helped me.
“Look, I know it feels like we aren’t helping,” Jessie starts as he takes a step closer and puts his hand along her back; her muscles tense under the contact, but she doesn’t say anything.
“But I assure you, we’re trying. We haven’t stopped searching.
I have people looking into any possible lead around the clock, no matter how small or unlikely it is.
We even had three more out of the seven missing units searched.
We’re narrowing it down. We’ll get him. I promise. ”
She nods against me but doesn’t look at him. Finally, he retreats and goes back to standing between his two brothers. It’s as I watch them that a thought occurs to me. “Wait, why are you guys here?”
Julian sighs with annoyance. “Apparently being a friendly neighbor extends to baby shower invitations.”
“It’s not a baby shower, it’s a gender-reveal party. And I, for one, am excited and happy to be invited. You could do with having more friends, you know.” Jessie nudges Julian in the side with his elbow.
Julian glares at him with daggers in his eyes. “I do have friends,” he says through gritted teeth.
“No, you have Shane and us. We don’t count.” Jessie grins at his brother just as a purring engine pulls up to the curb. Shane steps out of his black Audi R8 and rounds the hood with a gift bag in hand. Fuck, that’s a beautiful car.
Aubrey gasps then spins on her heels. “Oh God, I need to go… Yup. We… we should head in.” She takes a step forward but stops when she’s asked to.
“Aubrey, wait.” Shane skips over, catching up to her. He stops a foot away from her, then looks at us all with a nervous, awkward smile.
Coach is a pretty confident guy, who seems so sure of himself and stands tall and proud all the time. But when he’s around Aubrey, this nervous, boyish side of him comes out. It’s comical to see the change happen.
She turns to face him, a spatter of red blotches all over her neck and cheeks. Jesus, these two are hilarious. We should start filming them and a few years down the road show them how embarrassing and awkward they used to be around each other.
“I just wanted to… um… thank you.” He slides his fingers through his hair, pushing it back off his forehead, then gives her a charming grin, dimples popping out.
She sighs, clearly swooning, then her eyes turn wide, and she straightens.
“Oh… I don’t know what…” Ronnie snorts against my chest, giggling under her breath.
Aubrey looks quickly over, then back at Shane with a defeated look in her eyes.
“You’re welcome,” she finally says, admitting to whatever she did.
Then they just stand there, smiling at each other like two lunatics, while we all watch with amusement and second-hand embarrassment. God, tell me that’s not what Noah and I look like when we look at Ronnie…
“There you guys are!” The front door flies open and out comes an exhausted-looking Morgan with her hand on her round belly. She’s only twenty-one weeks along, but it’s clearly showing there’s more than one in there.
Aubrey and Shane quickly take a step back from each other, as if they were doing something inappropriate just as the rest of our gang comes to join us outside in front of the house. I guess the party’s happening out here then.
“What’s taking you all so long to get inside?” She stops in front of us as Clay comes up to her side and places his arm around her hip, the rest joining in as well.
“We were just talking before going in,” I tell them with a smile.
“Okay, well, while we’re all out here... Mind telling us why we have big goons following us around everywhere we go?” Emma quirks a brow with a knowing smirk.
Well, shit. I guess we weren’t as sneaky as we thought.