Chapter 16
Fox listened to Brooke’s voicemail message for what felt like the hundredth time since she stormed out. “Hi, you’ve reached my voicemail. Leave a message.” He had already left several messages that she hadn’t responded to.
He punched the end call button in anger before pulling the key for his sister’s apartment out of his pocket. If he couldn’t find Ethan, at least he could wail on the person who caused this.
He slid the key into the lock and burst into the apartment. Three sets of eyes turned their gaze on him. Dover was sitting at the table eating something in a bowl, already assessing the situation for a threat.
Dex sat on the couch reading through a file folder. He acted as calm as ever, but ready in case he needed to act.
Fox’s main attention, though, was on the large man sitting in an armchair with a book spread open on his crossed leg. Life had been a lot simpler before he came to town. It wasn’t necessarily better, but definitely simpler. Now Ethan was missing, Brooke was who knows where, and Knox was to blame.
“Ethan’s gone,” Fox snarled, his gaze boring a metaphorical hole through his brother’s head.
“What do you mean, gone?” Dover asked. She left her dinner half-finished and stood to meet him.
“I mean Brooke has left him somewhere and won’t tell me where. What did you do?” he aimed at Knox.
“I didn’t do anything. He did it to himself.”
“Wait, what happened?” Dover tried again. “Your nose is bleeding.”
“Shit.” He put his hand over his nose and walked into the kitchen. Grabbing a handful of paper towels, he returned to the living room with them pressed to his face. “I can’t get it to stop.”
“Were you trying to make her calm down?” Dex asks.
“Yes, but it didn’t work this time. Can Memphis find him?”
“Not without something personal of his,” Knox answered.
Setting his book on the coffee table, he placed his hands on Fox’s face and pressed the upper part of his nose with his thumbs.
“Hold still,” he barked when Fox fought back.
He stopped fighting choosing instead to spit the blood that collected in his mouth on Knox’s shirt. “Nice.”
“Fuck you.”
Knox scowled at him but refused to let go of his nose.
“I swear if anything happens to Ethan, I will rip you apart with my own two hands,” he continued.
“She’s not going to do anything to harm Ethan,” Dex said, breaking into the standoff.
“She’s too smart for that. She knows that’s how she controls you.
” Fox’s glare slid to Dex, but the agent ignored it.
“Did she give you any clue where he is? Is he at a friend of hers or a relative? Bailey’s house maybe? ”
“She would never leave him there voluntarily,” he answered.
“I’ll call Bailey, just to make sure. How about someone from work?” Dover suggested.
“Maybe.” Why is he still here, meddling in our lives? He continued silently.
He’s worried Brooke is up to something that’s going to blow back on you. That’s why Dex is here too. They tried to follow her one night, and she was a professional at losing them.
“Stop,” Knox growled. “Say what you have to say out loud.”
“You’ve been following her?” Fox spit out, shoving Knox away from him. “Why?”
“There’s something fucked up about her,” Knox began.
“I wasn’t talking to you.” Fox turned to stare at Dex.
“At first we thought she was just seeing guys on the side,” Dex said after clearing his throat.
“Now, I’m not so sure. I’m pretty good at following people, but she got a text and rabbited out of the bar she was at.
We chased her until she just disappeared through a locked door in one of the buildings near the wharf. ”
“Her cheating on me doesn’t surprise me,” Fox said after taking a minute to take in what Dex had said. “I don’t know how she would know someone was following her, though, if you were just hanging out in the bar. Are you sure you were following the right person?”
“It was the right person. She was chatting up some cowboy at the bar then suddenly ran. It felt like she was getting instructions from someone, though. It doesn’t make sense to run if you’re just talking at the bar.”
“She’s always meeting friends for drinks. I have no doubt she flirts with anyone who looks good and will buy her a drink. But if she thought you were stalking her, wouldn’t she just stay in the bar? It would be safer.”
“Bailey doesn’t have him,” Dover said, returning to the living room. She had slipped into the kitchen to make the call right after being called out by Knox. “She’s going to try calling Brooke. Maybe she will answer her call or at least text where Ethan is.”
They fell silent as they watched Fox pace back and forth across the living room. His stomach was tied in a knot, his mind reeling with all of the bad things that could be happening to the little boy. When did I get so wrapped up in the welfare of a child?
Since the moment he moved in with you, Dover answered.
“I can’t stand just waiting. I’m going to go see if I can find an after-hours phone number at the salon. Maybe one of her coworkers knows where he is,” he said. He scooped up the keys he had tossed on the side table next to the door.
“I’ll go with you,” Knox said.
“I don’t need any more of your help.”
“I don’t care. I’m going.”
Fox studied the determined man for a few minutes before shrugging. He barely heard Dover telling him she would ask patrol to keep a look out as the door closed behind them.
He didn’t check to see if Knox was behind him when he stepped into the elevator. Crossing his arms, he leaned against the cool metal as he willed the doors to close.
“We’ll find him. In one piece,” Knox growled.
“You don’t know that.”
“True, but I haven’t lost one yet, and I don’t plan on starting now.” Fox had heard a few of the stories from his family’s harrowing past. None of that mattered now. He didn’t need fairytales—he needed results. He needed Ethan found.
The doors finally opened, and they left the building. Fox’s truck was right where he left it, except now it had a parking ticket on it.
“Of course,” he mumbled ripping it out from under his windshield wiper. He tossed it in the back seat as he climbed into the truck. By the time the engine roared to life, Knox was riding shotgun. He dropped it into gear and slid into traffic.
The trip through town was driven in silence. He didn’t feel like talking, and, he assumed, Knox could tell. That was one thing they had in common—neither one of them liked to chat. There was one other thing he found odd that they had in common.
“Do all of us have green eyes?” he asked.
“So far. Must have been one hell of a dominant trait.”
“Do you know anything else about him?”
“Mom has a blurry picture taken at some concert in the ’80s, and he stayed with Flint’s mom until Flint was about ten. Mom’s always been pretty closed mouthed when it comes to him though.”
“You have a mom?”
“Yes.” Knox looked over at him with a scowl. “Her name is Sunny, and she lives in Kentucky. What of it?”
“Are you always so defensive?”
“Are you?”
“Okay, point taken,” Fox answered after a moment of thought. “I guess that must be a dominant gene too.”
“Nah. I set Memphis on fire all the time, and he barely flinches. Flint is pretty laid back too. As far as Tyler goes, I never push her buttons since she can break me in half.”
“She and Dover should make an interesting pair.”
“I’m looking forward to the fireworks, personally.”
Fox pulled into the parking lot of an upscale strip mall. There were several boutique shops, a bistro, and the salon on the end. Several of the businesses had already closed for the night, including the one Brooke worked at.
He stepped out of the truck and walked over to the door. With his hands cupped around his eyes, he looked through the glass door. Then he pounded on it with his fist hoping someone was still in back.
“Is there a chance she left him inside?” Knox asked.
“I don’t think so. She wouldn’t want to get in trouble with the boss. She likes working here.” He looked around the front windows for anything with a phone number on it.
“I’ll go ask the other shops if they have the owner’s number,” Knox announced before walking off down the sidewalk.
Fox pulled on the front door before heading around to the back of the building.
There was nothing in back but a dumpster and a row of metal doors.
The only signs indicated that it was for deliveries only.
“Anything?” he asked when he returned to the front to find Knox standing next to the door.
“A couple of names, but no last names or numbers. I also learned they do great highlights, in case I’m interested.”
“Shit.” They stood next to the salon trying to figure out what to do next. Without at least a last name, Fox had no idea where to look. Both men startled when his phone toned in his back pocket. He jerked it out and pushed accept without really registering who was calling. “Yes?”
“I finally got her to respond,” Bailey said. “She sent an address. He’s staying with a colleague from the salon named Suzanne. I’m texting it to you now.” His phone pinged again, and he held it out to make sure the address came through.
“Can I bring him to you?” Fox asked, pressing the phone back to his ear. “I don’t think he should go home until I see how angry Brooke is. I don’t need him in the middle of a dangerous domestic situation.”
“Of course, just bring him straight here. Please let me know as soon as you have him.”
“I will.” He hung up his phone and thrust it at Knox. “Route me to that address. I guess he was left with someone she knows from work. Tomorrow, I’m sending something to Memphis, so I don’t have to worry about this again.”
“Not a bad idea. He has a closet full of bagged stuff from the spouses and kids. The rest of us, those who share the same blood, he can find without anything.”
“That sounds better than calming people down. Except, I don’t guess I can even do that anymore. I’ve never had a nosebleed before.”
“Memphis got where he threw up every time he came back when we were looking for Thayer. Looked like death by the time that was over. I think it just takes so much brain power. There’s nothing to throwing a fireball. I just have to check which way the wind is blowing.”
Fox laughed. It felt good to release some of his frustration.
“Now, let’s go get Ethan,” Knox said.
They climbed back in the truck and drove to an older apartment complex. There was a group of men standing around the entrance and debris spread on the ground. It was obvious that no one was interested in upkeep anymore.
They pulled to the curb in front and shut off the truck. Fox heard Knox climb out behind him as he rounded the truck.
It wasn’t until the men backed away that he realized having Knox along might be a good thing after all. He pressed a buzzer at the door and was let in without anyone bothering to answer. They climbed the stairs to the second floor and banged on the door to number four.
The door was opened a few minutes later to a cacophony of noise. Fox counted at least three kids crying, several dogs barking, and the television loud enough to be heard over the din.
“You here for Brooke’s kid?” a woman asked.
“Yes, I’m Fox.” The woman didn’t seem to care as she turned around and hollered down the hallway for Ethan.
The boy slid carefully from one of the rooms in back.
It took a beat before he realized Fox was walking toward him.
Ethan ran into his arms, wrapping himself around him as tight as possible. “Thank you. How much do I owe you?”
“I got you. Let’s leave these people in peace,” Knox answered, holding out a wad of bills, before the woman could.
He waited at the bottom of the stairs until he was given a sign it was safe to step outside. Another reason it was good to have Knox with him. He carefully pried Ethan from his body to secure him in the booster in the back seat.
“You’re going to stay at Aunt Bailey’s house tonight after we drop off Uncle Knox. Okay?” He saw the little boy nod his head in the rearview mirror.
His emotions were stretched to their limit having found Ethan in one piece. They almost crumbled completely when he saw Knox reach in the back seat and take Ethan’s small hand.
He drove back to Dover’s building. It didn’t escape his notice that Knox held Ethan’s hand the entire way which had to be uncomfortable for the big man. Pulling to the curb, he put the truck in park then turned to Knox.
“Thanks for coming with me.”
“Just needed to make sure I didn’t have to burn this town to the ground to find him.”
Fox felt the corners of his mouth tilt up. Knox winked and eased his hand from Ethan’s hand. He nodded as he closed the door.
Fox had no doubt at that moment that his brother would have burned the whole of Boston to the ground if he’d had to. They really were family now, and Fox felt himself begin to accept it. More family in his life didn’t feel so bad in the end.