Chapter Forty-Five
Matteo
“Damon,” Brynne mumbles in her sleep. I turn over and wrap her in my arms. She relaxes in my arms when I run my fingers through her hair. We all didn’t get enough sleep after we got home. We helped Brynne clean up and one of us kept watch in case we were followed home. Damon still hasn’t come home, but I don’t think that means he is hurt. If there was only one person, Damon could easily take them out.
“Damon,” Brynne sits up rapidly and looks around the room. I caress her cheek, and she looks toward me.
“He's not here baby,” I say softly. She grabs my face and she runs her thumb over my facial hair. It’s like she is trying to make sure I’m real. She darts her eyes over to her phone. “It’s only six,” I reassure her. She sucks in a breath and grabs her stomach. “Are you okay?” I ask.
She nods. “Just cramps, they are always the worst the first few days,” she looks over at Ryker who sits up in bed on the other side of her.
“Any word?” he asks. I shake my head and he sighs.
“We need to go find him,” Brynne demands .
“He is fine. He probably didn’t want to come here and risk getting followed. Damon is smart and if it was just that one guy then he easily could take him,” I say with confidence.
“He had a gun, Matteo. He was,” she pauses. “He was
going to shoot me,” she looks vacantly at the wall across the bed. Ryker grabs her hand to reassure her that she is safe. “Was there anyone around you and Damon when you bought the costumes?” she asks.
“What do you mean? We were in a store, of course there were other people around.”
“He had to have been watching you. He had the same costume as all of you. There is no way that is some coincidence. He knew my name,” she says the last part softer.
“We will figure out who the fuck he is and I’ll
personally kill him,” Ryker says angrily. “You’re safe with us Brynne,” he adds.
Brynne grabs her phone and calls her work. She calls out for the day and then gets out of bed. “What are you doing?” I ask.
“Getting ready for the day. I can’t sit at home waiting and hoping he turns up,” she pulls a sundress over her naked body.
“Where’s Sawyer?” Ryker asks.
“On watch,” I reply.
“Get dressed and meet me downstairs. I need to tell you all what David said last night,” Brynne says before walking out of the bedroom. Ryker and I pull on jeans and a t-shirt to join Sawyer and Brynne in the living room.
“Did he give you more names?” Sawyer asks Brynne.
She points to the couch and we join Sawyer .
“I wanted to wait for Damon to talk about this, but I don’t think we have the time. Last night David gave us the name of the other person who was there the night with Sophie,” she pauses and takes a deep breath. “I’ve met him before, but I couldn’t remember his name until David said it last night,” she gulps.
“Who is it?” I ask.
“I think his name is Benjamin, but we both knew him as Benny.”
Ryker shifts next to me like he is nervous. I look over at him watching Brynne intently waiting for her to give a last name.
“He didn’t know his last name, but I guess his wife's name is Caroline,” Brynne doesn’t get to finish because Ryker cuts him off.
“Benjamin Westmoore?” Ryker asks. Sawyer grabs his laptop and searches for the name. He turns the laptop around to show Brynne. I watch her eyebrows scrunch together and her breathing fasten. She blinks a few times and nods.
“H-how do you know him?” she asks Ryker.
“My dad plays golf with him at the country club. He works with Hachett and sometimes with my father according to his wife,” Ryker explains. “How do you know him?” he asks Brynne.
“He was one of the men who took me to the cabin. I
remember his grey eyes and the big guy calling him Benny. He wasn’t the worst one, but his curiosity was the worst. I have many scars on the inside from him. He,” she has to take a breath to center herself. “He liked to see how much I could take before I broke down. He would shove things inside of me while the others were inside me too. I tore really bad in my rectum one of the last times they took me because he used a baseball bat and, ”
“Brynne,” I say under my breath. I knew these men were pieces of shit, but I never knew what she had gone through. I would have never survived what she went through and still be able to go on living.
“You don’t have to explain yourself to us,” Sawyer
says.
“ But I,” she pauses. “I want to know all of you and if I
don’t open up then you won’t,”
“No, Brynne. All you have to do is ask and we will tell you anything,” Ryker interrupts.
“I want to find Damon and I feel like that won't happen unless we tell each other about our past and all of our secrets. Nothing can be used against us if we already know everything,” she explains.
“Baby, the only thing someone could use against us is you. We would destroy everything if someone hurt you and this person knows that. That’s why he was going for you instead of Damon,” I say.
“Do you think it’s the same person who was threatening Damon?” Ryker asks.
“Does Digicon mean anything to any of you?” Sawyer asks. I shake my head with Ryker. Brynne looks like she is sorting through her memories. Sawyer searches up the business and its light a light bulb goes off in Brynne's head.
“That’s the business on the truck they drove,” she says.
“Where did you find this?” I ask.
“The phone number is registered to the business. I think this goes much deeper than we thought. We need to find Damon and figure out what to do from here. This isn’t little killings anymore,” Sawyer commands .
“I have to go check on my grandfather and then we can check the motel to see if maybe he went there,” I say as I look at Brynne. She is going with me whether she wants to or not. I know her and she will run off to find Damon if she isn’t glued to one of us today.
“Good, and you,” Sawyer points to Ryker. “Tell me everything you know about this Benjamin Westmoore. We need to do as much research as possible. I’ll tell Clara to keep digging into Digicon.”
Brynne lightens at the mention of Clara being involved. It's nice to know that she wasn’t completely alone before us. I grab her hand and bring her to the hallway. I grab both sides of her face and lean down to kiss her. “You’re safe with me Brynne. You know that right?” She nods and her eyes don’t leave mine.
“Can I go with you?” she asks before I tell her that I already decided for her. I smile and nod.
???
We pull into my grandfather’s driveway and I see that the front door is already open. We both share a look and walk up to the door. Brynne shivers through her stockings and knee- high boots. Her jacket is a thin little pea coat. I should have suggested changing out of the little sun dress she put on. It's colder this October than it was last year.
“Gramps?” I yell throughout the house as we walk through the front door. We don’t get a response and walk further into the house. The front door closes behind Brynne and I whip around, ready to kick whoever’s ass is in my grandfather's house .
“Jesus, why are you so jumpy? Who may this young lady be, Matteo?” my gramps asks.
“Where were you? I was calling for you,” I say
nervously. He is the only family I have left. I don’t know what I would do without him. As crazy as I would be if I lost Brynne, I feel like I would be just as bad to lose him.
“I asked you a question first,” he raises his eyebrow.
“This is Brynne my,” I look to Brynne to clarify how to introduce her. I don’t know if girlfriend is the right word.
“I’m Matteo’s girlfriend,” she finishes for me. It sounds weird to hear her say it. I haven’t had a girlfriend since middle school.
“Why haven’t you mentioned her the last few times you visited?” my grandfather pushes.
“I sort of did last time,” I shrug.
“It’s still new,” Brynne grabs my hand. She is tiny next to me, but I like the way she looks tucked beside me. My gramps smiles and it makes me miss my gran. She would have fallen in love with Brynne.
“I see. Well, I was just taking the trash out to the road. So let me wash my hands and get us some tea,” my gramps winks at me before heading to the kitchen.
“You look like him,” Brynne confesses. She has no idea how much that matters to me. I never knew my father and always lived with the fear that I would turn out like him. My mother chose drugs over me and I always thought that was my fault. That maybe I looked like my father and it reminded her of what he had done to her. I grab Brynne and kiss her lips. “What was that for?” she asks .
“ I appreciate you, Brynne. You being here with me
means more to me than you will know,” I confess. “There are things you don’t know about me, but I want to tell you, all of it. I want you to know me,” I say with finality. She smiles and looks truly happy. I lock this memory in my head.
“Teas ready,” my gramps calls from the kitchen. We join him at the table and then there is a silence I’m not sure how to fill.
“So, tell me all the juicy stories about Matteo,” Brynne says. I look toward her and smirk.
“I like her already,” my gramps says. “There are so many, I don’t know which one to start with.”
“ Oh please. My life was not that juicy ,” I say jokingly.
My grandfather waves his hand in dismissal. “Matteo is a sweet boy, regardless of his rough exterior. He once kept a baby squirrel as a pet for months because it had fallen out of the tree in our backyard. It was so cute watching him bottle feed the little thing,” my gramps smiles at the memory.
“Give me a break. I was a kid and I wasn’t going to let a baby squirrel die. Plus, it wouldn’t stop crying and making all sorts of noise. I would have never been able to sleep at night if I left it,” I shrug. Brynne looks at me with admiration in her eyes. No one has ever looked at me like she does. It makes my heart ache to be closer to her.
“Don’t let him make excuses. When I told him it was time to let the squirrel go, he begged me to keep it. He had even knitted it a little hat,” he laughs, but I can see the hurt in his eyes. I never made the hat, my gran did. I couldn’t figure out how to do it, so she helped me and let me tell everyone I was the one who made it .
“You can knit?” Brynne asks.
“Kinda,” I shrug and take a sip of tea. She tries to hide her smirk but fails miserably. I nudge her shoulder, and she laughs. It’s the sweetest sound my ears have ever heard. My gramps watches us and smiles behind his mug.
“What do you guys have planned today? You can't possibly want to spend Friday with an old man.”
“We have some errands to run this afternoon, but I figured I could come to check on you while I grab some more of my belongings,” I say.
“Are you moving?” my gramps asks. I’m barely here as it is, but I already cleared everything out of the motel room last week. I was waiting to get the proper invite from Brynne, but after last night I don’t want to be away from her. I think we all should stay with her at the house.
“Only if he wants to,” Brynne looks at me with her dark blue eyes. “I would love to have him at the house even though he is there most of the time anyway,” she jokes.
“So that is where you have been,” my gramps says.
“Yeah,” I say slowly while looking at Brynne. She smiles at me and grabs my hand on the table. It feels so normal, but our relationship is anything but that. We both don’t want normal, but I like it when I get alone time with her like this.
“So my big softy man. When do you think we should get going?” Brynne asks after our second couple of tea and a bunch of reminiscing about my childhood. I can’t get over her calling me hers. I truly am hers and it makes me feel more alive than killing does.
We say our goodbyes and get back into my grandfather’s car. “Is this your car?” she asks .
“Not technically, he just lets me use it whenever since he shouldn’t be driving anyway,” I clarify.
“Okay, just wondering if we will need to build a bigger garage now that we have more cars at the house,” she jokes. We should limit the number of cars at the house. You can't see the garage from the road, but if someone were to visit they would see this car and Damon’s if he ever comes back. Brynne and Ryker always park their cars in the garage.
“You truly want me to move in?” I ask.
She grabs my hand and her hands are ice cold. “Yes, I want you to move in. I want all of you to move in with me. Do you want to?”
“ Of course I do. I want to be able to protect you at all
times,” I say. We back out of the driveway and head toward the motel. Brynne rubs her hands together and then pulls the collar of her jacket up around her neck. I reach over and open the glove box. I pull out the knitted scarf I made for my grandmother.
“Here, I want you to have this. It was my grandmother’s before she passed,” I explain.
“Matteo,” she whispers. She runs her hand over the material and wraps it around her neck. “Did you make it?”
“Yeah, that’s about as far as my knitting skills go. I’ll have to practice and make gloves for you next,” I laugh.
“I love it, thank you,” she says.
We pull into the motel parking lot and drive around the back. Damon’s piece of shit car is still parked in the parking lot. We both get out and knock on the door and don’t get an answer. Brynne looks through the window and then walks over to the door and wiggles the knob. It’s locked .
“Back up,” she says. She kicks the door and it comes open. This place isn’t built the best, but she is also a powerhouse when it comes to something she wants. “Damon,” she yells and runs to the bed.
“Little devil,” Damon says breathlessly. He tries to sit up and cringes. I close the door and rush over to him. There’s blood on the sheets but I can't tell if it's his or not.
“ What the fuck happened man?” I ask.
“I got shot, but I’m good,” he manages to say through pain. Brynne lifts his shirt and sees the bullet wound in his abdomen.
“I’ll kill him,” Brynne seethes. Damon carcasses Brynne’s cheek and she looks back at him.
“You’re safe,” he smiles but his eyes are barely open.
He looks like he is in a drunken stupor.
“He’s lost too much blood. We need to get him cleaned up and checked out,” I say with urgency. Brynne helps lift Damon and we carry him to the shower. I turn on the water and Brynne takes her jacket and scarf off to get in the shower with him. She uses a small washcloth to clean him. “Clean around the wound as good as you can. I look for a first aid kit,” I say.
I find one underneath the sink, but it barely has anything in it. I grab it anyway and Brynne turns the water off. I pull the curtain back and she is soaked and has Damon’s blood on her dress. “It looks like it went right through. That’s good. What did you find?” she asks.
I give her the first aid kit and she searches through the contents. I forget sometimes that she is a doctor and probably know more about stitches than me. I would make him look like fucking Frankenstein. She grabs some supplies and I help where I can. She wraps him up and he groans when I apply pressure where she tells me. “We need to get him back to the house. We can come back later to clean this up,” she motions to the bed covered in blood.
We both grab each side of Damon and walk him to the back seat of the car. Brynne squeezes in the back with him. I get in the driver's seat to leave.
“Wait, my jacket and scarf. I left them in the bathroom,” she says. I run back into the room and grab them before rushing back to her house. I thought there would be a pang of jealously watching her care for Damon, but I have nothing but admiration for her showing how much she cares for all of us. Her not wanting to leave the scarf here shows that she appreciates the little things we do. That scarf is a token of my appreciation for Brynne and to show her that I’m all in. Whatever she needs, I'll be here to make sure it happens.