Chapter 14
Serenity
His brother was just as hot as him, but he didn’t have the same edge Theo did. He seemed more outgoing too, which was interesting. Maybe I could get some insight into who his brother was from him.
Oh wait, I didn’t get any information other than his name. Damn. As I made my way through the streets, I heard music. I kept walking toward it and saw someone on the sidewalk, playing a guitar and singing.
”Remember me because you’re everything to me. But forget me when I’m not who I’m meant to be.”
Something about those lyrics hit me straight to the core. I reach into my pocket and realize I don’t have any cash.
”Shit.” I started to look around for an ATM because this guy was fantastic. When I turned, someone grabbed my arm.
”Hey!” I turned and saw it was Simon. I turned back and took another look at the man planning his guitar.
”Do you have any cash on you?” He looked at me like he was confused.
”Uh yea.”
He reached into his pocket and pulled out some cash. I took it from him and threw it in the guitar box in front of the musician. I turned and started to walk away, but he caught up with me and grabbed my arm again.
”Did you really have to give him all of that? It was like a hundred bucks?” I turned to him. He was definitely not like his brother.
”Are you broke? Poor even?” I said, looking down at where his hand was on my arm trying to give him a hint. He looked at me like he didn’t understand the question but did understand letting go of my arm.
”If you’re going to have that much of a fit about it, I’ll pay you back. I just need to find an ATM.” As I waited for his answer, he took in a deep breath like I just defeated him. Now that’s definitely something his brother would do. Why do I feel like I know so much about him but don’t? Shaking my head, I turned back to Simon.
”Why are you following me?” I asked firmly because I was not trying to deal with this guy on top of his brother.
”Um, I wanted to talk about Theo with you.” He seemed guarded when he said his brother’s name. Why was that?
”Ok, what did you want to talk about? I was joking when I said we went way back. We only met the other night.” He looked at me with surprise, but then gestured over to a bench. We could still hear the music playing, which soothed me a little.
”You guys seemed like you had a lot more history than just a few days.” I felt the same way.
”Well we don’t. He barely wants to talk to me, anyway.” He took his hands and rubbed them over his face.
”Did he tell you anything about his past?” I’m no mind reader but I could tell that there was some baggage there. A part of me said to get up and forget about him. Yet a bigger part of me said stay.
”Nope, don’t know much about him other than he doesn’t talk much, hangs out with some older lady who is definitely not his mother and has a sexual appetite that he doesn’t want to take care of.” I turned to look at him and laughed a little.
”Sorry about that last part. You probably didn’t want to hear that.” I looked away again and heard him sigh.
”I’m probably not supposed to say anything to you. But he likes you. I can see it and for him, that’s huge.” I turned to him again, kind of nervous about what he was going to say.
”He was in an accident a little over a year ago and his fiancé was killed. He was in a coma for two weeks. He had a hell of a rehabilitation after that. They started giving him painkillers and I’m sure you can put the rest together.”
I looked out into the distance, remembering someone from my past. A small tear came to my eye and I quickly wiped it off.
”I’m only telling you this because he doesn’t trust anyone. He doesn’t think he deserves to live. He believes that he is the reason Camie is dead, but that’s not true. It was an accident.” I turned to him now and knew there was sadness in my eyes but I didn’t care.
”Why are you telling me this? You don’t even know me.” He grabbed his phone and showed me the screen.
”I looked you up. You are a big-time lawyer who doesn’t play any bullshit. You don’t have any bad history. Only thing I found was an article about your brother.” I gripped the bench and went to get up. I couldn’t do this.
”Please, Serenity, wait!” I paused as soon as he said my name. But I didn’t turn around.
”I can’t imagine what you went through with your brother, and I’m sorry about that. I can see that you have feelings for my brother and he does for you, too. I know my brother and could clearly see the way that you looked at him when you walked up to us. I could tell by the way he seemed lost when you left.” I turned on him and got right in his face.
”You don’t know shit about me or my brother. My brother was sick and was getting better until he got sucked right back into his head. He couldn’t escape it and there was nothing that I could do about it. Then he was gone.” I took another deep breath.
”So I have spent my whole career taking down drug dealers and anyone else in that life to try to make myself feel a little better about not saving him. But it doesn’t.”
He grabbed me around the arms and pulled me in for a hug. It had been so long since I had felt this kind of embrace. If Theo was in that life, I didn’t know how to save him. I wiped my face and backed up from him a few steps.
”I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you. There was just something about you two together that made me think maybe you were it for him. His saving grace.” I chuckled. Saving grace, who was this guy?
”Okay, all I can say is the first night I met your brother, I felt something and I know he did too. I already made it my mission to get him in my bed.” He winced when I said that and it made me laugh again.
”You are a very honest person, aren’t you?” I shrugged and started to walk.
”What’s the plan, then? He texts me privately, so I can’t text back. And who is the old hag?” He looked away from me, then at his feet.
”I don’t know who she is. I haven’t seen him for over six months until today. I am a private investigator. Which is how I found all of your information. But with him he hasn’t had any paper trail, so it took a while. He still has the same phone but shuts it off a lot, so it’s hard to trace.” We continued walking as my mind raced.
Deep in my core, I knew that I couldn’t live without him, which is fucked up because I didn’t even know him. But something in me said I did and something else said I couldn’t leave this alone.
”Give me his number.” He turned to me, hope flashing in his auburn eyes. I took my phone out and let him put it in. When he handed it back to me, I started to think about my next move.
”I put my number in your phone too, in case you need backup. You probably have a better chance of getting to him than I do at this point. You’re a lot prettier than I am.” Funny guy.
I smiled and didn’t say anything because I was content with only one brother, that’s for sure. Two would get a little messy.
”I have to get back to my hotel now. I’ll let you know if I need anything.” He nodded.
”I’m sorry to spring this on you, but you seem like a genuine person, Serenity.” I had no clue what to say about that, so I just smiled.
”We’ll talk soon.” As soon as I said that, I started to walk back toward my hotel.
Fuck, this had been an interesting vacation so far. As I walked back to my hotel, I started to think about my brother. Kenny. I honestly hadn’t thought about him in a while, which made me sad.
Every time I used to think about him, all I could do was think about why. Why didn’t I save him? What made him do it? These were questions that would never be answered. He was always so strong and tried so many times to get help, but nothing ever worked. I remembered one of the last times I saw him, we sat up all night and talked about pretty much nothing. That thought brought a small smile to my face. During that night he looked over at me and told me, ”You can’t save me,” in the calmest voice that he had. I didn’t really know what he meant until it was too late. It meant he could only save himself.