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“We need to beat the shit out of him,” Quinn announced. “No one hits a woman and gets away with it.”
“He hit her?” I asked.
“Well, he did something to her obviously,” Quinn said. “You should've seen the bruises on her wrists, man.”
“This may sound bad and I don't mean it to,” I started, “But are you sure she's just not into some BDSM or something?”
“Nah,” Quinn said, stopping his pacing to look over at me. “No, man, the way she reacted – it wasn't like that. She wasn't embarrassed about having some fetish. She was scared shitless. Trust me, this wasn't the case of a woman being into kinky shit.”
“Well I'll ask her about it tonight,” I said.
I looked over at the clock and then back at my reflection, straightening my tie one last time because I had to leave in a few minutes if I was going to be on time picking her up.
“You're still planning on meeting up with her?” Quinn looked at me with a look of disbelief on his face. “Even though she asked us to leave her alone?”
“I want to get to the bottom of this and clear it all up,” I said. “If someone is hurting her, I want to help her.”
“Someone is hurting her,” Quinn reiterated. “There is no if about it.”
“Then I'll help her,” I stated matter-of-factly. “Jesus Christ, Quinn. We'll get to the bottom of it, don't worry. I'll find out who it is and we can figure it out from there.”
Picking up my phone, I looked and saw that there were no messages from Hailey canceling on our date, and shrugged. As far as I was concerned, it was still on. I slipped my phone into my pocket and grabbed my jacket, stepping around Bennett to get out of my room, before rushing out the door.
Quinn was hot on my heels, and Ben was right behind him.
“What?” I said, turning around and glaring at both of them.
Sometimes living with my brothers could be a pain in the ass. No matter how close we might be.
“I just can't believe you're still thinking that you're going out with her,” Quinn said. “She told you to stay away,” I said confidently. “She has my number. If she wanted to back out on me, she would have called or texted me.”
Quinn looked over at Ben. “And how about you? You still planning on seeing her?”
“Yeah, I'm still planning on taking her out tomorrow,” he said, wiping BBQ from his chin with the back of his hand.
“Assholes,” Quinn muttered under his breath.
“You're just jealous because she told you to get lost,” I said and chuckled. “Get over it, Quinn. You're out.”
“It's not a game,” he said.
“Oh, it's not? That'd be a first,” I smirked as I stepped out of the house. “But then, of course you'd say that since you've already lost.”
***
Standing on the porch, I took a deep breath and let it out as I rang the doorbell to the Roberts' home and waited. From inside the house, I heard footsteps approaching the door as a female voice called out, “I'll be right there.”
The door opened, and I stared back at Ada Roberts, Hailey's mother, who looked a bit taken aback by the fact that I was standing on her porch. Ada looked like an older version of Hailey with her dark brown, almost black hair, and very large hazel eyes. The only difference was the Ada had a bit of gray mixed in with th
e brown and smile lines on her face. Otherwise, they were almost mirror images of one another.
Ada had been the librarian for our school for a really long time. She only retired within the last year or so, in favor of working from home. The scent of lavender oil filled the air as soon as she opened the door, and only grew stronger the longer I stood there. “Cason? What a pleasant surprise,” she said, hands on her hips and a warm smile on her face. “What in the world are you doing here? How's your mama doing these days?”
“She's good, thank you, Mrs. Roberts,” I said and laughed. “Enjoying life as a retiree in Florida. Dad too.”
“Glad to hear it. I think it's great that you and your brothers are sharing your family home, by the way. Family is everything,” she said. “So, what can I help you with?”
“Actually, I'm here to see Hailey,” I said. “I'm taking her out to dinner tonight.”
