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Ah, yep. Figured the little asshole would be here if she was.
Mary saw me standing near the door, and she got up. She’d taken up a spot near where the team broke for timeouts and such, so it took her a while to reach me. Once she did, she asked, “You find everything you were looking for?”
I nodded. “Yeah, thanks. I appreciate it.”
“Course. Now, take a seat and watch the game since you’re already here. We’re good this year. We might even make the state championships.” She sounded so giddy at that, mimicking what the guy outside had said.
“Nah, I gotta go.” I followed Mary out of the gym, but not before I tossed another look at Brianna. Whoever it was she was with, she sat awfully close to him. Their knees were touching, and she kind of leaned into him like she was hugging his arm.
I tore my gaze away the moment I realized Gareth wasn’t the only one who didn’t appreciate seeing her with someone else. I walked with Mary out of the gym, and then as she parted my side to lock up the office, I pulled out my phone and sent Brianna a message, telling her I was at the school, in the parking lot. She and I… we should talk.
She should hear what I found, and temporarily getting her away from that boy, whoever the hell he was, was just a bonus.
I walked outside, into the cool night air. I walked away from the door a bit, moving away from the old-fashioned camera that hung near the main entrance to the school. Eastcreek was stuck in the past; nothing was new and updated. I was pretty sure that was the same camera that had been here when I was a student. It might not even work now, but I’d rather not take the chance.
It wasn’t long before I heard someone else exit the school, until I heard someone’s footsteps approaching me on the sidewalk that lined the front of the school. I turned around to see Brianna walking up to me, a concerned look on her face. Concerned and a little confused.
“What are you doing here?” she asked. She wore a long-sleeved sweater that was long enough to cover her midsection, where leggings started… tight leggings that left nothing to the imagination.
Damn it. I shouldn’t even be looking at her like that.
I looked around. Though we were alone, we were still too close to the school’s main entrance. Anyone could walk out and see us. No, we had to walk further. “Come on.” I led us to the side parking lot, which wasn’t nearly as full as the main lot.
It was as we rounded the side of the school building that Brianna stopped and asked, “Did you find something out?”
Lifting my chin toward the dark sky, I let the early night breeze blow around me for a few seconds, and then I turned to face her. She stood less than two feet away, her colorful hair undone and wild in the gentle wind. Her lips wore a dark stain, making them appear even fuller in the darkness.
“Who was that kid you were with?” The question was out of me before I could take it back, my mouth getting the better of me again. It was none of my damned business; I sure as hell shouldn’t be asking like I deserved an answer from her.
Brianna was nothing to me. No one.
“What—” She blinked, sounding confused. “—what are youtalkingabout? What does it matter who I’m here with?” Where we stood, on the side of the school, there wasn’t much lighting. Yet another reason why most everyone parked in the front.
“It matters when Gareth’s here, looking like he wants to kill you both,” I grumbled out, pinning my jealousies on the asshole. “You don’t know how to fly under the radar, do you? You like creating havoc.”
She let out a chuckle full of disbelief. “Really? I’m creating havoc by going to a basketball game with a boy who’s not my new stepbrother? Do you know how crazy that sounds? Hell, do you know how crazyyousound? Because you do. It’s none of your business who I’m here with or why.”
She was right, of course, but if her acting out caused Gareth to snap and kill—that would involve me directly. So, in a roundabout way, it was my business.
“I went to the Watts’ house,” I told her, moving away from the boy she was with. The sooner I told her what I’d found, what my plans were for further investigating, the sooner I could leave and breathe easily again. Breathing easy was not something I could do while standing so close to her. Something about her made me all different kinds of conflicted. “It looked like no one was home… except I saw two cars in the garage.”
Brianna forgot all about my prior line of questioning, asking, “You didn’t see Erin’s car there?”
“No. And just for kicks, I checked the mailbox. It doesn’t look like anyone’s picked up the mail for a week.” I tapped my hand on my side, itching to… do something I shouldn’t. I was the opposite of relaxed, and I was well aware that a pretty, off-limits relaxer stood directly in front of me. It was like I could still feel those lips of hers on me.
Oh, for fuck’s sake.
“I came here tonight to look through the parking registry papers,” I went on. “I got her license plate. I’ll run it and have everyone in the county watching for it.” I sighed. “That’s about all I can do right now, until there’s some kind of evidence of foul play, whether Gareth’s involved or not.”
“That’s all you can do? You can’t, like, track her phone or something? She’s missing—”
“As unlikely as it is, she and her family could’ve gone somewhere. It isn’t a crime for a family to pick up and leave with no notice.”
“We both know that’s not what happened.”
I shook my head. “No, I don’t know that’s not what happened, and neither do you.” I pointed at the school. “You’re so quick to blame Gareth for everything that you’re ignoring every other possibility. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say youwantGareth to be the cause of all this.”
She chuckled. “Oh, yeah? Well, since you seem to know so much about me, Rick, why don’t you tell me why I want to blame Gareth so badly?” She took the smallest step towards me. I wouldn’t label it as aggressive, but she sure as hell wasn’t backing down. I could see how she’d found herself in the middle of all this shit. “Or maybe you want to tell me why you kept the fact that you’re Gareth’s uncle to yourself?”
