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“What the fuck happened?”
“I don’t know. She was at the grocery store and freaked the fuck out. She had my card in her hand, so Tom, the pediatrician from the clinic, called me to tell me she ran.”
He raked a hand through his blond hair and let out a frustrated noise low in his throat. “Fuck. We need to get her to our house where we can keep an eye on her.”
I shot him a look. “We can’t keep her locked up.”
“The fuck we can’t. She’s obviously in some kind of danger. She will tell us. Today, so we know what to protect her from.” He started heading to the front door, but I grabbed his arm, pulling him back. He turned to me with a growl.
“Look, we go in there, we have to be calm. She is already upset. Seeing you go all angry caveman on her isn’t going to make her want to come home with us.”
He glared at me, his chest heaving, looking like he wanted to throw a punch at my jaw. I would let him get his frustrations out if I needed to, but I would prefer to do it a different way. Unfortunately, that wasn’t an option at the moment.
“Just calm down, babe. We need to show her that she can trust us to be her safe place. I’m upset, too. I wish we would have just taken her straight home after lunch. But this is Casey. She’s skittish. Just… fuck. Just keep calm, alright?”
“Calm. Right.” He chuckled darkly. “Yeah, I can be calm.”
I gave him a look. From the outside, he was all movie star good looks and charm. There were few people that knew what lurked below his surface. He had too many demons inside of him. I had a feeling that Casey would be the one person that would be able to do what even I couldn’t for him. She was going to be the one that could soothe the beast that was always raging inside of him.
He returned my look with a glare and raked his hand through his hair again. “I’m good man. I’ve got it under control. Right now, I just want to get to our girl and make sure she’s alright.”
I nodded, and together, we both walked through the door of my aunt’s inn. Aunt Gladys came through the doorway from the back of the inn where her private space was. She was wiping her hands on a towel and had a smile on her face that brightened further once she saw the two of us standing in her entry.
“Please tell me you boys are here to check on that sweet girl.”
I bent down to kiss her cheek. “Hey, Aunt Gladys. How is she?”
“I wish I knew. She looked so upset. She just rushed inside and went up to her room. I don’t think she even saw me.”
Brent kissed her cheek next. “Thanks for looking after our girl. I hope you don’t mind that we take a paying customer away.”
She waved a hand. “I just want that girl to be happy. There’s something in her eyes that tells me she is holding something dark inside that she needs to let go.”
Brent and I glanced at each other. Yeah, there was something there. And we would get to the bottom of it. We just had to be careful how we did it. It was instinct to corner her and demand she submit to us, but that was sure to be the fastest way to have her back on a bus and out of town before we could blink.
“We will take care of everything. Which room is she in?” I looked at the stairs as if I could see her in her room already.
“Room 2. The pretty one.”
Brent pulled some cash out of his pocket and pressed it into Aunt Gladys’ hand. “All your rooms are pretty, Gladys.” I knew he would give her cash, for the same reason I had already arranged to pay the difference on the room rate that she had generously cut for Casey.
Her cheeks pinkened, but she slid the wad of bills into her pocket, already knowing by now that there would be no arguing with either of us when we offered her money. She gave us each a squeeze on the arm, then turned around to head back into her kitchen. From the smells coming from back there, I was willing to bet she was well on her way into baking a large batch of chocolate chip cookies.
We both headed for the stairs and took them two steps at a time, walking straight to the door with a fancy scrolled two on it. Before I could raise my hand, Brent had his fist up and was banging on it loudly. He ignored my warning glare, his jaw hard and determined. There was shuffling coming from the other side of the door, and I held my breath for what we would see once she opened it. I didn’t like the thought of Casey upset, and all I had wanted to do since receiving that phone call was get to her and hold her close.
The door handle turned, and then the door cracked open, allowing Casey to peek around the wood. She didn’t look overly surprised to see us standing at the door to her room. I watched as she swallowed and then lifted her chin. Before she could tell us to go away, I had my hand on the door and pushed it gently but firmly open. She took several steps back as we both entered.
The room was neat and tidy, but the first thing I noticed was her suitcase was closed and standing by the door. “Oh, good, you’re already packed.” Brent’s words had her gaze flying up to his face before she abruptly turned around and walked to the bed. I hadn’t missed the hurt look that flashed before she turned away, though.
“Uh, yeah.” She picked up her backpack from the foot of the bed and slid it over her shoulders. “I was just getting ready to leave.” She turned back to face us, her expression carefully blank. “I wanted to thank you guys for lunch again. I appreciate it. Can you tell Grace thanks for everything she’s done for me?” Her eyes got glassy for a minute until she blinked and then fixed that blank stare back on us, walking toward her suitcase.
Before she could reach for it, Brent had his hand on the handle and was pulling it out of the room. “You can tell her yourself when you go in tomorrow for that job she offered you.” His words were said over his shoulder as he continued to walk toward the stairs, her suitcase in tow.
“Wait! I need my suitcase!” Casey squeezed past me and marched up to Brent, where he had paused at the top of the stairs. “I’m heading to the bus station.”
“Why?”
She swung around to look at me, an incredulous look taking over the blank one I hated. “Why? Because I made a fool of myself in the grocery store! I need to get out of here before everyone realizes I’m a nut job.”
