Missing (The Brannock Siblings Book 3) (15 page)

By the time I returned to her side after Marjorie returned
my credit card, she already downed a fifth glass of champagne and sat her cute
ass down on the nearest bench where she announced she was staying the rest of
the night.

Lily was already gone while Evan and Kristie had left just
minutes before. It was up to me to make sure she got home safe and I take my
job very seriously.

"I didn't get a chance to talk to your friends. We
should invite them over for dinner," she slurred. "I really want to
talk to your partner, find out all your deepest darkest secrets."

I held onto her waist and steadied her as we made it to our
floor, "All you have to do is ask, Aid. I'll tell you all my
secrets."

"Pfft, that's no fun. I'll ask Evan."

"You do that, babe," I chuckled.

Drunk Aiden was extremely entertaining and very vocal about
her thoughts. I was an asshole for what I was about to do, but it couldn't be
helped. I needed to know what was going on inside that beautiful head if I had
any hope of knocking down her walls.

I unlocked my apartment door and helped her over to the
couch.

"This isn't my apartment, Gus. Am I staying here
tonight?" she hiccupped and wiggled her eyebrows.

I groaned and shook my head at her. If only that
was
the plan. I couldn't take advantage of her like
that
. But her loose
tongue? Yes.

She plopped down on the couch and laid her head back while I
lifted her legs one at a time and removed the shoes that had taunted me all
night. Sitting on the coffee table with both of her feet in my lap, I started
massaging. It wasn't a conscious thing, it was just… right. My hands and
fingers didn't wait for my mind to catch up. I wanted to bring her comfort and
I would give any kind I could.

"Oh my God. That feels amazing. Those stupid shoes,
I'll never wear them again."

"Don't you dare say such things. Those shoes…" I
looked down at her legs and moved my hands up to her ankles. Watching her walk
around on those long, smooth, beautiful legs… "You're right. You should
put them away for a while."

She giggled and shifted on the couch until her head rested
in her hand and she was draped over the cushions. "Why did you come
tonight, Gus?"

I stood with her feet still in my hands and sat next to her,
sinking down into the cushions beside her. She pulled her feet underneath her
and got comfortable, like she was there to stay a while. I never wanted her to
leave.

"Lily let me know about the gallery and before you get
mad at her you should know that I would have found out on my own."

"How?"

"Kristie. She was planning on going tonight without
knowing who you were and they were both planning on asking me to come with
them. When Lily texted me, I was the one who invited
them
."

"I didn't want you there because you make me nervous,
especially when you see a side of me that is rooted so deep," she said,
her eyes drooping. She would pass out before I got anywhere if I didn't hurry
it up.

"Why do I make you nervous?"

She looked up at me from under her lashes before shifting
closer to my side until she was pressed against my arm. With her head resting
on my shoulder, she gave me the truth.  "You make me want things."

"What things?"

"Things I didn't think I could have yet. Things that will
force me to choose."

"Choose what?"

She yawned and her body relaxed against me, eyes drooping
further as if she was having a hard time keeping them open at all.

"What would you be forced to choose, Aiden?" I
pressed.

"I don't want to have to choose between my family and a
man. Lily chose the man and look at what happened? He tore her heart out and
stomped on it. She chose a man that made her life exciting, made her question
everything. She chose a man who ended up wanting the greener grass on the other
side. Now she's paying the price. I won't let that happen to me. I need
stability, responsibility, someone who won't take unnecessary risks. Someone
who won't risk
me
."

It all made sense now. Why she didn't think it was even
possible for us to be together, why she insisted that we could be friends and
that's it. It wasn't because I had been such an asshole in the beginning. My
life was full of the risks she feared.

She took a deep breath and added, "Lily and Aidy are
the most important people in my life. I need a man who isn't going to make me
give that up."

"But, Aiden, using a mistake Lily made as a foundation
for your own decisions… it's not right."

"Why not?"

Those two words, said once more and hitting me just as hard
as the first time, but
this
time
I had the answer. "Because
you are setting yourself up to be alone for the rest of your life. You can't
live life without taking a risk here and there, that's not living. There
is
a man who wouldn't make you give up your family, he'll only add
to
it.
No one is perfect, but that's the beauty of it isn't it? Getting through the
imperfections together."

"Wow. That's like poetry, Gus."

I laughed and draped my arm over her shoulders, pulling her
into me until her head slid down to my chest and her arm laid across my
stomach. This is what I pictured having in the very near future. Her softness
pressed against me every night, her stubborn temper waiting for me when I got
home, and long nights spent doing exactly this. Talking and learning everything
there is to know about her, whether she's drunk or sober.

"My mom was the one who said that. She said
'The
beauty of life is figuring out
how
to live it with someone you love more
than yourself'.
"

"Smart woman."

"Yeah. She was."

"Will you tell me about her?"

She was going to pass out before I could even make a dent
telling her about the kind of person my mother was.

"My mom was beautiful. Always smiling, always ready to
help, and never had a mean thing to say about anyone. She was sweet and loving,
but she had a sassy side to her, like you. It made us all laugh whenever Dad
was on the other side of it."

She giggled and looked up at me, "She sounds
wonderful."

"She was."

"I bet your dad loved her very much."

"He did.
Does
. Not a day goes by that he doesn't
love her more than he did the day before."

"Really?"

I looked down at her, meeting her glazed eyes and knowing
now what I had doubted so long ago. I didn't think it was possible for Dad to
love Mom any more than he already did. After all, there is only so much a heart
can handle. Now? Looking down at Aiden and feeling that burning in my chest,
knowing I would do anything for her. I had no more doubts. Not one.

"Yeah."

Aiden closed her eyes and sighed. "How did she do
it?"

"Do what?"

"Spend every day waiting for him to come home safe,
wondering if that last kiss they shared really
would
be the last."

I laid my head on the back of the couch and stared at the
ceiling. I had no idea how she did it, I just know that they loved each other
enough to make
anything
work. It was just what they always did.

"She loved him more than the idea of living a life
without
the worry, without him. She had us, too. Three kids who basically worshipped
her. She taught us how to love, to fight for it. I really don't think she felt
there was any other way."

"What happened to her, Gus?"

I hadn't thought about her death as much as I'd thought
about her life. Us remembering her life, the things we did together as a
family; that's what she wanted.

"She had cancer. Fought it for a while, but her body
just couldn't handle it anymore. She died on my sister's seventeenth
birthday."

"That's awful."

"In a way, yes it is. But she wanted us to celebrate
her life so, in a sense, we get to celebrate two lives that day. It was hard on
Ash for a while and we all still miss her like crazy, but what she gave us… no
way we would trade that up."

"Your family seems amazing."

"They are," I grinned. "I miss them."

"Tell me more," she said on another yawn.

"I don't think you can stay awake for it, babe."

"I will. Just keep talking," she muttered. "I
like hearing your voice."

So I did. I told her all about my family. The things we did
as idiot kids with nothing better to do than get into trouble, the way Con,
Luke, and I kept Ash in a bubble, the regrets that weren't really regrets
because without them, where would I be? She laughed and commented here and
there, staying plastered against me as I ran my fingers over her arm, her back,
through her hair.

She stayed quiet when I told her about the nights and days
Isabelle Brannock spent worrying about the love of her life. How she distracted
herself by pouring every ounce of love she had into her children. How my father
always reassured her, never losing patience or feeling smothered, how he made
the worry worth it and gave his mother everything he could. How he made her as
happy as she made him.

"It's the same thing that Lucas does for Ash. The same
things Con does for Emily."

She didn't move, but she held her breath. It was the only
sign I had that she wasn't asleep in my arms already.

"The same things I would do…"
For you
. The
unspoken words couldn't have been clearer in the silence that surrounded us.

"What are you doing to me?" she whispered.

"Nothing you haven't already done to me,
sweetheart."

Her eyes slowly opened and I couldn't tell if she was still
drunk or if the change in her gaze was complete awareness. Either way, I had no
way of knowing if she would remember any of this in the morning.

"I'm scared."

I only heard her whispered words because I couldn't take my eyes
off of her. I lifted her chin with my finger and bent closer, resting my
forehead on hers. "Of what, baby."

"Of falling so deep that I lose myself to a man that
might not come home to me. I'd never get myself back."

"I know." I closed my eyes and breathed her in,
smelling the sweet scent of her mingled with the scent of champagne and paint.
"I know you're scared, but you don't have to be. You don't have to be
afraid of losing who you are. Not with me."

She raised her chin, brushing those soft, pink lips against
mine. Only giving me the barest taste before her head dropped back to my chest.
My heart thundered as I forced myself not to push for more. It was only seconds
before she fell asleep, tucked in my arms, completely unaware of how much she
just altered my entire world.

Aiden

Aiden woke with a groan. Her head pounded and her mouth felt
like she had spent all night sucking on cotton balls. She opened her eyes and
immediately registered that she was definitely, absolutely, without a doubt,
not
in her own room.

Oh God. Please, don't let it be real.

But it
was
real. Everything about the entire night
had been real and she remembered every single little detail, from the sweet,
crisp taste of the last sip of champagne she took to the feel of Gus' lips
against hers.

Mortification slid over her entire body like a sludge that
would take a lifetime to wipe off. She hadn't wanted to let him in, not like
that. She hadn't wanted him to know how truly fucked up her reasoning was for
living the way she did.

Now he knew.

He knew her reasons for staying guarded, knew her idea of
the perfect man for her was a bunch of bullshit. That she was actually a big
fat coward. Her carefully structured wall wasn't so solid after all and she had
drunkenly let Gus seep through the cracks.

She rolled onto her back and looked around the dim room. It
was all Gus and nothing like the rest of the apartment. It was cozy instead of
hard and immaculate. She needed to get working on pieces for the rest of his
apartment to make it look like his bedroom. She liked this space. Pictures
lined his dresser, his family from the looks of it. His bedspread was a navy
blue and the sheets were gray with a navy trim around the edges. Masculine. His
nightstand was bare except for his alarm clock and a tall glass of water with
two white pills resting next to it.

How she got there was the one thing she
didn't
remember. She must have fallen asleep on the couch and he carried her in there.
Embarrassment skyrocketed and she covered her face with her hands and groaned.

"That bad?"

The squeal that somehow tore out of her dry throat sent
lightning behind her eyes, making her wince.

"I didn't think you would be up for another hour at
least," Gus chuckled and she heard him step closer to the bed.

"What time is it?" she muttered into her hands.

"It's 8 o'clock, I've got to get to the station and get
my report done for the shit that went down yesterday. You can stay as long as
you like."

Aiden shook her head slowly and finally opened her eyes. He
was dressed casually in well fitted jeans and a black T-shirt. His hair was
still damp from a recent shower and she cursed herself for getting excited
about being so close to him while he was naked and wet. She only wished she
would have been awake at the time.

"You should rest today, Aid. Last night was stressful
for you."

"Last night… I, uh…"

He watched her carefully as she struggled to find the words
to take back everything she had said without sounding like a complete bitch.
Nothing was coming to her and she started to panic.

"Do you remember anything after the gallery?"

Hallelujah! She had an out. No one would expect her to
remember everything after all the champagne she ingested.