Waiting (4 page)

This man was crazy.

"Francis, are you a doctor? Do you really know that Brian's fine, because he looks anything but." I tried to make my tone calm and level, accepting that this man was a lunatic.

"Oh, I love how you same my name. Rolls off your tongue just lovely." He stood and started looking around again after winking suggestively at me. I shivered, and this time it wasn't from the cold. The man was good looking, but scary as hell.
 
"Those pearls you wear everyday are sexy as hell, too."

Holy hell. How did he know I wore pearls
every day
? Just how long has this freak been watching me?

"It's cold out here.  W
hy don't we go inside and warm up?"

Again I stood, but this time he moved so fast I couldn't follow the movement when he suddenly stood directly in front of me. Nose to nose.

"If you stand up again I will knock you out and chain you up in my quarters without you any the wiser. I'll lose Parker's trail and he won't be able to find you. Or help you."

The soft voice used to threaten me was crystal clear, effectively shutting me up and I sat back down before my shaky legs gave out.
The lump in my throat hard to swallow.

"Parker," he all but growled under his breath. "You have sixty seconds. I'm growing tired of your procrastination." In the next moment he had a hold of my shoulders, shoved my head down to the side and licked the base of my neck.
 
I tried to cower away but he held me firmly in place. "Thirty seconds Parker, before I make a tasty meal out of her."

Oh, God!

Thirty, twenty nine
... I tried not to do the counting in my head but it was incredibly hard not to what with crazy Francis tasting my neck as if he were about to sink his teeth into it.

Twenty, nineteen...
no, no, please let Parker show up, or me pass out, have a heart attack,
anything
before he starts to eat me alive.

Nine, Eight...

"Parker!" I hysterically called out, hoping Francis wasn't as delusional as he seemed and that Parker would really come to my rescue. "Anybody! Pleas
e! Please don't let him hurt me!
" I begged, closing my eyes tightly, hoping I'd wake up from this nightmare at any time now.

Two, One....

M
y eyes
squeezed
tighter
on a wince
when I felt a brush of air across the back of my neck. I'd never been the praying type but I found myself reciting some of the prayers I'd known as a child. My whole body clenched, awaiting the attack the psycho promised to deliver. When seconds ticked by and nothing happened
,
I peeked open my left eye while keeping my fists clenched down at my sides. That's when I noticed there was another noise other than the frantic thumping of my heart.

Off to the other side of the roof was a blur of motion too quick for me to follow. Every once in a while I caught a glimpse of a hand or a face for a second, but it didn't look real. It looked like a cartoon where they'd draw crazy circles while the characters were in a fight until one of them gave up
.  T
hen the characters would both come out with black eyes and bruises all over their bodies.

I blinked. It still looked the same and the grunting noise was coming from that vicinity, but it was just too confusing. Giving up at trying to analyze what I was seeing I focused more on the fact that Francis was no longer breathing down my neck and quickly ran over to Brian t
o see if he was ok. He was
laying unconscious when I bent down to check his pulse. Yep, still breathing.

"Damnit, stop this so we can talk like civilized men!"

My head flew up in search of where Francis' voice came from.
 
It had to have been coming from the blurred air.

"Brian...Brian can you hear me?" I gave him a few light taps while whispering frantically in his ear. Nothing. He didn't even twitch.

My next thought was to run as fast as I could to where more people were before coming back with help
,
but I'd barely taken a few steps before being thrust backwards and an arm wrapped around my mouth again.

"Brother... listen to me!"

 
His grip tightened as if making sure his insurance policy wasn't going anywhere.

Why me?

There was no use in fighting him. I already knew he had some sort of phenomenal strength
.  S
o unless he started unzipping his pants I was planning on standing still.

"We need to end this feud. It's been too long and I
want no part in this any longer!
" He spoke gruffly while rotating me, as i
f sensing where his brother was
before switching tactics and leaned back up against the wall, Brian on one side and the corner of the wall on our other. "I don't want to harm her but I will if you won't stop this and show yourself. I'll even leave here
now
if you agree to meet me on the tower in an hour."

Francis lessened his grip inch by inch before I no longer felt him at all, though I knew he was right at my back. Daring to be bold I took
small, measured
steps forwa
rd while holding my breath, grunting
in frustration when he pulled me back.

"Not so fast
,
lovely. After he comes out and agrees to meet with me,
then
you can go. He took me by surprise earlier but now I can feel his every movement."

I didn't turn around but instead kept searching the darkness for any sign of his brother.
 

Why hadn't I ran when he disappeared
before?

Stupid, stupid, stupid!

Just after blinking more tears away I saw something slowly form to my right in the darkness. I instantly moved my body to face the approaching figure that was getting taller as my eyes focused more and more. My vision started to clear, revealing a massive form emerging from the shadows.
Thicker than Francis but almost as tall.

Parker. It was
him
!
His furious face, eyes black as night, strutting forward with a deadly glare just behind me. His hair was still black but longer and looked to be sporting a little pony tail tied against his neck.
 
His navy button up shirt was torn with dirt smudges and slightly shoved to his left.

I tried to remember how to breathe.

His gaze was on me for a fraction of a second, making me gasp at the emotion filling his eyes before his deadly gaze returned to Francis. Wow. Francis wasn't as crazy as I'd thought but I still didn't get
why I was even a part of what
could only
be described
as
a sibling rivalry.

"That's better now." Franci
s casually strode forward wrapping his arm around my shoulder as if we were old buddies, winking at me when I looked up at him questioningly. "Aren't you going to say hello to Piper here? She hasn't seen you in ages. Either have I but we already said our hello's, haven’t we?" He gestured to his own torn clothing and I noticed his hair was now tousled. Neither of them had any bruises though.

"Piper." Parker
said my name in acknowledgment
with a swift nod of his head. "Francis, leave here now and I'll consider meeting you in an hour on the tower. If you ever threaten an innocent again I'll kill you myself. Understood?" He stood a few feet from us
but I could feel his body heat
almost wrapping around me,
making me feel safer than if I was tucked comfortably in my bed.

Maybe
I
was the crazy one.

"See what I have to deal with?" Francis asked after releasing me and scoffing at Parker. "I haven't seen you in fifty years, I saved Piper from an unsightly end the other night when she was carelessly walking down an alley, then I takeout the man who actually had the balls to kiss her in front of you when she hadn't even asked him to I might add."

His voice grew incredulous as if I had the nerve not to be thankful for him knocking Brian unconscious.

"What alley?" I asked, then pressed my lips together when I remembered I wanted to be invisible and just leave this rooftop once and for all.

"The other night when you went out to dinner with Jules and Bruce a few blocks from your building." He'd obviously been spying on me for a while. The smile on his face was beautiful but I found myself still tensed even though I somehow felt the danger was gone. "You took a shortcut instead of walking around the building. I, thankfully, was able to take out your wana-be attacker before he had a chance to do what he was planning to do. He'd seen you before you see, he told me, and was just waiting for the opportunity to drag you into an alley with him." He turned to face Parker. "Still have the bloke chained up.
 
Figured you'd want to have a...word with him."

The growl torn from Parker's throat startled me, making me take a step back from him, eyeing them both warily again. He caught my movement and seemed to sense my fear, giving me a look of pure sorrow. The intensity of his gaze brought a whimper to my lips before throwing my hand over my mouth to cut it off.

"Thank you for saving her." He spoke to Francis, but kept his gaze on me. "I'll meet you in one hour. Don't do anything stupid while you wait. See if you can handle that and I'll contemplate actually hearing you out."

"Finally! Some sense!" Francis threw his hands up in the air as if gesturing to the heavens before extending his hand out to me. "Again, it was lovely to meet you." I stared at his hand but didn't dare extend mine. "Ah then, no hard feelings. I understand you're a wee bit scared. I hope to see you again soon." He glanced to Parker. "It's time we settled this. One hour."

Within the time it took for me to blink, he was gone.
 
Startled, I glanced around the rooftop but nothing had moved. The door remained shut and Parker stood in the same exact spot, watching me, Brian still in a crumpled heap on the
cement
a few feet to my right. I stood perfectly still waiting for him to say something, move, anything to prove he wasn't in my imagination.

After
a few long moments I clenched both
fists at my sides and took a deep, determined breath before taking slow
, determined
steps until I was within arm’s length, reaching my hand out then just my finger until it made contact with his bicep. I gasped and took a step back.
 
His lips twitched the
tiniest bit before regaining a
straight face.

"OhmyGod!" I whispered, taking another step back.

"Are you alright?"

His voice was strained, as if not completely under control.

"Yes."

We continued to stare at each other for a few minutes, neither of us saying anything until the sound of clothes rustling brought me back to our surroundings.

"Brian!" I ran to him as he struggled to keep his head up. "Are you alright?" I bent down on my knees helping him sit up, then Parker was there, helping him stand completely while keeping one hand on my back.

"What...I..."

"Please, let me take care of this," Parker insisted, then muttered more under his breath, "Damn, brother."

After having me take a few steps back he returned to Brian, pressed his finger in his mouth then placed it on the cut across the top of Brian’s head before seeming to hold Brian's gaze in a trance. I could hear him muttering and Brian stood motionless until Parker gave him a pat on the shoulder after wiping away any
trace of blood on his forehead.  T
he rest would blend in with his dark hair.

Seemingly in a
daze he started walking toward
me, gently took the jacket off
my shoulders
then disappeared back through the door. The cut on his scalp was gone.

My questioning, surprised gazed stayed on Parker’s calm face.

I should've ran. I should've gone with Brian but I had so many questions and hoped to get them answered.

Parker stood still, again not saying anything but watching me, as if w
aiting for me to freak out
or maybe hoping I would. Too bad he missed the worst of it when his brother attacked Brian and I was crying uncontrollably. Being
held against my will was scary.  H
im letting me take the time to gauge the situation was...not.

"Parker?" I still couldn't believe it was him. "How... What just happened? Why are you here? And what the hell was Francis ranting about?"

My voice found strength, hopefully hiding the nerves still zinging through my body.

"I'm so sorry
,
Piper." The next thing I knew we were standing on the opposite side of the rooftop behind a
giant air duct
. Maybe I really am going crazy. "Your friend is looking for you. She wants to make sure you left like Brian told her." He spoke softly before I heard the click of the door once more. "
Let me
bring you home where you'll be safe."