Darkness Before Dawn (21 page)

"I...I have to go," I say in a hushed, hoarse voice. "I can't-" I don't even finish the sentence before I dash out of the room, holding my empty sobs inside. When I make it to the elevator I press down on the button furiously and cross my arms while I wait. I see Spencer from the corner of my eye, but refuse to look around me. I don't want anything to trigger my impending tears.

"Tell Cole I say hi, Miss Brennan," says a chirpy, annoying voice behind me. I instinctively turn around with my eyes narrowed and look at Skipper the bitch.

"What?" I seethe as my heart starts skipping beats and my ears start steaming.

She smirks. "Tell him I had a blast with him at the bar a couple of weeks ago. Wouldn't mind a repeat of us sneaking off alone together," she says with a wink as the elevator chimes and its doors open behind me. I feel my jaw working as I glare at her with her fake nose and her short blond perfect bob, and her low-cut blouse and too tight pencil gray skirt. I nod once sharply before turning around and stomping into the elevator. I don't have the energy or time to reply to her and I don't have to. Connor runs into the elevator and steps inside next to me, holding the door open as he too glares at Skipper. Her smile falters when she sees the angry look on his face.

"Nobody wants to fuck you, gold digging slut!" Connor states angrily before dropping his hand and letting the doors close in front of us, leaving her with a shocked expression on her face.

"I hate stupid bitches," he mutters under his breath.

In spite of everything, a soft giggle escapes me right before I start to ugly cry. Connor wraps his arm around me and pulls me into the side of his chest and lets me without saying a word.

When we make it back to my apartment, I text message Aubry asking him to come over. I'm still shocked and reeling over seeing my father, my long lost father for the first time that way. And as petty as fake Barbie's accusation is, my chest physically aches from the idea she insinuated. In spite of everything I experienced today, her words are the ones I keep on replaying. Unwanted flashbacks of Sasha, Cole's mistake in high school and then college, seep into my mind every time I picture fake Barbie's proud face. I close my eyes and am transported back to the college party and hear Sasha's moans of desire behind that door, making my stomach weaken. Aubry's responding text message snaps me out of the reverie.

Aubry: @ work. U OK?

Me: No. Need you.

Seconds after I hit reply, my phone rings and I see Aubry's curly blond hair and smiling blue eyes as his incoming call flashes my screen.

"Hello?"

"What's wrong, Cowboy?" he asks anxiously.

A broken sob escapes me before I can reply. "Can you leave work? I'm sorry."

"Oh my god. What happened? Are you okay? Are you hurt?"

"I'm fine. I just...I need someone..."

"Is Connor there?" he asks desperately.

"Yeah, but I need someone I know," I whisper brokenly.

He exhales into the line. "I'll be right there."

"I'm sorry," I repeat, hating that I'm having a weak moment.

Connor makes a few calls and announces that he doesn't have to work tonight, whatever work means to him. I excuse myself, letting him know he's welcome to stay as long as he wants, but that I need to lie down for a while. I contemplate calling Becky, but I don't want to get her worked up, and I don't want to call Aimee because she's too close to Cole in all of this and it'll just make me angrier at him. I start scrolling through my phone and hover over a familiar name before hitting send.

"Hello?" he answers in a confused tone.

"Hey."

"Hey back. What's up, chick?" he asks, and I can tell he's smiling.

"Not much, yet everything. How does that happen?"

He laughs. "I don't know, you tell me."

"I don't know either," I reply as a small smile touches my lips.

"You had a shit day, huh?"

"Yep, pretty much."

"Wanna talk about it?"

"Not really."

He laughs again. "Nice conversation."

"It's perfect."

We continue our mindless banter back and forth for a while before he tells me he needs to go. By the time Aubry knocks on my door, I don't feel the urge to cry anymore. Instead, I sit up on the bed with my legs crossed and smile sadly at him. He eyes me curiously and walks over to me, unfastening his purple tie in the process. Once he sits down in front of me, I replay my entire day for him and am surprised to find that I don't shed a tear.

"Shit, Cowboy. What a fucking day," Aubry says, shaking his head slowly in disbelief. "Wanna get fucked up?"

"Hell yes."

Drinking with Aubry is always fun, and drinking with Aubry while we listen to hip hop is hilarious. He always gets in a zone and pulls out all the cards, singing everything that blares through the speakers. Connor and I watch on, doubling in laughter, as Aubry untucks his shirt and starts walking around like a G, his words. Around seven o'clock Aimee joins us, thankfully bringing us pizza as we continue to drink. We're in tears as Aubry does his best Nelly impersonation with Greg on speakerphone.

"You're the blackest white guy I know, dude, that's for damn sure," Greg says, laughing into the phone.

The five of us fall into a fit of laughter, theirs dying out before Aubry and mine. Greg hangs up the phone and Aimee announces that she has to get home soon.

"But you just got here," I whine annoyingly, immediately cringing at how needy my voice sounds.

"I know, Blakey, but I have to study," she replies softly.

"Ugh. The Bar," I groan. "I don't even know what I'm going to do anymore."

"You could always take it," she chimes.

"No, I don't even wanna be a lawyer anymore," I slur as I sway to get more whiskey.

"What!" she shrieks. "You went through three years of law school and now you don't know if you want to be a lawyer? Are you fucking crazy?"

"Babe, just leave her alone. Talk about this tomorrow," Aubry says before he kisses Aimee's lips shut. She shakes her head in disbelief as she tells us to be careful and says goodbye.

Connor heads out shortly after she leaves, and as I lock the door behind him I realize that Cole hasn't called me all day. I groan loudly as I flop back on the couch across from Aubry and sip on my drink. Maybe I should go out tonight. I mull over reasons why going out wouldn't be a good idea and come up short. Then again, I am justifying everything with "Cole screwed that Barbie bitch while I was kidnapped." My stomach turns at the thought. What an asshole. I was kidnapped, living in a fucking basement and he was screwing around with other women. The more I think about him being away so much in the past weeks, the angrier I get at everything. The rational person in me knows that he wouldn't cheat on me, but I wasn't gone long enough for him to have to...whatever.

"Aubry, we're going out!" I announce as I walk to my room, tipping my cup a little too much and spilling some whiskey on my feet. "Fuck," I grumble as I wipe the top of my barefoot clean with the bottom of the other. Aubry says something behind me and when I walk out of my room I find him on the verge of falling asleep on the couch. I wake him up with a couple of light slaps on the face and lead him out of the apartment.

"Where are we going anyway?" he asks sleepily.

"Out. Anywhere that has a bar."

He shrugs his answer and we ask Spencer to drive us to a small place nearby. Cole is supposed to get in later tonight and I do not plan on being home at that time, I'm afraid of what I'll do when I see him.

We sit around the bar, and to my dismay, there's a Cubs game on TV, which means my drinking partner is solely focused on that. I roll my eyes and take my phone out of my purse. I find two missed calls from Cole and a text message that says he'll be home at nine o'clock. I ignore him and call the last person on my call log instead.

"Two calls in one day? I feel honored," Dean says in an amused tone.

"Shut up. I had no one else to call," I reply. "Besides, we haven't really gotten to talk."

"Not my fault," he quips.

"I forgot how annoying you were." He laughs loudly into the receiver, making me back it away from my ear. "I met my dad today."

He lets out a low whistle on the other side of the line. "So you know."

My eyebrow lifts and I remember he can't see me. "Know what?"

"About your dad and Alex."

My heart drops. "What about them?"

He exhales sharply. "Where are you? I'm assuming lover boy isn't with you since you're calling."

"No. I hate him. I'm at a bar."

"Hate him, huh?" Dean says in a playful tone.

"Don't start. I'm at Jimmy Green's. You coming or not?" I ask shortly.

"Be right there, Princess."

An unwanted shiver runs through me. "Don't call me that. Ever."

He hangs up the phone on me so I turn my attention to Aubry, who, of course, was listening to my entire conversation.

"You told him to come here?" Aubry asks angrily.

"Maybe?" I whimper.

"I can't fucking believe you, Blake. I can't fucking believe you." I cringe at his tone. He never calls me by my name unless he's beyond pissed off.

I try to appease him by finishing the story and making him feel guilty for not wanting Dean to tell me what he knows. I really need to know, now more than ever.

I rub my forehead trying to contain the impending headache that I feel coming my way as I pace our empty apartment.

"Call again," I growl at Bruce who has been trying to reach Spencer for the past half hour.

As usual, when my flight landed I called Blake, and to my pure horror, she didn't answer the phone. She hasn't been answering her phone all day and the one time she did call me, I couldn't answer mine. Everything is exactly as it was that day. That horrible day. I don't think I can deal with any more heart palpitations.

"Let's go," I demand. "We're going to Mark's. That's where she was going when I spoke to her."

I call Connor's cell phone again and this time he picks up. He tells me that he left Blake with Aubry in the apartment earlier tonight and hadn't checked in since he'd been busy.

"I'm going to Mark's."

"Don't bother, he left the office after we did. Dude, you don't even know what happened..." Connor says before he proceeds to explain.

Needless to say, I feel like absolute shit that once again I wasn't here when she needed me the most. I know there's nothing I can do about it, my only options are to quit my job or take her with me everywhere I go. Since she's not going to let me do either one of those, I need to figure out another solution to this. The worst part is, I wasn't even working today. Not that I was any less busy, but on top of not being here for her, the fact that I was a car ride away and ignoring her calls because I was under pressure to finish shit...it doesn't sit well with me.

"So she met her dad?" I ask to be absolutely sure.

"Yeah, man. It wasn't pretty. She walked out of there...it was bad, Cole. She was pretty fucking upset."

"Fuck," I mutter. "Thanks. I have to keep looking."

"Hold on," Connor says as he switches over to the other line.

I put the phone on speaker and place it on the seat next to me as I crack my knuckles and try to figure out who else to call. Aimee! I haven't called her yet. I'm about to hang up the phone, but Connor comes back to the line and apologizes.

"I know where she is," he breathes.

"Where?" I ask on edge.

"Green's with Aubry."

"Did she just fucking call you?" I growl, not able to hide my annoyance about it.

"Nope. Dean did."

My mouth pops open in disbelief. I close my eyes and take deep breaths to control the rage I feel rippling through my body. "I need to get to Jimmy Green's, Bruce," I say through gritted teeth, trying to figure out why the hell neither she nor Aubry decided to let me know they were going to a sports bar.

"She called him, Cole. Remember that when you get there."

I let out a harsh laugh. "Oh yeah, that makes me feel so much fucking better, asshole. Fuck. Why would she call him?" I mumble to myself.