I Stand Before You (Judge Me Not #2)(103)

I lie down and place my cheek against the grass. It’s cool to the touch and smells of life. I inhale deeply, and eventually the tears begin to slow.

Life…

I think about how I have been living lately, really living. Mostly due to one man, my blue-eyed boy, the one person in this world who teaches me more about life and living on a daily basis than anyone ever has in the past.

Chase. Finding him has made all this loss so much more bearable.

I sit up and brush myself off. It’s almost dark. Chase should be on his way back with his brother by now. I long to hear his voice, and I want to tell him all that has happened this evening. Also, I can’t wait to meet this brother he loves so dearly.

When I get to the car I call Chase’s cell, but it goes directly to voicemail. I find it odd he’s not answering, but I don’t think too heavily on it. Even as I leave the church parking lot and turn right. I don’t dwell on why my boy may have shut off his phone.

But something in the back of my mind tells me perhaps I should.





Chapter Nineteen


Chase


I am supposed to pick my brother up in the baggage claim area, but when I get there Will is nowhere to be found. It’s after seven. I check the monitors, the flight from Vegas landed fifteen minutes ago. My brother should be here by now.

I watch a few bags go by on the carousel, then read a couple of the tags. Yep, definitely luggage from the Vegas-to-Pittsburgh flight.

Stepping back, I watch passengers from Will’s flight retrieve their belongings. Soon, the bags and people are all gone, but still there’s no sign of my brother.

What the f*ck?

I call Will, but there’s no answer. Next I dial Mom. She answers and when I tell her Will wasn’t on the flight, she—of course—panics.

“What? I dropped him off at the airport, Chase. He had his bag, his boarding pass, he was ready to go.” She sucks in a breath. “Oh my God, do you think something happened? Maybe he’s been kidnapped. Oh, Chase.” Mom’s voice has progressed from worried to shrill, and now she’s just flat-out crying.

I calm my mother as best as I can, I tell her Will probably just missed his flight. But the truth is I’m worried too. Shit, this f*cking sucks.

Just as I am about to panic myself, someone beeps through. I pull the phone away from my ear and check the screen. It’s Will. Thank God.

Mom breathes out an audible sigh of relief when I inform her that her youngest son is alive and apparently well. Before I switch over to my brother’s call she asks me to have Will call her as soon as he and I are done talking.

“Will do,” I say in what I hope is a comforting tone.

Then, when I switch over to Will, I become all, “Where the f*ck are you? The flight you were supposed to be on came in half an hour ago. Mom’s about ready to have a heart attack, you know.”

Will kind of groans, “Dude, I’m sorry, but something came up, my plans changed.” He pauses, sighs. “Did you really have to call Mom, though?”

“Yes, Will, I really did,” I snap back.

Truth be told, I am trying to keep my anger in check, but this kid is getting on my last f*cking nerve.

“She is your mother,” I continue, “and when you didn’t show up what did you expect me to do? Just go home? We thought something happened to you. What the f*ck went wrong anyway? Where are you?”

Will is quiet for a beat and then he says softly, “I’m still in Vegas. I’m with Cassie. Something happened at her house and she needed me.”

I sense this probably has something to do with her pervert stepdad, but I don’t press. My little brother’s compassionate heart does serve to lessen my anger though.

“Will, isn’t this something her mother should handle?” I say with care.

Will huffs, “She’s never around, Chase. She works all the time. She left unexpectedly today for some work thing.” Exasperation shades my brother’s tone. “I couldn’t leave Cassie alone all weekend, not with that dick. The things he says to her… Chase, you’d f*cking kill him. At least I keep my temper under control.”

I let that one pass, Will does have a point.

“Anyway, this time he really scared Cassie with the f*cked up shit he was spewing. She had to lock herself in her room. She called me just as the flight was boarding and told me what was going on. I told you her stepdad leaves her alone when I’m there, so I really had no choice, bro. I took a cab from the airport to her house. I’m sorry, Chase, I…” Will trails off and sniffles.

He’s been acting all tough, but I know my brother and I can tell he’s crying a little now.

I pinch the bridge of my nose. “It’s okay, Will, I get it. But you have to call Mom. She needs to know where you are and everything that happened.”

Will promises to do so, but then throws me for a loop when he blurts out, “Hey, maybe I can still come out to Ohio. My ticket is one of those types you can change, so it’s still good. Cassie could come too. She has lots of money in her savings. She can buy her own ticket and—”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” I interrupt. “You can’t bring your sixteen-year-old girlfriend with you. What the hell do you think her mother would say?”

Will is quiet, but then offers, “What if Cassie gets permission? Would you care, then?”