Never Doubt Me: Judge Me Not #2(38)

I hope I’m right, but of course, I’m not. When I arrive at the house, Will’s not yet returned. There’s no straightening out to do, not just yet. Kay fills me in again on everything I’ve missed, just in case she’s forgotten something in all the messages she left.

We’re both too wound up to eat, so we skip dinner and settle in on the couch in the living room.

And then the wait begins for Will to return, a wait and a watch of the clock.

As time passes, Kay and I slowly lean into each other, her shoulder to mine. We eye the grandfather clock in the corner, watching minutes, then hours, tick away. It’s like we’re these substitute parents of my mixed-up brother, trying to navigate these uncertain waters, these thrust-upon-us roles.

Kay holds the cell Will threw across the kitchen in her lap. He never bothered to pick it up and take it with him. The phone is banged up, but it still works. We found Jared’s number in the contacts awhile ago, and we’ve tried to reach him too many times to count. He has yet to answer.

“Should I try him again?” Kay asks, holding up the phone.

I pinch the bridge of my nose. “Sure, why not?”

Kay hits Call for the umpteenth time, and like every time before, no one picks up.

“Should we call the police?” Kay says as she slides the phone onto the coffee table.

“Fuck no.”

That is the last thing I care to do. Involving law enforcement in my life—or Will’s—is a last resort. With my background, there’s no love lost between the police and me.

“But, Chase, what if he doesn’t come back tonight?”

“He will,” I assure her. But, really, I don’t know any more than she does.

Fucking hell. I start bouncing my leg up and down, feeling edgy as shit.

“How can you be sure?” Kay presses. She turns and faces me fully. “Didn’t you say your mom told you Will has stayed out all night before?”

Kay’s questions are not helping my shitty mood. I feel helpless in this situation with my brother, and f*cking guilty that I was at Pizza House, busy confronting Doug and missing the things that were happening here at my home. Maybe my presence in the house would have made a difference. Shit, of course it would have. My brother wouldn’t have made it three steps out the door before my ass would’ve been dragging him back in. And then there’s the unfortunate fact that I’m keeping my “meeting” with Doug a secret. That just makes everything worse.

Without her even realizing it, when Kay says my name, prompting me to respond to her earlier question, I feel more boxed in than ever.

Before I can censor myself, I snap, “Jesus Christ, enough already!”

Kay’s mouth snaps shut, and I wince. Yeah, I’m the world’s biggest * right now.

I stand and say with what I hope is an apologetic tone, “Look, I’m going out to the back porch to get some fresh air. I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

Kay nods curtly and looks away.

Out on the back porch, I slump down on the old swing hanging from the ceiling. I sigh audibly and scrub my hands down my face. Leaning back, I whisper to myself, “Get it together, man.”

In an attempt to relax, I listen to frogs down at the creek, singing their songs. Meanwhile, the crickets chirp in the surrounding fields, adding to the fray. It may be dark out back, but the land is alive, teeming with activity. It’s like a f*cking symphony out here, in fact, reminding me that life goes on even when your own world is spinning out of control.

Eventually, I’m calm enough to go back in the house.

When I step into the living room, Kay lowers her head. She starts absently tugging at a loose thread in the hem of the pretty floral dress she’s wearing today. Everything about her reminds me that she is vulnerable, especially when it comes to me.

I sit down next to her and notice her eyes are wet.

“Shit, Kay.” I place a hand on her knee and squeeze lightly. “I’m sorry. I’m such an *. I should have never snapped at you like that.”

She wipes at her eyes and twists on the couch till she’s facing me. “Chase”—she covers my hand on her knee with her own hand—“thank you for apologizing, but you’re not why I’m crying, not really. I just, I don’t know, I guess I feel like this all could have been avoided if I could have kept Will from running off.”

“Aw, babe, that was impossible,” I reply. And it’s absolutely true. “Will is just like how I used to be.” I nudge her knee with mine. “Maybe how I sometimes still am, yeah?”

With our knees touching and our hands now interlocked, my sweet girl smiles this tiny but absolutely adorable smile. “Yeah, maybe,” she agrees, her voice as soft as she.

We sit quietly a moment, then Kay asks, “What should we do now? I mean, with Will, after he comes home.”

“I honestly don’t know.”

“Cassie’s stepdad is going to continue to be a problem,” she states.

I blow out a frustrated breath. Kay is right. A guy like Paul isn’t going to stop until he gets what he wants, which, in this case, is Will’s girlfriend.

Fuck. I lean forward and rest my elbows on my knees.

“That guy needs to be locked up. That would solve the problem.”

“Unfortunately,” Kay says, “that’s not going to happen unless he does something more than follow Cassie around.”