Chapter Twenty-Three
Justin – Saturday
I couldn’t believe it, even now, that Annie had come all the way to Portland just to see me. I mean, I knew that there was something between us, feelings that couldn’t be ignored, but that was heavy. That meant a whole lot.
As I glanced down to where she was still sleeping in my arms, I couldn’t stop myself from smiling. Annie was a strong woman, a single mother running her own business. She was trusting me, letting me in, and that made me feel special.
If this was any other situation, I might have been questioning her motives, wondering if she was only after my money, but since Annie turned down my investment, that clearly wasn’t the case. Her feelings had to be genuine.
She stirred in my arms, a happiness spreading across her expression. The last time we slept together, it had been a little awkward afterwards. Annie ran off and when we saw each other, she told me it had been a mistake. I had the sense that things were going to be different this time.
“Hey, beautiful,” I murmured to her.
“Hey, yourself.” She looked up at me with those gorgeous brown eyes, making my heart melt. “How are you feeling this morning?”
“I’m good, thanks. What do you have planned for today?” Now that we weren’t meeting with Harry, I wondered what she thought was going to happen. If she wanted to hang out with me, then I was more than happy to take time off work. It wasn’t every day I got to spend time with such an awesome woman.
“I don’t know. I’m not sure about what there is to do in Portland. Maybe you’ll have to show me around, unless you’re too busy.” She spun around onto her front, biting down on her lip as she gazed at me.
That look was so natural, so sexy that I almost wanted to dive upon her and jump her bones. In fact, now that the idea was in my head, that was all I wanted to do. I leaned in, about ready to press my lips up against hers, when my phone blasted out, distracting us both.
“You hold that thought,” I grinned happily at her as I slid from the sheets to try to find where my phone had fallen the night before. “I’ll be back soon.”
I padded across the room, completely naked and hoping that I was giving Annie a good show, getting her even more riled up before I got back into bed with her. I was fully in the mood now, my cock standing to attention, aching for her in a way that it hadn't ever done before.
To be perfectly honest, I was annoyed that I had to stop what I was doing to answer my phone, an emotion that got even worse when I noticed a number that I didn’t recognize plastered across the screen.
“Hello?” I answered, allowing my disdain to drip from my tongue. “Who’s there?”
“It’s me,” came the glum reply. I didn’t need to ask twice. I knew who it was. I would recognize that voice anywhere. It was my brother, calling me from some unknown destination, probably stuck somewhere after a night of partying. It wouldn’t be the first time he’d lost his phone and money.
“Garrett, what’s wrong?” I sighed as my cock deflated. If he was in any kind of sticky situation, that would instantly put a halt to whatever was about to go down between me and Annie. “Where are you?” What a fucking nightmare! How did he always seem to pick the perfect fucking moment?
“I’m in jail.”
“What?” He couldn’t stop his story there – I needed details. My brother was always a shit, but I’d never had a call from jail before. This was bad…worse than before. “What the hell happened?” I ran my fingers through my hair and moved into the bathroom where I could stare at my very distressed expression firsthand.
“Oh, I don’t know,” he sighed, sounding irritated. “I was at a party last night, and maybe I had a couple too many.” Oh God, I didn’t like where this was going. “I might have been in an accident.”
“Did you drive?” I exclaimed angrily. How dare he put others at risk? How fucking selfish was that? “Why couldn’t you just get a cab?”
“Oh, don’t be an asshole. I just need you to come and get me out of here.”
“What happened? Did you get a DUI?” My temper was fuming inside of me. I had no intention of going anywhere until I knew what I was in for.
“Not exactly…” he trailed off, making me incredibly anxious. If it wasn’t that, then it had to be worse, and I really didn’t want that to be the case. “The accident was bad. Someone died.”
I dropped the phone in shock, unable to even begin to comprehend that. Now my brother’s drinking had reached the level of out of control where he’d killed someone. He wasn’t just hurting himself and others around him; he was a killer. That would never go away, no matter what happened afterwards. He would always be that.
Jail.
Court.
Newspapers.
Those words circled around and around in my mind, causing my chest to get tight with terror. Just when I thought Garrett was getting better, he did the worst thing that he’d ever done to me. Well, not just to me: to everyone.
“…hello…are you there…?”
I suddenly realized he was still on the other end of the line, so I grabbed the phone with my trembling fingers and promised to get down there as soon as possible. I needed details, I needed everything, I needed to understand. Much as I wanted to abandon Garrett to deal with his own mess, I couldn’t. Not while none of it made any sense to me yet.
I staggered back into the bedroom, grabbing at random clothing items as I went. I felt like I was having an out of body experience, like I had no idea where I was…
“Are you okay?” Annie’s kind voice eventually burst through my shock barrier. “What happened?”
As I glanced up at her, my vision was blurry, as if she was barely there. “I erm…I’m sorry,” I did my best to explain. “I have to go. Garrett, my brother, is in jail. There was some kind of accident.” I just couldn’t bring myself to tell her everything; it was far too awful for words. “I need to see what’s going on. He isn’t too far away, so I shouldn’t be too long.”
“Oh, of course,” she shot back, instantly understanding. “Is there anything I can do for you?”
Make all of this go away…change my brother’s behavior…take me away from this nightmare…bring my parents back so they can deal with this.
“No, thank you,” I sent her a very weak smile. “I will…I’ll keep you updated.”
I didn’t want to leave her on her only weekend up here in Portland, but I didn’t have any choice at all. I had to go; that was it…
***
I had been waiting for two very long hours, my temper bubbling inside of me the entire time. When I eventually arrived at the police station, I was told that I couldn’t see Garrett until he’d faced the judge, and I had been waiting ever since.
It was starting to send me insane.
I couldn’t stop myself from thinking, from trying to imagine what might have happened, from inventing the worst in my brain. I hoped that when I eventually did see Garrett, I would learn that it was just my imagination running away with me, but somehow, I wasn’t totally convinced that would be the case.
“How long is he going to be?” I asked the receptionist for what felt like the hundredth time. She didn’t answer me; she simply shrugged, getting as tired of this situation as I was. This was just getting ridiculous; I couldn’t find out anything specific until I spoke to him directly, and the way that things were going, that wouldn’t happen any time soon.
And the more than time went on, the worse my brain could come up with.
“Mr. Gains,” someone finally called my name, causing my heart to leap into my throat. Much as I’d been waiting for this moment, now that it was here, I didn’t feel ready to face it.
“Here,” I practically whispered, forcing myself up onto my feet. I had to face this, to get through it, however I felt inside. If I didn’t, I might never find out anything. “Where is Garrett?”
The police officer didn’t answer me. Instead, he led me into a room where my brother was sitting with handcuffs around his wrists. As if that sight wasn’t shocking enough, as if that didn’t totally stop my heart from beating for a moment, he also looked like hell. His hair was all disheveled and muddy, his eyes seriously bloodshot, and there was a giant cut across his forehead.
I knew that he’d been in an accident, but now I could really see that. It hit me all over again that someone had died.
I sat down opposite him as the officer left the room, feeling awkward, unsure of what to say. I didn’t feel like yelling, I wasn’t sure that I could ask the right questions, I just felt…stuck.
Fortunately, or unfortunately, Garrett didn’t seem to be sharing my fears. “You are going to bail me out, aren’t you? That is why you’re here.” There was an aggressive tone to his voice, one that really took me back. Someone was dead, and all he was thinking about was himself.
“What happened?” At least his crude words managed to loosen my tongue. “How the fuck did you manage to end up in this situation?”
He sat back in his seat and actually rolled his eyes at me. “You aren’t still harping on about that, are you? I told you. I drank a little too much, I drove, there was an accident…”
“How much? How much is too much?” I shot back in an angry whisper. “How the fuck did someone end up dead?”
“I can’t really remember,” Garrett replied, with what I could swear was a smirk on his face.
That was it for me. I was done. No way would I bail someone out who didn’t even understand the seriousness of what he’d done. He actually seemed to think it was some sort of joke.
Clearly, there was never any real intention of turning his life around, and for me, this had to be the turning point. I couldn’t keep protecting someone who wouldn’t ever listen to me. That wouldn’t get me anywhere; there simply wasn’t any point.
“I’m not getting you out of here,” I told him as an angry red overshadowed my brain. “You don’t seem to get that this is serious. Someone lost their life because of your drinking. You need to be punished for that.”
“Oh, don’t act like you’re so fucking perfect,” he sneered, as I turned to walk away. “You can’t seriously be thinking about leaving me here. You’re my brother, the only family I have left…”
Guilt gripped my heart as I got to the door, and I did pause just for a brief second, but then I realized that he needed to be there. Someone died, someone lost their family member, their friend, and he needed to get that.
I pushed the door out, tuning out his aggressive yells, and I left him there. I didn’t stop moving until the fresh air hit my face, until I felt like I could really break down, but just before a frustrated tear could make its way down my cheek, a soft voice grabbed my attention.
“Hi, Justin, are you okay?”
Annie, the only person in the world I could have tolerated at that moment.