Chapter 17
Paisley
“No, I think we’re good.” I hold my hand over the receiver. “Brinley, do you need anything from the store? Polly’s there now, and she says she already got your Pop-Tarts.”
“No, thanks.”
“No, we’re good. See you soon.” I hang up with her and take a drink of lemonade.
Brinley doesn’t look up from the cutting board as she’s chopping some vegetables for the salad. We finished our movie and decided to get a jump on dinner. “Have they found anything else from the note?”
“No. It was too dirty to get a print.” I grab a purple pencil and color some pedals on a picture in the adult coloring book Royce bought me. He brought home enough stuff to keep me busy for a year after I whined about being bored since both he and Derik told me I couldn’t work anymore. I already marinated the chicken so there’s nothing else for me to do right now.
“That’s a shame.”
“I know. I don’t get it.”
She dumps some cucumber in a bowl. “Don’t get what?”
“Why anyone would want to hurt me. Or my baby.”
“Hmm. You haven’t managed to upset anybody your entire life?”
I think back again. Just like I did when I went over everything with the guys. “No. Unless it was unintentional. I always get along with everyone I meet.”
She huffs. “You can’t think of anyone who would not like you?”
“No, I mean, there were a couple of boys in high school who I blew off, but the guys already ruled them out. I never had any trouble with any girls at my school, and I barely knew anybody in New York.”
“What about before that?”
I swallow the hurt before I continue. “Before that, nobody cared about me, so no.”
“Nobody?”
“Not that I can think of.”
She looks up from across the island. “You can’t think of anyone who you wronged? A ghost from the past, a haunted soul… Not one single person who would hate you!”
The palpitations of my heart thunder, and I drop my colored pencil. “What are you talking about?”
“Oh, come on, Paisley. Fucking think. Do I need to scream for you to remember?”
“Brin—”
“Yeah. Brin-ley.” The menace in her voice makes me queasy, and the hatred shooting from her eyes almost blinds me.
Something about her has always seemed familiar. A pull I felt toward her from the first time I saw her. I never knew why, but as I squint my eyes and focus on her red hair and lightly freckled face, I choke on my own stupidity. “Oh, my God.”
“Finally remembered, did you?”
“Brinley.” It’s not a question anymore. It’s abuse and tears and screaming. Crying, bruises, and nightmares. I was only there for a couple of weeks before I was adopted, but it was enough. “Brinley…”
“Yes, Brinley!” She screams and rushes at me with the knife in her hand. She hits the island so hard my phone falls off and lands on the ground.
How could I have forgotten? The very last home I was in… there were four of us and she, she was the object of the foster dad’s abuse. “Oh, my God.” I never stood up for her. I never said anything. She was there before me, and the other kids warned me to stay away. They told me if you hung out with her, you’d get it too. And I… I never helped her. I looked the other way, and I never helped her.
I didn’t tell a teacher or say anything to a case worker. Nobody did because we all knew nothing would get done about it. I made that mistake at the first foster home I was in by telling my social worker that they didn’t give me lunch money.
When I came home, they withheld food from me for the entire weekend as punishment for “lying” about them. I learned to just keep my mouth shut. And for the most part, things were… fine. Not wonderful, but I knew they could also be so much worse. I could have been treated like Brinley was. I don’t know why I wasn’t, but it wasn’t something I was going to question.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t—”
“You’re right.” She waves the knife in the air. “You didn’t. You didn’t do anything. Nobody ever did anything.”
A burn starts in my eyes, and I can’t even speak. Guilt and fear cripple me from even breathing right now. She pants. Heavy, rushed breaths echo around the kitchen that’s thick with hostility. Unlike earlier in the day when we all sat and ate breakfast together. Love and laughter surrounded me then, but now her rage suffocates me.
“I never had a chance…” Tears stream down her face, and she wipes her runny nose with the back of her hand. “It should be me!”
I stand, prepared to run, but she leaps over the counter. “Stop!”
My stomach cramps, and I try not to show the wince on my face too much. “Okay, okay.” I hold my hands out, pleading.
One of the guys should be outside. I’m pretty sure it was Landon, one of Mitch’s guys. If I screamed, he’d hear me, but she’s so close now that surely, she’d what? Stab me if I tried? If it was just me, I would make a run for it, but if there’s a chance she could hurt the baby, I won’t take it. That thought has me bringing my hands to my belly.
Longingly, she watches the movement. “It should be me.”
“Brinley, I didn’t do anything to hurt you on purpose. I want to help now, though, if I can because I couldn’t back then. I want to help now.”
She laughs, manically. “No, you don’t. Nobody ever wants to help. Nobody ever wants to help me. Have you ever had a zero?”
I don’t understand the question. “A what?”
“A day that was a zero.”
“I’d say the day when my parents died was probably a zero.”
She laughs. “Honey, in my life, that kind of day would have been like a seven. But do you know how many days I had zeros? Huh? Any fucking idea?”
“I’m sorry. Please, let me help you now.”
“You don’t want to help me.”
“I do, Brinley. I do. Polly does, and I know Erik would. Let us help. I was there, too, ya know… I remember what it was like.”
She slashes her arm in the air, the knife inches from me. “No, you don’t! I was there! I was the only one who was there! He only picked me!”
“I know, I know. I’m sorry. Let me make it right. Let me help you.”
“No.” She shakes her head and her bright red hair flies. “You won’t help. Nobody helps. Everyone just hurts.”
“Brinley, it’s going to be okay.”
She shakes her head and chants, “No, it’s not; no, it’s not; no, it’s not.”
I didn’t see it. God, how did I not see it? How did I not realize who she was? She wasn’t just homeless; she was hurting. I got to leave, and she didn’t. I got a family, and she’s alone. I could be her right now. And she could be me… “Brinley, please let me help now.”
“Nobody can help me.”
“Rinny girl.”
A voice I haven’t heard in forever floats into the kitchen. Brinley’s skin goes pale white, almost green with shock.
“Come to me, Rinny.” Noble slowly walks into the kitchen with Royce and Erik on either side of him.
Royce sees me, and I watch as his entire body relaxes. The anger painted on his face is going nowhere, and neither is he as Erik puts his arm out, holding him back from passing Noble. I inch myself back as Brinley is shaking so bad her hand continually bounces off the island.
“Rinny girl.” Noble approaches her from the side. “Look at me, Little Red.”
She drops her head, and he slowly reaches out toward her. The second his finger grazes her left arm, she screams and swings her right one around. The one with the knife. The blade slashes across Noble’s white t-shirt and crimson immediately dyes the fabric.
He efficiently grabs her wrist, and Erik and Royce both rush to her. “Back up,” Noble commands. They stop, trusting their friend’s abilities enough to leave him with the knife wielder.
“Shh.” The strength in his hand is more than her entire body as he overpowers her. “I’ve got you, Rinny. I’ve got you now.”
Her fingers open, and the knife clatters to the ground. Noble kicks it away, and she collapses against him. Instead of lifting her up, he sags to the floor right along with her. His arms around her, she turns and crawls into his lap.
She’s so petite. She looks like a child curled up with his big strong body around hers. His lips find the top of her head, and he gently kisses her. “I’ve got you.”
I expect her to cry or do something, but she doesn’t move a single muscle. He continues murmuring into her ear and gently rocking her. The scene before me has me paralyzed in a completely different way than before.
“Come here, precious,” Royce quietly calls to me, and I gingerly step around the cold and sardonic man who cradles a lonely soul. His eyes closed and his touch gentle, he holds her just as tight as she does him, and I wonder if he’ll ever let her go.
Royce
Paisley rubs her belly, and my teeth grind together as I try to remain calm. After what she went through earlier today, the last thing she needs is for me to lose my shit in front of her. I told myself I’d wait until she fell asleep, but the longer Erik talks, the more pissed off I become.
“We’re still gathering information, information I should have fucking gathered before I let her in my goddamned home, but from what Q managed to get the past few hours, it’s bad.”
“And do you think I give a fuck?” I pinch the bridge of my nose and count to ten. “I don’t care, Erik. She threatened my—”
“She needs help,” Paisley whispers.
Her head is on my chest, and I drop my hand to run through the soft strands of her hair. “She’s not my problem. How many times do I have to tell you that. I don’t give a shit about anyone else.”
“It was bad.” She sucks in a shuddering breath. “I heard her, Royce. I heard her crying and screaming. I saw the bruises and the… the welts he left on her. And she was there before me for God only knows how long, then I left. I got to go home with a loving set of parents.”
“Thank God for that.”
“But nobody saved her. Ever. We can’t hurt her anymore. She needs help.”
Erik clears his throat. “It seems Noble is taking care of that.”
“Did he tell you any more than what he told us before?” When he recognized her after Q pulled up a picture, Noble tore out of Royal faster than I’d ever seen him move. We managed to find out that she was his daughter’s best friend growing up, but that’s it.
I got out of Erik’s house with Paisley and brought her home while I left Erik to deal with that mess. Landon feels fuckin’ awful because he let all that happen when he was standing outside. But when it comes down to it, we’re all at fault.
Nobody suspected a tiny, frail homeless woman to be the one who managed to elude an entire security company. I was convinced it was Chad and was obviously proven wrong. But just because it was a woman doesn’t mean she should get away with it.
“No. After you guys left, he wouldn’t even let Polly wrap his cut up.” Erik huffs as he shakes his head. “He scooped Brinley up and walked out the door. I tried to say something, and he growled at me. I think everyone was so fuckin’ astounded to see Noble like that nobody even tried to stop him.”
“She’s not gonna think she can do that and get away with it. She threatened Paisley and wasted a shit ton of hours and resources. I don’t give a fuck if Noble used to know her or not.”
“Royce, please just stop.” Paisley sits up and puts her hair in a messy knot on the top of her head. “She didn’t hurt me. Yes, she scared everyone, but she didn’t hurt me. She’s the one who’s been through hell. If Noble can help her for whatever reason, then just let him.”
Fuck that. Fuck some chick holding a knife up to my girl and getting away with it because of Noble. No way. “I won’t—”
“Yes, you will.” Polly walks into the living room and sits next to Erik. “You will because that poor girl has scars covering her body. Yes, she threatened Paisley, and yes, she happened to have a knife in her hand when years and years of abuse finally caught up with her mental state, but I will personally hold you back if you even think about going after her.”
“I’ve never touched a woman in anger my entire life, Polls.”
“And you’re not about to start now.”
“Poll—”
She jumps up and points at me. “You don’t know what it’s like.” Her voice raises an octave, and Erik stands. “You have no clue what it’s like to be completely alone with nobody to help you. Nobody to trust and certainly not anybody to have your back. She’s not crazy, and she’s not a criminal; she’s a goddamn victim, and I promise you right now you don’t have to worry about getting through Noble to get to her because you’d have to get through me first, and I’ll die before I let anybody hurt that girl again!”
Both Paisley and Polly burst into tears at the same time. I take my girl in my arms, and Erik does the same with his. The violence I feel toward Brinley is at a level I’ve never experienced before. Walking into the house and seeing her with a knife… We had no clue we were walking into anything, we just thought we were going there because Noble knew Brinley, but by the way he darted out of the office, we should have known better.
Polly’s right in more ways than one. I’ve never been without anybody at my back. Even when I wasn’t talking to my father, I always knew he was there. I couldn’t imagine a little girl being scared and alone and beaten and God only knows what else. “Okay.” I put my lips to Paisley’s temple. “Okay, precious. Nobody’s gonna hurt her anymore.”