Page 48 of Another Postcard

Brooklynn looked from one face to another, a little shell-shocked. I don’t think she’d expected resistance. “Bu—but—”

“Baby, we need you too,” I pleaded, making it clear I wasn’t speaking only of the band. She softened and took a deep breath. “I promise, I’ll do everything I can to help you get Baylee in great shape before we leave. And, you and I can fly back a little more often than we’d planned.”

Another knock interrupted our discussion and Cameron stepped halfway inside. “The police are with Cecily now. They are asking for the two of you,” he said as he pointed at Brooklynn and me, then stepped back out and let the door shut.

I laced my fingers with Brooklynn’s and roamed my eyes over her face, really gauging how she was doing. “Are you up for this?” Not that she had much of a choice, but I asked anyway, worried about her.

She gave my hand a squeeze and a small tired smile graced her plump lips. “We can handle it.”

We.Too fucking right.

27

Brooklynn

Cecily was curledup in a chair, her eyes wild as they bounced around the room. She looked confused. Did she really think she wouldn’t get caught?

I marched over to her, halting a few feet away when Levi’s arm slipped around my stomach. The feel of his warm body behind me infused me with strength, knowing he had my back. Always.

“How could you, Cecily?” I exploded. “We fucking trusted you. I trusted you with my sister’slife, Cecily. Do you know how hard that was for me?”

She cowered back, curling up into an even tighter ball. “I didn’t—”

“You didn’t think you get caught?” I accused acerbically.

“No, I meant I didn’t do this,” she pleaded, adopting a hurt bunny look.What a load of bullshit.

“You’ve spent enough time with Baylee to know what this will do to her. Did you even consider that? Her love is a gift and this will fucking crush her!”

“Brooklynn! I swear, I didn’t do this!”

Disgusted with her, with the whole situation, I twisted around in Levi’s arms and looked up at his beautiful face. “Get her the fuck out of my sight,” I demanded. He nodded and directed his gaze to the set of police officers flanking her and lifted his chin. They immediately hoisted her to her feet and cuffed her, before shuffling her from the room.

“Ma’am,” another officer spoke up. “We’ll need to get a statement from you and Mr. Matthews, as well as speak with your sister.”

“No,” Levi barked. “Baylee isn’t to be involved in this. Dealing with Cecily’s abrupt departure is going to be hard enough.”

“But—”

“Cooper!” he shouted, interrupting the cop. Cooper looked up from where he was talking quietly with Noah on the other side of the room. “Take care of this. Brooklynn and I will send in our statements, but I don’t want anyone talking to Baylee.”

He nodded and pulled his cell phone from his pocket, making a call. The conversation lasted about five minutes before he passed the phone to the officer. “Your Captain wants to speak with you.”

The officer’s conversation was even shorter and when he hung up, his face was beet red. “You’re free to go.”

I think my jaw dropped to the ground. How the hell had Cooper done that?

“Let’s go,” Noah said to us as he opened the door. “Cooper will handle everything from here and I’ve already alerted Chloe so she can control the story and try to keep it from leaking.”

We exited the room and I couldn’t help glancing back at Cooper, then to Noah as we headed down the hall. “How did he do that?” I asked, a little awed at Cooper’s obvious power.

“He has connections everywhere and he wields more power than most people realize,” Noah explained vaguely.

I threw a confused glance at Levi. “He’s more than just a label rep,” Levi answered my silent question. “You’ll have to hear the rest from him.”

The puzzle was a nice little distraction from the mess I was immersed in. But, it only lasted until we reached Baylee’s room.What the fuck am I going to tell her?

28

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