Page 25 of Lost In The Dark

“It will be,” I replied. I had no idea why I was so filled with nerves, but I was. I had been ever since Ash called to tell me Addy would be coming home with them. I guessed it was because I could hear, even in just the short phone call with Ash, how important this woman was to the both of them and I wanted to make a good impression.

Ash had been my best bud since we were four years old. I had lived down the street from his mansion of a family home, and we’d started school together. Our moms had made friends in a period when Ash’s mom was on her meds and stable – which never lasted for long - and as a result Ash and I had been thrust together, and quickly became fast friends. Since then we had been tight, our relationship only strengthened by the fact our younger brothers had clicked when they were little and become buds too. Ash had always been there for me, especially whenJordan and I survived the accident that had killed our parents. I was only twenty at the time, still in college and planning on a career in the military, but my whole life was turned upside down the night of that car crash.

Jordan had become my responsibility, since he was only thirteen at the time. Add to that the back and shoulder injury I had sustained in the crash – which ended my dreams of a career in the military – and the crushing guilt I was carrying at the time, that I hadn’t been able to save my parents, and I had been a huge mess.

Within the first six months after the crash, Ash had started construction on the house I now called home. I was trying hard at the time to take care of Jordan, while also recovering from my injuries, but I had become a little too dependent on the pain pills the hospital gave me. Within a year I wasn’t caring for Jordan the way he needed me to. I was too wrapped up in my own guilt, grief, and the drugs that numbed it all. That was when Asher really stepped in. He moved us both into his newly built home and took care of my brother the way I should have. He tried to take care of me too, but I was too far gone. When the pills stopped coming legally from my doctors I turned to alternative drugs, and for years I had completely fucked my life up, consumed by my selfish guilt.

When the day finally came that I hit rock bottom, I arrived on the doorstep, beaten half to death looking for Asher, begging for help, and he was there. He got me into rehab and helped me through everything that came afterwards. Now, six clean years later, I knew I owed him so much more than just my life. He’d cared for Jordan like he was his own kid brother the entire time I’d been messed up. He'd kept hold of our family home for me,maintaining it and covering the bills, all so we would be able to go back there if we ever chose to.

The four of us – Ash, Eli, Jordan, and I – had become a family and I couldn’t deny being worried about how Addy being there might change the dynamic we had all found between us. I didn’t cope well with change. In fact it terrified me, and having this woman, who had been through hell for two long years, coming into our home was definitely going to change things.

“Should we go and meet them at the door? Introduce ourselves to the girl?” Jordan asked. He seemed to be excited about meeting Addy, unlike me.

“No,” I shook my head. “Ash said she’s really jumpy and nervous. I think it’s better if we let her come to us.”

“I guess so,” Jordan shrugged. “She must be terrified after everything that happened to her.”

“I don’t think we even know the half of it.” Asher had told us what Kane had found out before he left – that Addy had been taken and very likely held captive, judging by the injuries listed on her hospital records. Then when he called me after meeting her, he’d told me she’d been taken by sex traffickers and sold to the sick fuck she’d been arrested for shooting. He hadn’t given me any details, just that Addy was struggling to cope with everything she’d endured, especially on top of the injuries she’d gotten when a car hit her on the highway.

I was relieved she had agreed to come back with her brothers, to spend some time recovering at the house. I hated to think of her going anywhere alone and trying to cope with all she had suffered, and I knew it would have killed Ash and Eli too. Having her there, with all of us, where we could help her and try to take care of her, it was definitely for the best, even if it scared me too.

“Poor girl. Two years. I can’t even imagine,” Jordan said angrily. “I hope they catch the monsters who took her.”

“Kane has someone looking into it all. Ash wanted it all handled without upsetting Addy any more. They’ll catch the fuckers eventually.”

We both listened as the front door closed loud enough for us to hear, our conversation over. Neither of us wanted Addy to walk in and find us talking about her or her situation.

I busied myself checking on the casserole I had in the oven, while Jordan set to work tidying away his laptop and the client files he had been working on. He was currently working as a personal trainer at a high class gym in the city, and I knew he put a lot of work into creating the personal plans for each of his wealthy clients, despite the fact he didn’t exactly love his job.

He'd played professional football for several years before an injury wrecked his right knee, forcing him to retire way too early. Now he seemed a little lost. He’d gone into personal training because it just seemed a natural segue for him, but he hated it and we all knew it. We discussed it several times, but he had no idea which direction to go next, and until he did there wasn’t a lot any of us could do to help him.

“Can you set the table? I’m guessing Ash and Eli will be starving,” I said as Jordan finished packing everything into his back pack.

“They’re always starving,” Jordan laughed as he dropped his bag in the corner, then moved into the kitchen to gather plates and cutlery.

“You’re one to talk,” I threw back.

“Work hard. Eat hard. That’s my motto.”

“I don’t think that’s how the saying goes,” I chuckled.

“I don’t have time to play, so eating’s the next best thing,” He shrugged.

We both paused and looked up as we heard footsteps approaching. Eli walked in first, and right behind him was Asher, his arm wrapped around a pale, shaky, terrified, tiny woman who could only be Addy. She was clutching the corner of his t-shirt in one hand, with everything she had, her white knuckles visible even from where I stood.

“Hey,” Eli greeted us. He smiled, but it was tense and forced. He barely glanced at the both of us before he turned his attention back to Addy.

“Addy, this is Adam,” Asher nodded towards me, but Addy’s eyes were already on me, taking in every detail it seemed. I did the same to her. The first thing to strike me were her eyes – so very much like Eli’s, only hers were a little wider and framed with thick, long lashes. Her hair was also the same dark brown as Eli’s and it was very obvious she had taken after her father in her coloring. She was thin, too thin. Even in the baggy jeans and sweater she wore I could tell how unbelievably slight she was. Her hand, which clutched Asher, was nothing but skin and bone, and her face was so pale and gaunt looking. Dark rings circled her beautiful eyes and she looked exhausted.

She was still staring at me warily and I knew I likely made her even more nervous because of my size. I tended to scare people who weren’t traumatized, towering at almost six and a half feet and built with muscle. Working out was the way I handled stress and managed the days when all I could think about were the drugs. I spent most of my free time either in the home gym, or out running, and I knew as a result, I was a scary looking guy.

“And this is his brother Jordan,” Asher nodded to where Jord stood near the counter where he’d been setting out plates.

“Hey. Excuse my brother. He’s not so good with the talking,” Jordan joked, making me realize I hadn’t actually said anything when I was introduced. No wonder I’d freaked her out. I‘d just been stood staring at her.Fuck!I sucked at this people skills shit! “He is, however, a brilliant cook. Are you hungry?”

“We all are,” Eli cut in. “The food in Vegas was shitty.”

“Sit,” I said as I turned away from those captivating, terror filled, green eyes. “The food’s all ready.”

---