Page 22 of It Shouldn't Be You
“Tony short for anything?” Brennan asks as he types away on his computer.
“Not that I know of. No family either that’s come looking for him,” I offer, and with a grunt, Brennan puts himself on mute as he takes what we know and does what he does best.
“How’s married life treating you?” Owen asks me, looking every bit the relaxed and content man that he is these days.
“Can’t complain. It’s nice having someone else here who I know isn’t planning to stab me in the back.” I laugh before sobering up. “You don’t happen to have any Abigail insights to share with me, do you?”
“That would be putting me in the middle of my girl and her best friend… which nope. Not happening.”
“Right, so Tony Bell is clearly a fake name. Freya Graham is registered as living in Belfast for a few years after she would have been sold. The address she was linked to belongs to a Mr Benedict. No first name.”
“Fancy a trip to Belfast?” I ask aloud.
If we can get the man who took my mum, or at least had her for a while, to talk, then we might just be able to find out what happened to her.
And maybe that can lead to answers on what happened to Helen.
Chapter 17
After a very cold shower and an inappropriate use of the detachable shower head later, I’m sitting crisscrossed on my bed waiting for Cora and Lily to answer my FaceTime. If there was ever a time I needed some advice, it would be now.
When Cora picks up, I’m greeted with the back of April’s head as she nuzzles against Cora’s neck. A ping later, Lily pops up on the other side of my screen, looking all kinds of sleep-rumpled as she sits up, rubbing her eyes and fixing her glare on me.
“Why exactly are you waking me up before ten on the one day I don’t have classes?”
“Oh, I’m sorry, Sleeping Beauty, some of us had very rude wake-up calls this morning and need to talk about it.”
“What happened?” Cora asks as she shifts April around so we can see her cute baby face as she coos softly to herself. I’ve never been particularly broody, but every time I see Cora and Apriltogether, I find myself wondering what it would be like to have my own little mini-me to love and dote on.
“Well, you see, I went to get a shower only to see Logan was already in said shower. Naked. And jerking off.”
“Holy shit. Wait a second, I need to give April to Owen.” Getting the unspoken memo that this probably isn’t going to be a child-friendly conversation, Cora disappears for a second only to come back child-free, looking at me expectantly.
“Please tell me you got a good look at what you’re working with.” Trust Lily to ask me that without even a blush on her face.
“He’s huge. Like, I don’t know if he’ll fit huge. His hand didn’t even cover the whole girth. Plus, he’s pierced.”
“Pierced!?” They both shout at the same time, and with a wince, I pray Logan isn’t nearby. There’s no way in hell he wouldn’t have heard them if he was still in his room, and I can only pray he’s gone down for breakfast or up to his office.
“Could you have said that any louder?!”
“Never mind that, give us the details. We’re dying over here.” Lily shrugs off my reprimand.
“Ugh, fine. If I’m not wrong, I’m pretty sure it was a cross through the head...which, ouch, how the hell is that going to work during sex?” While I am painfully still a virgin, Cora and Lily aren’t. Though I know Cora has no experience with a pierced partner, I have no clue about Lily’s past. She’s been pretty tight-lipped about it.
“Abbie, babe, that is going to hit you in all the right places.” With a wiggle of her eyebrows, Lily takes us with her into her kitchen as she makes her morning coffee while saying, “If he truly has a magic cross, then you’ll be seeing stars, trust me.”
“How the hell do you know more about this shit than both of us combined when we’re older than you?” It’s not the first time we’ve asked her, and by the way she shrugs Cora’s question off, it won’t be the last.
“Never mind all that, how the fuck am I meant to face him and act like nothing happened?”
“Did he freak out when you walked in? Did he stop jerking off?”
“No, he just asked me if I was okay and kept doing what he was doing.” Honestly, if my cheeks get any hotter as I answer Cora I might just die here and now.
“You don’t. You own that and use it to help move things forward.” With that parting advice, Lily is the first to hang up, soon followed by Cora who, if April’s cries are anything to go by, is needed elsewhere.
With a groan, I flop back on the bed and look over at Rocky and Teddy who are curled up around each other at the bottom of my bed, both looking at me as if to say, 'I thought you promised to feed us,' so with a mental pep talk underway, I head downstairs with the two of them in tow.
