Page 34 of After All The Wreckage
I couldn’t hear the voice on the other end, but I could tell by her posture that whoever it was, they were royally pissing her off. If it was still her dad, it didn’t surprise me. They’d always had a rocky relationship. Not quite as rocky as mine with Demi, but close.
Rory’s back went straighter, tighter, and her chin rose. “I barely got the file Baloney-Muloney sent me this morning, I haven’t even had a chance to go through it. I’m in the middle ofa case, Dad. A missing kid. You know how time sensitive it is, so I’m going to have to put your bullshit on the back counter and deal with it later.”
Monte. For a few brief seconds, I’d let myself think of something other than my brother. But her words rammed his absence back into me, and guilt swarmed with it. I shouldn’t be thinking of anything but my brother at the moment. And definitely not her smile or her eyes or having fucking sex with her on my Indian.
Her dad obviously hadn’t liked her response because I heard the growl of a deep voice as we pulled up to a light after getting off the highway. Instead of showing the least bit of remorse, she only got fiercer.
“Well, it’s a good thing I’m an adult and don’t have to follow your orders. I’m not your employee. I’m barely your daughter, so let’s just leave it at that. It was a mistake going to you the other day. Forget the lapse of judgment ever happened.”
She hung up without waiting for a reply.
The wordadulthung in the air around us. She was an adult. She’d always been an old soul, but now, she was running a business, dealing with the enormity of her mom’s situation, and helping me with my brother. She wasn’t a kid anymore. Far from it.
That should ease my guilt about the way I’d been looking at her.
And it did, but it also brought up a whole new round of regrets. I didn’t know the ins and outs of her life, and yet, it felt like I knew all the important things. One parent basically dead and the other driving her batty. Why was fate so cruel to take the one parent you could actually depend on and leave you with the one who didn’t know how to stick?
I wanted to shake her dad until he saw the light. Until he saw what he had in front of him so he’d keep her close instead ofpushing her away. But those were more likely my feelings about my mother manifesting than the truth of her relationship with her dad.
All I knew was that after today, I’d never look at Rory the same again.
And I realized I didn’t want to.
She wasn’t a kid. She was a stunning woman.
Which was shit timing to realize it. Shit timing added to a messed-up life because just seeing her in a different light didn’t mean I could ever add the burden of my responsibilities to hers. She’d let me. She’d try to shoulder mine with her own.
And hadn’t I already been tempted by that idea back at the apartment? The idea of Rory being the person at my side. The person who saw me as more than a makeshift father and a bar owner. But after hearing how her life was already burdened, understanding how much she was holding up, I’d never do that to her.
I was pretty sure neither of us would remain standing if we attempted to carry the weight of one more life on our shoulders.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Gage
NOTHING ELSE MATTERS
Performed by Metallica
The only conversationwe had after Rory hung up with her dad was her directing me to a parking garage down from the Capitol Building. We were both lost in our silent, complicated reflections. Mine turned from Rory to my missing brother and where the hell he’d been spending his nights in D.C. and why Ivy had said he was scared, not once, but twice. I wished again I could feel and see the things they did because maybe it would help me find him.
“My friend works in the security control room. I’m hoping she can access the camera footage from Friday. She’s agreed to meet with us on her break.” Rory glanced around my Pathfinder. “I can’t bring my weapons or my computer inside. You have a cargo cover back there we can pull?”
I was just about to ask what kind of weapons when she leaned forward and pulled a gun from the waistband at her back. Sheplaced it in her messenger bag where it joined the flashlight-like stun gun she’d pulled the night before and some kind of aerosol spray. Mace? Pepper spray? Jesus. My pulse picked up. Did she know how to use all of those? To shoot a gun? I’d never even held one.
“There’s a cover,” I said, doing my best to keep my voice steady.
We walked to the back of the vehicle, she tossed the bag in, and I pulled the cover over it, latching it in place. Once I’d locked up, I noticed her eyes darting around the parking garage as if she expected someone to jump us and steal everything. I’d always known she was serious about her future job with the FBI. But now, seeing her hacking computers, carrying weapons, and scoping out the joint, it hit home how close she was to making her dreams come true.
As we exited the garage, I expected us to make our way toward the entrance to the Capitol Building, but she headed in the opposite direction. “Where are we going?”
“Rayburn Building. It’s where my friend works and where Congressman Dunn’s offices are at. He’s moved up the food chain fairly fast and has a coveted spot on one of the best floors. Makes me wonder what he traded to get it.”
“You know a lot about D.C.”
“I should. I’ve been working it since I was a kid.”
I glanced down at her, surprise filtering through me. “What do you mean, working it since you were a kid?”
