Page 4 of Brick
“I just need to find her.”
“All right.Now that I’ve got a picture of her this should be easy.Last time you gave me a fake name to go with ‘blond hair,’ which is about as generic as you can get.”
“Just get on it, would ya?”he barked.Ghost might be an ass, but he was usually a helpful ass.
They clicked off.Brick dropped his head into his hands and the pain in his chest intensified.
Over three years of wondering.Of worrying.Of thinking he’d hallucinated the woman and the sex.
Out of nowhere she’d come crashing into his life like a fucking tsunami.And maybe made him a father.
***
Natalie paced themotel room.Back and forth, back and forth.
That bastard.That sonofabitch.
She’d kill Keetan with her bare hands if he touched one hair on her baby boy’s head.Warm tears raced down her cheeks.Her eyes were raw and swollen from crying, her mouth was as dry as cotton from yelling, and her skin was gritty from scrubbing her face.
Her cheek still throbbed from Keetan’s fist, and her heart ached at the memory of Bray’s cries.
“Momma!Momma!”
Her knees buckled, and she dropped to the worn, thin mattress.A sob tore from her chest.My baby.
She’d known leaving Keetan would cause an uproar.That the bastard would come after her, threaten her.She hadn’t expected something this extreme.She’d been no match.
Not only had he taken the person she loved most in this world, but he’d also made it nearly impossible for her to get Bray back.Her name and picture were on every news channel and had been shared thousands of times on social media.If by some stroke of luck she didn’t end up in prison, it’d still be months before she got Bray back.
Her heart palpitated.She clutched her chest, keeling to her side on the bed.Her breath hissed sharply through her teeth.
God, don’t have a heart attack.You can’t.You fucking can’t.
She breathed in through her nose and out through her mouth.Slow and steady.After several minutes, her heart rate returned to a less-dangerous speed.She couldn’t fall apart.She had to think.Keetan was a monster.A brute.A stupid, motherfucking—
Point was, he wasn’t extremely smart.He thought with his dick more than his head.If she had to grovel, she would.The one good thing was that the all points bulletin had mentioned she’d be traveling with a two-and-a-half-year-old boy.Which she wasn’t because Keetan had taken him.Clearly his anger had gotten the best of him.
That little slipup might ensure people didn’t look at her twice.She might have some time before the police found her.She knew Keetan’s wrath well.A normal deranged ex-boyfriend would have just dragged her from her rented apartment and forced her back to his house.But that’s not where Keetan wanted her.He was furious that she’d left—for the second time in just over three years.He wanted to hurt her.He wanted her behind bars.He wanted Bray and her to suffer.
But there might be time to persuade Keetan to drop whatever bullshit can of worms he’d opened and let her return to his house, where she’d lived before she left him two weeks ago.
She should have just killed him in his sleep.Although, contrary to what everyone in the country currently thought, she wasn’t a murderer.If she’d known he’d do this, though, that he’d try to send her to prison and take Bray away...
Well, hindsight was twenty-twenty, and arsenic couldn’t be that hard to find.
CHAPTER 2
Three and a half years earlier
Jesus Christ.
The wind whipped Brick’s face, biting his skin.He tucked his chin into the top of his coat as he strode down the sidewalk.The scent of French fries and greasy meat filled the air as someone exited a storefront.
His stomach growled, rivaling the annoyance growing inside him.Fargo, North Dakota, wouldn’t see him again.His blood was too warm for this shitty weather.
He approached the bar and reached for the door handle.Before his skin could connect with the metal, his feet hit a patch of ice.He flew backward and slammed against the concrete.A cough barked from his chest, and his lungs quickly inhaled the frigid air, making him cough harder.
“Ohmigod, are you okay?”A woman bent over him.Her wavy blond locks dangled around her angelic cheeks.Her eyes were wide with concern.
