Blood and Sympathy (15 page)

As soon as Jeb and Braden left, Dad called the
sheriff. I made my getaway up to my room before he got off the phone. I wasn't
ready for round two of insult flinging, and felt more at ease anywhere that he
wasn't peering at me with total disdain in his eyes.

If my mobility hadn't been limited by crutches, I
would have been out looking for Olivia myself.

I changed into something more comfortable and
tried to concentrate on a book I'd been reading. It wasn't working. About an
hour after we got home, I heard voices downstairs and peeked out the window and
saw the sheriff had arrived.

"Claire?" Dad tapped on my bedroom door.

"Yeah?" I closed my eyes, afraid of what
he was going to say to me.

He stuck his head inside the room and said,
"They're forming a search party. We're going out to look for Olivia."

"What can I do to help?" I asked.

He shook his head and dropped his eyes to my bad
ankle. "Unfortunately, nothing. Wait downstairs by the phone in case
someone calls."

"Yes, sir." I tucked the crutches under
my arms and made my way down to the kitchen to sit. I felt so frickin'
helpless. There wasn't a damn thing I could do, and it was going to drive me
insane having to sit and wait.

Hours passed. In fact, the sun had set and started
to come up again by the time Dad returned. The deep worry lines in his face told
me that whatever his news was, it wasn't good. "You didn't find her?"

"No, nothing." He didn't volunteer any
information and refused to meet my eyes. He passed through the kitchen, barely
pausing. "I'm going to take a shower before I take you to work."

My jaw dropped. I snorted softly to myself. I
couldn't believe he was making me go to work. I'd be lucky if I made it two
hours before nodding off at the cash register.

Braden Sayer

I'd gone with my uncle and the rest of the search
parties to scour the area for any sign of Olivia Copeland. It was as though she
had just vanished. When my alarm went off, it felt like I'd only just closed my
eyes.

I crawled from bed and took a shower before
heading over to Uncle Jeb's. He told me we'd pick up some groceries later in
the week, but until then I could stop by and eat breakfast with him. I knocked
on the door and heard him holler, "It's open."

My stomach growled when I stepped inside, and the
aroma of bacon made my mouth water. I gave him a lopsided grin. "I'm
hungry enough to eat a bear."

"Grab yourself a plate and dig in."

I loaded my dish with a little bit of everything and
sat down at the table. He smirked at me over his coffee cup.

"Did you hear anything about Olivia
Copeland?" I asked, tearing off a corner of my toast to sop up the egg
yolk.

He let out a deep sigh and shook his head. "I
haven't heard any news. They're going to get back out there after the fog burns
off this morning. Supposed to bring out a bloodhound trained in this sort of
thing."

I nodded. "I guess Claire will be taking the
day off today?"

"No. Her daddy said she'd be here for work.
Said she needed to keep busy, it would keep her from worrying about her
sister."

Something about his words felt off to me.
"You think maybe the break-in at the marina and Olivia's disappearance are
connected somehow?"

Uncle Jeb pushed back from the table. "I
reckon they could be, but I doubt it."

It was too big of a coincidence if you asked me, but
maybe that was just my suspicious nature rearing its ugly head. I shoved the
last of the bacon in my mouth and wiped my hands on a napkin. "You
ready?"

He checked his watch and said, "Yep, getting
to be about that time."

I kept busy all morning tinkering with an old lawn
mower that should have gone to the dump three seasons ago. I had it running
like new by the time we broke for lunch. One thing for sure, I wouldn't have to
worry about keeping busy.

Uncle Jeb patted me on the back and handed me a
brown paper bag. "Here, why don't you take this over to Claire? Something
tells me she didn't have time to pack her own lunch this morning." His
eyes twinkled, full of good-natured matchmaking. I didn't mind. I needed all
the help I could get in that department. He winked and added, "It's okay
if you don't make it back in an hour. I 'spect we'll get by."

Blood rushed up from beneath the collar of my
shirt, coloring my cheeks. "I'll be back."

The front door of the bait shop was propped open
with a broken cement block. It had to have been over a hundred degrees inside.
The ceiling fans did a great job of moving the stink-bait odor from one side of
the cramped room to the other, but did nothing to cool it off.

Claire sat on a stool behind the counter fanning
herself with a magazine. Her hair was piled on top of her head, but a few
strands were plastered to the side of her face with sweat. My eyes lowered to
the front of her tank top which didn't leave much to the imagination.

I swallowed and grew the balls to approach.
"Hey, Claire."

Her head snapped in my direction. "Hi
Braden."

Traces of blue colored the skin beneath her eyes.
She was beautiful, even when she was exhausted and sweaty. "Uncle Jeb
wanted me to bring you something to eat," I said, and offered her the
sack.

She smiled, but it was a false cheerfulness that
didn't reach her eyes. She blinked a few times. "Oh wow, that was awful
nice of him." She peered inside the paper bag and took out a sandwich.
"What are you going to eat?"

I shrugged.
Cherry pie
. "I had a big
breakfast, I'm not that hungry."

She rolled her eyes and tore the sandwich in half.
"Here, I'll share." I opened my mouth to protest, but she held up her
hand. "I'm not taking no for an answer."

Dirty thoughts slipped through my brain and I felt
my cheeks fill with fire. "I'll keep that in mind."

"You do that."

We talked about unimportant crap like the weather,
how the lack of rain was making the lake's water level drop several inches each
day. She was chatty for a little while but soon stopped talking and sort of
zoned out.

"You okay? You want to talk about it?" I
asked. Avoiding the subject of her missing sister wouldn't make it any less
real, and I thought if I opened the door, she might walk through and confide in
me. Keeping things bottled up never helped.

She sighed and nodded. "I feel like part of
my soul is missing right now, Braden."

Her brown eyes held so much pain, and I wanted to
wrap her in my arms and reassure her it was going to be okay. "What do you
mean?"

"We might not have gotten along all the time,
but Olivia and I were
close
. We'd always joked that if one of us got
pregnant, we'd both get weird cravings. I could read her mind like the back of
my hand. I just
felt
her, even if she wasn't in the same room. I don't
know. I can't really explain it." She searched my face for some sign that
I understood the point she was trying to make.

"No, I get what you're saying. I've read
about stuff like that. They've done studies on it. It's called a psychic bond.
Like how mothers can sense their kids are in trouble, or hurt, or something, no
matter how far away they are."

Claire's face crumpled and she bit her bottom lip.
"Well that's just it, Braden. I can't feel Olivia. I can't. Fucking. Feel.
Anything!"

What the hell could I say to that? It felt like
someone stuck a knife in my heart and twisted. She was a beautiful mess. I went
behind the counter and gathered her in my arms. I held her while she sobbed.
She made my whole body flush, heat that had nothing to do with the temperature
inside the building. In the worst way, I wanted to tell her it was going to be okay,
and that everything would be all right. Except my own gut feeling told me I'd
be lying if I did.

She clung to me, and I let her cry until she stopped
trembling. She sniffed and pulled back to look into my eyes. "I'm sorry, I
snotted all over your work shirt."

I started laughing. She looked so sincere, but her
choice of words struck me as funny. "Yeah, I guess I'll forgive you."

"I hope so."

"Can I ask you something?" She nodded
and I reluctantly unwound my arms from around her. "Why are you working
today? You should be home in case there's any news about Olivia."

Her jaw muscles clenched. "My dad made me
come in. He told me there was no reason to stay home."

Her dad had some seriously screwed up ideas, but
it wasn't my business to agree or disagree with his decisions, so I kept my
mouth shut. "I'd best be getting back to work or Uncle Jeb will replace me
on my first day."

"Thanks, Braden. And thank your uncle for me.
For the food."

"Will do."

I was almost to the door when she added, "We
still need to get those tattoos, you know."

I chuckled. "That's right. Soon as I can talk
Uncle Jeb into teaching me how to drive, we'll do that."

Her eyes widened and she put her hand over her
mouth. "Oh shit. I forgot. You don't have your driver's license yet. I can
show you how to ... well, I guess I could if I had a car."

"We'll figure something out."

Claire filled me with so much light; her name fit
her like a glove. I ran all the way back to the marina. Uncle Jeb glanced up as
I slipped in. He grinned and shook his head but kept any snide comments to
himself.

Brogan
Sayer

Even as fuckin' claustrophobic as it was, I didn't
leave the house for a few days after murdering my brother's girlfriend. Every
time I remembered the look of terror in her eyes, my dick got hard as steel. I
knew Aja had started to wonder if I was some sort of sex maniac. Good thing she
was a borderline nympho, otherwise I'd have resorted to jacking off--and I was
sick and tired of that shit.

After the third day of being cooped up in her
cramped dump of a house, Aja ran her fingernail up my inner thigh. She was
dangerously close to the family jewels. She grinned at me and said, "Get
dressed. We're getting out of here before I go stir crazy."

I clasped my fingers around her hand to keep her
from piercing my balls. "What? Tired of me already?"

She jerked free of my hold and gave me a hard
shove. I tumbled to the floor beside the bed and she laughed hysterically.
"No way, babe." She nudged me with her big toe. "You can shower
first."

Afterwards, I put on some bright, baggy shorts and
a muscle shirt. The shit she'd bought me to wear wasn't what I would have
picked out for myself, but until I could afford my own stuff, it would have to
do. She sat on the arm of the couch swinging her long, tanned legs. The sexy
smirk she gave me made me want to pick her up and turn her over my knee.
"Don't look at me that way, woman, or we'll never make it out of
here."

She threw back her head and laughed. "I'll be
right back. Don't go nowhere." I swear to all that's holy, the way she
swung those hips of hers was some form of hypnotism.

Before we left, she stood appraising me with her
arms folded in front of her. She disappeared down the hall, returning a few
minutes later with a hat and sunglasses. She shoved them under my nose and
ordered me to put them on. I quirked an eyebrow at her and said, "Where's
the fake beard and mustache? This is supposed to be a disguise, right?"

I shut my mouth when she narrowed her eyes in warning.
"Don't be such a pain in my ass, Brogan. Put 'em on and let's get out of
here."

Yep, definitely. As soon as we got home, she was
getting spanked. I chuckled to myself, thankful for the loose, non-restricting
shorts that covered my boner.

We headed away from Devil's Fork Lake, and she
merged onto the highway.

"Where we going?" I asked.

"It's a surprise."

Forty-five minutes later, she parked in front of a
strip mall. I looked up and down the street, taking in all the different shops.
It was the middle of the week so there weren't many people milling around. She
squeezed my thigh and said, "You already look nervous, and you haven't
even heard where I'm taking you."

I frowned at her, unsure whether I liked
surprises. We climbed from the car and she walked around to feed some change
into a parking meter before linking her arm through mine. A few doors down, she
stopped walking.

"Sun and Moon Tattoo? You've got to be
fucking shitting me. Seriously? Kick ass." I'd been wanting to get a
tattoo forever. I felt like a fat man at an all-you-can-eat buffet. I brushed
past her to go inside.

The dark haired woman sitting behind the counter
with a sketchpad glanced up as we walked in. "How can I help you
kids?"

"He wants his first tattoo," Aja
replied, nudging me forward.

Aja filled out the paperwork, completely lying
about my age, lack of driver's license and ID. Aja gave the woman her
information, and lucky for me, it was a slow day at Sun and Moon Tattoo. That
and the cold hard cash Aja waved beneath Rita's nose overrode any reservations
she might have had about breaking the law. For the next few hours, we became
Bobby and Rio instead of Brogan and Aja.

"Bobby, you know what you want?" Rita
asked as she led me over to a small room filled with colorful artwork and smelled
of antiseptic and ink.

"I want the saying 'Sympathy for the devil'
right here," I said, pointing to the inside of my right arm.

"How big?"

"From elbow to wrist."

She nodded and had me pick out a font for the
lettering before cleaning my arm with some brown disinfectant stuff. She
centered the stencil on the soft inner flesh, and when she peeled it off, it
left behind a purple carbon copy of my soon-to-be first tattoo.

I'd heard that they hurt. I can't say I especially
enjoyed the process, but it wasn't too terrible.