AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I’m not leaving. There’s nothing else for me. I can’t leave.”
“But Addison—” he argues, already having it in his head that we need to leave.
“She doesn’t want to leave either.” It’s quiet for a moment, then Carter finally looks at me, letting the statement sink in. “We’re staying and we’ll be all right.”
The ticking of the clock in his office is ever present. It fills the silence until he nods in agreement.
“A lot happened,” he comments.
“It will settle down. It’ll slow down.”
A knock at the office door accompanies his hum of agreement.
“It will,” he tells me before calling out, “Come in” to whoever it is at the door.
Addison.
“Am I interrupting?” Her question is softly spoken, but it carries through the room clearly as she stands there, not in the room, but not out of it either.
“Not at all,” Carter answers. His shoulders are straighter, his expression firmer. He really thought we were going to leave. He has the look of a man who’d already accepted loss.
“I was hoping to talk to both of you…” She trails off as her gaze drops to the floor nervously before peeking back up at us. “I had a thought.”
A prick of uncertainty creeps along my spine as she slowly walks into the room and stops at the chair next to mine. With her grip on the back of it, she chooses not to sit as she tells us, “I want to pay a visit to Officer Walsh.”
“The hell you are.” My answer is immediate. And also ignored. Addison’s stare is unmoving and directed at Carter.
He doesn’t answer, neither of them looking at me.
“The fuck you are,” I say to emphasize my position. “There’s no reason for you to be anywhere near him.”
“Other than the fact that I’m with you. That my place is beside you…so yeah, there is.”
Carter’s still quiet and the ticking of the clock is louder, just like the rush of my blood is in my ears.
“Daniel,” she says, and Addison’s tone is gentle.
“No. You shouldn’t be concerned with this.”
“I don’t want to be mixed up in this, but I don’t want to be afraid of this man. I don’t want him to think he can get to me.”
“Are you sure you want to do that? You getting involved is more…” Carter talks to her, again, ignoring me.
The irritation grows as the two of them discuss this as though it’s a casual conversation.
“Stress? No. I think the stress comes from not knowing. I need to know. And if I can do something, I need to do it.”
“I don’t want you to?—”
“To go to a police station? Where you have plenty of men in your back pocket?” Addison cuts me off and slight desperation seeps into her cadence. “I…” She pauses and swallows thickly. “I want you to think about it. Think about what I should be doing and what it would do for me.” She puts her hand over mine to tell me, “I want to do this. I want to show that man who I am and that I’m with you. With all of you,” she amends, giving Carter a nod.
“Just think about it.” She leaves me there, my foot subconsciously tapping against the leg of the chair. The second the office door closes, I admonish my brother, “You couldn’t back me up with that one?” The sarcasm is thick and unforgiving.
“You weren’t lying, were you? She does want to stay.”
For the first time in a long time, my brother smiles.
“If she wants to stay, then, Daniel, for the love of God, let her. Let her do what she needs to do.”
