Page 70 of Her Loving Hero

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Wyatt pulledup to the townhouse and saw Emily’s car parked out front. That boded well that Ben should be inside. He bounded up the path and the three steps to door and let himself inside.

“We called you,” Ben complained as soon as he entered his house. “Both of us. You didn’t call us back.”

They were sitting at the dining room table huddled around Emily’s new laptop and Ben’s cell phone. There was tinny music coming out of his phone. Ben had been looking much better yesterday, then he did today.

“Maybe you should be resting,” Wyatt suggested.

Two pairs of angry eyes looked up at him. “You’re not understanding, we have a situation. It’s not nap time,” Ben growled.

“Mr. Mazur?” a disembodied voice on his phone asked.

“Yes, this is Ben Mazur. I need to know if my little brother Kyle was at school today.”

“I’m sorry but we can’t give you that information. You are not his legal guardian.”

Ben looked like he might explode. “Let me talk to Ms. Harborin. She knows who I am, and she’ll tell me Kyle’s status.”

“I’m sorry, but our policy clearly states that-”

“Get me Principal Harborin on the phone right now,” Ben demanded. Emily put her hand on his forearm, trying to settle him down, but Wyatt could see it wasn’t helping.

“She is no longer the Principal, she left last year. I can see in the computer files that you were on the call list in the past for Kyle and Luke, but their father had you taken off. You’ll need to take this up with him.”

“All I want to know is if Kyle attended school today,” Ben bit out.

“Again, I can’t give you that information. I need to answer another call. Good-bye.”

Emily slipped the phone out of Ben’s hands before he had a chance to throw it. She had good instincts. “What’s going on?” Wyatt asked.

Ben stood up and swayed slightly before grabbing hold of the kitchen counter. “I can’t reach either Luke or Kyle. Neither of them is answering their cell phones. Luke didn’t show up to work today at the auto supply store, and you just heard the run-around I got at Kyle’s school.”

“What has you worried?” Wyatt asked.

“I fucked up,” Ben said. His face was pale. “Last night I told Luke about you and how you hadn’t abandoned us. I just wanted him to know he and Kyle had a soft place to land out here in California with you.”

“That’s good. You didn’t fuck up, Ben.” Wyatt looked over at Emily trying to figure out what the hell was going on. “You did the exact right thing.”

Ben laughed harshly. “You don’t remember Luke then. He has a temper. I told him not to do anything. Not to confront Dad. We had to stick with the plan. He promised he would. But now I can’t get ahold of anyone.”

Emily raised her hand. “I’m sorry but I’ve got to get to LAX. The girl’s plane is due to land in four hours. I don’t want to tell them to take a taxi.”

“Shit. Already? The twin beds still haven’t been delivered.” Wyatt said. He pulled out his cell phone. Time to call in reinforcements. Gray picked up on the second ring.

“Yeah?”

“Can Emily come borrow your SUV to pick up her sisters from LAX?”

“Hold on,” Gray said. Wyatt waited. “How soon does she need to leave?” Gray asked.

“Em, what time is their arrival?” he asked.

“Four hours from now.”

“I heard her,” Gray said. “Riya will be at your place in twenty minutes, they can drive up to Los Angeles together. It’s safer that way anyway.”

Wyatt felt his chest relax just a little bit. “Thanks, Gray.”