Bring Me Back by Jessie Gussman

Author:Jessie Gussman [Gussman, Jessie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Jessie Gussman
Published: 2019-03-15T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter 14

They met the twins on the highway exit. Eve drove Riley’s car, and Eden drove the car they shared. They left both cars there and piled into the back seat of Ben’s pickup.

“That guy looks exactly like you, Ben,” Eve said as they pulled into the hospital parking lot.

Ben glanced over. A tall, broad-shouldered man with dark hair and eyes, wearing a black t-shirt and jeans, leaned against the building with his arms crossed over his chest and one booted foot braced against the wall behind him.

It had to be one of his half brothers. It wasn’t quite like looking in the mirror but close. The dude wasn’t smiling, either.

“That must be the welcoming committee. They missed us last night.” Ben wanted to ease the looks of consternation on his sisters’ faces. This was part of the reason he’d never tried to get in touch. If his half brothers were anything like his dad, they were mean, low-down snakes. Not people he wanted his sisters to have to deal with. Too late now.

“Should we send a delegation out to smoke a peace pipe before we all try to enter the sacred hunting grounds?” Eden asked with a dramatic shiver.

Ben eyed her in the rearview. “Why don’t you just say, ‘Ben, that dude looks scary. Go make sure he’s not going to hurt us.’”

“Because I would sound like a two-year-old if I said that.”

“Oh, versus sounding like a four-year-old by talking about peace pipes and hunting grounds?”

Riley and Eve chuckled. Eden rolled her eyes. “I was trying to ease the tension.”

Ben grabbed the latch on his pickup. He looked across the seat at Riley. “You okay for a minute?”

She nodded. “I’ve got a can of mace, and I’m not afraid to use it.”

“Not on me, hopefully.”

“I’m afraid it would be easy to get you two mixed up.” She nodded over at the man who hadn’t moved but watched them with an intensity that stirred Ben’s neck hairs.

“Yeah.” He pushed his door open. “Maybe he’s just out there on a smoke break.”

“And maybe he’s packing. Be careful, Ben. He doesn’t look like someone I’d mess with.”

“Don’t worry, Riley.” Eden reached up and patted Riley’s shoulder. “Ben deals with guys like that all the time.”

Ben got out and closed the door. He let his hands hang at his sides as he strode over. The guy straightened, watching him with the same brown eyes that stared back out at him from the bathroom mirror every morning. Ben stopped a few feet from him.

The guy didn’t say anything, and Ben considered waiting, but he was the oldest. He probably needed to speak first. He took his best guess. “Torque?”

The guy’s head jerked up. His eyes were honest and clear. Ben had worked with a lot of different kinds of men through the years, including some that were pretty shady. He’d also worked with a lot of decent, hardworking men. He’d become a fairly good judge between the two.

Torque was honest and upright. Ben’s heart cracked.

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