Yolo (Carter Brothers #7)

Chapter 6

Single and not looking. We can go eat, though.

— Bindi to Garrett

BINDI

6 months ago

There was a knock at my door, and I carefully got up, grabbed my cane, and headed for the door.

“ Who is it?” I called once I’d made it to the door.

Or , more importantly, once I’d nearly face-planted into it.

I was still getting used to the new apartment.

Today marked the third day that I’d lived there.

“ It’s me,” Joseph said from the other side of the door.

My jaw clenched.

This asshole.

This super asshole.

I couldn’t stand him.

I’d moved to Dallas from Albuquerque , and his stupid self had followed me.

It wasn’t endearing.

In fact, I’d say it was getting to stalkerish levels at this point.

I carefully opened the door, putting my body between the gap and said, “ What do you want?”

“ I came for my check,” he said. “ You said you had it.”

I sighed.

My mom and I opened my mail together every single day, and yesterday, I’d gotten a forwarded check in the mail for Joseph .

I’d thought about ignoring it, but instead sent him a text that let him know that I had it, and I would forward it to him.

He’d apparently ignored that and decided to show up.

God , couldn’t he fucking listen?

“ Stay here, and I’ll go get it,” I said as I tried to close the door.

My mistake, I expected him to actually respect my boundaries.

Turns out, I was stupid.

He pushed the door open and caused me to stumble backward. Using my confusion, he pushed past me and marched into my apartment.

“ What are you doing?” I yelled. “ Get out!”

“ Sorry ,” he said as he disappeared farther into my apartment. “ No can do. This is a big check, and I need it.”

“ I said I would get it!” I cried out. “ Now get out right now.”

He ignored me and kept walking.

I could hear his stupid loafer-covered feet walking deeper and deeper into the apartment.

I reached for my phone and had 911 dialed in before I heard him say, “ Got it.”

I waited for him to come back, but his feet only went a little farther on. “ Nice place.”

“ I’m not joking right now, Joseph ,” I said with practical steam coming out of my ears. “ Either get out, or I’m calling the cops.”

He was just suddenly there, plucking the phone out of my hand.

I angrily brandished my walking stick and swung.

It connected with him, and he roared.

“ What the fuck was that for?” he yelled.

“ Get out!” I screamed.

“ Is there a problem here?” I heard from my left.

The front door was likely still wide open.

“ No , I was just leaving,” Joseph snarled and slammed the door closed.

I let out a relieved breath, then made my way back to the door before flipping the lock.

Goddammit .

I couldn’t stand him.

Why did he have to move here?

And why could he not realize that I wanted nothing to do with him?

Angry at myself and the situation for what had just happened, I made my way to the first available surface and felt around, luckily finding my phone on the counter where Joseph had placed it.

“ Asshole ,” I grumbled.

I dialed in my mom’s number, and she answered on her first ring.

“ You’re early today,” she said. “ What’s wrong?”

“ I’m fine, Mom ,” I said to her as I made my way through the apartment. “ It’s a learning curve, but I’m fine.”

“ Have you looked into that app?” Mom asked.

I sighed. “ Yes . I have. I downloaded it. Well , I got the guy at the phone store to download it for me. He also taught me how to use the phone. It’s pretty cool and has a lot of features that I never knew that iPhone had for blind people.”

“ Cool ,” Mom said excitedly. “ You know you can always call me if you need help, right?”

“ I know, Mom ,” I said softly. “ I love you, you know that, right?”

“ I know,” she said. “ I just wish that you would let us help more.”

“ It’s a given that you would help me,” I said. “ But this is my life now, Mom . You have to let me start to navigate it without you.”

She sighed. “ What are you going to do there?”

I hadn’t thought that far ahead.

“ I guess start looking for jobs where I can use my languages, since I can’t very well go apply for a paramedic job.” I sighed.

“ You could probably do something with it. Teach ,” she suggested.

I doubted it.

“ I’ll start searching online,” she said. “ Send you anything that I find.”

“ Thanks ,” I hesitated with what I had to tell her next but then decided to just rip the Band - Aid off and get it over with. “ Joseph came by for his check.”

She inhaled sharply. “ You told him you would send it to him via mail.”

“ I know,” I grumbled.

She’d been part of the group text with him.

I didn’t respond to anything without having my mom or dad in the text thread with me, just in case.

“ Did he leave?”

“ Yeah ,” I confirmed.

“ Good ,” she grumbled darkly. “ I hate him.”

“ You and me both,” I sighed.

My phone beeped, indicating an incoming call. “ Gotta go, Mom . Love you.”

Luckily , the other call wasn’t important, and I was able to hang up relatively quickly.

I sat down on my couch, then pulled my computer into my lap. “ Let’s do this.”

It was later that night when I felt around on my bed and didn’t find my stuffed animal.

I knew, without a doubt, that my stuffed animal was gone because Joseph had done something with it.

That’d been what he was doing when he walked through my apartment.

But , holding out hope, I called my mom.

Maybe she’d be able to spot it.

She didn’t answer, though, and I hung up.

It was really late.

I didn’t blame her for not answering.

She charged her phone in the kitchen because she liked to say that the radio waves might fry her brain if she lay next to it all night.

And , since I loved the hell out of my mother, I didn’t bother to fight her on her choice.

It was her own prerogative if she didn’t want to sleep next to it.

Who was I to try to convince her otherwise?

The only problem was that I seriously needed to find my bear, or I wouldn’t be able to sleep.

I’d slept with the damn thing since I was born.

But , after the burglary, I was even less inclined to sleep without it. When I was alone, I panicked and was barely able to function at times. The bear seemed to be the only thing that calmed me down.

It’d driven Joseph bonkers because he said the bear was disgusting.

It was ratty, sure, but it was clean.

There was nothing disgusting about it.

I opened the balcony door for some fresh air, then pulled my phone out and hit the Siri button. Once I had her attention, I said, “ Pull up the My Eyes app.”

There was a long thinking pause, and then Siri said, “ App not found.”

I groaned.

What the hell was it called again?

After multiple more attempts of trying to find the stupid app, and not finding it, my frustration got the better of me, and I said, “ Call Joseph .”

He answered on the first ring. “ I was expecting this call.”

“ Where is it?” I snapped.

“ Where is what?” he asked innocently.

“ My stuffed animal, you complete douchebag,” I snarled.

He laughed. “ I threw it out. You’re welcome.”

“ Where ?” I snapped again.

He chuckled. “ In the dumpster outside. Maybe ask that asshole neighbor of yours to help you.”

What asshole neighbor?

“ I fucking hate you so much,” I hissed, then hung up.

For good measure, I blocked him.

Any other communication between him and me would be with my parents doing the contacting.

I would never reach out to him again.

With shaking with rage fingers, I hauled on my boots and headed to the door.

Navigating the elevator was fairly easy.

The apartment that I had was advertised as “blind-friendly.”

They really were, too. That was one of the main reasons I had moved so far away. That and getting away from Joseph .

The place was well set up, spacious, navigated easily with a cane, and had stuff that announced what floor you were on, how to get to certain places, and had emergency phones everywhere.

There was also a 24-7 attendant who hung out in the lobby that would help you with anything you needed.

It was state of the art, and Joseph had paid for everything when my parents had threatened to sue the pants off of them.

They’d given us a large lump sum to “pay us off” and “keep us quiet.”

Truthfully , his mom and dad had given me three million dollars to go away. I’d agreed but had to sign an NDA to never tell anyone what had happened.

I’d disagreed, and they’d paid me without the NDA .

I’d keep my mouth shut.

It would be easier that way.

The elevator ride took two minutes—being on the fourth floor, with a slow elevator, was fun sometimes.

When I arrived in the lobby, it was to hear the attendant talking to someone.

Ignoring them, I headed to where I knew the dumpsters were.

“ Ms . Howe ,” I heard the attendant call. “ Is something wrong?”

I rubbed angrily at my face, only now realizing I was crying.

“ Uh ,” I hesitated. “ Yeah , actually. I …”

“ Bindi ?”

I stopped.

Why did that voice sound so familiar?

“ Um , yes?” I said, turning as if it would help me figure out his identity better if I was facing him.

“ It’s Garrett …” He paused and corrected himself. “ Gee . You called me Gee .”

Then it hit me like a battering ram.

He was here? What were the odds?

My mouth fell open. “ Gee ?”

“ Yeah .” He moved closer. “ What are you doing here?”

I swallowed past the emotion that welled up inside of me, then thought…fuck it.

I moved toward him with my arms wide open.

He caught me up in his arms, and I buried my face into his chest before bursting into tears.

“ Shh ,” he said. “ Shh .”

He’d said those same words to me when he’d held me in the truck as he barreled toward the emergency room.

The intense rightness of his words made me feel better, and he hadn’t done a damn thing.

“ I’m sorry,” I sniffled. “ I thought I’d never get to see you again.” I paused. “ Well , maybe not see…hear?”

He chuckled. “ Hear is good.”

His rumbling voice was enough to send pleasure straight through my veins.

I pulled back, wiping at my eyes, only now realizing I’d forgotten my glasses in my haste to get down here.

“ Oh .” I squeezed my eyes shut.

I hated being out in public without my glasses.

I was so self-conscious about my eyes.

It wasn’t like I could help it, but based on the description my mom and dad gave me, they were weird to look at.

They’re pretty, really. I promise I wouldn’t lie to you.

My mom’s assurance that they were beautiful didn’t outweigh Joseph’s .

They’re fucking creepy. God , can you cover them up?

“ I just moved here.” I shook off Joseph’s voice. “ I don’t know why. I just… I started looking for blind-friendly places to live. And this apartment building is superior for blind people who live alone. There’s a lot of stuff nearby, a bus stop, and anything and everything I could ever need to get to within a safe walking distance. So I just…moved.”

“ Oh ,” he breathed. “ That’s fucking amazing.”

“ Do you live here?” I asked.

He caught my hand with his, then pressed another hand on my eyes. “ Stop squeezing your eyes shut so tight. You look like you’ll induce a headache.”

I did so, relieved that he didn’t find my eyes creepy.

Since I couldn’t see, sometimes I couldn’t tell that they were open until they started to get really dry.

If he wasn’t bothered…

“ I live here,” he said, immediately making my heart rate pick up, only for his words to make it fall. “ I’m building a house out of town, though. So not for very much longer.”

My belly sank.

That really sucked.

I kind of liked the idea of him being in the same building as me.

“ Bummer ,” I sighed. “ It would’ve been nice to have someone close to rely on.”

When I inevitably needed some help.

Because it was a sure thing that I couldn’t do this on my own.

“ I’m here when you need anything,” he said. “ Even if I’m not living here anymore, I’m still here. If that makes sense.”

I smiled and dropped my head, wishing that I could see his face to read if the sincerity I heard in his voice was true.

It wouldn’t be the first time I was lied to after I’d lost my vision.

Freakin ’ Joseph .

God , how had I picked so wrong?

“ What are you doing out here so late?” he asked. “ Anything I can help you with?”

I started to answer in the negative but paused.

“ Actually .” I straightened my shoulders and turned to where I thought he was standing. “ I could use some help.”

He turned my head, just with a finger on my chin, and I said, “ Thanks .”

“ Welcome ,” he said. “ Gotta be weird not to be able to find people anymore. What is it you could use some help with?”

I sighed. “ So yesterday I called my ex-boyfriend, who, if you can believe it, decided to follow me to Dallas to ‘fix what he’d broken.’ Which , let me just say, I’d already told him he could never fix this. I can’t stand the man, yet he’s made it his life’s mission to fix me—us. Anyway , when we left, I forwarded my address to this new one. I’m not sure what happened to his. But he got forwarded a refund check for taxes, and it came to my place. So I called him to get his new mailing address. And instead of giving it to me, he said he’d get back to me. I didn’t expect that him getting back to me was showing up at my house unannounced. We fought, and he left, taking my stuffed bear I sleep with every night with him.”

Gee growled under his breath and said, “ What the fuck?”

“ I know.” I pressed the heel of my hands to my eyes, frustration leeching out of my every pore. “ I called him after I found out, and he’d told me that he threw it away in the dumpster outside. So I need help to see if it’s in there.”

Gee grabbed my hand and said, “ Let’s go look.”

I followed his directions, shivering when we hit the cool night air. “ Cold .”

“ They said that it’s supposed to rain/sleet tonight. I imagine that’ll make everyone drive like complete dumbasses tomorrow and give me a lot of shit to deal with at work,” he replied grumpily.

I started to ask him where he worked— I know it’d been mentioned previously, but the day of my accident was a blur—but jolted when a honking horn shattered the quiet night air around us.

Gee grumbled something dark and dangerous under his breath and said, “ Fuckin ’ asshole.”

“ Are we in the back alley?” I asked.

“ Yeah ,” he confirmed. “ Some asshole was cutting through to get to the street opposite. Didn’t like that we were using it for what it was intended for.”

“ Some people are jerks,” I admitted.

Gee squeezed my hand and guided us farther and farther until he pulled me to a stop. “ Stay here. I’m going to jump up and look.”

I did, shifting from foot to foot with my lip between my teeth.

“ Bad news,” he said. “ The only thing that is in here is some electronics. Certainly no stuffed animal.”

My shoulders drooped.

Of course it wouldn’t be that easy.

God , I hated Joseph .

Actually , I didn’t hate him. That was too small of a word for what I felt for the man.

Enraged . Murderous . Homicidal .

I heard his feet hit the pavement, and said, “ Thanks for looking for me.”

He caught my hand again and started leading us back inside.

“ Could file a police report,” he offered.

I contemplated it.

Really , I did.

But in the end…

“ I can’t,” I replied as a heaviness centered in my chest. “ That’s like inviting him to fight back. And to do that, he’d insinuate himself into my life even more. And I don’t want anything to do with him. It’s best to just…forget it.”

“ Can you forget it?” he asked as he tugged me to a stop. “ Door . Step up.”

I stopped and waited for him to give me the go-ahead, then stepped up as I headed inside.

“ Are we in the back stairwell?” I asked.

“ Yes ,” he answered. “ Now answer my earlier question.

“ Can we take the stairs?” I asked. “ I’ve never taken them, and I want to give it a try with someone before I try on my own.”

Gee steered us backward toward where I assumed were the stairs.

He lifted my hand and pressed it against the door that led us outside and said, “ This is where the door is.” He kept my hand in his as he guided it along the wall then downward to the handrail. “ This is the start of the stairs. There are two flights and a small landing in between each flight that leads you up to the next floor. What floor are you on?”

“ Four ,” I answered. “ You ?”

“ Five ,” he said as he started us up the stairs.

He let my hand go, but he stayed behind me as I moved, just in case.

I was appreciative of his help, and that he let me do it on my own without trying to overcompensate for me.

“ I appreciate you not trying to take over,” I admitted as I climbed slowly, counting the number of stairs. “ Is this the floor?”

“ Yes .” He brushed his hand against my back and pushed past me. “ Walk toward me threeish steps. There . This is the door to the landing.”

I reached for it and tugged it open. “ If I remember correctly, we’re directly opposite of the elevator on the other side, correct?”

“ Yep ,” he said. “ What number are you?”

“ Four D ,” I answered.

“ That’s directly below me.” He chuckled. “ Sorry if I annoy you in the middle of the night, I don’t sleep a lot.”

“ I can’t hear a thing,” I admitted. “ I mean, if I was awake, I would. But I sleep like the dead.”

“ Not a good thing when you’re alone,” he mused as he said. “ You’re on the right side of the hallway when coming from the stairwell. You’re two doors down, same as if you came from the elevator.”

I smoothed my hand toward the doors, stopping when I came to my door and pressed my thumb to the knob where it read my thumbprint.

“ That’s a good addition,” he said. “ Mine doesn’t have that.”

“ I think since they’re trying to advertise for the blind,” I said as I pushed the door to my apartment open wide, “they’re trying to have all the accommodations.”

“ I hadn’t realized that they were advertising as that,” he admitted. “ But it makes sense with all the upgrades.” He paused. “ A couple of months ago, the owner’s daughter was in a serious accident that left her momentarily blind. She’s gotten a lot of her vision back, but the owner had to make the building safe for her to use in the interim. That’s probably why.”

“ Probably ,” I admitted. “ The owner, when I talked to him, sounded very knowledgeable. I hate that his daughter had an accident, though.”

“ Same ,” he said as he came to a stop. “ You mind if I look in here for it? Maybe he lied to you and threw it in the inside trash.”

I waved a hand for him to go ahead.

He disappeared, walking through the house at a fast clip.

I walked to the sofa and took a seat, my hands resting between my knees as I waited for him to come back.

He did, and moments later, he placed my bear into my arms.

Emotions welled up immediately, and the tears filled my eyes seconds later.

“ God ,” I breathed. “ Is it possible to kill someone with only your thoughts? Because if it was, Joseph would definitely be dead right now.”

He chuckled as he said, “ It was in your office. On the top shelf.”

“ Of course it was.” I squeezed my eyes tightly shut to curb the tears. “ I swear, the man likes to torture me.”

“ He had to have known you’d never find that on your own,” he growled.

“ He knew I wouldn’t,” I agreed. “ Pretty much, I don’t even bother to put anything above face level.”

“ You ever need anything else,” he said. “ And I’ll handle it.”

I tucked the bear into my side and stood up. “ I appreciate you helping me.” I felt my shoulders deflate. “ I hate being defective,” I moaned.

I didn’t hear him move.

He was just there.

His hand wrapped around my ponytail and yanked my head backward. “ Don’t you fucking dare talk about yourself like that.”

The man’s cool, deep voice surprised me.

I liked how it sounded.

“ I - I won’t,” I stuttered.

Butterflies started to take flight in my belly at his nearness.

He was so close I could smell his breath.

Mint and beer.

I kind of liked it.

“ You could, uh, stay if you wanted,” I offered. “ I was about to watch some Bones . But we could watch…”

He was already letting me go. “ Can’t .”

“ Why not?” I pushed.

Then I wanted to slap myself for sounding so desperate.

He was silent for a long second before he said, “ I’m not safe.”

I frowned, my fingers clenching into a fist. “ What do you mean you’re not safe?”

Gee stayed still for a long moment before saying, “ Not even my family knows this—well, no one but my older brother, Quinn .”

My brows rose. “ Okay .”

“ You know I’m a police officer, right?” he asked.

I nodded.

The moment he’d mentioned his occupation, I remembered my parents had shared that information with me at the hospital, along with Gee’s checking in, as a sort of morale boost every day.

They’d stayed in touch for a solid month until I was out of the hospital.

I hadn’t heard that they’d talked to him lately, though.

“ Yeah ,” I agreed. “ Are you still a police officer?”

“ Yeah ,” he said. “ I’m a K -9 officer now.” He paused. “ But before…once upon a time, I used to be undercover with my twin brother, Gable . That was who was with us that day I found you on the mountain.”

I nodded. “ Okay .”

“ The entire undercover operation went sour, and I was stabbed,” he said. “ It wasn’t until they dropped me off at the hospital, and I almost died, that they realized that I was undercover due to the media coverage. When they’d dropped me off at the hospital, one of the rival gang members had stabbed a doctor. The two of us almost died. I would have had the fiancée of the stabbed doctor not taken care of me. It wasn’t found out until later, when my brother came in—he was head of the gang division at the time—and identified me that they figured out I was an undercover police officer.”

My belly was in knots. “ You’re okay now, though.”

He hesitated long enough for me to worry.

“ Physically , I’m fine,” he finally admitted. “ The problem is, there’s been a change in leadership in the Breakers gang that I was undercover with, and to prove he’s legit, he’s decided to put a hit out on my head.”

My mouth fell open in shock. “ But you said you had a twin brother, right? How would they be able to differentiate between the two?”

“ I have a scar on my face,” he answered. “ It’s pretty big and noticeable.”

That was true.

I’d definitely noticed it myself when he was carrying me down the mountain.

I remember it being thick and down to his neck.

“ Bad scar?” I asked.

“ Definitely ,” he answered. “ So , that’s how I know they won’t go after my brother.”

My stomach sank.

“ So what now, Gee ?” I asked.

“ Now I see you around, Benny .”

“ Benny ?” I tried to smile and couldn’t.

“ You’re calling me a derivative of my name, so thought I’d try it out,” he teased. “ Call me if you need me, darling.”

“ I don’t have your number.”

He’d just started toward my door when he came back. “ Where’s your phone?”

I licked my lips and said, “ On the bed, I think.”

He went in search of it, coming back a moment later before saying, “ Code ?”

I gave it to him.

He paused when he saw what was up on the screen. “ My eyes?”

“ I was looking for an app on my phone,” I admitted. “ I was trying to find the bear on my own before I made any calls to my asshole ex or my mom.”

He hummed. “ Not called ‘ My eyes,’” he said. “ It’s called ‘ See For Me .’ I put it on your home screen, down at the bottom. Bottom left corner. You should be able to find it pretty easily from there.”

He kept typing away, the sounds of my buttons clicking away on my iPhone letting me know he was still working.

Then his hand was reaching for mine and he placed the phone in my hand. “ In there under Gee . G - E - E .”

I nodded.

“ See you around, Benny ,” he teased.

“ Bye , Gee .”

I hated the sound of my door closing behind him.

I hated even more that he was such a nice guy, and I had to stay away from him.

People really did suck.