Yolo (Carter Brothers #7)

Chapter 7

I’m not as mean as I could be, and I want people to be more grateful for that.

— Garrett to his mom

GARRETT

I checked up on her.

I had to.

And what I saw broke my heart.

She didn’t leave the house all that much. When she did, she had the white cane with her, and it was only to walk around the lobby, then it was right back up to her place.

She didn’t leave the building. Didn’t try to take the bus. Hell , she even had her groceries delivered.

Of course, I got a lot of this from the downstairs attendant, Mission .

Mission was a fifty-year-old man with a wife and three kids that all worked at DPD with us. He’d worked there himself for twenty-five years as a janitor when I’d told him about this place.

He’d made the move because he loved the hours, and it was closer to his home since he couldn’t drive anymore.

“ You’re sure she hasn’t left?” I asked.

“ Nope ,” he stated. “ It’s just me and Mr . Turnball . Neither him nor I have seen her leave. She gets groceries delivered on Tuesdays . She sets her trash out on Thursdays . But other than that…”

She hadn’t left the apartment.

Shit .

“ Okay ,” I said, wishing that I hadn’t told myself it was best to stay away from her.

But it would absolutely kill me if anything had happened to her because I was careless, and she was seen with me.

My brothers were fine. They could all take care of themselves.

The new gang leader also seemed to have a moral compass, because since he’d taken over, no cops, women or children had been hurt.

Unless it came to me, apparently.

I was a cop he didn’t care if he took out.

And if he was okay taking me out, it meant he was probably okay with taking her out.

And that would not happen.

Not ever.

“ Thanks , Mission ,” I said as I offered him my hand.

He shook it and went back to his desk when the phone rang.

Instead of going up to my apartment, I went outside and placed the phone to my ear after searching up the contact I wanted.

“ Boss treating you okay, kid?” the man asked the moment he answered.

I smiled. “ Boss is being a good boy, yes.”

“ I can’t believe you kept the Boss . I told my kid she was crazy for calling him that, yet you kept it.” He laughed.

“ Couldn’t very well change it when he was already called Boss for the first year of his life,” I pointed out to the man that answered. “ You got a minute to talk?”

“ Sure do,” Killian Spurlock , also known as Trance to his motorcycle club friends, answered. “ What’s up?”

Trance was a police officer himself, and he trained K -9s for all kinds of jobs. He’d started out training police K -9s and had branched out to search and rescue as well as working dogs that serviced a whole shit ton of medical issues.

According to him, he’d branched out when his retired K -9 had helped his handicapped wife when needed, and he’d made it his mission to train his K -9 officer flunkies.

I explained the situation at hand to him in depth, and he made a humming sound.

“ What the fuck?” he asked. “ They just left her there?”

Anger still boiled in my gut at the memories of finding her there, scared and hurt, in the middle of a trail with a steep drop off on the other side of her.

“ They just left her,” I confirmed. “ Doctors said had she gotten immediate care, she’d have probably been fine. But the brain bleed caused pressure on the nerves to her eyes, causing her to lose her eyesight.”

“ Fuckin ’ a,” he cursed. “ My wife had a TBI , too, and had almost the same thing happen to her. She lost sight, mostly. But she was able to get it back after a long time. Is there a possibility…”

“ No ,” I said. “ Blood loss to her eyes caused them to degrade. Her eyes are still there and all, but there’s not ever going to be a possibility of her getting her eyesight back.”

“ I have a couple of flunkies that I moved to the seeing-eye dog program lately.” Trance switched to work mode. “ If you’re interested, come check them out.”

“ She’s proud,” I said. “ She won’t take a handout. Have you been working with the insurance agencies on them?”

“ Sure have,” he answered. “ Definitely , we can make this work.”

Thank Christ .

“ I’ll get her there,” I said. “ When and where?”

He rattled off an address, then a time.

“ See you then.”

I pulled the hat down low over my forehead, pulled the hoodie up over my hat, and tugged the sleeves down so that no skin was showing.

It was cold today, so no one would question the sweatshirt hood pulled up.

And I’d borrowed my mom’s car so that no one would see my truck.

Mom hadn’t asked, and I hadn’t shared why I’d needed it.

She’d happily taken my truck, though, since it was ten years newer than hers and had “the best cruise control ever.”

Mom could afford a new car, of course, but she liked to pretend like she was poor so that she could spoil the grandkids with the money she wouldn’t spend on herself.

I’d just made it to the fourth floor via the stairs when I heard the yelling.

“ Get out of my apartment, Joseph !”

My feet carried me fast toward the commotion, anger tailing my heels.

“ No can do,” this Joseph loser said. “ I’m looking for a check. You got your mail?”

I pushed through the open apartment door and took in the scene.

The asshole in front of me was walking around her apartment, uncaring that he’d been asked to leave multiple times since I’d been listening.

“ Get . Out !” Bindi ordered, pointing not at the door, but at the window across the room.

Fuck .

“ Sorry , but I’m …who are you?”

I narrowed my eyes. “ If you don’t get out of her place right now, I’ll see you out myself.”

The anger in my voice caused his back to stiffen.

“ I’m sorry, but you’re not necessary.” He crossed his arms and leaned his butt against the counter he was standing next to.

I pulled out my badge and said, “ Yes , I am. Now , get out before I take you out.”

The man’s eyes narrowed. “ What the hell is this, Lea ?”

The fact that he made no move to leave let me know just how entitled he felt like he was.

Prick .

“ What do you mean, what is this?” she snapped. “ This is the man I’m seeing, and he’s asking you to leave because he has the right to do so!”

Fuck .

Why did I like the way that sounded so much?

My chest puffed out, pride at being called hers, even if it was fake, filling my soul.

“ Sure .” He laughed. “ Like someone would date you with that attitude.”

I started to move toward him, ready to remove him physically, when it hit me.

I’d seen him before.

In the hotel lobby a couple years ago as he walked to his family that were impatiently waiting for the woman that’d been trailing behind.

Mother fucker .

I’d had dreams about the woman from the lobby. I’d thought about her a lot, wondering who she was, and whether she was still with the asshole.

I was glad to see that she wasn’t.

“ It’s time to go,” I said as I gestured. “ I won’t remove you physically unless you make me, but if you make me remove you, I’ll also be arresting you.”

“ If you touch me, I’ll sue you,” he disagreed.

I pulled out my phone and placed a call.

The phone rang twice before my brother, who was working a shift not too far away, answered. “ What ?”

“ I have a situation at my apartment complex,” I said as soon as he answered. “ Do you think you and your partner could stop by?”

Quaid was the head beat cop. Sometimes , he got to stay in the office and work on paperwork. But other shifts, like today, he was forced to go into the trenches with his fellow officers to cover people that were either off or someone called in sick.

Today , it was that someone had called in sick.

“ Sure ,” Quaid said. “ What’s going on?”

I quickly explained the situation.

“ You’re bluffing,” he rolled his eyes.

“ I’m not,” I confirmed. “ But we can wait here.” I glanced at Bindi , who was glaring so hard at what she thought was Joseph that she might as well be burning a hole in the wall with her death glare. “ Could you go get some shoes and socks on? We’re going to be late.”

She didn’t question me, even if she thought I was lying.

We did have somewhere to be, she just didn’t know it yet.

“ Who are you really?” Joseph narrowed his eyes. “ Why do I recognize you?”

Because I kicked you out of here the first time you tried this.

“ None of your damn business,” I said, not wanting to share who I was.

The fewer people who know about me right now, the better.

I could just see this motherfucker finding out that I had a hit on my head with the damn Breakers and handing me right over to them.

“ I’m not dealing with this shit.” He threw up his hands. “ I’ll be back, Lea !” he called out.

Absolutely not, he wouldn’t.

He stormed out of the apartment, anger dogging his heels.

I followed behind him, though I took the stairs when he took the elevator.

When I got down to the lobby, he was just stepping off of the elevator, phone to his ear as he talked furiously into it.

I walked behind him to the door and waited for him to enter his car before turning back to Mission . “ He is not to be let up ever again. Lock down the elevator and be sure that you call the cops if he shows up again. Please let the night shift know.”

Mission nodded, his eyes wide. “ What happened?”

I explained as quickly as I could before taking the stairs two at a time back to Bindi’s place.

She opened the door when I knocked, still shoeless.

“ Hey , thank you so much.” She thanked me. “ I’m so sorry.”

I put my hand on her hip and said, “ Where are your shoes?”

She frowned. “ In my room where they belong.”

“ I told you to get some shoes and socks on,” I pointed out.

She caught my hand in hers and squeezed. “ I thought that was just for show.”

“ It wasn’t,” I said. “ We’re going somewhere. So come on.”

She frowned. “ Where are we going?”

Yet , I noticed that she had no issue heading to the room.

I watched from the door as she moved directly to her shoes, which were right next to the bed in a cubbyhole. Her socks were right next to it.

She caught them up, turned around and sat on top of the cubby to put her shoes and socks on.

I’d never found a woman’s feet sexy before, but there I was, admiring her cute toes.

She didn’t even have any polish on them. They were just toes. Why would I find that so attractive?

There was a knock on the door and, “ Can you get that?”

I turned and answered it after a quick check to see who it was, finding my brother there.

“ Shit , sorry,” I apologized. “ I meant to call you back, but that asshole had me all flustered.”

“ I was told,” Quaid said as his eyes went to the room beyond me. His brows shot up. “ Who’s that?”

“ My neighbor that’s having issues with her asshole ex.” I paused. “ She’s blind, and he keeps coming here, forcing her to allow him entrance.”

Quaid’s face went thunderous. “ I got the video. I’ll make a stop by the asshole’s apartment. I just need a name and information.”

“ I can help with that,” Bindi said as she moved out of the room. “ I wasn’t going to make this a big deal because I know that if I do, Joseph will see it as a challenge. But I’m tired of him forcing his way into my home. It’s making me increasingly uncomfortable, and this is the fourth time this week.”

The fourth time?

And she hadn’t called me?

What the fuck?

“ Name , number, and if you have his address, even better,” Quaid said.

Bindi shared everything she had, including his parents’ names, address, and phone numbers.

“ I don’t have his address, though, because I didn’t want it.” She rolled her neck on her shoulders.

“ I’m going to trespass him for this property, so the next time that he arrives, he can be arrested for trespassing,” Quaid offered. “ I’ll keep Garrett updated on the particulars.”

Quaid left after that, leaving Bindi and me alone in the front entrance of her apartment.

“ Why didn’t you tell me he was coming by?” I asked. “ I shared my number for a reason.”

She scowled at me. “ You were the one to tell me you needed to stay away. I’m not going to argue with you.” She paused. “ Let’s be honest here. I’m pretty vulnerable. If you say that I need to stay away, I’m not going to argue with you. I’m a sitting duck.”

I winced when she saw it like that.

But our errand today made me feel a little bit better about the situation.

“ Come on,” I said as I caught her hand. “ We’re going for a drive.”

We did, in fact, go for a long drive.

“ How far are we going?” she asked.

“ Several hours east,” I answered as we pulled up to Buc -ee’s. “ Would you like to use the restroom?”

“ Sure ,” she said as she got out. “ Where’d we stop?”

“ A place called Buc -ee’s,” I answered. “ Apparently they have awesome bathrooms.”

Since we were so far away, I didn’t bother with covering my face back up, and twisted the ball cap on my head to face backward so that I could keep a better eye on the surroundings.

Not because I was worried I’d been followed, but because I was worried that I wouldn’t see a hazard that might trip her up.

We were halfway there when I said, “ I’m not sure that I should’ve brought you here. It’s busy as fuck.”

She had her walking cane in her hand, though not extended, as she held on to my sweatshirt sleeve.

“ I’ll manage,” she said, sounding excited. “ I’ve always wanted to go to one.”

“ Well , you’re in luck,” I said. “ Welcome to Buc -ee’s. Home of the brisket sandwiches and seven thousand bathrooms.”

She smiled as we walked through the door, and I pulled her closer to me as people surrounded us.

“ That cane gonna open up some walking room if you open it up?” I asked.

She pulled her sunglasses down over her face, which I hadn’t been aware she wasn’t wearing until now, and said, “ Sure , let’s try.”

Sure enough, the moment she folded out the stick, people started to move out of her way, opening up a line throughout the middle of the busy store.

“ You gonna be okay getting to the bathroom on your own?” I asked curiously as we paused in front of the entrance. The left led to the ladies, and the right the men’s.

“ Sure ,” she lied.

“ I’ll help,” a little girl that looked to be about nine or ten in a soccer uniform said. “ I can lead her to the handicap one. It’s closest to the entrance and the sink.”

I offered her a wink and turned to the dad and said, “ You got a good kid there, man.”

The man nodded. “ I do. But I can thank my wife, Angie , for that. All of our kids were feral as children and only half-feral now as adults. These grandkids are way better behaving than my children were.”

I chuckled.

“ I heard that, Bowen Race Tannenbaum ,” a woman said as she came up with about eight thousand snacks in her buggy. “ Here , go pay for this while I take all these rascals to the bathroom.”

She had a whole hoard of kids with her, all of them dressed in the same red and blue uniform that the original girl had been wearing.

“ We’re heading to a tournament with eight girls,” the man, Bowen , said. “ I don’t think my eardrums will ever recover.”

I chuckled as I patted him on the back. “ I can’t say that I’ve traveled with an entire soccer team before, but I do have a sister that has kids. And those kids have about eight thousand cousins running around at their circus.”

“ Circus ?” he asked.

“ Literal circus,” I confirmed.

He shook his head.

“ You should check it out if you’re headed to Dallas . Circus House ,” I suggested. “ Great place for the kids to run off some energy.”

“ Oh , I always wanted to go there,” I heard Bindi reply. “ But I guess there’s no point in going to a show like that anymore if I can’t see anything.”

That sucked, but she was right.

It’s not like she’d get anything out of sitting in a chair watching circus workers perform. It’s not like there was much talking during the show. Unless you were seated next to an asshole neighbor.

“ Thanks .” Bowen jerked his chin.

“ And thank you, ma’am.” I nodded at the soccer girl.

She waved and went to her grandfather, chattering animatedly about an apple pie that she wanted.

“ She told me about the apple pies when we were washing our hands,” Bindi said. “ I want one.”

We left with so many snacks that there was no way in hell we were going to get through them all.

But I enjoyed every second of her giving it a valiant effort.

“ We’re here,” I said an hour and a half later when we pulled into the address that Trance had given.

“ Where is here?” she asked as she unbuckled and started to get out of the car.

I let her since we were in a large parking area in the country.

“ Kilgore , Texas ,” I said as I walked around the truck and caught her hand. “ We’re here to visit a friend.”

The door to the house opened and a woman waved at me. “ Hey , Garrett , right?”

I nodded. “ That’s me.”

“ My dad’s on his way, but he had to stop for a couple more potty breaks than he was expecting because he has a potty-training puppy he’s dropping off with me.” She smiled. “ I’m Oakley Vineyard , Trance’s daughter.”

“ Garrett Carter . This is Bindi Howe ,” I introduced them. “ I’m …”

A rumbly sounding van pulled up and stopped somewhere behind us.