Page 73 of Veiled in Brick

Cassie shook her shiny brunette head. “Nah. Slammed the door in his face once he admitted he had me fuckin’ followed.”

“Followed?” Liam asked, and I felt my body stiffen at the word.

“Mhm, said he couldn’t find me,” she replied. “Which, he couldn’t, ’cause I left town and even if he had a phone like a normal fuckin’ human being, I would’ve blocked his ass by now.”

“Back up—what do you mean, followed?” Liam pressed.

“I mean, he showed up saying something like, ‘Oh, you owe me for bringing you into this world,’” Cassie spoke in a raspy voice that, I assumed, was meant to be Carter, and then switched right back to her own tone, “And I was like, ‘Um, no I don’t, get your raggedy ass out of here,’ and then he said,” her raspy voice returned, “‘Ya left me high and dry, my guy took weeks to find you.’”

“His guy?” Liam sneered. “What guy?”

Cassie snorted. “I don’t fuckin’ know, someone he paid to find me.” She sipped at her mug. “Some creeper in the shadows, trackin’ me down.”

At the last sentence, the color drained from Liam’s face. “What?”

“I know. He complains about having no money, tries to force us to take care of his ass, and then he spends whatever he has on—”

“Did you ever see him?” Liam crossed his arms over his chest.

“Huh? No, no—never even knew about it until Carter mentioned it.”

“No weird packages delivered to your place?”

Cassie tilted her head to the side. “Ah, no. Why?” Liam glanced to me and then back to his sister. The tension in his gaze was so palpable that Cassie pushed herself upward to sit at attention. “What’s going on?”

Liam sighed loudly, reached for his coffee, and appeared to be considering his words as he took a rather large gulp. He took his time in setting the mug down, his face scrunched together as if he didn’t want to speak on the subject at all, and I took the liberty of announcing:

“I have a stalker.”

Cassie’s pretty face whipped to mine. “A stalker?”

“Been leaving me anonymous roses,” I grumbled. “With little notes.”

“Oh. Well, that’s creepy,” Cassie remarked.

Liam narrowed his eyes at me. “You’re leaving out the part where he tried to rape you in the street.”

I shifted the weight on my sit bones from one cheek to the other at his blunt phrasing, and Cassie’s eyebrows shot up. “Uh—what the fuck?”

“I was getting to that part,” I said with a groan.

“And that he broke into your apartment,” Liam continued, his gaze stuck on mine. “Two days ago. Like I said—we’ve been busy.”

“Fuck,” Cassie muttered, looking at me before she said, “That’s a lot. Are you okay?” I nodded, and she asked, “Did you call the cops?”

Liam rolled his eyes and brought his mug to his lips once more. “Don’t get me started on Randy.”

“Is Randy a cop?” she questioned, and Liam looked at her with a quick glare. She ventured, “Randy is…a useless cop?” Liam exhaled heavily at her question, and she nodded in telepathic understanding. “Got it.”

“He basically took a bunch of notes and said to let him know if anything progresses,” Liam complained, gripping the handle on his mug tightly.

“Well, I don’t exactly have a good description of the guy, I don’t know what he’s supposed to do with that,” I reminded him.

“No?” Cassie looked my way. “You didn’t get a good look at him?”

I shook my head. “Only one who actually saw him was my coworker—nothing she said is ringing any bells and he just sounds like…I dunno, a regular-looking guy around our age.” My phone rang from the couch. I pushed myself to stand, ambled over to it, and told Liam with a wave of my hand, “Catch her up, go ahead.” I answered my phone without looking at the caller ID. “Hello?”

“Child of mine,” a woman’s voice crooned.

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