Page 48 of Lost in the Light

“Okay then,” she exhaled with a sigh. “What now then?”

“How about we all curl up with a movie and wait for your brothers to come home?” Adam proposed, easing some of the tension in the room.

“I spoke with Max. He’s going to see what he can find out and call me back,” Addy explained as she held up her cell which was in her hand.

She looked between us all nervously and started to fidget. I knew she was getting anxious about whether we should do something more, now that our relationship was officially in the works. Hell, I was anxious too. All I wanted to do was sweep her up into my arms and kiss her, just the way I had been wishing to, ever since that day in Central Park, what felt like months ago now, but was actually just over a week ago.

“Ash and Eli will be fine. Come and help me get snacks for the movie. If we leave it up to these two we’ll be snacking on Kale and chickpeas,” I joked, animatedly pointing a thumb at Kane and Ad.

“Fine, but go easy on the candy. I don’t want to feel as sick as I did last time we did this,” Addy stipulated as she got to her feet, her cell clutched firmly in her hand.

She was obviously worried sick about Ash and Eli. We all were. If they had merely been questioned they should have been back hours ago. If the cops had tried to pin something on them both, they could have been arrested already, with no way to reach out to us to let us know. I just hoped Addy’s contact came through with some info soon, or Addy was going to lose the control she was fighting so hard to hold on to, and I, for one, did not want to witness the woman I cared so deeply for, breaking all over again.She needed a fucking break and I’d do anything I could to see she was given it.

CHAPTER 14

ADDY

I was awoken by the shrill ring of my cell phone. It was a noise I still hadn’t gotten used to. I’d had a phone before I was taken, but it never rang, since there was no one to call me unless there was an emergency at the library and they needed me to go in.

I sat up, flustered as I grabbed for my cell phone from the coffee table, almost kicking Jordan in my rush to get my feet free from where he held them in his lap. I had been laid between he and Adam all night, watching the two movies we chose, then eventually dropping off, too tired to fight it any longer.

Both Jord and Adam had offered to switch out with Kane who was sitting in the armchair off to the side, but he had refused, saying he was fine where he was. I worried about him and his agreement to this whole relationship between us all, but I also reminded myself he had told us he would need to get used to it all. We’d need to give him that time. What we were all entering into was far from a conventional situation and there’d be plenty of hurdles along the way.

“Max!” I cried into the phone the second I answered the call.

“Sorry it’s so late, Addy,” he sighed tiredly.

“It’s fine. I was waiting up anyway. Did you learn anything new?” I asked hopefully.

Adam and Jordan, who must have been snoozing too, sat up at either side of me, Adam wrapping his arm around me as Jordan placed his warm hand on my thigh, the both of them yawning and stretching as they moved.

“Asher and Eli haven’t been arrested for anything so far. They’re still just being questioned for now.”

“How can they be questioned for so long? Surely they should be home by now?”

“I only managed to speak with Asher’s attorney briefly, but from what he told me, I get the feeling the police are trying hard to pin something on your brothers. They had a witness statement that Asher and Eli were seen outside the family home the morning before it burnt down,” Max explained.

“Well, the witness is lying! Asher and Eli were both home that morning. Asher pulled Kane from the explosion at our security office!”

“Asher was able to provide security footage that proved just that, so the police had to drop that line, but it doesn’t seem to have deterred them though. They are sure Asher and Eli must have known something was going on in that house,” Max told me.

“What can I do to help them, Max? I just want them to be able to come home. They’ve already been through too much,” I cried defeatedly.

“Well, Asher told his attorney ‘absolutely not’ but if you gave a statement about your memories of seeing Joseph Lyle at the party you were taken to, and also gave a statement that Asher and Eli were absolutely at home the morning of the arson, it may help them out of this mess a little sooner,” Max told me reluctantly.

“Which police station?” I demanded, already pissed with Asher for trying to protect me, at his and Eli’s detriment. While the idea of making a statement, or even being in a police station again terrified me, I would do it for my brothers. I would do anything for them. I was stronger than Asher realized.

As soon as I had the name of the police station, and the name of the detective I would need to ask for, I thanked Max and hung up.

“I need to go to the station and make a statement. We’re going now,” I said firmly to the guys as they all waited for me to say something. “I’ll grab my coat.” I was on my feet and halfway down the hall to my room before Kane caught up with me, the others right behind him.

“Hold on!” Kane barked as he grabbed my arm and pulled until I faced him. “What statement?”

“Max says the cops are hell bent on pinning something on Asher and Eli, but that my statement could help them get out faster, so I’m going. Are you coming or should I use the Uber app I downloaded last week?”

“A statement saying what, Addy?” Adam pushed.

“About the memories I have of Joseph, and also to alibi Asher and Eli for the morning of the arson at their family home. The cops are trying to pin that on them, even though Asher gave them the surveillance footage proving they were home with us,” I explained quickly. Before anyone could ask anything else I ripped my arm from Kane’s grasp and went to my room to grab my coat, and the wallet, which Eli had given me just last week. He and Asher had set up a bank account for me, which they had both made me promise to use for anything and everything I needed or wanted. While I had been reluctant to take it, I knewit was an argument I wasn’t going to win, so I had stowed it in my purse, which Eli had also bought for me, despite my protests. Now I’d use the bank card if I needed to, determined to order an Uber if that were the only way I could get to the police station.

---