Page 89 of Something Tattered
"How many do you have, anyway?"
He glanced toward Bishop. "Too many."
In my view, there was no such thing. I would've loved to have a brother, arealbrother – or better yet, more than one. I looked from one guy to the other. "You know, you guys really should be nicer to each other."
In unison, they both made the exact same scoffing sound. And for some reason, that made me laugh. "See? You're more alike than you realize."
But Joel was shaking his head. "No. I'm nothing like those pricks."
Well, that was interesting – and yeah, kind of rude, actually.
I looked to Bishop. He looked utterly unfazed.
In a surprisingly calm voice, Bishop said, "Well,thisprick needs to talk to you.Now." His gaze shifted to me. "And preferably somewhere else."
I gave him an irritated look. "Don't you think that's kind of rude?"
"I'm not being rude. I'm doing you a favor."
Now, it was my turn to scoff. "Some favor."
Bishop looked to Joel. "Are you coming or not?"
"Forget it," Joel said. "I'm not going anywhere."
"Alright." Bishop shrugged. "You wanna discuss it here? Fine by me." He smiled. "I left Jake down the road. My guess? He'll be here in five, ten minutes. But hey, you do what you want."
My gaze snapped to Joel. From the look on his face, he was thinking the exact same thing I was."Well, this is just great."
Chapter 41
Three hours later, Joel still hadn't returned. I felt my teeth grinding as I recalled what he'd said just before getting into his brother's car, leaving his own car parked in my driveway.
"I'll be back in a few."
For the hundredth time, I parted the front curtains and looked out over the darkened driveway.A few what? Years?
At this point, I didn't know whether to be worried or angry. Already, I'd called him twice. But he hadn't answered, and I hated the thought of calling him again.
After all, I wasn't his girlfriend or anything, and obviously, there was more to this situation than I knew. But why hadn't he called? Or at least sent me text? Was itthathard, to say,"Sorry, I'm running late."
For the tenth time, I pulled out my cell phone and stared down at the screen.Ring, damn it.
Suddenly, it did.
Startled, I dropped the stupid thing and winced as it hit the hardwood floor. I dove down and swooped it up, only to feel my shoulders sag. The phone was fine, but the caller wasn't Joel. It was Cassie.
Normally, I'd be happy to hear from her. But not tonight.
I answered with a distracted, "Hello?"
She hesitated. "Did I wake you? Oh, crap. I did, didn't I?"
"No. Not at all." But Iwassurprised to hear from her so late. I glanced at the nearby clock. It was past midnight. "Is something wrong?"
"Actually, yeah." She sighed. "Sorry to call so late, but there's a problem at the shop."
"What kind of problem?"
