Page 51 of Mine to Love
Or the diner.
No one had seen him.
And Miles’ mother didn’t think it was a good idea for her to go to Charlie’s house or his place of business and ask him where the fuck her little brother was. Rebecca believed that was a police matter.
Miles agreed.
Liberty wasn’t sure if she was on that same page. There was a small part of her that couldn’t believe Charlie would do a single thing to hurt Gabriel. Only, Charlie had proven time after time that he was a manipulative son of a bitch who would do anything to get what he wanted.
And for whatever reason, he wanted her.
But she couldn’t understand why and pitting Gabriel against her wasn’t the way to do it. Not anymore.
“Maybe he came home.” Miles wrapped his arm around her shoulders.
She shrugged it off. “I’ve tried texting and calling. He’s not answering. He hasn’t done that in a long time.” She jogged up the steps of her porch and unlocked her front door. “Gabriel? Are you in here?” She searched every inch of her house, but there was no sign of her brother.
He wasn’t even in his room playing video games, which often calmed his nerves. She ran her fingers over her brother’s unmade bed. Gabriel was a creature of habit. He liked things to be neat and orderly. He never left his room without pulling his comforter over the mattress. She tugged it toward the pillows and something fell to the floor.
His phone.
She reached over and picked it up. That cell was his lifeline. He liked to have it with him at all times. Mostly because he liked to text her about everything he learned at the shop. Sometimes he texted her fifteen or twenty times a day. It warmed her heart.
But then there was Charlie. Cutting her brother off from him had been difficult, but necessary.
She barreled down the stairs, wondering where the hell Miles had gone since he hadn’t followed her inside.
She opened the front door and slumped into one of the chairs.
Miles emerged from his garage. “He’s not at my place.” He held his cell in his hands, tapping away on his screen. “My mom and Nathan should be at Charlie’s house and Emmett and Chris texted that they just pulled into his place of business. We should know more about that within the half hour.”
“I found Gabriel’s phone. He didn’t take it with him.” She set the cell on the table. “It’s locked and I don’t know the passcode.”
Miles lifted it and ran his finger over the top. “I can see all our calls and texts, but there are some here from a number I don’t recognize.” He held it up. “Is this Charlie?”
She glanced at it. “Yeah. That’s him.”
“We’ll need to give this to my mom,” Miles said. “I doubt she’ll be able to legally hack into it, but she might let Rhett give it a whirl unofficially, and then maybe we can read the communication.”
“We’ve only lived here for two and a half months. He doesn’t know his way around that well. Only through town and maybe to Emmerson’s place.” She hugged her knees. “I should have never told him the truth.”
Miles sat down next to her and took her hand.
“Don’t touch me.” She jerked it away.
He raised his hands. “I’m only trying to help.”
“If you had left last night, none of this would have happened.” She dropped her head to her knees and groaned. Deep down she didn’t mean those words, but she needed to blame someone and Miles was right there. Only he didn’t really deserve it. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I didn’t mean that.”
“No. It’s okay. I’m sure me strolling outside half-naked didn’t help matters and I did lose my shit when your ex-husband called me a grease monkey, stupid, and your pet project all in one breath.”
“He’s an asshole and none of those things are true, except maybe one, but I don’t see how that’s an insult. You’re the bestat what you do and there’s nothing wrong with your profession. Charlie doesn’t know shit about cars. Hell, he can’t even change a fucking tire.” She dropped her feet to the floor. “Gabriel knew my old phone number by heart. And he is good with numbers, so I feel confident he knows this one. But if he’s frightened, people won’t know how to respond to him.”
“He couldn’t have gotten far on foot,” Miles said. “Half the town is looking for him. We will find him.”
“What the hell did he want to ask Charlie anyway and what did he mean when he said he had the answers now?”
“I don’t pretend to know Gabriel better than you, but if I had to guess, he wanted to catch Charlie in a lie. He wanted to take what you told him and try to see how Charlie would spin it. Gabriel has always been on your side and I think perhaps he saw through his shit.”
