Page 71 of Flirting With Forever
“I’m asking you right now,” he said, stabbing a finger at his brother to emphasize his point.
“She came to you as an attorney,” Alec said in a low voice, the words a thought-out statement rather than a question.
Dawson nodded but didn’t clarify, and Gage felt like his head was going to explode. His brother took his job and oaths seriously. He wouldn’t break them. And the fact that Sloane had gone to him in the first place?
Merida, what have you done?
“You said when she gets back. Does that mean she plans to return?” Cole asked.
Gage didn’t breathe as he waited for Dawson to answer, the lump of anger and anguish in his throat choking him.
“She said,” Dawson shifted his gaze to Gage, “she’d be back by Christmas, to keep you here in town, and to tell you…she still didn’t do casual. I take it you know what that means?”
Gage lowered himself to the stool when his legs gave out beneath him. He ground his head into his hands, emotions rolling through him faster than he could work through them.
“She still didn’t do casual.” Which meant he wasn’t just a one-night stand, and—maybe she shared the emotions dragging him under right now?
But he’d let himself hope once and look where it got him. Struggling to stay afloat when he was drowning in fear and anger and loss. She’d said she’d come back—but if she cared for him, why wouldn’t she allow him to help her? Be there for her? “She’s been acting weird since her brother showed up in town and demanded she go home with him. She’s in trouble. I feel it.”
“What kind of trouble?” Alec countered. “If she went to see Dawson just so she could leave you a message, maybe not.”
“Alec’s right. Her brother can make all the demands he wants, but she didn’t have to go anywhere she didn’t want to,” Cole said. “Dawson said she was alone. She left on her own. That means there’s nothing you can do. And at least you know she plans to come back. That’s something.”
“Or nothing,” he muttered.
“What do you mean?” Cole asked.
“Is she coming back? Or was that just her way of getting a head start? Another lie?” Gage looked up at Cole. “Maybe she didn’t go back to Chicago at all. She could’ve just said that so everyone would think she’s on her way home—and to keep me here, but she could be heading somewhere else entirely.”
“Or she could be doing exactly what she said she’s doing,” Dawson said as he moved deeper into the building.
“Do you think her brother forced her? Kidnapped her?” Alec asked, looking murderous at the thought.
“I just told all of you that she went on her own,” Dawson said. “No one was with her. She was driving her car.”
Gage thought about the events of the night before and shook his head, knowing Dawson was right. Sloane had known she was leaving. That’s why she’d said goodbye the way she had.
“Sloane seemed clearheaded,” Dawson continued. “She was…determined. And I believe she meant it when she said she’d be back by Christmas.”
The door to the building opened again, and Noah Harrington walked inside.
Alec and Cole converged on Gage in an instant to keep him from rushing the man and pounding the answers out of him.
“Whoa. Did I come at a bad time?” Noah asked in a sardonic tone and raised an eyebrow at Gage, now being restrained.
“You,” Gage growled.
Noah’s gaze narrowed even more. “I take it my baby sister is gone.”
Gage let out a string of curses, and it took both his brothers to hold him.
“If I were you, I’d leave before they turn him loose and we all see you accidentally take a tumble into some shelving,” Dawson drawled.
Noah held up his hands and stepped back toward the door.
“You spooked her,” Gage called out. “What did you say to her? Huh? What did you say?”
Noah paused and met Gage’s gaze.
