Page 11 of Impulsive Saint
“Hey! I didn’t bail.” Tyler cut in. “And if Vaughn has a problem with me, that’s between me and him. He’s my brother, I don’t need you going to bat for me.”
Tyler turned away from the storefront and glared out at the passing cars on the highway. He wanted to throw his phone into the oncoming traffic and watch it burst into a thousand tiny pieces. Nobody had the power to make him angry the way his oldest brother did and it wasn’t even Vaughn on the other end of the phone. It was just the mere mention of his brother from Blake and the reminder that of course Vaughn hadn’t trusted him to take the job seriously. Vaughn didn’t trust Tyler to replace the toilet paper in the All Saints Security office bathrooms.
“Are you really yelling at me right now?” Blake snapped.
“I’m sorry, man. I’m just sick of Vaughn undermining me.” Tyler forced a deep calming breath.
“Focus, Ty. We have bigger issues than your brother right now. This wedding is a fucking disaster.”
There was the sound of someone shouting on the other end of the phone and Tyler tried to make out what was being said. The traffic was too loud on his end. He heard Blake shout something back about securing a captain and wondered if he was talking about Aaron Laughlin, a.k.a Captain America, a.k.a the man that Ashtyn had left at the altar.
“Tyler, you there?” Blake came back on the line.
“Yeah, I’m here.”
“Good, I need your help with the bride’s mother. Take the ex-Mrs. Echols back to the Senator’s house and wait with her until we have word on her daughter. Isaac is dealing with Laughlin and Vaughn is busy with the Senator right now so I need to start looking for the girl.”
“No.” Tyler shook his head even though Blake couldn’t see him. “No, I’m not there. I meant, I’m here like, I’m here, on the phone still.”
“Oh.” Blake paused, “So you’re not here? You did bail on the wedding?”
“No, I mean yes, I mean… damnit, I don’t know what you want me to say.”
“I want you to say that you’re here to help. We’ve lost the bride, Ty. She’s missing.”
“She’s not missing.” Tyler told him.
“Yes, she is.” Blake argued, “Her best friend thinks she ran but the Senator swears someone must have taken her because she’d never do something so reckless.”
Reckless. There was that word again. Tyler frowned. Maybe it had been reckless for Ashtyn to get on the back of his motorcycle but she had been safe with him the whole time, even if she hadn’t known that. She’d spent her entire life being the opposite of reckless and she made one choice for herself and already they were trying to tag her with the reckless label.
No way, not on his watch. He felt oddly protective of her.
“Blake, she’s not missing.”
“Are you even listening to me?”
“Yes. Now it’s your turn, so shut up and listen to me.” he snapped, dragging a hand through his hair. “Ashtyn isn’t missing.”
“Yes, she is…”
“No, she’s not. She’s with me.” he all but yelled into the phone and then caught himself and sighed, only instead of Blake’s booming voice on the other end of the line cutting him off this time, all he heard was silence. It was quiet for so long that he finally cleared his throat, “Uh, hello?”
“Yeah I’m here.” The hard voice was almost deadly even now. “I’m just trying to figure out if I heard you correctly.”
“You did. She’s with me.”
“Explain.” Blake growled into the phone.
“Well, I was late for the wedding and I tried texting but you didn’t answer so I parked my bike in the back alley and figured I’d keep an eye on that door. She did run, like her friend said, but she didn’t go far. She asked me for a ride so I agreed to get here out of there. She’s with me and she’s safe, just like she’s been the whole time. I assure you she isn’t missing.”
Blake groaned, “She ran?”
“Yes.”
“But she’s with you?”
“Yes.”
