Lost for You (20 page)

Just as I’m about to leave my kitchen with some iced tea and sandwiches, my cell phone starts ringing. I answer it without looking at the screen, not even thinking about the fact that I’m supposed to be screening my calls.

“Hello?” I ask. There is only silence on the other end of the phone.

“Hello? Are you there?” I hear his heavy breathing. Okay, this is getting weird now.

“Listen, if you aren’t going to talk, then don’t ring me,” I say forcefully.

“You’ll get what’s coming Elise. I’ve waited this long to have you. It won’t be long now,” a low, creepy sounding voice announces over the phone before the call abruptly ends.

I pull the phone away from my ear, seeing “unknown number” staring back at me.

“Darlin’, what’s happening with-” Brax walks into the room, stopping when he sees me staring at my phone with a grim, confused look on my face. “Elle, what’s wrong?”

“I just had the creepiest call.”

His whole body stiffens before he springs into action. “Give me your phone,” he says with his hand outstretched. I place it in his upturned palm and move around his hand to wrap my arms around him, burrowing in close and resting my head on his chest, under his chin.

“It’s okay, Elle. You’re safe with me,” he says, his brows furrowed. “What did they sound like?”

“He had a really strange voice. At first it was just heavy breathing down the phone, then he said that he’d been waiting a long time and that he’d see me soon. Brax, this is starting to scare me.

I’m wound up so tightly. I can’t imagine how I’m going to relax enough to help Brax through Sylvia’s visit. Funny enough, though, I don’t feel the familiar crush in my chest when I have an impending panic attack. I’m shaken, sure, but I feel grounded, somewhat safe now, but only because Brax is by my side.

“Shay, can you trace a call that was just made to Elle’s cell a few minutes ago? You need any more info from me?........Yeah, it was an unknown number but you never know…..Okay, talk soon. Thanks, man.”

He moves his hand between our bodies, gently pulling us apart before placing his finger under my chin and lifting my gaze to his. “Shay’s got this, Elle. He’s dealing with that, and I’ve got you. We’re not going to let anyone hurt you again.”

Gently kissing my lips, he pulls back and smiles. “Now, are you still okay for Sylvia to come over, or shall we postpone?”

“Brax,” I say, giving him a knowing look. “If you’re not ready, you just need to say so.”

“Honestly, darlin’, I’m beyond ready. I just want to get past this shit, no, I need to get past it.”

Then, the intercom buzzer goes off.

This is it.

Time to find out how I came to be. Since I was two years old, I’ve always wondering what I did wrong and why my birth mother chose to abandon me to the foster care system. If it wasn’t for Mom and Dad adopting me, there is no way that I would be the same man today. But hey, don’t they say that your past doesn’t have to dictate your future?

Elle gives me a final quick kiss for good luck, “It’ll be fine, Brax. You’ll see,” she says encouragingly before walking towards the intercom and releasing the downstairs door lock.

I carry the food and drink into the living room, setting them up on the coffee table before sitting down on the couch. Elle goes outside onto the landing to meet Sylvia; probably trying to prepare her for the emotional get together that is about to take place.

She walks in and immediately locks her eyes on me. Her eyes are the same as the ones I’ve seen in my own reflection for the past twenty seven years. They’re identical to mine, along with her dark brown hair. It’s crazy and mind bending, like a piece of the Brax James puzzle just snapped back into place after being missing for so long.

“Hi, Braxton,” she says warmly, a mournful smile caressing her face. I can tell that she’s just as unsure about this as I am. In a way, that pisses me off.

“It’s Brax,” I say stoically. Fuck, this is already screwing with my head more than I thought it would. Seeing the woman who brought me into this world for the second time in two days is too much. Pull yourself together, man!

“Take a seat, Aunt Sylvie. Would you like a drink?” Elle asks, cutting through the awkward tension that has suddenly engulfed the room.

“Thank you, Elle. That would be lovely,” she replies.

Elle puts her hand on my shoulder as she walks past, giving a supportive squeeze; her way of letting me know she’s here for me. God, I love this woman.

“I don’t know what to say,” Sylvia begins. “I’ve been thinking about this moment for the last twenty-five years. There is so much to explain.”

“How about you start from the beginning,” I say quietly, willing my voice not to crack. Fuck, this is more emotional than I thought it would me. I need to take a concrete pill and harden the fuck up!

“Well, I met your father when I was employed as your brother Devon’s nanny when he was first born. He was such a sweet little boy, too. Everything was going fine until Michael Evans seduced me. I fell in love with that man overnight. He was powerful and debonair, yet caring and sweet to me. I was so naïve that I believed everything he told me,” she says, reminiscing.

“Go on,” I say, my voice sounding a bit stronger this time.

“Well, our affair continued for a few months before I found out I was pregnant with you. I don’t know how it happened-”

I scoff, which earns me a hand squeeze from Elle. “Brax, please let her explain. You need this,” she says, looking at Sylvia and urging her to continue.

“I wasn’t supposed to be able to have children. When I was eighteen, I found out that I had severe endometriosis and that it was likely that I’d never get pregnant. But then you came along, my little miracle.” She looks up at me, and I can see tears forming in her eyes.

Shit. If she loses it, I’ll probably lose it.

I look away from her to stop myself from cracking.

“Anyway, I told Michael that I was pregnant with his child. He was happy, of course. Over the moon, in fact, but he told me that he couldn’t leave Maria. He told me that she would not cope with a public divorce and the embarrassment that it would bring, so he persuaded me to quit and move into an apartment nearby. He said that he would visit us whenever he could, and that one day, we could all be a family.”

“And you believed the lying bastard?” I spit out, trying not to laugh. It’s not funny, but maybe laughing at the ridiculousness of this situation is the right way to deal with it. I mean, my birth mother is married to the man who wants to hurt Elle, the very woman who is now a huge part of my very fucking soul. And my birth father, Michael Evans, is corrupt as the day is long and filled Sylvia’s ear with more lies to cover his own ass. That man has balls the size of watermelons, I swear to god.

“Unfortunately, at that time I didn’t have a choice, Brax,” she answers sadly. “He was promising me the world as soon as he could leave his wife. After two years of midnight visits and increasingly absent phone calls, I’d had enough. I told him that I was leaving and that you and I were going to make a better life somewhere away from him. He lost it, threatening to tell everyone about our affair, and that he’d take you away from me. I couldn’t deal with that. I didn’t want him to tar you with his dirty brush, so I did the next best thing I could. I put you into the foster care system without Evan’s knowledge and skipped town.”

I look up at her. Her blue eyes that are full of sadness are also full of love. I know that look anywhere because it’s what I see in Elle’s eyes every time I look at her. And that is when it hits me. Sylvia giving me up was the best thing she could have done for me. I would never have been adopted by Leah and Roger, and I would have ended up in the same predicament as Devon, or worse.

‘I get it now. You did what you thought was the best for me at the time. And I was lucky. Leah & Roger James walking into that foster home turned out to be the best thing that could’ve ever happened to me. Until I met Elle, of course.” I look down at our entwined hands and lift them up, gently kissing the back of her hand as it clutches mine. “Maybe at some stage, I’d love to know how you ended up with an asshole like Harry Brimstone, but I think we’ve had enough of this girly shit for one day. How about we talk about the pink elephant in the room?”

“And that would be?” Elle says, raising her brow.

“What restaurant we’re going to for dinner,” I reply with a grin, leaning down and kissing her forehead.

I look over at Sylvia and take a deep breath, preparing myself for what I’m about to say.

“Sylvia, I appreciate your honesty, and I know that you’re an important part of Elle’s life. I’d like to find out more eventually, but it needs to be on my terms. One step at a time.”

She smiles back at me through her tears. “I’d like that, Brax. I really would like that,” she nods through her tears.

“Oh, Aunt Sylvie, don’t be sad. He truly is the most thoughtful, protective, and loving man I’ve ever met. I love him more than anything,” Elle says, rising to her feet and leaning over to Sylvia, enveloping her in a hug.

I can’t help but smile. My beautiful Elle, whose life has already been filled with heartache and tragedy, has just helped two of her favorite people in the world take a big step towards closure.

Damn, this girl is the best thing that ever happened to me.

It has been five weeks since I was shot in my bed, in my apartment. Five weeks since the safe self-contained bubble I thought I was living in was obliterated. I’ve gone from being in domesticated bliss, to having my heart ripped out, then being shot at. Now I’m back on an even playing field. Brax is back in my life, and he’s made all of the pain and heartache he put me through disappear. Despite the emotional turmoil I’ve been through in the past few weeks, I wouldn’t change it for the world. I’ve come out the other side a better person, albeit with my eyes opened a little wider.

Brax has totally opened himself up to me now. There are no more lies between us, he’s promised me that, and after everything we’ve been through I believe him. We’ve now got Devon added into our little unconventional family mix. Along with Shay, and yes, even Aunt Sylvie, we’re united against whatever threats we still may face.

I woke up this morning, excited to be returning back to school. I’ve been doing work from home just to keep up my GPA, and I have a couple of finals to make up, but overall I’m still on track, amazingly.

Rolling over in bed, I find Brax is not there. I can smell the delicious aroma of coffee filling the apartment. I swing my legs out of bed, put on my silk bath robe, and wander into the kitchen, finding a shirtless Brax pouring two coffees for us.

“Morning, sweetheart,” he says, not turning around. Talk about having a sixth sense.

“Morning,” I reply, still wiping the sleep from my eyes and getting my bearings. Early starts like this are going to take some getting used to, considering I haven’t used my alarm clock for six weeks. I reach my arms around him, giving his bare shoulder a light kiss before grabbing my cup and pulling it around him.

“I think I’ll keep you around,” I say with a grin.

“Is that so? I’ll have you know I have many other uses too,” he says with a smirk.

“I recall you showing me your other uses last night,” I say quietly against my steaming hot coffee cup.

“What was that? You enjoyed the use of my what?”

“Braxton James! I hope you don’t kiss your mother with that mouth! Oh, shit!” I say mortified.