“It’s just after one. I’m supposed to fly out in the morning and needed to pick up some papers that I left here. I thought I could be in and out without bothering you guys. Suzy let me make some calls. This just isn’t Gray. Something must have happened.”
Fatigue was bearing down on her fast. She wanted nothing more than to slip under the covers and bury herself in the bed until she stopped hurting again. She gave Nick the best smile that she could manage and let him help her up from the chair. Her muscles were stiff from hours of sitting. He held onto her arm as she made her way to the bedroom and softly closed the door. She was safe in here. She didn’t have to look into Nick’s sympathy filled eyes. Or were they filled with pity instead? She didn’t even bother to undress; she simply pulled the covers back and curled up in a ball in the bed. Sweet oblivion reached out to claim her as she drifted of to sleep with a heart so heavy it was almost hard to breathe.
~~~
Nick paced the length of the living room as he reached his brother’s voice mail yet again. What in the hell was going on? There was no way Gray would abandon Suzy on her birthday without a damn good reason or at least he better hope he had one. He’d gotten pretty attached to her since he’d moved in to help out. He’d never let anyone hurt her and that included his brother. Just as Suzy had said, Gray wasn’t answering his phone nor returning his messages or texts.
With a sigh of resignation, Nick knew it was time to bring out the big guns. He was going to be forced to call his parents and see if they knew what was going on. It was either that or take off to Charleston himself. Too bad he hadn’t saved Reva’s number all those times she’d called him looking for his brother. Surely he wasn’t with her, though. Just the thought of it made him sick.
Nick walked outside onto the balcony to make the call to his parents. He didn’t want Suzy to overhear the call in case something had happened. He was grateful to hear his dad’s voice on the other end of the line. As he explained the situation, he could hear the concern in his father’s voice as he fired off a series of questions. Nick answered everything he could, which wasn’t much. His father promised to do some checking and call him back.
A bad feeling settled over him. He didn’t think his brother was hurt, but he did think he was in trouble. There was no way his brother could love someone like Gray loved Suzy and at least not call her to let her know what was happening. You just didn’t leave someone you loved hanging like that. Man, where was Gray going with all of this? He was very close to losing Suzy if he hadn’t already.
Nick jumped when his cell phone rang. His father skipped all small talk and got right to the point. “I called Reva’s parents when I couldn’t get any answers elsewhere. Apparently Reva was in a car accident earlier tonight and is in the hospital. Gray is there with her. Everything appears to be fine now. She just has some bruises and they’re monitoring the baby’s vitals. I guess they were all pretty worried earlier when it happened.” Then releasing a weary breath, he said, “This is a damn fine mess isn’t it?”
“That’s an understatement if I‘ve ever heard one, Dad. Good lord, what is the world coming to when I’m starting to look like the considerate one in the family. I don’t care what happened, he should’ve called Suzy. It’s not like Gray to be such a prick.”
“I know son. Gray’s lost though. He’s always been a stickler about doing the right thing.” With a chuckle, he continued, “I have no idea where he gets that from.” They both knew that Gray was a carbon copy of him and that Nick was more like his mother. “I know he loves Suzy, but I don’t know if they can survive this mess. Gray will never walk away from Reva if that’s his baby and if she throws any kind of guilt at him then his sense of honor will demand he do what he thinks is right.
“I hear you snorting over there son, but you’re not so different. You may play hard, but you have as much honor as your brother. If you didn’t, we wouldn’t be having this conversation because you wouldn’t have bothered to call looking for Gray. Just do me a favor, son, learn a lesson from this. If you have to keep sleeping around, buy some damn decent condoms.”
“Dad, God can we please not discuss this now? We had this conversation once before and I never, ever want to discuss it again, ok?”
Nick smiled at his father’s first genuine laughter since their conversation had started. “You got it, but if you screw up, we will be having it again. I’ll talk to you tomorrow. Love you, son.”
He made another call because unlike his brother, he’d no intention of leaving his woman to wonder what had happened to him. He briefly explained the situation and then decided to sleep on the couch for what was left of the night. He didn’t want to bother Suzy if she was actually asleep, but he wanted to be close in case she woke and wanted to know what he’d found out. He couldn’t stand the thoughts of two Merimon brothers abandoning her tonight.