Page 9 of Brick (Chosen Few #5)

B rick relaxed a little. They were getting somewhere. Whether he could trust Natalie or not was a different story, and he needed to find out for the sake of his son.

At least she hadn’t denied him that truth.

“Do you have any more questions?” The softness to her voice pained him.

He fought the urge to reach for her hand. He didn’t have a right to touch her, and should be too damn pissed to try. But her large, glassy eyes took away some of his steam.

She didn’t appear high or drunk, so he assumed she was telling the truth about not using. He needed to know what the hell the charges were about, but he also needed to get the child to safety immediately. Even if the kid wasn’t his, he didn’t want the boy in danger.

Problem was, he’d been in such a rush that he’d taken a commercial flight and hadn’t brought any weapons. “Do you think Bray is in danger right now?”

She chewed her bottom lip. “Under normal circumstances, I’d say no. But nothing about this is normal.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, Keetan has never hit Bray. He’s been short with him, has yelled and things like that.

But he’s never tried to harm him. He’s never threatened his life either, but everything changed last night.

” She hugged herself tightly. “As much as I want to believe Keetan wouldn’t hurt a child, I can’t be sure and I don’t like the uncertainty. ”

“Has he hit you before?”

She swallowed. “He’s been... rough. But he’s never done anything to this extent before,” she said, waving toward her cheek.

“Where does he live?”

She straightened. “I don’t want you to go there.”

“You said that.”

“You don’t understand. He’s completely crazy. I wouldn’t be surprised if he shot at you. I need to be the one to go.”

“Not a chance.”

She gaped at him. “You can’t just come in here and tell me how to approach this. Bray’s my—Our son. I know him and Keetan better than anyone. I know what’s best.”

“You know them, but you don’t know me.”

“He’s absolutely insane.”

“So am I,” he countered.

She slumped. “Bray will be scared, terrified if you go there and fight with Keetan.”

“He’ll be safe. Once we’re both out of there he’ll start to learn who I am, and hopefully I’ll gain his trust the more time I spend with him.” Because I was robbed of the first years of his life.

Natalie laced her fingers. God, he hated the bruise on her cheek. It looked as though she’d tried and failed to cover the swollen blue area with makeup. Her lips sported a scab, and bags hung beneath her eyes. He didn’t doubt she was in pain.

The fact that a man had laid hands on her made his temper ratchet up a notch. The fact that this man was a cop made Brick see fucking red. He’d relish storming the bastard’s house and pummeling the shit out of him. Of course he’d make sure Bray wasn’t around for that.

“Then what happens to me?” Natalie’s feathery voice fisted his heart. “With the allegations he’s given the police, I’ll go to jail. I can’t leave Bray. He needs me.”

By the sound of it, Natalie was the only stable person in their son’s life. That was about to change, but the fact remained that for Bray, his mother was home, comfort, and safety. Everything he knew and breathed was Natalie. “If you don’t tell me more, I can’t help.”

She shook her head. “You can’t help in this area anyway.”

He compressed his lips. She didn’t know what he was capable of. Although he didn’t have connections with the Detroit Police Department, he surely knew someone who did.

“So what do you propose here?” he said, to keep his patience in check. He was running out of it. “What was your plan before I arrived, besides meeting with your sister?”

Her throat moved on a swallow, and she dropped her gaze.

His instincts buzzed. “Natalie?” he pressed.

“I was going to talk to Ellie for moral support and, well, for backup if things didn’t go as planned.”

“What did you have planned?” he asked, as calmly as his growing anger would allow.

She finally lifted her gaze. “To give Keetan what he wants. Which is me. He wants me back, to beg for his forgiveness. He wants me scared, and he wants me under his roof.”

Hot air spiraled from his nostrils. “And you were just going to do that? Go back to a fucking abuser?”

“To protect Bray? Absolutely.”

“The guy beat the shit out of you. Did Bray see that?”

Her bottom lip trembled, and she nodded.

He balled his hands into fists. “I don’t have a crystal ball,” he said, enunciating his words.

“But I know that once a man hits a woman for the first time, there’s never a last. Unless she ends up dead.

He did it once, he’ll do it again. And as Bray gets older, he’ll try to protect you.

” He spoke as if he were allowing her the choice to return to Keetan, but there was no way in fucking hell she was going back to that dead man.

No way in hell he’d let his son be raised like that.

“I know that,” she hissed, without venom. “I also know what he’s capable of. Going back is just a temporary solution so I can keep Bray close to me while I figure out something else.”

“Then what was Ellie for?”

Natalie lay her shaking fingers against her lips, as if attempting to hold in her words. Then she curled her fingers beneath her chin. “In case Keetan was too far gone. Then Ellie would have a chance to get to Bray.”

He gave one nod. “Well, I’m happy to blow that plan to hell.”

She froze. “I wasn’t asking your permission. There’s no other way.”

“There is. I told you—I will get our son.”

“Brick.” Her voice rose to almost a shriek. “Are you prepared to go in there today? Right now? Because you have no idea how many men he has there. You don’t know a thing about Keetan, and even if I told you everything I know, it still wouldn’t cover that man’s current mental state.”

He could buy guns. That wasn’t a problem. But he didn’t have backup. While he was confident taking on multiple men, he wasn’t willing to risk a little boy’s life, either. He needed his team.

Natalie placed a hand on his wrist, her gaze imploring. “I need to get to Bray now. We can’t waste another minute. I’m fairly confident Keetan just wants me back.”

“Then why didn’t he just take you last night?”

She let out a breath of exasperation. “It’s all head games with him. Control. He knows I’ll come for Bray and he knows I won’t risk him getting taken again.”

Brick didn’t shake off her hold. But he also didn’t take her hand even though part of him wanted to. He had to fucking think. His team could get a private flight to Detroit today, but it would take about six hours for them to get organized and make the trip.

Which was a long time for a two-year-old to be without his mother. Especially under the circumstances. The kid would be terrified. And Bray’s mood could affect Keetan’s.

“Please understand,” she said. “I will get out, and I promise you’ll get to have a relationship with him. That’s—” Her voice broke. “That’s what I’ve prayed for since I found out I was pregnant.”

This time, he pulled away. He didn’t want to hear that shit. That she’d wanted him there but had been too... what? Scared? Too cowardly to even tell him?

He paced the room, opening and closing his fists as he walked.

“Look.” Natalie got to her feet and intercepted his path.

“I know you think I’m a trainwreck. Your opinions are valid.

But I love my son more than anything.” She sniffled and brought her fingers to the center of her chest as if she needed to hold her heart in place.

“Life hasn’t been rainbows for us, but he’s a smart, happy little boy.

” Her voice broke again. Tears ran down her cheeks.

She swiped at her eyes. “He loves swimming and cars. His favorite thing to do is fix things around the house with a pretend tool kit. He sleeps like a champ and eats nonstop.”

Brick’s heart strings fucking snapped.

Her lips wobbled on a smile, and love sparkled in her eyes. “He has a vast vocabulary and loves to sing. He can—”

He caught her in his arms and pulled her to his chest. Her body went rigid and then melted against his. “I’m sorry you’ve been alone,” he whispered against her hair. He cupped the back of her head and wrapped his other arm tightly around her.

She curled her hands beneath her cheek and her shoulders shook.

“You’re not a trainwreck. You love our son, and I’m glad he’s had you, even if I couldn’t be part of his life.”

She seemed to curve into herself. “I wish I’d called you. I was so scared of him—”

“Shh,” he said, gently stroking the nape of her neck. “We don’t need to talk about that right now. Let’s get our boy back and figure out the rest later.”

He couldn’t imagine returning to life as he’d known it. There was no going back.

***

While Brick stepped outside to make some calls, Natalie took her phone out of her purse and sank into one of the chairs. She winced at the handful of concerned texts and a missed call from Ellie. She dialed her sister’s number—she didn’t keep contacts in the burner phone.

“What the hell happened?” Ellie demanded.

“I’m sorry. Something came up.”

Ellie sighed. “I was worried when you didn’t return my messages. I’m at the restaurant. Are you on your way?”

She grimaced. “Um, I have a visitor and I’m not so sure I can leave right now. Bray’s father is here.”

Ellie gave a low gasp. “W-What? You called him? Wait, does he know ?”

“He does now,” she said. “And no, I didn’t call him. He found me.”

“Holy crap,” Ellie said, exhaling. Her sister was the first person she’d told when she discovered she was pregnant.

Ellie had been insistent that Natalie find Brick, but she’d refused. Back then, she’d been so scared of Keetan. Hell, she still was. And she hadn’t known Brick. By the time she’d taken a pregnancy test, their magical one-night stand was a distant memory—nothing but a stardust-filled fantasy.

Maybe if she hadn’t slipped out of the bed and run away, things would have been different.

But she’d had no choice. When she woke, she’d found a message from Keetan promising that he’d go to the cops if she didn’t return home.

He’d been blackmailing her for years because of one mistake, and there was no way out from beneath his thumb.

Brick was pissed, upset, hurt. But as they’d talked, his fury had seemed to diminish. He hadn’t threatened her, or raised a hand. As a matter of fact, he’d been gentle.

Having his arms around her was a comfort she’d forgotten existed. In truth, the last time a man had held her like that had been their night in Fargo.

He might never forgive her, but he’d also shown her kindness and wanted to step up to support Bray. She just couldn’t let him get hurt. She hadn’t been kidding when she said Keetan was crazy.

“He must be reeling.”

Her sister’s words hit Natalie in the gut. Ellie had insisted on more than one occasion that it wasn’t fair to keep Bray’s father in the dark regarding his son’s existence.

It wasn’t as if she’d planned to never tell him, but the more time had dragged out, the more ashamed she’d been and the harder it’d been to contact him. Add in her tumultuous, toxic situation with Keetan and her life was a shitstorm.

“He is. But he wants to help get Bray.”

“I sincerely hope you jumped on that offer. We could use a little extra muscle.” Ellie’s comment would have made her smile if the situation had been different. Brick certainly came with “extra muscle.”

Just the memory of his rock-solid arms wrapped around her gave her an ounce more comfort. She’d expected his embrace as much as she’d expected him to confront her in the parking lot. But that didn’t mean she hadn’t liked it.

A deep ache opened up inside her. All these years could have been so different, her son’s life could have been so different, if she hadn’t been so stupid. “We’re discussing that.”

The door opened and Brick strode inside, his gaze intent. She gave him a weak smile, and he slowed.

“Can I come by? I don’t know if you need me anymore, but the more people we have to get Bray out safely, the better.”

They hadn’t yet formulated a plan, but it sounded as if Brick understood that they had to go to Keetan’s ASAP. “Yeah, that’s fine.” She shared the name of the hotel and the room number and hung up.

“Who was that?”

“Ellie. She wants to come here. I hope you don’t mind.”

He dropped into the chair across from her again. “Doesn’t matter.” He brushed his knuckles over his jaw as he studied her. “I reached my team. Right now, we can spare only two men. Zain and Taschen—they’re soon-to-be brothers-in-law—will be here in about six hours.”

She glanced at the clock. She needed to see her son. “That’s amazing. I’m really grateful they’re coming to help. I just—I need to go there.”

Brick’s heavy gaze landed on hers. He folded his arms across his chest, making his shoulders and biceps appear impossibly large. “I don’t want him to be scared a minute longer than he already has. But know that I’m coming there and will get you both out.”

She fought the urge to knot her hands together and flattened her hands on her knees. “Just be warned. He’s a loose cannon.”

“I don’t give a fuck what he is, who he is, or who he thinks he is.” Brick leaned forward, and his mocha-colored eyes brewed with fire. “He’s gonna learn who the fuck I am.”

Natalie rolled in her lips as heat flamed her cheeks. Arousal tickled her lower abdomen. Turns out she found tough, assertive men extremely attractive. “Okay,” she whispered. “Just don’t scare Bray if you can help it.”

His face softened. “That’s why you’ll be there, too.”

She shifted her gaze to the dingy, worn carpet.

“Natalie.” His deep voice probed her resolve. “What are you thinking?”

Fear threatened to suck her in and spit her out. She wanted to believe things would go smoothly, that Keetan just wanted her to come back to him. But the guy was twisted—that was the reality. She’d been down this road before. The last time she left Keetan, she’d made it all the way to Fargo.

He’d either pull her into his arms and apologize, as he’d done then, or he’d beat her. He might even have her arrested. After Fargo, he’d made her pay. Sure, he’d been nice and remorseful at first. But that’d quickly changed, and he’d fucked with her head and emotions ruthlessly.

Now that he’d put out an APB for her, there was no telling how this would go.

“Nothing. I just really want to get back to my— Our son.”

His gaze never left her face. He was so scrutinizing, so imposing. She wished she could bare every fear at his feet, but what right did she have? She’d created this whole mess.

And she’d clean it up.

If she lost Bray, she’d have nothing to live for.