"Marni?" I answered without bothering to look at the caller ID.
"B-Brick?"
Not Marni. I deflated but glanced at the screen to see the caller's name and sighed. "Edie? Are you okay?"
"Yeah," she lied. "I didn't know who else to call. I know it's a long shot, but-"
"Hailey's here," I cut her off, not wanting her to worry about her little sister for another second. "She's safe."
"Oh, thank god!" Edie's soft cries make her voice crack. "Can I talk to her?"
"Um, she's not exactly with me, with me."
"What?" Great, now she sounded panicked. "Well, where is she?"
"She's with Shep."
Edie became eerily quiet and then she whispered, "Shep?"
"Yeah, but I swear to you, Edie, she's safe and Shep's looking after her."
Edie didn't say anything else, so I kept talking.
"She's got a big warm bed to sleep in and all the food she could possibly eat. I swear, I wouldn't have left her with Shep if I didn't think-"
"No," she cut me off. "I know you wouldn't. It's fine." She chuckled, but there was no humor in it. "Well, it's not fine, but...thank you, Brick."
"Don't worry about it."
Edie sighed. "I need to come get her. You're in Los Angeles, right?"
The thought of Hailey having to go back to whatever she'd fled from twisted my stomach in knots. "Hey, I have an idea. Why don't you leave her here with us. We only have tonight's show and the one in Vegas coming up, then we're done touring for a while."
Edie began to protest, but I shut it down.
"Seriously, Edie. Let us help," I implored softly. "It's only a couple of days, and you can use that time to worry about yourself. And Annabelle. How is my star kicker?"
Letting out a breath, Edie gave me what I wanted to hear. "She's okay, I think. Did Hailey tell you why she ran away?"
"Yeah, babe, she did. Kid was pretty messed up about it."
"Yeah," was Edie's tortured reply.
"Meet up with us in Vegas," I offered. "You and Annabelle. I've got VIP passes with your names on them."
Edie's soft laughter was genuine this time, easing that knot in my gut. "We'll see...though, I'll have to come get Hailey, anyway, so...I suppose I could make that work."
"Excellent. Listen, I gotta get going, but I promise to have Hailey call you later, and you can call or text me anytime, okay? I mean it, Edie."
"Thanks, Brick."
We said our goodbyes, and I turned to check the truck's trailer for any sign of my woman and ran face-first into a glaring Shep. "Whoa! Damn, man, you can't creep up on me like that."
"Who were you talking to?"
I raised an eyebrow at his growl. "Edie. Hailey's big sister." It was then I noticed Hailey standing slightly behind Shep. "You should give her a call, kiddo. She's worried," I added pointedly.
I was nearly struck dumb when Hailey looked to Shep for guidance, but Shep dug his own phone out, unlocked it, and handed it over.
"Call her, " he demanded gently.
While Hailey had a reckoning with Edie, I stepped into Shep's space and lowered my voice. "Convinced Edie to let Hailey hang with us until the end of the tour."
Shep's brow went up. "She okay with that?"
"Edie? Yeah, man. Those girls have it rough, Edie especially. Thought it would give her a little break. Plus, she and Annabelle are gonna meet us in Vegas for the last show."
Shep seemed to chew this information over before nodding. "That'll work."
"Good." I slapped him on the back. "Hey, you haven't happened to see Marni around, have you? I still can't find her."
Shep took a step back with a smirk, and several feet behind him, just out of my previous line of sight, stood my lady.
Thirteen
Marni
I'd nearly chewed a hole through my lip eavesdropping on Brick's phone call. I hadn't picked a very original hiding spot in the equipment trailer, but I couldn't go back to the hotel, and I didn't know the city well enough to know of any place I could get away with toting a squirrel around. Then again, it was Los Angeles, and if the real housewives could get away with carrying their overpriced, puppy mill teacup whatevers in their purses, I doubted anyone would look twice at Simon. Still, my truck was my domain, and sanctuary was what I'd needed at the time. And when Shep and Hailey had stumbled upon me while the charismatic lead singer was showing the young girl the less glamorous side of life on the road, I'd discovered what a colossal mistake I'd made.
"Where. The. Hell. Have. You. Been?" Brick bit out between clenched teeth. His tone might have normally raised my hackles, but I was smart enough to know when I was in the wrong, so it was up to me to fix this.
"I'm sorry."
Brick stopped his advance, just two feet away, and blinked. "Say what?"
"I'm sorry. I screwed up."
"Explain."
"I overheard your phone call from Hailey last night. Only I didn't know who it was or the circumstances at the time," I rushed to explain, sheepishly adding, "and I made assumptions."
Brick raised his eyes skyward seemingly thinking back to that initial phone call and remembering what had been said. My deduction was confirmed when he said, "I can see how that would have sounded bad since you only heard my half of the conversation. And, maybe I should have explained the situation to you instead of just ducking out in the middle of the night-"
"Brick-" I wanted to tell him he didn't need to apologize or explain. I should have given him the benefit of the doubt. Or let him know that I was awake and confronted him with my suspicions rather than assuming the worst since he'd done absolutely nothing to suggest that he'd ever act the way I unfairly thought he did.
"But I'd just had the best sex of my life, with the woman I love, and she was sleeping so soundly --or so I thought--," he said, pointedly. "I didn't want to wake you. I wanted to keep you right where you were."
His confession floored me. But I sought him out to apologize, and that's what I was going to do. "Don't steal my thunder," I snapped.
Brick grinned. "What thunder, sweet lips?"
"This is my apology speech, not yours."
"Alright," he said, crossing his arms. "Let's hear it. Tell me all about how sorry you are that you thought the worst of me. And don't forget to apologize for scaring me half to death when you disappeared and refused to answer my calls."
I took a deep breath and launched in. "I made assumptions about you, from the very beginning, and I was wrong. You've never once, despite what I kept telling myself, presented yourself as anything less than one hundred percent authentic. You're honest and kind and loyal. I'm sorry I worried you. You're a good man, Brick, and I-- Simon loves you." Way to fumble your way through that one, Marni. I’m sure he totally bought it.
"Simon?" he chuckled.