Raging Heart On_ Friends to Lovers Romance(19)

"It won't be a threat. Where the hell are you?"

"Drinking."

"Kayla, I'm warning you."

"I'm fine, White. I don't need a father. I had two of those and neither one was worth much. I'm not in the market for another one."

"Tell me where you are right now."

"I'm sitting at a bar having a drink. I've had several. In fact, I'm getting ready to have another one. I'll talk to you later."

"Damn it, Kayla. Tell me now or you'll regret it."

She doesn't answer. In fact, she hangs up. I cuss for a good five minutes and feel pretty fucking useless. Then I decide to do something I have no right to do. It doesn't stop me. I scroll through the names on my phone, tap one of them, and wait as it rings.

"You know it's going to be a bad day when the brother you never hear from calls you," answers Black.

"Fuck you. You know you love me."

"Whatever. How is my older brother the football star doing?"

"You do realize there’s not that many years between us, right?"

"Sure. But I am much wiser. Oh the things I’ve learned through the years…"

"Like how to tie your shoes?"

"Very funny. Seriously, how's your shoulder healing up? Mom said they put you off the team for another six weeks."

"It's healing up. The owner is just being cautious," I half lie. The truth is, even working out, I feel a weakness in it that I'm starting to worry won't leave.

"You should have them try one of those new cryogenic chambers everyone is talking about."

"Cryo-what?"

"Apparently they make you a human ice man and it’s supposed to promote healing and generate recovery time."

"And freeze my ass off at the same time?"

"Well, everything has drawbacks."

"I'll look into it, maybe if I get desperate. Right now I've got a bigger problem."

"Shit. Who did you murder?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Generally speaking, whenever someone I know calls the cops and says they have a big problem, it has to do with murder."

"Sure it does."

"Not kidding. Smaller problems are a speeding or parking ticket, but big? Yeah, that's when I start wondering where the hell I need to run."

"Maybe you just need a better class of friends."

"I don't have friends. Just you assholes I call family. So what's up?"

"I can't find Kayla."

"What do you mean you can't find her? How long has she been missing?" Black asks, going immediately into cop mode.

My mom is a little crazy in all of the best ways. She wanted my brothers and I to have unique names. Somehow in her nutty head she thought naming us after colors was a good idea. It wasn't.

It didn't help that there were so many of us. One or two names might have been okay, but when you have, Green, Gray, me, Black, Cyan, and Blue… it's not ever okay. In school it earned us the name the Crayon gang, and I don't even want to get started on the hundreds of Crayon jokes we endured.

Black is one of my crazy-ass brothers and one of the ones that I'm closest to. He's also someone who would move Heaven and Earth to help out his family—and that includes Kayla. He's a good guy, if not a bit of a loner, except for occasionally me and definitely my brother Blue. They're twins and are super close in a way I doubt anyone could truly understand unless they had a twin themselves. It's eerie, the way those two are with each other.

"She's not missing. She's at a bar."

"I don't think I understand exactly what you're saying here, White. If you know where's she's at, then what's going on?"

"She's at a bar trying to get laid."

"Ouch, well buddy. She is a grown woman."

“I don’t give a fuck. Hooking up with some random asshole is not—”

“Isn’t that a bit of a double standard? I mean, you do it. Hell, even I do. Fuck, White, I’m pretty sure the whole free world does that shit at one time or another.”

“Not just to get your ass knocked up.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” Black growls.

“Kayla wants a baby, and she thinks the only way to make that happen is to go out and—”

“Jesus, fuck. Does she not watch the news? I thought she was marrying that spineless wonder Tommy Haynes.”

“They broke up.”

"She honestly thought this was the best way to have a baby? I swear to Christ I think this whole world has gone fucking insane. Apparently it's even invading my own damn family, which is fucked up since we're all about three fries short of a Happy Meal as it is."

"Yeah, yeah. Can you help me locate her or not?"

"What do you expect me to do? Put an all-points bulletin on her?"