Nobody On His Side

Panic immediately filled me. A thousand questions flew through my mind faster than they could register. What was wrong with her? Did something happen? Was this about her leaving Eden? Did Armadillo do something?

“BRENNAN!” Joey yelled, making my attention snap back to the conversation at hand.

“Is she okay?” I finally managed to ask, my voice strangled with fear.

“She is, ummm, listen. We had to take her to the doctor,” he said.

I stiffened as I glared at the radio screen. “Why? Is she sick?”

“She has been having some issues that we thought she needed to be seen for. Madison finally got her to agree to go,” he informed me.

“What do you mean by ‘issues?’”

“She is not sick,” Joey told me vaguely, offering no further information on what was wrong with her.

“Goddammit, Joseph! What in the hell is wrong with her?” I hissed. “If she is not sick, is she hurt? And if she is hurt, what did y’all do to her?”

“What did you just say to me?” He snapped.

“You heard me! What did you guys do to her?” I repeated more angrily.

“Maybe you should be asking yourself what you did to her! We haven’t done anything to her! I have barely been around her without Madison being 3 inches from us, watching every little muscle tick and breath I take. Hell, she won’t even let Ramira around Leah without her eagle eyes on them. So don’t even go there. Maddie is not going to let anyone hurt her. And that includes you too. I was only calling to tell you about the doctor's appointment because if it was Madison, I would want to know. I can see that common courtesy is lost on you. Don’t worry about it though. It is okay. I will not keep you informed of what is going on with her, in the future. Now I understand why Caleb refuses to give you any more updates.” When he fell silent, I heard him taking a deep breath. “You are being foolish, brother. I am not your enemy. I had people try to take Madison away from me. I had people that tried to kill her and rape her. Not that she would ever admit it, but we all know that was what her sperm donor was going to do. Tell me why if I knew how it felt to have someone go after the woman I loved more than life, why would I fucking do that to someone else?”

“Joey, I—”

“Save it. I’m done with this conversation. I will continue to do your job for you. She will remain protected and well cared for in *my* house, and maybe if you can wake up in time, you can take your job back.”

“What do you mean, ‘if?’” I asked, dread filling me.

“Exactly what I said. If you can. Time is running out, Brennan. You need to make a choice, and you need to make it soon. Because the time for ‘if’ is fading fast.”

He hung up, leaving me with more questions than answers, with the main one being: What could I have done to Leah to warrant her needing to go to the doctor’s office? And then it hit me. When I was fighting with Armadillo, she had been injured. Had it been worse than we initially thought it was? Was it more than just a minor concussion? Was she going to be okay? I jumped, startled, when someone tapped on my window. I wound my window down to speak to Harold.

“Hey. Are you okay? You’ve been sitting here for ten minutes,” he inquired.

“Yeah. I’m fine. I just got some bad news…”

“Is there anything I can help with?”

“No. I just need a few minutes. I’ll meet you inside. Can you tell Isaac that I’ll be in as soon as I can?” I requested.

“Yes. I’m sure he won’t have a problem with that. Come in when you’re ready.”

I sat in the car, tapping my fingers on the steering wheel, getting more frustrated by the lack of answers as the seconds ticked on. I almost couldn’t believe the way my family was acting. They had all told me that if I had questions about Leah, I needed to ask her. The only reason I believed it was because I knew Leah. She was incredible and enticed feelings of loyalty from any normal person she met. My family just had a deeply ingrained sense of it. If I had the choice, I would make the same one they were. I picked up my phone to scroll through my contacts, searching for someone that might be willing to give me a clue as to what was going on with her. I paused at the contact I had saved as Lo. That was it! Arlo would be able to help me. I was sure that Rose and Doc had already told him about Leah. I quickly pressed the ‘call’ button before groaning when it rang five times before he answered.

“Brennan! Long time no call. Let me guess, this call is about Phoenix,” he chuckled as he answered, making me scrunch up my nose in agitation.

“Yes, it is,” I admitted, not wanting to waste time on small talk.

“I figured. She’s a lovely girl.”

My blood instantly started to boil. He better not have said or initiated anything with her. “Arlo—”

“If you want to know about her, why are you calling me? She’s with your brother and his little wife. That one’s scary. Just like Ramira.”

My lips almost lifted up in a smile as I thought briefly about the way he had always been terrified of Ramira. Almost. “I know, but my entire family has decided that they are not going to feed me information anymore. And—”

“You want to know. Tell me what you want to know, and I’ll find out for you,” he said.

“I want to know why she went to the doctor.”

“Got it. Give me a few hours. My shift is over in an hour. I’ll call you after I speak to her.”

“Thank you. I’m just worried.”

“Just like I was worried when Rose and Doc were hurt. This is the least I can do.”

“I appreciate it. I have a meeting that is going to last for a few hours. I’ll call you when I get back to Eden.”

“Perfect. Talk to you soon.”

“Yep.”

I hung up before turning my car off and getting out, my plan to leave Eden all that more cemented in place after Joey’s phone call. If Leah was injured, I needed to be there for her. I was going to be there for her. And there wasn’t anything anybody could do to stop me.

*******

Hours later, I waited for everyone to clear out of the room before nervously approaching Isaac. I cleared my throat. “Isaac, do you have a few minutes to talk?”

“Yes. What’s on your mind, Brennan?”

“I just wanted to inform you that I would not be attending any more groups.”

His hands paused for the smallest second on the to-go box he was packing before continuing. “May I ask why?”

“I’m going home. The woman I’ve been talking about, Phoenix, she’s there. And I think I’m ready to take the next step in my healing journey with her.”

He turned toward me, smiling widely. “That’s great, Brennan. I’m very proud of your progress here. It has been a hard journey for you, but you have persisted. I know that wherever you go, you will be successful.”

“Thank you.” I shifted my weight as I tilted my head toward the table. “Would you like some help cleaning up?”

“No. I’ve been going through some things in my personal life myself. This gives me the time I need to think.”

“Do you want to talk about it?”

“No, but thank you. Have a good night, Brennan.”

“You too.”

I walked out with my hands in my pockets. I was more than a little anxious to call Arlo. I had grown antsier the longer I sat in that meeting. As soon as I turned my car on, I called him, letting out a relieved breath when he answered on the second ring.

“Brennan.”

“Arlo. Is this a bad time?” I asked.

“No. But I’m sorry to tell you that even though I know the answer to your question, I am unable to tell you what it is.”

My heart sank all the way to my toes. “Why not?”

“Because she asked me not to. I cannot betray her trust,” he told me.

“And what about my trust?” I hissed, gripping the steering wheel tightly.

“I’m sorry, Nan, I can’t. You are going to have to talk to Leah.”

“Leah? You know her name?” I almost growled as jealousy swamped me.

“Well, I heard Joey and Caleb talking about her. They called her Leah.”

“Arlo, listen, we’re friends. You know me. You know that I would never hurt another living soul. No matter what the answer is, I’m not going to get mad. I just want to make sure she is really okay,” I said, trying to use our relationship to convince him to tell me.

“I’m sorry, I can’t. You really should consider going to see her.”

“Whatever,” I grumbled, knowing that once he made his mind up, nothing could change it.

“Tell Rose to call me, okay?”

My heart sped up as a plan quickly formed in my head. “I will. I’ll have her call you as soon as I get back.”
“Thanks.”

We hung up, and I sped back to Eden before racing to Rose’s house. I banged on the door, praying that she was there. Taco yanked the door open, angry words burning on his lips until he saw me.

“Is everything okay?” He asked.

“No. Is Rose home?”

“Yeah. Hey, Rose, R.H.M. is here. He wants to see you,” he called as he walked toward the living room, trusting me to follow him.

Rose smiled at us from the couch where she was resting. “Hey, R.H.M. What’s up?”

I tossed her my phone. “Call your dad.”

Confusion crossed her face as she did what I asked, the look on her face rapidly turning into an angry one. By the time she hung up, she had tears in her eyes. She got up from the couch to slam my phone into my chest hard.

“Asshole. Get out of my house!”

I stared at her in shock. “What happened?”

“I SAID GET OUT!” She screamed, her body vibrating in anger.

When I opened my mouth to say something, Taco stepped in between us. His silent threat was very clear. I threw my hands up in the air before stomping out of the house. What in the hell had I done? And an even better question was: Could I fix it?