Page 261 of Summer Heat
“I went to Aimee’s house after I had gotten pictures from Shelley. Aimee let me look at pictures of her dead brother.” I emphasize the last part. “You can imagine how I felt when I saw Cole...or Nathan...looking back at me.”
“Does Aimee know?” Mark asks concerned.
“Yes, but she’s not going to tell,” I say.
He looks at Cole. “You better hope not. Your father is a very public figure, and you’re popular in your own right. If people find out, it’ll be a circus—and when the wrong people find out, it’ll be a bloodbath.”
I feel my eyes pop out of their sockets. “What?” I ask horrified. “What do you mean a bloodbath?”
Mark takes a deep breath and perches up on the corner of his desk. “Blake, everybody thinks Nathan and Cathleen are dead. If people find out they’re not, it’s not going to end well.”
“Who are we?” I ask horrified. “Oh my God, are we related?”
Mark laughs shortly. “No, not at all.”
“Why did they want us, and why are we so important?” Cole asks.
“They wanted you as warnings and as bait. I can’t tell you why you’re so important,” Mark states. “Trust me, you don’t want that kind of information weighing on your shoulders.”
“Was Shelley your mom?” I ask quietly.
Mark snickers. “You’re quite the detective, Blake. Let me see those pictures. Our time’s almost up.”
I show Mark the pictures I brought and let him sort through them. I’m too preoccupied with his evasive answers to examine his face as he looks at them. He asks me to sign the deed of the land over to the buyers and tells me that my money will be wired by the end of the week.
Thinking about my parents, Cole’s parents, and our kidnapping is exhausting. Cole and I decide to put it behind us unless something else comes up. We say this—but I know we’ll both be silently brewing.
I put my focus on school, even though this year of law school seems much easier than the last two. Maybe it’s because my life is a little more hectic and it makes school work seem stupid. I see Russell every day, and now that he’s dating another student, we’ve become friends again. Cole doesn’t mind that he’s in my study groups as long as he “doesn’t try anything”—his words, of course.
Chapter Sixteen
Past
I had been in the University of Chicago for a month before I started to get used to the ever-present knife that gutted my heart every day. I had spoken to Cole a handful of times after our breakup, and he sounded like his normal self. I knew better than to think he was fine though, and Aubry reminded me of it often.
“He feels like shit, Blake,” Aubry said whenever he hung up the phone with Cole.
I knew Cole did—he had to if he felt half the pain that I was feeling.
“Aubry...” I said one particularly gloomy morning.
“Yeah, Cowboy?” he replied as he poured our coffee.
“Do you think...do you think if I were to...” I took a deep breath and buried my face in my hands.
“Spit it out!” he said exasperated.
“Okay, do you think if...AH! What do you think would happen if I were to visit him?” I asked cringing.
He stood there with a mug in one hand and the coffee pot in the other. He was totally frozen. “Do you mean if you asked him to get back with you?” he asked cautiously.
I looked down and started chipping my nails. “Yeah?”
He laughed once. “Fucking-A, Cowboy. What the fuck do you think would happen? He’d probably fucking propose to you on the spot!”
I looked up smiling. “You think so?” Not that I wanted Cole to propose to me or anything, but the fact that Aubry thought he’d want me back for sure spoke volumes.
“Do I think so?” he asked rolling his eyes. “Let’s go see him tonight.”
