Chapter 79

79

Brianna recognized Trey moving around over by the Barratts' driveway. His curly hair was really distinctive. He was doing something with friends of his. It was hard to miss. She checked on Leena again. Somehow, they'd ended up at the park for the fourth day in a row. So Leena could play with all the other kids.

Brianna didn't mind too much. People were actually talking to her now while she waited too. Like they were being nice or something.

Her little sister was running around the slides with a little girl who was a year or so younger, who had curly, blond hair everywhere. Leena was fine.

It was Powell who Brianna was really worried about.

Brianna was way too on edge after what had happened. Powell could have died. Her best friend ever. She'd called Powell's mother every morning since Powell had been found, for updates. No one could get ahold of Powell directly, Melissa had told her. It was so Powell could heal without facing all the intrusive questions and stuff. It still scared Brianna every time she thought about what had happened.

Powell should have been safe in Hughes Heights. It was the safest neighborhood in Finley Creek.

Brianna had questions for Trey. Something was going on with Timothy. She was starting to hear people talking about Timothy too. And not in a good way. Ellen Macomber from four streets over, who had lived in Hughes Heights longer than Brianna had been alive, had even told her that morning when Brianna was in her small office at the HOA clubhouse that someone in Hughes Heights had been running drugs out of Hughes Heights. The same stupid drug everyone said Banks had helped create. Brianna wasn't stupid. Ellen had been fishing for gossip.

Everyone had heard Timothy's name now. They were talking about Banks again now too. And that stupid drug everyone said he'd created.

Well, Brianna hadn't ever believed her brother had done that. She just didn't.That was something the stupid governor and his wife had made up.

She crossed the sidewalk from the park by the tiny creek that ran through this part of their neighborhood. Brianna could still see Leena from where she was. She checked quickly. She and Powell and Brandt had played in that creek a few times. Catching minnows so the Barratts could use them to go fishing later in the pond at the back side of the park, by the pavilions and picnic tables. The Barratts had been allowed to do that.

Brianna had gotten her rear end paddled for daring to get so muddy those few times she'd played in that water.

But it had been really fun. Maybe the punishment had been worth it. Leena was certainly far happier when she got to do things than when she had to just hang around watching Brianna all day.

"What are you doing?" She stopped right in front of her brother. She studied him for a moment. He wasn't an unattractive man. He was seven or eight years older than she was, she thought. She'd never really asked. She'd known him her entire life, but not that they were related until recent years. She was really trying to make this sister-brother thing work. He wasn't trying at all. "Trey? What are you doing here at the park? Are you looking for me and Leena? Is everything okay with Timothy? I'm really worried about him. People are talking about him right now."

The park wasn't exactly Trey's kind of place.

"Go home, Bri. Do your nails or your makeup or something. Teach the brat all about eyeliner, something important," Trey said, pushing past her. The were three other guys there; she suspected they were waiting for him. Trey looked horrible. Angry and kind of sloppy, really. Dingey and unkempt. Trapped, like a wild animal or something. "Or go find that boyfriend of yours and get laid. I'm doing something here."

Her hand rose, rested on her brother's chest. That was when she felt it. "Do you have a gun ? What are you doing here by Powell's parents' house? What are you doing here, Trey?"

Trey's fingers wrapped around her arm, and he jerked her around a little. Brianna resisted crying out. She didn't want Leena to hear. Leena was already a little afraid of Trey and everything. "Let me go."

"What do you know about Powell Barratt? What are the cops saying about her? Your boyfriend say anything? Tell me. Now."

"Only if you let me go. What is wrong with you? I think you're the one that needs to get laid." No decent woman would probably have him, though. He was such a jerk sometimes. He wasn't physically ugly, but he had an ugly soul. Through and through.

"What do you know about Powell?" he asked in a mean tone. Well, Trey always used that tone. It was his normal tone, really. No wonder Leena was afraid of him.

"I know she has been my best friend since I was like five, you moron."

Brianna had read every article she could find on what happened to Powell, and Heather. She had been so worried. About Powell. Even worried about Heather. If Heather had been killed, those two little girls of hers, of Steve's, would have lost their mom forever.

Brianna didn't like Heather one bit, but she didn't want her to be killed.Didn't want those little girls to lose their mom. She had never forgotten what that felt like. Those little girls didn't deserve that.

Everyone who "knew" anything about what had happened said Heather had protected Powell. Heather had done everything she could to help Powell escape. And had gotten really hurt in the process.Everyone was saying she was a heroine for what she'd done to save Powell. Melissa Barratt was practically ready to erect a shrine to Heather or something.

"And Erickson? That's the cop she's with now? What is the deal between them?"

"They are seriously like hot for each other." Powell was really lucky. And Powell's mom had told her Powell's secret. Powell was going to have Gunnar's baby. Everyone was excited about it too. Brianna was fighting a bit of what she thought was envy. Not that she wanted to have a baby right now or anything, maybe, but she'd seen the way Gunnar had looked at Powell all those times before.

She did wish a man would look at her like that. And mean it anyway. Jack looked at her like that—like Gunnar looked at Powell. But she didn't think he meant it forever or anything.

Not Jack. He wasn't the forever kind of man.

She kind of wished he was. What would it be like to come home each day to a man who really loved her? Like Powell's dad loved her mom?Maybe a kid or two? Like a real family and everything? Had she ever thought about that part of it? She knew she needed someone to leave her legacy to, but what about all the days in between? Being a mom and a wife and stuff? Did she even want to do that?

Leena laughed nearby. Brianna smiled. She liked it when the kid laughed like that. Leena was so uncomplicated. She just liked what she liked and didn't like what she didn't. She wasn't that hard to figure out.

"I hate that son-of-a-bitch." He sounded so mad. Brianna looked at him. He was just staring at Powell's house, an angry look on his face. "What does she see in him?"

"She's like pregnant with his baby and everything. That only happens by having s—" Brianna paused. Leena and her little friend, she thought the girl was Dr. Stockton's youngest daughter, were running by. "S-e-x."

Sex was not something she wanted to explain to her baby sister now.

The look Trey shot her was the most hate-filled look she had ever received.

"Hey, don't have to be a jerk. Why do you want to know about Powell and Gunnar anyway? Do you even know her?" She didn't think she had ever seen Trey with Powell. Even in the same room. He had some money, from somewhere, she didn't really know where it had come from, and he stayed with her father in Hughes Heights sometimes. But she didn't even know where Trey lived or anything. Brianna looked at him for a moment. Trey looked rough. Had he even showered today? Talk about disgusting. "Powell wouldn't really have anything to do with a guy like you. You aren't the right kind of family. Not for a Barratt. "

His face got even madder. "What the hell is she doing fucking that damned cop? All he has ever done is screw everything up. For all of us. Me, Kyle, Banks, Joey..."

" She's with Gunnar because he's a nice guy, and he really loves her. Shouldn't that be what matters most?" Kyle, Banks, Joey, she bet he meant Steve too. They had been friends forever, after all. And Kyle had been a criminal. So had Joey. "He really makes her happy."

Some of his friends called his name. Shot her really dirty looks. Brianna just looked at them right back. They were pathetic thugs—at least, that was what they looked like. She sniffed and turned away. "Those freak friends of yours don't belong here in Hughes Heights."

"Go home, Bri. Take the brat home, got me, and just lock the fucking doors. Stay there, no matter what. Do I as I say. Or else." He actually shoved her then."Go home. I mean it, Bri. Go home."

Brianna watched him walk away. He was her brother, but she didn't like that man at all. Not one bit.

Why had he cared about Powell and Gunnar anyway?

"Leena! Let's go!" She waited for her little sister. Trey was weird. Nothing but trouble. She was getting Leena away from here, away from Trey's loser friends and everything. Maybe she should just stay away. Forever.

She and Leena didn't deserve a brother like Trey.