Mandaline’s heart wanted to break for him. She got up and walked over to him. “I know you’re not. No one’s saying you are.”
“There’s something in this house,” he insisted. “It’s the house doing it to me. I know we can find it. You’re just not trying hard enough!”
His words threatened to unleash her tears. She already felt helpless. She grabbed his hands and squeezed them. “We’re doing everything we can,” she said. “And we have a lot of video and audio footage to go through. Please, sweetie, you have to understand, there’s only so much we can do.”
He yanked his hands away and walked over to the window on the western end of the attic where he stared out at the dark.
Above them, another band of rain pounded harder on the roof.
Mandaline stood and returned to Sachi and Ellis on the other end of the attic. “Let’s get this done,” she quietly said.
Brad refused to come down from the attic to say good-bye. Ellis helped them pack their gear and load it in the Element. Once they were finished with all that by a little after eleven, they walked back to the kitchen for one final check to make sure they hadn’t forgotten anything.
Sachi patted Mandaline’s shoulder.
“I’ll wait in the car,” she said. “Take your time.”
“Okay, thanks.”
She stared up into Ellis’ blue eyes, which now looked as sad as she felt in her soul. Heartsick.
“Thank you for trying,” he said, sounding choked up. “You have no idea how much it means to me. How much I appreciate it.”
She didn’t know how to answer that. Instead, she stepped closer and put her arms around his neck, glad to feel his encircle her waist.
“What happens now?” she asked. “With Brad.”
He sighed. “I’m going to get his doctor on the phone in the morning and see about getting him admitted immediately. In-patient. They might decide they need to put him on different meds and have to keep him until they get him stabilized. I can’t put this off any longer and wait until he does something like hurt himself.”
“Or someone else.”
He slowly nodded. “He doesn’t have a violent bone in his body, but after…” He let out a sad sigh that sounded from the depths of his soul.
He didn’t have to finish his statement. She knew he meant after what happened to Julie.
Her fingers brushed through his hair, soft, silky strands she’d love to feel pressed against other parts of her anatomy.
But Brad’s well-being had to come first.
She rose up on her toes and kissed him. Not a chaste, brushing glance, and not a deep, tongue-sucking passionate affair, either.
A real one. A serious one. One to let him know.
She felt tears prickle her eyes. “I know he has to come first. I get it. I want that, too. I promise whatever you need from me, I’m there for you and for him. I’m not walking away from you two. But I have issues of my own and it’s going to take me some time to wade through those for us to make this work.”
He nodded and reached up to gently brush away her tears with his thumbs. “I know. I’m sorry I hurt you.” He leaned in and kissed her again. “I’m willing to take the time to make it right between us. I do love you. I don’t know how or why or when I fell in love with you, but I am. I also know that he’s right, that it won’t work until we’re all on the same page.”
Her heart already felt a little lighter with that. “So we’re in agreement? We get Brad through this, figure out what’s going on with him, and take things from there once he’s stable again?”
He even managed a sad smile. “You said ‘we.’”
“Yes?”
He hugged her tightly, his face buried in her hair. “That sounded so good. Thank you.”
She closed her eyes and imagined falling asleep in his embrace. Better, sandwiched between both their warm bodies. Hopefully that would happen one day. Tonight she knew it wasn’t the right time.
She stepped away and gave him a smile. “Love you.”
He sounded relieved. “Love you, too.”
She hurried through a fresh spate of rain to the Element. Sachi didn’t say a word, she just looked at Mandaline with her head cocked to the side.
“What?” Mandaline finally asked as she was heading down the driveway.
“You…” She hesitated. “You’re at peace. Yet you’re not with them. But you’re not sad. Your aura looks somewhat clearer now than it did when we started. And you’re sort of…happy? Okay, I’m confused. What’s up?”
She let out a deep breath. “We cleared the air. Me and Ellis. I’m willing to stick by them while we get Brad stabilized. Ellis is willing to wait me out until I can trust him not to hurt me again.”
Sachi slowly nodded, but even in the light from the dashboard Mandaline could make out her pleased grin.
“What?”
Sachi rolled her eyes. “Whatever you say, boss.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Nothing.” She settled back in her seat. “Nothing at all. Lucky bitch.”
Chapter Fifteen
It was well after midnight and still raining by the time they unloaded and Mandaline got Pers walked and settled. She didn’t know if she’d be able to sleep or not as she climbed into bed wearing nothing but an oversized T-shirt. Yes, she did feel more at peace than she had in a long time. She didn’t feel any urgent need to rush things between her and the men. She and Ellis had said what they needed to say and left things on a good note between them.
Finally.
The sound of the rain on the roof over her head worked wonders. She found herself drifting.
Then she was dancing, skyclad, in a rainy wood. It felt like the woods of her earlier dreams, but everything looked green and fresh in the rain instead of dark and gloomy.
Her path took her to the clearing, to Ellis and Brad’s house, but this time no shock of red hair enticed her inside. She spun around, arms in the air and face to the heavens as rain gently beat down upon her.
Her heart felt light.
A noise from behind her made her turn. Brad walked out of the house. The dark, angry scowl on his face frightened her at first, until Ellis also walked out. Without a word, both men undressed, and together they danced in the rain with her. She noticed a dark, grimy substance all over Brad’s skin and walked closer. The rain slowly began washing it off him. She reached out and touched his flesh. The dark substance came off on her fingers, leaving a clean streak on his skin. She began rubbing her hands all over him as he stood there, his face growing more and more peaceful as she helped the rain wash him clean.
When there was nothing but unblemished flesh left behind, he wore a wondrous smile, back to sweet Brad.
Ellis stepped close and the three of them, naked, joined in a group hug…
She was yanked out of that dream into darkness. She didn’t know where she was at first until she heard Brad raging above her, thundering back and forth across the attic.
She turned to see Ellis standing behind her and looking up at the ceiling. They were standing on the darkened second floor of the men’s house.
“What’s going on?” she asked.
He didn’t reply, as if he couldn’t hear her.
Then she realized he couldn’t. He couldn’t see her either, because when she reached out to touch him, her hand passed right through him.
He turned and walked into his bedroom. He closed and locked the door behind him, but she walked right through it to follow him.
“Ellis! What’s happening?”
She startled as above them, Brad screamed, enraged. It sounded like he fell to the floor, but he continued screaming until it turned into sobs.
Ellis walked over to his closet. Inside, he had a small file cabinet. He unlocked it and pulled out a file from the top drawer. A couple of inches thick, it was labeled BRAD’S FILE.