Chapter 5

• Chapter Five
• Damien emptied his second cup of coffee after an hour of being regaled with a crazy ass story. He would have thought it fiction if not for the hurt and angry expressions on Dale’s face that occasionally slipped his cool ‘all business’ mask. She had really done a number on him if he was this scared. To slice open her own sister to steal her baby… what the fuck?
• Wanting to lighten the mood he held his hand out to Dale over his office desk.
• His brows furrowed together, Dale looked between his face and his hand, “What?”
• He wiggled his fingers. “The kids’ pictures. I know you’re dying to brag.”
• Dale laughed sitting up to pull his wallet from his back jeans pocket. He opened it and handed it to Damien. “That’s Stacey-Ann and Dale Jr. His godmother calls him Jamey and the rest of us call him Third. Drives her nuts!”
• He smiled back at the large sweet smiles beaming up at him. “Gorgeous kids, must take after their mother,” he teased which only made Dale laugh harder. “Why Jamey?”
• “James, after his grandfather on Ellie’s side. Her parents are both dead so we named the kids after them.”
• “Stacey,” he nodded. “Aunt Ann must be going bananas over them, especially the girl. She always wished you were a girl.”
• Dale glared at him, “And when are you going to make Aunt Alice, a grandma?”
• Damien’s smile shrunk. He hadn’t really thought about anything much except finding Victoria Secret. He flipped over a flap to see the other pictures when his entire body went cold. He turned the wallet around and held the picture out to Dale. “Who is this?” he hissed.
• Dale sat up straight in his seat and stared hard at Damien. “Dude what’s up? You look like you’re about to blow.”
• Damien couldn’t have said it better himself. He was about to blow like a fucking atomic bomb. “Who is this?” he yelled.
• “My wife Ellie, now tell me what’s wrong with you!” he yelled back.
• If he hadn’t been sitting, he would have been on the floor on his ass by now. She married his cousin? This couldn’t be happening, it just couldn’t be possible. “I want to see her, I need to see her!”
• Dale’s eyes widened. “Calm down man. You’re getting hysterical.”
• He dropped the wallet and combed his fingers through his long messy hair. Hell, he was loosing his mind!
• ****
• As he drove, Dale kept stealing side glances at his cousin. He fidgeted in his seat like he had ants in his pants and when he wasn’t doing that his knee bounced incessantly, his fingers drumming in the same fast tempo on the armrest. His jaw clenched and unclenched, his eyes darting around. Add that to his long curly brown hair, the bush on his face and his clothes that looked like they hadn’t seen water in weeks, he looked like a bum high on drugs and nothing like his cousin.
• Hero Damien Chan, the genius ladies man that Dale knew, was always particular about his looks. He was always clean shaven or kept a light buzz around his mouth—something he had on good authority from numerous ladies made him look even more the heartbreaker when he smiled. His hair was always trimmed short, a closer shave on the sides of his head than the top. His clothes were always neat, straight and pressed that sometimes Dale wondered if he ever moved around especially as a cop. No cop looked as impeccable as he did by the end of a long day. But now he looked like a bum—a junkie bum—and he was sure Ellie was going to flip the second they stepped into the house. The kids were always home with Ellie after she took a sabbatical after Ellsa’s escape from the psych prison. Now, she always had her guard up, more around people they were acquainted with than strangers. She didn’t want to falsely trust someone else again who’ll end up helping Ellsa steal one of the kids, again.
• Everything inside Dale told him to stop the car and demand why Damien wanted so badly to see his wife, but he knew his cousin well enough to know he wasn’t going to utter a word until he got what he wanted. Stubborn ass.
• It wasn’t long until Dale pulled into the driveway of his year old home. They had just moved into a two-story five bedroom house when they’d gotten word of Ellsa’s escape. It dampened their new lease on life and turned their new home into just another safe house, a location Ellsa knew nothing about, since she hadn’t shown up yet. But soon, Dale would find his crazy sister-in-law and put her back where she belonged and he and his family could go back to living a nightmare free life.
• Dale hadn’t even gotten the car to a complete stop when Damien jumped out running for the house. The locked door kept him from rushing in and he turned around to glare impatiently at Dale. Both Dale’s brows shot up to his hairline.
• Fuck! What the hell have I just brought to my home?
• He stalled in the car, watching Damien keenly, suddenly not willing to let him near his family. He wasn’t going to have another case of Ellsa in his home. He would drag him back into the car…
• The door swung open and Damien turned to face it. Ellie stared at him curiously shifting a questioning look at Dale before turning back to Damien with a hesitant ‘hi’.
• Dale couldn’t see Damien’s face, but he heard him loud and clear from where he sat in the car a few feet away from them.
• “I finally found you,” his voice so tender it broke Dale’s heart right before his anger flared when Damien grabbed Ellie and kissed her on the lips.
• “What the fuck!” he yelled jumping out of the car and running to them.