“Stay here,” Rafferty whispered to me.
I wanted to follow after them, but decided only one of us needed to hover.
A couple minutes passed in silence.
Then I heard a muffled conversation between Brantley and Rafferty.
Finally, Rafferty said, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Brantley raised his voice, but he wasn’t quite yelling. “You obviously went through her shit. She never kept her t-shirts neat like this.”
“What the hell are you looking for? Alexandra can help you.”
“Why did you mess with her shit?” Brantley asked, his tone fully agitated.
I hurried to the doorway. “Whoever broke in tossed her stuff everywhere, Brant. I had to do something, and folding her clothes seemed like the right thing to do. What are you looking for? One of your t-shirts or something?”
A muscle ticked along Brantley’s jaw and I saw this was taking a toll on him - even if he was doing his damnedest to hide it. After a moment, he spoke in a low voice. “Gave her one of my sweatshirts. She always looked so damned adorable in it… And I want it back, so I can remember her in it.”
Tears ran down my cheeks and I nodded. “I think I put that in her closet organizer. Is it a baseball sweatshirt?”
“Yeah,” he said, his voice rough with emotion.
Ines had a thing for baseball. She’d grown up outside Ft. Lauderdale, and her dad took her to Marlins games as often as he could afford tickets. I recalled folding two baseball sweatshirts - one for the Marlins and another for the Red Sox.
I brought the two sweatshirts out of her closet. Brantley nodded at me, grabbed the Red Sox sweatshirt, and moved to the bathroom. He came out with a small see-through travel kit that held a razor, toothbrush, and deodorant.
Without a word, he strode out of the room.
Rafferty’s eyes widened in annoyance and he followed. “You sure that’s it? What about the coke you hid?”
Brantley turned around. “What about it? I looked for it, and it was gone. The fuckin’ dealer doesn’t know I took it, and I don’t have it, so I’m done with it. If Tobias has it, I don’t fuckin’ care.”
Rafferty opened his mouth to say something else, but Brantley turned and left.
Rafferty locked the door, and came back to where I stood in the middle of the living room. “I almost think he cared about her.”
I sighed. “He did care about her, Raff. That’s more emotion from him than I’ve ever seen. I… I really think he loved her.”
Rafferty slid his arms around me. I wrapped my arms around his waist and rested my cheek against his chest.
“What do you want to do now, Lex?”
I tipped my head up. “What do you mean?”
“People deal with death in different ways. Wanna get drunk? If we were close to the beach, I’d take you there so you can scream at the ocean.”
“Why would I do that?”
He shrugged. “Hell if I know. Jasmine says she does that sometimes.”
I chuckled. “Your sister has far more angst and rage than I do.”
He stroked his hand up and down my back. “Yeah, she’s also close to three years younger than you…which probably plays a part. So, get drunk? Go for a run?”
I planted my forehead against his hard chest. “Raff. Who am I gonna go running with now?” A sob bubbled out of me. “Who’s gonna drag me to the gym?”
He tightened his hold on me, giving me a bear hug. “God damn it.”
