50 Shades of Drake 3 and 4

Chapter Sixty-Nine

    The work day dragged out. Brian was in meetings and handling some of Aubrey's business affairs for the remainder of day, so Destiny rarely saw him in the office. She threw herself into her work, but often found herself blankly staring at her monitor. The revelation that Aubrey might be out there somewhere at the whim of Palmer made her feel a plethora of emotions, starting with guilt for not having more faith in him. She was also frightened and worried for him. There was also the smallest bit of relief there, relief that it was possible he hadn't walked away from a life with her without so much as a look back.

    Brian was right, though. They didn't know anything for sure - they were going off of the concerns of a private investigator. Once the possibility was presented to her though, it felt right. It felt a hell of a lot more right than Aubrey walking away from an entire life that he'd built. He walked away from his family and friends, his company - a company that took him years to build - without making sure that a successor was put in place, without making sure that everything was taken care of. How could I even think that he'd do that? I was so blinded by my own feelings of rejection, by my own selfishness, that I couldn't even see the situation for what it was. It took someone who was hired help to Aubrey to shed light on the situation and point out the fact that things didn't add up.

    And now she was faced with what to do about Brian. Her feelings for him were evolving to a point where she couldn't deny them. The tender moments they'd shared last night had been an eye opener for her. Initially, she'd felt hesitant. Then she found herself comparing his lovemaking to Aubrey's. But while they were joined together, staring into each others' eyes, there was a moment of clarity. From that moment forward, she saw nothing but Brian, thought about Brian and no one else.

    Just when she was starting to get used to the idea of being with him and making a life with him was, of course, when her world would get turned upside down with the possibility of Aubrey being in danger.

    Back in Brian's office, she'd seen the look in his eyes...the look that begged to know what would happen now that there was a chance Aubrey would come back. That look in his eyes had been desperate, and yet he hadn't pushed the issue. He was such a nice guy, that he wanted to give her time to handle the news she'd just gotten. That was the type of man Brian was. Selfless to a fault. She and Aubrey shared a common thread, a tendency for selfishness. They cared for each other and took care of each other, but were greedy for each other's love. Brian, by contrast, was completely and utterly selfless – so selfless, in fact, that the one time he'd attempted to be selfish by hiding information from her, he hadn't been able to do it. He was that good, that pure. He was who she aspired to be.

    Each man brings something amazing to the table, and I have to decide between them, she thought, tapping the end of her pen on her desk.

    When Brian returned the office, he opened her office door and poked his head in to check on her. "How is it going?"

    "I've done so little work, Graham Enterprises should probably fire me," she told him, grimacing.

    He swung the door open a little wider. "If I didn't have scheduled meetings, I doubt I'd be able to focus on anything."

    "I don't know what I'm supposed to do, or how I'm supposed to feel. I don't know what I'm doing."

    "We'll figure it out," he assured her.

    She gave him an appreciative smile.

    He smiled back. "I'm in my office, if you need me."

    With a nod, she said, "Thank you."

    Then he was gone and she was left with her thoughts and worries for the future.

~~~~~~

    "Tonight, I figured I would do a little bit of searching," Brian explained to her later than evening. He'd taken his suit jacket off and tossed it across the back of the couch and unbuttoned the top few buttons of his dress shirt upon entering the house. "Wherever Aubrey goes, photographers tend to capture pictures of him. If he's truly on vacation, there should be a trail of him somewhere. At least one photo. I was given access to his corporate e-mails, but he hasn't touched those since he's been gone."

    "I can help," she told him, watching him boot up his laptop.

    "I'm going to check the search engines," he said. "You can check social media. Search through hashtags associated with his name, check his tagged photos. Check to see if he has posted on any of them. Instagram and Twitter specifically."

    She grabbed her laptop case and unzipped it while sitting Indian-style on the couch. "What do you think the chances are that the private investigator is right? That Aubrey is out there somewhere, being held against his will?"

    Brian's fingers flew across the keyboard. "Hard to say. The more I think about it, the more possible it seems. It's hard to think that he'd walk away from Graham Enterprises...from you."

    She chewed on the inside of her cheek while waiting for her computer to load. "It's so scary to think about. I'd almost rather he be off on a forever vacation than think about the alternative."

    "Tomorrow, I want to visit his mother," he said. "I'd be willing to bet money that she received a text message. I want to compare the one she received to the one we received, see if she knows anything more than we do."

    She nodded in agreement. "Good idea." Sandi had crossed her mind a few times, since Aubrey had been gone. It had occurred to Destiny to visit her, but she hadn't known what to say. "Hey, your son abandoned us both. Want to play a game of Bridge? Care to bond over the fact that we'll never see him again?" Now that the scope of the situation had changed, a visit to Sandi was very necessary. "What are you planning to say to her? How do we approach the situation without freaking her out?"

    Brian scratched his head, then leaned forward and continued typing into the search browser on his laptop. "I don't know. Over the years, I've spent quite a bit of time with her. Amazing lady. But she does have a remarkable bullshit detector. We might have to come out with the truth, let her know that we are concerned for Aubrey's well-being."

    "And you think we should see her...together?" Destiny asked him worriedly.

    He glanced at her over his shoulder.

    "You wouldn't feel like..." She raised a hand and nervously chewed on a nail. "You wouldn't feel weird, both of us talking to her about her missing son?"

    He leaned back and gently removed her hand from her mouth. Lowering his eyes and inspecting her nails, he said, "We don't have anything to be ashamed about. The first priority is making sure that Aubrey is okay. Even if we feel a little weird, we'd have to push past that. Talking to Sandi is important. But...if you preferred for me to go in there by myself, or if you preferred to speak to her alone, then yeah. We can do it that way."

    He just said she has a good bullshit detector, she thought, dropping her gaze. And even though I do really love and miss Aubrey, and want him to be okay, I feel like Brian and I walking in there trying to solve the mystery behind his disappearance after what we did together last night... She closed her eyes, trying to ignore the waves of guilt washing over her. "If you feel it's okay, then I guess..."

    He brought her hand up to his lips and kissed it. "Everything will be fine."

    This time, she found it hard to believe him.