Stitch by Jaime Lewis (ebook reader online .txt) 📗

this morning, Ace. Maybe she really is burnt out and just needed some relaxation and not the craziness of being around all of us.”

“Okay, I can understand that, but she could have at least called and told us that. But, no, she just sends a fucking cryptic text message then shuts her phone off.”

Sienna, Irish’s six-year-old niece giggled, and Ace looked at her and winked, “Sorry, sweetie, mark one down for me.”

Irish looked between Ace and Sienna. “That’s one, what?”

Ace grinned. “I was telling Sienna that was one for her swear jar.”

Stitch couldn’t help but smile either. Sienna had a swear jar, and for each swear word someone said, the person had to put a quarter in her jar. She had to have earned a few hundred dollars just in the short time she’d been living with Irish.

Sienna giggled again and looked at Irish with the most adorable face Stitch had ever seen. She was a beautiful little girl, and if you didn’t know she was Irish’s niece, you would think she really was Irish and Bailey’s biological daughter. She had both Irish and Bailey’s blonde hair and blue eyes. Stitch was so happy that Irish and Bailey had officially adopted Sienna.

“Uncle Ace gave me five bucks.”

“For what?” Irish asked, looking back at Ace.

“For my swear jar, silly. I also got five bucks from Uncle Potter, Uncle Diego, Uncle Frost, Uncle Skittles, Uncle Stitch, and Uncle Dino.” She said, gasping for breath at the end. Then she scrunched her little nose up and looked at Ace. “What did you call it again, Uncle Ace?”

Ace smiled. “An upfront payment.”

She looked back at Irish and crossed her arms in front of her chest, appearing all sassy. “It’s called an upfront payment.”

The room erupted in laughter at the shocked expression on Irish’s face. Apparently, he was unaware of his daughter’s “savings”account.

Ace lifted his beer to his lips. “We all figured with the amount of cuss words spoken between us, five dollars each should suffice the swear jar, at least for tonight.”

Irish looked between Sienna and the guys.

“How long has this been going on, and how often do you give her money?”

Stitch chuckled and slapped Irish on the back. “Pretty much every damn time we all get together and the kids are around.”

“Holy shit! That’s like every fucking week. Why am I just hearing about this?” Irish said, making eye contact with Bailey, and it made Sienna giggle again.  She looked up at her daddy with hyer baby blue eyes.

“Daddy, you need to pay up.” She told him as she held her little hand out.

“Fuck me…” He muttered under his breath as he tried to find a quarter in his pocket, but apparently, he said it too loud because Sienna’s eyes lit up again, and Stitch knew what was coming. “Oh, screw this.” Irish turned to Bailey. “Do you have five dollars?” He asked, and everyone in the room laughed as Irish handed over five one-dollar bills to Sienna, and she stuffed it into the little pocket on her dress.

Stitch was reaching for his drink when he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. He was surprised to see Sheriff Prescott’s name flashing on the screen. He was a good friend and a former Marine. Why the Sheriff was calling him now was a bit alarming. His first thought was something was wrong with his cabin as the Sheriff kept an eye on it for him.

Not wanting to be rude and take the call at the table, he excused himself and went out onto the back patio.

“Sheriff Prescott,” Stitch said, answering the call.

“Hey, Stitch. Happy Thanksgiving.”

“Happy Thanksgiving to you as well.  What’s going on?”

“Well, I have a little situation up here in Sugar Bend.”

“And, you’re calling me, why?” Stitch asked as he leaned against the deck’s railing.

“Well, I just met an interesting friend of yours.”

Stitch chuckled, thinking what friend of his could be in Sugar Bend, considering most of his good friends were inside Ace’s house having dinner.

“Does this friend have a name?” He replied sarcastically because the only friend Stitch had in Sugar Bend was the person he was currently on the phone with. The name his buddy spoke next had him reeling back the laughter and going on instant alert.

“Does a Mia ring any bells? She claims you gave her a key to your cabin.”

Stitch stood up straight and looked through the house's window where all of Mia’s family and friends were enjoying the holiday. A million questions went through his mind. The main being, why in the hell would she be at his cabin when she was supposed to be here with her family? The hair on the back of his neck stood, alerting him that something was wrong. It was the same sensation he got when he was out in the field on missions right before things went to shit.

“Your silence tells me she is indeed a friend.”

He licked his lower lip and pinched the bridge of his nose.

“She is, and yes, I did give her a key. But the funny thing is she’s supposed to be here in Virginia Beach with her family. She sent her brother a very cryptic text early this morning saying she ran into trouble and might not make her flight. We’ve all been a little concerned, to say the least, considering she hasn’t answered any of our calls or texts.”

“Her brother?”

“Yeah, Ace is her older brother.”

“Shit…” The Sheriff cursed in a tone that Stitch knew well.  Whatever the hell was going on had the Sheriff upset.

“What’s going on, Blake?” Stitch was already walking back toward the back door.

“Listen, I don’t have a lot of time before Mia comes outside.  I’m at the bus station here in town, and I just happened to run into one of the townsfolks who mentioned there was a young lady on her bus that possibly needed some assistance.”

“Assistance? Damn it, Blake, what are you saying?”

“Look, I don’t know all the details because she’s not really talking, but she is