An Unexpected Love, Amber Riel [i have read the book .txt] 📗

then he moved over to his dresser with his pants.  He found a pair of black pants to match.  They looked like they would be baggy on Cassie but not too baggy for her to wear.  “Here you go,” he said as he handed her the change of clothes.

“Thank you.”  Cassie placed the clothes on the bed.  “Can I have a pair of socks please?”

“Yea.”  Brandon bent down and quickly pulled out a pair of socks from the sock drawer.  He threw the pair of socks over toward Cassie and she caught them.

Cassie waited for Brandon to leave the room before she began dressing.

Brandon quickly glanced at his watch.  “Okay.  I’m going to go ahead and go down stairs.  My brother’s going to be here with Laura soon…. Remember…. You have to stay up here and I’ll come up later to check up on you…. And I’ll knock this time.”

“Okay.”  Cassie watched as Brandon left, closing the door behind him.  She noticed a lock on the door handle and walked over to the door, locking it.  “Just in case,” she told herself.

 

 

          Brandon worked his way down stairs as someone began knocking on the door.  He had a feeling it was Chris and Laura.  “I’m coming!” he called as he hurried over to the door and opened it.

          Chris and Laura walked in and Brandon closed the door.  Laura hurried off into the living room.

          “Well,” Brandon spoke with a smile, “it’s good to see that she can act like a normal kid when she’s not in the hospital.”

          “Yea.”  Chris had a little girl’s book bag hanging off of his shoulder.  The book bag was pink and sky blue with sunflowers dancing around it.  “I’m going to bring her book bag up stairs to her room.”

          “Okay.”

 

 

          Cassie sat on the bed as she placed the socks on her feet.  She had went ahead and unlocked the door after she was dressed.  She noticed a picture of Brandon and a blonde little girl.  “That must be her niece,” she thought as a smile grew on her face.  “She’s adorable.”  She heard some noise from the other side of the door and listened to what was going on.

          She heard Brandon’s voice talking to another man which she figured was his brother but she couldn’t really understand everything that was being said.

          “I’ll be here at 12 to pick Laura up tomorrow…. Is that okay or do you need me to pick her up earlier?” Chris had asked and Cassie could hear him close Laura’s door which told her that he was walking out of the room as he spoke.

          “Oh no.  That’s fine.”

          “Yea.  Jessica’s mother wants to visit with Laura.”

          “Oh…. I understand."

 

 

          The two men walked downstairs and into the living room.  They found Laura sitting on the couch watching cartoons.

          “I’m going to go, Laura.  Can I get a hug?” Chris asked.

          His daughter quickly stood up and wrapped her arms around him.  “Bye, daddy.  See you tomorrow.”

          “Bye, baby.”  He bent down and kissed the child’s forehead and then left.

          Brandon sat on the couch and Laura sat on the other end of the couch.  “Are you glad to be out of school?”

          “Yes,” Laura answered.  The little girl looked over at her uncle with a huge smile.

 

 

          Cassie walked around Brandon’s room.  She wanted to see if she could learn anything else about her kidnapper.  The walls looked old and dirty.  The bed was a mess.  She noticed a PlayStation which was in a nice and neat place on a folding chair.  The floor was clean.  She figured she could deal with it.

Trapped in the Closest

          Brandon knocked on his bedroom door and waited for Cassie to answer.

          Cassie knew who it was because Brandon was the only one who knew she was even there.  “Come in,” she spoke loud enough for him to hear but quiet enough so that no one else could hear her.

          Brandon opened the door and walked in.  “Hey.”

          “Hey, so are you going to watch your niece?”

          “No,” Brandon replied.  “She’s actually in her room.  She’s being a normal kid.  She has her dolls out….” He closed the door.

          “So you can leave her alone even though she was in the hospital?”

          “Yea.  She has a little bell in her room that she’ll use just in case and not only that Buck will let me know if something happens…. It’s like Lassy and Timmy.  When Timmy’s in trouble, Lassy runs for help.”

          Cassie could tell that Buck was a good dog but Brandon was kind of weird for comparing him and his niece to characters in a TV show.  She was actually starting to believe that Brandon was the worst kidnapper in the history of kidnappers.  “Can I play with the play station?”

          Brandon looked over at the old game system.  “Yea…. I’ll set it up for you.”

          “Okay.”  Cassie smiled as she watched him pick up the game system, plug it into the wall, and hook it up into the VCR.  “Thanks.”

          “No problem and you already know how to turn it on…. Right?”  Brandon raised an eyebrow, jokingly.

          Cassie’s smile grew wider.  “Yes.”

          “Okay…. Just make sure you’re quiet…. I don’t want Laura to know that there’s another person here yet.  Okay?”

          “Okay.”

          Brandon opened a dresser which was filled with nothing but video games.  “I know that Play Station 3 is in now and Play Station 2 is out dated but it’s all I can afford.”

          Cassie didn’t comment on that.  She could tell that he was struggling and she didn’t want to tick him off.  Things were bad for everyone and he was under a lot of stress.  “I understand…. It’s not like I come from a rich family anyways…. So I understand.”

          “Thanks.”

          There was a small knock on the door.

          Brandon quickly froze at the sound.  “Oh crap,” he whispered.  “You need to hide.”  He grabbed Cassie’s arm and kind of threw her into the closet and closed the door.  “Shhh.”  He didn’t need Cassie making any noise.

 

 

          Cassie was kind of ticked off.  She didn’t want to be trapped in someone’s closet.  She didn’t know if Brandon was doing those things on purpose to make her made or if he just didn’t think straight under pressure.

 

 

          “Come in,” Brandon said as he turned toward the door.

          Laura opened the door and walked into the room.  “Uncle Brandon, I’m hungry.”

          “Okay.  Let’s go see what we can find.”

          “Okay.”

          Brandon and Laura had left the room.  Brandon closed the door as a way to let Cassie know that it was safe for her to walk out.

          Cassie opened the closet door and made her way out of the closet.  The closet was a complete mess compared to the room.  “I can’t believe that jerk would through me into the closet,” she thought.  She hated to admit it but she was actually beginning to fall for the guy even though they were mostly at each other’s throats but there had been times when they did get along.

 

 

          Brandon looked in the fridge while Laura sat at the table, working on a crossword.  Brandon felt disappointment growing.  He didn’t really have any food to eat.  He reached into his pocket and pulled out a couple of twenty dollar bills.  “Laura,” he said to her as he closed the refrigerator door, “we have to go shopping.  Do you think that you’ll be alright?”

          “Yea,” the child replied with a smile.

          “Are you sure?” Brandon asked with worry.  He didn’t want his niece to starve, especially knowing she had cancer.

          “Yea I’m sure.”  Laura laughed.  “Come on, Uncle Brandon.”  She stood up and left the room.

          “Okay,” Brandon said as he followed the child, “but I have to go get my keys and wallet first.  Okay,” he lied.  He needed to let Cassie know he was leaving.

 

 

          Cassie had placed a racecar game into the game system and began playing.  She loved the racecar games and would normally listen to the radio but she had told Brandon that she was going to be quiet so she had to play in silence.

          There was a knock on the door.

          “Come in, Brandon.”

          “Okay,” Brandon said as he walked in.  “Me and Laura are going grocery shopping and I expect you to still be here when I get back.”

          “Don’t worry,” Cassie replied as she rolled her eyes.  “I’m not going to try and leave.”

          “Okay good.”

          Luckily for Brandon, Cassie was the kind of person to keep her word.  That was one reason why people liked Cassie.  She was a trustworthy person and even though Cassie didn’t care about hearing other people’s problems they would complain to her anyways and nothing had to deal with her.

Sleeping Arrangements

          Brandon and Laura arrived home from shopping and Laura helped Brandon put the food and stuff away.

 

 

          Cassie had walked out of the bathroom as she heard Brandon and Laura downstairs.  She quickly worked her way back to Brandon’s room without making a sound and closed the door.

 

 

          “Well,” Brandon said as he placed the empty bags under the sink, “that’s it.  What would you like to eat?”

          “A ham and cheese sandwich please?” Laura asked with a smile.

          “Okay…. Hm…. That don’t sound like a bad idea.  I think I’ll have a ham and cheese sandwich too.”  His thoughts wondered off Cassie.  “I’ll be right back.  Okay, kid?”

          “Okay, Uncle Brandon.”

 

 

          Cassie lay on the bed, staring up at the ceiling.  She was bored with nothing to do.  She couldn’t call anyone she knew because of the trouble that would cause for Brandon.  She couldn’t leave the house.

          There was a knock on the door.

          Cassie sat up and looked at the door.  “Come in.”

          Brandon walked in again and closed the door.  “Oh good.  You’re still here.  Me and Laura are going to have ham and cheese sandwiches.  Do you want one?”

          “Yea.”

          “With chips?”

          “What kind?”

          “Potato chips.”

          “Yea.”

          Brandon left the room as he closed the door behind him.

 

 

          Brandon walked into the kitchen and noticed how Laura had made herself a sandwich and opened the chips.  She