The Guard To My Sanctuary

Chapter 40

Marco

My brother Tyler had gotten himself in some sort of trouble from what +I could get out of him on the phone. He needed a place to stay and I wanted to see him and also needed him to be safe so I told him it was more than fine for him to come to California. He thought I was living on the East coast still which hadn't been true for a number of years. He wouldn't tell me anything other than that he was in Chicago so I could send him money to pay for the bus ticket. He told he lost his ID so he wouldn't be able to get on the plane. It had been a long two days of waiting and hoping he would be alright I'm his way to me. He called me twice a day telling me where he was then would hang up. I drove down the streets of San Fransisco following the GPS to the bus station. I was nervous about the talk we would have to have. We hadn't spoken in nine years before the call and I knew he had changed in all that time. I maneuvered my Altima through the traffic which was annoyingly congested. Californians really had no driving skills and the hills didn't help the situation. The hour ride it should have been taking ninety minutes. My phone started to ring in the cupholder where I placed it. I looked down at it and hit the answer button before turning the Bluetooth on. 

Elm's voice them boomed through the speakers, "Marco," he asked through the phone sounding like he had said my name multiple times and was ready to hang up.

"I'm here sorry I forgot to turn the Bluetooth on. What's happening back home," I asked him.

"Nothing the boys are sleeping, I'm fixing up the daybed in the guest room. Then I'm going to make something to eat, what do you want? Do you remember anything your brother likes," Elm asked me which caused me to smiled at how well he ran the home. I had got a daybed when Tyler asked if he could come since the game room since our now guestroom didn't have an area to sleep. I wanted him to feel welcome and have a space in my home. So if that meant giving up my little man cave for a while I was willing to deal.

"He likes baked Mac and cheese also with fish," I said aloud.

"Alright I think I have Tilapia in the freezer and baby calm down you sound nervous," he said to me.

"Sorry I'm trying to calm myself it's just," I couldn't find the words to express how I was feeling.

"I understand, but everything will be fine," he said reassuringly. The sound of a baby crying in the distance caught my attention.

"I just got him to sleep," Elm said into the phone, " I'll call you back your youngest is determined to wake his brothers up," Elm said hanging up. Hearing his voice did soothe me a bit but I want still wound up. I parked at the bus stop and noticed I had fifteen minutes to wait before his bus was scheduled to be here. I turned the car off then got out of the vehicle locking the doors behind me and walked in the cold building. The warm early Summer air fought to get in but the fans in the building pushed it out. I checked my phone to see the gate he'd be exiting out of and followed the signs to the wall to where I needed to be. It took me five minutes but I found the gate and sat in one of the metal chairs bolted into the floor. I tried to distract myself with my phone but it wasn't working. My hands were shaking and I probably looked suspicious as fuck. When people started walking into the building my nerves kicked up a notch. They were five minutes earlier than scheduled which was fine with me. My heart started pumping as I looked around for my brother. I noticed a light-skinned guy with thick hair on the top and faded sides looking around. He was sporting a mean mug on his face that didn't seem completely genuine. He wasn't really tall maybe 5'9 at most and was built slender. He seemed out of place in his surroundings. His ripped black jeans were held up barely by a Ferragamo belt and a gold twisted chain hung over his white shirt. Even his ears glimmered with diamonds and he had on Giuseppe sneakers with gold straps across them. The duffle bag he held had a designer logo on it as well. He definitely didn't belong on a bus.