Stay with Me: The Moran Brothers Series

Chapter 24

ICan’t

Reminisce

When my mothercalled me over for tea this weekend, I didn’t think she was going to blindside me with Tessa Moran, Knight’s mother. Tessa knows Knight and I had something going on a while back. I met his parents once.

It was the first time we were a thing. I think for Knight, things were getting serious. The lines had definitely blurred. I was grateful to both Tessa and Fred for not blasting us when our families first came together.

I was already in shock when I realized who Bishop was. Seeing Knight in Saga’s new home almost brought me to my knees. However, Tessa and Fred were cool about it and didn’t out us.

I’ve sort of been avoiding them since. Especially Tessa. With good reason too. She’s looking at me now as if she can see right through me. This day is going to be a disaster.

“You know, I’ve never walked the maze here. Reminisce would you mind walking me through?” Tessa says after finishing her tea.

“I … ah … um … I.”

“She would love to. You should head in and use the ladies first. It always hits me halfway through. I swear I should have thought to have them design a restroom hidden somewhere in there,” my mother chortles.

“Oh, then I’ll be right back, dear. I’m so excited,” Tessa coos.

She rushes into the house for the bathroom as I sit glaring at my mom. Mom totally just threw me under the bus. She doesn’t know that, but I’m still annoyed.

“What? Why are you looking at me like that? Tessa is a lively lady. I think she wants to get to know you better.

“We should all be more welcoming to our in-laws. Especially after that fiasco between your father and Bishop in the beginning. Do this for Saga,” Mom says.

I fight not to roll my eyes. I have no problem with my sister’s in-laws. I don’t know why my mother is lumping me in on that mess. I’m avoiding Tessa to keep my secret from getting out.

Knight and I are friends. We don’t need anything to complicate that. I wipe my sweaty palms on my thighs. My stomach begins to churn.

“Why do you look like you’re waiting in an interrogation room ready to confess?”

“Mom, you have no idea,” I murmur.

Just then, Tessa steps back out of the house. “Shall we?” she says, looking at me expectantly with a bright smile on her lips.

I stand and grab my phone to join her for a walk through the garden maze on my family’s property. The walk is silent at first. We walk side by side, mirroring each other’s steps.

“Reminisce, I may have asked your mother for this teatime to get to speak with you one-on-one. I’ve always liked you from the very first time Knight brought you to our home.”

“The feeling is mutual, ma’am.”

“Tessa. You know you can call me Tessa.”

“Okay.”

“You’re probably wondering what I want to talk to you about.”

“A little.”

She stops and turns to face me. “I know you and Knight still see each other here and there. I told myself I wouldn’t pry, but I’m a mother. Knight is my baby. I want to see him happy.

“When he’s with you, that’s when he’s happiest. I can’t tell you that you have to love my son. However, I do want to request that you keep an open mind and heart when it comes to him.”

“I … I. We’re. It’s complicated.”

She releases a small laugh. “You know, he said the same thing. When you’re young, everything feels complicated. I promise you. Years from now you will see it’s not.

“If you love someone. You open your heart and the two of you fight for it. If both parties are willing, that love will stand the test of time. Can I tell you something about Knight?”

“Yes.”

She turns to start walking again, linking her arm around mine. I want to run back to the house and hide, but I pull my big girl panties on and keep moving forward. Tessa means well, and her heart is in the right place.

“When Knight was a little boy, the others would give him a hard time as the youngest. He would grin and bear it, but I could always tell when it upset him. He loved his brothers, so he never ratted them out.

“There was this one time when Prince took things too far and Knight was truly upset. He still wouldn’t tell on them, but I figured it out. When I asked him about it, he told me nothing happened.

“It was about two weeks later when he got Prince back and earned all their respect. Do you know why I’m telling you all of this?”

“No,” I say honestly.

“Knight has always taken control of things in his life. He will allow things to go so far before he does. When he decides he wants something there’s this determination that fills him.

“I get the feeling you’re going to learn this for yourself. Things are changing for him. You should be open to who he truly is. Allow him to show you that, my dear.”

I go to respond, but my phone rings. Looking down, I see it’s Sheldon. I sigh and get ready to send it to voicemail, but I want out of this awkward conversation more than anything.

“Um, I need to take this,” I mutter.

“You go on, I’ll be right over here,” she says and strolls off.

“Hello,” I say as I answer the call.

“Hey there, beautiful. I was beginning to think you were blowing me off. How are you?”

“Hi, Sheldon. I’m fine and you?”

“I can’t complain. Work life has been busy. I think it’s time for some play. How about we go out for dinner? I would love to be in your company,” he says smoothly.

“Oh, that would be great, but I can’t this weekend. I have a ton of work to catch up on.”

He sighs into the line. I bite my lip wondering if I should just call things off. I glance toward Tessa and decide against it.

Sheldon is safe. He doesn’t need his mother to convince me of that. I shake the thought off.

“Maybe next weekend,” I say.

“I look forward to it. I’ll give you a call to check in?”

“Yeah, cool.”

“Talk to you later, Reminisce. It was good to hear your voice.”

“Later, Sheldon.”

* * *

Knight

I graba beer from the fridge in my brother’s condo. Prince asked me to come over to talk. About what? I have no idea. I’m not usually the first one he goes to for advice.

“What’s on your mind?” I say as I walk over to the couch he’s sitting on.

He has paint on his cheek and hands. That’s nothing new, but the look in his eyes is. Something is on his mind.

“I need a favor, but I thought we could hang for a bit too. I feel like we don’t hang enough. You’re my little brother. I should know more about your life,” he says.

“Not much to know. Especially not these days.” I shrug.

“What’s that about?”

I sigh and take a gulp of my beer. “Can’t talk about it.”

“You know, I thought you were joking when you said you wanted to be a cop. I mean, with our wealth and all the doors Mom and Dad have opened to us, I couldn’t see why you would want to put yourself out there like that.”

“It felt like the right thing to do for me,” I reply.

“I get that. Believe me I do. I also get that you feel like you’re making a difference. You’ve always stood up for the little guys.”

“Someone has to. Getting picked on made me want to do more for others.

“Yeah, we gave you a ton of shit. Sorry about that, man.”

I wave him off. I got over it. They were just as bad with each other as they were with me. I think at some point, we all became desensitized to the drama that comes with having three brothers.

“Do you remember that time when I kept giving you shit?”

I snort. “Which time? You’re always giving me shit. I think you gave me a wedgie with my diaper on the day I was born.”

“Shut the fuck,” he laughs. “I’m talking about that time when you earned all our respect. The day you made us proud of our little brother.”

I knit my brows as I look at him. I’m not sure when he’s talking about. Although I’m curious to know when I made my brothers proud of me. I know they love me, but I can’t say I can name a time when they’ve told me they were proud of me.

“I’m talking about Kimmie Dickens,” he says.

I knit my brows. I remember Kimmie, but I’m not sure how one of the most embarrassing moments in my life could have made him or anyone else proud of me.

“As your big brothers, what we love about you is the fact that you’re never anyone’s victim. Not only that, but you always make things right,” Prince says.

“Okay,” I drag out. “I still don’t get what Kimmie Dickens has to do with anything. You pantsed me in front of my crush while I was already trying to hide my boner from her.

“What about that made you proud? We were in the middle of a fucking pool party with half the high school there. Bro, I was on the verge of fucking tears,” I say in annoyance.

“Not that you had shit to be embarrassed about. Girls were chasing you down after that, not that they weren’t checking you before seeing what you were packing,” he says smugly.

“Whatever,” I mumble.

“I did feel bad after. I was sure you were going to tell Mom on me. We weren’t supposed to take you to a high school party with us in the first place. You wouldn’t speak to me or Lord for weeks.

“I had thought I went too far and you would never forgive me, but then you got me back. That shit was epic. You gained so much respect for that.

“It was smart and bold as hell because you still had to come home and live with me after that shit. I’ve thought twice about the pranks I’ve pulled on you since.”

Realization hits. I didn’t tell mom way I was so upset with my brothers. Prince pantsed me, but Lord set me up. He made sure I was talking to Kimmie in that tiny bikini to distract me from Prince coming.

I was mad at Bishop too because he didn’t stop them or warn me. If I wasn’t so excited to be at a high school party with my older brothers while talking to my crush, I probably would have seen it coming.

However, it was Prince I got back at. Back then he and Lord were so vain. I knew just how to embarrass him. I set up a cam in his bathroom and got footage of him and his morning routine.

I lucked out on a week when he had an acne flair up. I then paid one of the girls from his high school to play the video during morning announcements for everyone to see that my brother used makeup to achieve the flawless skin everyone thought he had.

They gave him shit at school for the rest of the year. He and Lord did back off the pranks for a while. I didn’t know they were proud of me for that. All I wanted was for them to stop embarrassing me in front of girls.

I snort. “What made you think of that?”

“You could have cried to Mom about it and got me into trouble. You could have allowed me to keep pulling pranks on you and did nothing, but you didn’t. You found a way to stop me and earned my respect.

“You becoming a cop. I always saw it as the same. You fix things for the violated. You always make things right.”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right.”

He reaches to pat my leg. “Now, about that favor I need.”