24. Brooks
CHAPTER 24
brOOKS
A fter spending the weekend working out, having meetings, watching tapes, and playing two games, it was good to have Monday off. I hadn’t been able to see Harlowe except at night in my bed and I wanted to spend some time with her, even if it was with my siblings around us. She hadn’t stayed here last night because she had things she wanted to do at home and while I made the best argument out there, she’d insisted she’d had to do them at her apartment.
Harlowe wasn’t moving in with me just yet, even if that was what I wanted. I hated that she wasn’t ready because I wanted her here, where I could watch over the two of them—her and the baby—but I also understood that it’d be turning her world upside down and she had things she still wanted to figure out.
Like the fact that she couldn’t buy Cleats otherwise, I wouldn’t have heard the “Camden,” that came out of Harlowe’s mouth.
When I turned to her, her eyes were filled with tears.
“That’s it, Camden.” I took two more steps toward her, putting myself between the two of them, as if brute strength could keep the words from hurting Harlowe. “It is my business because I’m with her. You might not fucking like that, but I don’t care. I’ve wanted to be with her for a long time and you being a whiny baby about it isn’t going to change what is. Harlowe and I are together. We are having a baby. All facts that you’re going to have to wrap your head around.” I took another step closer, watching my sister’s jaw harden with anger. “And don’t fucking tell me it’s not my business when you’re literally standing in my house.”
Camden let out a humorless laugh. “I can’t believe you’re acting like I’m the problem.”
“Right now, you are.”
Camden just shook her head and stormed out of my house without another word to me or to Harlowe.
My siblings and I had a good relationship, but if anyone thought we didn’t fight once in a while, they were out of their minds. Part of the good relationship was that we didn’t hide what we were thinking. Clearly. Otherwise, Camden would’ve kept her mouth shut.
When I turned around, I found Harlowe with her arms folded under her breasts and those tears threatening to fall. And all of my brothers were watching. Cobb had his arm around Monroe’s shoulders while Amity and Silas stood side by side. This wasn’t the first sibling fight Amity had witnessed. Urban, however, was sitting at the table making his sandwich.
“Come on,” I said quietly, then I led Harlowe down the hallway to one of the rooms I didn’t really use. It was set up as a guestroom with a bed, a dresser, and a couple of nightstands, but if I came in here four times a year, I’d be surprised. “Are you all right?”
She nodded.
“Then say it,” I told her. She glared at me. “I need to hear you say it.”
“I’m fine, Brooks. Let’s go back out there.”
“Not yet.” I ran my hands down her arms. “Camden will get over it.”
“You keep saying that.” She took a step out of my reach then moved to the other side of the room and leaned against the wall. “You keep saying that Camden will get over it and it’s like you don’t know her sometimes.”
“I know my sister.”
“Yeah. As your sister. Which I’ve told you before. You should’ve let me handle that out there.”
I snapped back. “Was I supposed to stand there and let her talk to you that way?” Which wouldn’t ever fucking happen. I may not have told Harlowe that I loved her yet, but I did. I was only biding my time so that she didn’t freak out.
Listening to my sister yell at her like that had set my skin aflame.
“Yes.” She stood and paced the floor. “Yes, because I could’ve handled it. I don’t need you handling things for me.” She rolled her eyes. “I mean maybe some things. I’m sure there’s going to be a jar I can’t open one day, but not everything and certainly not my friendship with your sister.”
“I think you want me to say that I’m sorry.” The flame ignited in my stomach, threatening to take me over. “But I’m not. She’s your friend, but she’s my sister. I’m not going to let her talk to the woman I’m with like that.”
“Camden was upset. She was just venting because I swore so many times that this was a one-time thing. A one-time interaction that had ended up with a baby. I swore…” She swallowed hard. “I swore we weren’t together and there’d be no reason to think we would be because I didn’t think we would be.”
“Are you saying you don’t want to be?” Because fuck that if she thought I was letting my sister come between us. Now that I had her, I’d do everything I could to keep her and that meant no one else was coming between us. It was enough to get Camden to get out of our way. I didn’t need any other outside interference.
“No,” she said, louder than she’d probably meant to. I knew because she paused and took a breath. “No. I want to be with you. I already told you that. But you need to let her vent sometimes. I would’ve straightened her out, but you didn’t give me the chance. I can handle things on my own, Brooks.”
Fuck. That meant I’d fucked up. It was all part of her independent thing. I wasn’t wrong for doing what I’d done, but she was also right.
If I’d have let those two hash it out, then it probably would’ve been done already. Camden might’ve still been annoyed, but she’d work through it.
“So what do you want to do?” I leaned back against the dresser, holding on to the edge tightly because I still wasn’t going to apologize. If I’d have actually done something I was sorry for, I would have said the words. While maybe it had been the wrong time to step in, I had still been right to defend her.
“I have to go talk to her. Maybe I’ll promise to name the baby after her.” She snorted, which made me laugh too.
“Please don’t. I don’t want my son named after my sister.”
She snickered as she shook her head. “Do you seriously want a boy badly? You keep referring to the baby that way.”
I crossed the distance between us and wrapped her in my arms then kissed the top of her head. “No. I only started it because you said ‘she’ once. Thought it’d be something we could go back and forth about. I just want the baby and you healthy.”
“Me too.” She stepped back and took a deep breath. Even right here in the middle of a mess on a day where nothing special was going on, Harlowe was the most beautiful woman in the world. Hell, she was so beautiful, it almost physically hurt me.
“We better get back out there,” I told her, bringing her out of the room into the hall, then back to the dining room.
Urban, Cobb, and Silas were already eating while Monroe and Amity were both still making their plates. I pulled a chair out for Harlowe and once she was seated, took the one right next to her. Everything I offered she took a little of.
“Does this mean you two are getting married?” Urban asked once he’d swallowed the last bite of food.
Harlowe tensed beside me.
“ Urban ,” I chastised while shaking my head.
“What? I’m not saying that because there’s a baby involved, you have to get married, but it’s a fair question.”
“Maybe wait for a better time,” I told him.
Though if Harlowe had been down for the idea of getting married, I think I might’ve jumped at it, but rushing into that with this woman was the wrong thing to do.
We’d just have to wait to see how things played out and right now, I’d be content to have her at my house with me.