Chapter 75
DERRICK
Ispoke to Olivia this morning. Well, she spoke.
I mostly sat there clutching my coffee while she told me everything I needed to hear about my brothers.
Olivia’s family knew the Sinclairs, Lady Davina and Lord Fraser.
Lady Davina is known for her philanthropy, and the family has raised a lot of money for charities over the years.
She explained that they are very rich landholders, but they are not assholes.
What threw me next was that there were another two brothers, Tavish and Arran, not that I am related to them, but still, that is kind of cool.
She explains that the other two younger brothers live in London as well, and they also have playboy reputations, but other than dating loads of women nothing bad surrounds them.
She reassures me that the Sinclairs are decent, good people, and they would welcome me into their clan with open arms.
Now I’m back to staring at my phone like it’s a live grenade.
Charlie sits beside me on the couch, wearing sweatpants and a tight tee that shows off his muscles that would normally distract me, but in this moment, they don’t.
He gives me a look that tells me he’s been watching me silently spiral all morning.
“Are you ready?” he asks quietly.
“No.”
He nods once, like he expected that. “You don’t have to do this now, we can wait.”
“No. I must do this. Otherwise, I will drive myself crazy,” I tell him as I unlock my phone and open Rowan Sinclair’s profile again.
It hits me every time.
My brother.
A stranger who shares my DNA.
A man with a life, a face, a family … and suddenly, a connection to me.
Charlie leans in, looking over my shoulder. “He seems … serious.” A lot of his photos are of him in a suit, New York scapes, and the odd photo of him on a yacht or a private plane.
“He seems intense.”
Charlie smiles. “He looks like all the other finance guys minus the douchieness.”
Then we swipe to Callum’s page. He’s the wilder one. Smiling in every photo, always surrounded by people, especially his two other brothers. London ‘IT’ boy energy. A lot of nightlife. And it seems a lot of charm, judging by the ladies in all the photos.
I open the message window on Rowan’s profile. My fingers shake.
I type.
Hi.
I delete it. Try again.
Hey Rowan, it’s Derrick.
Delete. Try again.
Hi, this is Derrick, your brother. Thank you for reaching …
Delete.
Charlie slides his hand onto my knee. “Keep it simple.”
“Simple feels … terrifying,” I confess to him.
“I know. Just be yourself. They are probably as freaked out as you are,” he tells me.
Be myself. Don’t overthink it. He’s right, they probably have been going crazy all this time since sending the letter. Maybe I need to put them out of their misery, too.
Hey, sorry to jump scare you in your DMs. I got your letter.
To say I am shocked that I have two brothers is an understatement.
I also didn’t know my parents had passed, so that’s kind of thrown me for a loop too.
Needed to process that. My name now is Derrick Jones.
I live in LA. I’m a stylist. And I would very much like to meet you both.
I stare at Charlie. “You think that’s okay?”
“I think it’s honest.”
My thumb hovers over the send button.
Charlie squeezes my leg. “I’m right here.”
I take a breath. And press send. The second it leaves my screen, my heart drops to my shoes. “Oh God,” I whisper. “I actually did it.”
Charlie’s hand slides to my back. “You did.”
“I feel sick.”
“Understandable.”
I sit there, staring at the message thread like it might explode.
Then.
Seen.
My stomach flips so hard I almost fold in half.
“He saw it.” I breathe.
Charlie nods, watching me carefully. “Good.”
A typing bubble appears.
I grip the phone tighter.
The bubble disappears.
Comes back.
Disappears again.
“Holy shit,” I whisper.
And then a message comes through.
Rowan: I can’t believe it’s you. We weren’t sure if you would ever want to reach out. Totally understand if you never wanted to. We didn’t want to come in and turn your life upside down, but we also didn’t want to go through life not knowing you either.
Tears fall down my cheeks.
Rowan: I still can’t believe you reached out. I was so excited, I didn’t even get a chance to stalk your socials.
This makes me smile.
Rowan: Usually, I am more prepared than that. I’m the practical brother, whereas Callum is … you’ll find out for yourself.
I laugh.
Rowan: I can’t believe you live in LA. I’m always in LA for work and stuff. Wow. I’m rambling. I’m not a rambler. I’m just so excited. Have you reached out to Callum too? He’s probably out and didn’t see your message, don’t worry, he’s hopeless at communicating.
Derrick: I’ve only reached out to you as you are closer.
Rowan: I’m so glad you have. Can we FaceTime?
I still.
Shit.
“What do I do?” I turn to ask Charlie.
“If you’re up to talking to him, do it. If you need more time, let him know. He seems very excited.”
“He does, doesn’t he?” I smile, staring at the message.
Rowan: Sorry, that might have been too much. We’ve had time to get used to the idea of another brother, and I never thought this day would happen. Please, take your time. We will wait.
“He seems nice,” Charlie adds.
He does. Fuck it. This guy seems so excited about me. I’m curious, and I’m going to have to do it at some point, might as well do it now.
I press call.
My heart is jumping out of my chest but fuck it. The call rings only once, and the handsomest male face fills the screen.
“It’s you.” He gasps then smiles widely, showing off perfect teeth.
He has dark-styled hair, green eyes like mine, and is cleanly shaved.
He’s wearing an expensive suit from a designer I know well, and I can see the skyscrapers of New York behind him.
He looks to be at the office. Of course, he is, it is a workday.
“It’s me,” I answer. “Can see the good looks run in the family.”
This makes him laugh. “Whatever you do, never compliment Callum, his ego is out of control.” Rowan shakes his head.
Hearing the Scottish accent is strange. “I can’t believe it’s really you.
” He stares at me as if clocking our similarities and differences all at once.
“I’m sorry about your parents,” he adds.
“I’m not. There’s a reason I changed my name when I turned eighteen and never looked back.”
He clocks the gentle hostility in my voice. “You seem to be doing pretty well for yourself now that you’re in LA, and you’re friends with Dirty Texas. Sorry, I’m stalking on my computer while talking to you.”
This makes me laugh. “Yeah, I am. They are family to me.”
Rowan nods. “I’m glad you’ve got them. Your business seems to have taken off, too, dressing all of Hollywood. Good on you.”
“It’s all I’ve ever dreamed of, and I wouldn’t have this life if it wasn’t for Dirty Texas. They took a chance on me and have supported me.”
“Love that. They sound like great people.”
“They are the best,” I tell him.
“Any other people in your life, I haven’t seen anything on your social?” Rowan asks.
I look over at Charlie, and he shrugs, leaving it up to me. “Yeah, there is, he’s here actually. This is Charlie, my boyfriend,” I say, pulling the phone out and introducing Rowan to him.
“Hey.” Charlie waves.
“Oh, hey. Nice to meet you. Hope you’re treating my brother well,” Rowan asks, his eyes narrowing on Charlie.
This makes me giddy. Can’t believe I have a brother doing brotherly things. This is insane.
“Derrick is the best thing that has ever happened to me,” Charlie says, staring at me intensely. The way he is looking at me gives me butterflies.
“I feel the same.”
“Aw, I’m happy for you both.”
“What about you? Anyone special in your life?” I ask him.
This makes him smile. “You’ll come to know that I am a workaholic. I don’t have time to date. Unlike my brother, who is a commitment-phobe.”
“So, I’ve heard, um, I’m friends with Olivia Pearce,” I tell him.
“You know Olivia and Penelope? No way. Our families know each other, not that there are a lot of us in Scotland. That is such a small world. How do you know her?” he asks.
“Olivia is married to Axel from Dirty Texas.”
Rowan seems surprised. “I knew she was getting married but had no idea it was to a rockstar. Good on her. Callum will be upset, he always had a thing for her.”
“Really?”
“They knew each other as kids through Penny,” he explains.
“This is so surreal I can’t believe I’m talking to you and talking as if it’s what we normally do.
” He’s right, it’s awkward but also not.
“Callum is going to die when he finds out I got to speak to you first.” He chuckles.
“When do you think we can catch up for real? Callum will fly in anytime you want.”
“When are you in LA next?”
Rowan’s brows pull together as he searches what I’m assuming is his calendar on his computer. “Next month, I have a meeting in LA. I can move things around and stay for the weekend. I’ll check in with Callum and see if it fits with him, but you will be around?” he asks.
“Yes. I’ll be here.”
He smiles. “Fantastic. I hate to cut such an important call short, but I do have to run to a meeting. Please, can we chat more?”
“Of course, any time,” I say.
“Good. That’s great. And thank you, Derrick, for reaching out. I can’t wait to get to know you better.”
“Me too.” And with that, we hang up. “Wow. I can’t believe that just happened.”
“How do you feel?”
“Great. Awesome. He seems pretty cool.”
“He does.”
“And he said he would catch up.”
“He did.”
“And he wants to keep talking.”
“He really does.”
“I can’t believe I just spoke to my brother.” Tears well in my eyes as I wrap my arms around Charlie’s neck and hug him.
“I’m so proud of you for doing that.”
My phone rings, and when I look down, I see the name Callum Sinclair.
“Shit. It’s Callum.”
“Answer it,” Charlie says.
Frantically, with shaking hands, I answer the phone. Thankfully, it’s not a FaceTime call, and he can’t see me panicking.
“I can’t believe you called that asshole first,” Callum says through the phone.
“Excuse me.”
“I’m the cool brother. He’s the boring one. And you don’t seem boring,” Callum tells me. “He’s going to lord this over me forever now, that you reached out to him first.”
“He lives in New York, so I thought …”
“True. That makes sense. Anway, enough about Rowan, he probably bored you to death. How are you? What’s been going on for the last what, thirty years?”
“Wow, you’re just diving right in there?”
“We have so much to catch up on. Rowan said he wants me to come to LA so we can meet and that you’re a famous Hollywood stylist. Tell me you can hook me up with some starlets.”
“Are you calling me to arrange booty calls for you?”
“Um, no. I’m calling because I have a new brother, and to be fair, I feel like you’re going to be the coolest one out of all my brothers, and I want to get in first so we can become best friends.”
Charlie is cracking up beside me. “He is you.” He mouths to me. I glare at him.
“And because he loves me, he might want to, you know, introduce me to some cute girls, seeing as you don’t need them.”
“Don’t need them?”
“Yeah. Rowan said you’ve got a boyfriend, which means you’re not into chicks, which is awesome because you’re a good-looking guy. If you swung my way, you would give me a run for my money, and I never lose,” he tells me.
“Just because I like men doesn’t mean I still won’t steal your girl,” I joke back.
“Oh, I see how it is … but you’re probably right.” He chuckles. “I think I’m going to like you, Derrick. I can’t believe this is happening. We have been searching for you since Mum told us about you. She feels guilty for not mentioning things sooner, but we understand now why she didn’t.”
“I don’t know what happened, but I’m sorry for whatever my asshole of a father did to your mother.”
The phone falls silent. “You have nothing to apologize for, you’re not him. The fact that you changed your name tells me everything I need to know. Just wish we were around so you weren’t alone all these years.”
Aw. That was nice of him to say.
“I found my family and I wouldn’t trade them for the world.”
“But you’ve got space for some more, though …” he asks, sounding worried.
“Of course.”
“Thank fuck because we are a super close family and annoy the shit out of each other, and if you had said no, we would have to wear you down until you finally let us be brothers.”
This makes me smile and makes me feel happy.
“Guess I have no choice then.”
“Nope. You now have two annoying younger brothers. Actually, make that four because our other brothers are annoying as fuck, and they will want in on this brotherly stuff. They are nosey fuckers, just to warn you. Plus, Mum and Dad are pretty nice, and they will be so excited to find out you’ve reached out.
They have been so worried about you. I can’t wait to tell them you’re killing it.
” Callum has a lot of chaotic energy. “Hey, I’d better go.
I’m probably making a fool out of myself, but stay in touch, Derrick.
I mean it. We are so happy to have you as our brother. ”
Emotion wells in my eyes. “Stay in touch,” I tell him as I hang up.
“He’s a handful just like someone else I know,” Charlie teases.
“I can’t believe I just spoke to my brothers.”
“They seem like good guys.”
“They seem fricken awesome.” I grin.