Chapter Fifty-Two
Evan
“Hey, I love you, and it’ll be okay,” I assured Brennan, again, as we parked my motorcycle, which he’d driven, and went to find Jett and Grace.
“I know. I just don’t want to deal with that. You know, I don’t care if people like me, but I don’t like my character being trashed.” With a sigh, he checked his phone and put an arm around my waist.
“Who does? But hey, your publicist is on it,” I assured as I glanced at my phone. “They’re this way.”
Brennan and I had a great time together. But then he checked his phone, which was full of bullshit that he had to deal with. I wished that there was more I could do other than hold him and tell him that it would be okay.
The market was lit up with lights, the evening air pleasant, as people shopped and got things to eat. Delicious smells made my belly grumble. Soon.
Jett had Grace tucked under his arm as she ate candied fruit on a stick.
I felt Brennan’s reaction through the bond as her lips wrapped around a strawberry.
“Oh, you look so fucking sexy eating that.” I bounded over and stole a candy-and-strawberry kiss. I turned to Jett. “Hi.” I kissed him too.
“Hi. Hey, Baby, I got one for you.” Jett gave me a fruit stick that was like Grace’s. “I got you a plain one, Honey.” He handed Brennan one.
“Oooh. Thank you.” I swirled my tongue around it, catching Grace’s eyes.
“Thanks, Dear.” Brennan kissed him.
Grace mimicked my gesture. Brennan growled and put his arms around both of us.
“Wes and Spencer are missing out,” I laughed. I took a selfie of me and Grace and dropped it in the group chat, making sure the picture wasn’t inappropriate, since Riley was in it.
Me
We’re going to get noodles. Don’t you want to join us?
Suddenly, I wanted us all together.
Riley
I’m busy, you fuckers. Thanks, tho.
Wes
Oh, that sounds good. Spencer and I are just finishing up.
Spencer
Thank you for the invitation. We’ll be there soon.
Wes and Spencer were coming? Amazing. I didn’t know why they had to work late tonight. Maybe it had to do with Elaris’ case being re-opened? Who knew?
Me
We’ll save you a spot. Here’s the address.
I wasn’t sure if they’d ever been to the noodle shop, so I dropped the address in the chat along with a few suggested places to park, since car parking wasn’t plentiful.
As we walked, we finished our fruit and threw away the sticks.
“Grace!” One of the young servers waved as she greeted us in Mandarin. I think she was the daughter of the owner. “How many, four?”
“Six,” I replied. “The other two are coming.”
“They are?” Grace beamed. “How fun.”
The server showed us to a table, and we ordered beers. She and Grace excitedly talked to each other, mostly in Mandarin, with some English sprinkled in. The server left to help someone else, and the four of us looked at the menus. I had no idea what they were saying.
Jett nodded. “You’re really improving.”
“I’ve been using those programs from Brennan,” she replied.
Someone brought our beers.
“I’m sorry we were late.” Brennan sighed. “Caroline had a press conference mentioning how horrible I am and how she supports my mother.”
Jett nearly spit out his beer. “Fuck that shit. Seriously?"
“Yeah. But don’t worry, we shut that down, since you know, there was legal action against her for what she did to the company, and the restraining order. It’s just not what I need.” He put his head in his hands.
I put my arm around him.
“Fucking bitch,” Grace muttered.
Yep. She should have stayed out of it.
“It’ll be okay, Honey. Is your dad still barricaded in the foundation office? Do we need to bring him noodles?” Jett offered.
“Maybe? Given that I now own the building, I might have banned people from said establishment. He’s still barricaded in there trying to go through the emergency procedures in the foundation charter to take over the foundation completely,” he said, taking a sip of beer.
“Does our foundation have that?” I asked.
“Yes. It also has what happens to the foundation if the pack dissolves and all sorts of contingencies,” Brennan replied.
Grace paused. “That’s basically a pack divorce, right?”
“Yes, and it can be very messy, especially if people have to un-bond,” I told her. “We see it sometimes at the Center.”
“That sounds awful.” Grace looked stricken.
I kissed her. “Usually, it’s for the best. Sometimes, packs just don’t work out. Also, people change, and not always for the better.”
Honestly, if that mom in Grace’s bio-dad’s pack got convicted of trafficking Grace, I would see her dad wanting to do just that–or at least cut her out of the pack.
“Anything else going on with everything with your mom, Bren?” Jett asked, putting down the menu.
I think I’d just get my usual.
“Well, she’s pissed as fuck because both Katie and I publicly sided with Dad, and Katie’s helping him with gaining control.
I’m not a voting member anymore, so there’s not much I can do,” he told us.
“Oh, and Troy’s wife has been blowing up my phone wanting to know if I knew about Troy’s affair.
Which I didn’t until Katie told me this morning.
I don’t really care for her, but I offered to get her and the kids a hotel. ”
“Oh, that’s nice. Wait, Troy is having an affair?” Jett blinked.
“Yeah. Katie found out about it and told her,” Brennan added.
“As she should.” Grace took another sip of beer. She looked at the door. “They’re here.”
A moment later, Spencer and Wes walked in, still dressed for work.
Grace got up and wrapped her arms around Wes, kissing him, then she did the same for Spencer. People were watching.
The server grinned and said something to her.
Grace laughed and replied as she took Wes and Spencer’s hands and led them to the table.
“Brennan, I’m so sorry that things have escalated. Rest assured, me and my company are behind you,” Spencer told Brennan.
“Thank you, Spencer,” Brennan replied.
“Oh, I took care of Caroline. Bitch.” Wes took a sip of Grace’s beer.
The server came over and took their drink orders. Wes and Spencer looked at the menus.
“What did you do?” Brennan asked.
“Something like what you told Riley she could do to your mom, only with the company she now works for. You told Riley she could do that, right? One reason I stayed late was that she wanted my help with stuff. Though eventually she went with Hiro.” Wes frowned over the menu. “I have no idea what to get.”
“I did. Will I regret it? I’m not sure. Wait, you have a backdoor into the server for Caroline’s company?” Brennan asked.
“Yes. Her pack’s company, too. I also have all sorts of shit on them.
I’ve been compiling a fuck you file. I don’t have one for your mom.
But oh, that virus Riley built was beautiful.
We did a few things to make it harder to figure out who made it and where it came from, since you know, laws and shit,” Wes said quietly.
“Um, what?” I glared at my packmates.
“Oh, you should have seen it. Riley is a fucking genius,” Wes praised.
Brennan frowned at me. “You knew of this plan. She came up with it a while ago.”
I sort of thought it was a joke.
“We did everything through me, so I’ll take the fall if anything happens,” Wes assured.
Yeah, I didn’t like that plan either.
“It will be fine.” Spencer looked over the menu.
Probably.
Brennan squeezed my hand. “I’m sorry. I probably shouldn’t have done that. But they went after my dad, and I told her not to do anything illegal."
“I know. I like your dad.” I squeezed his hand back.
Wes frowned. “I didn’t know about the not illegal part. Because that plan isn’t really legal. What if it’s only a little illegal?”
The server came back, and we placed our orders.
I got a picture of Riley at a very fancy sushi restaurant with Hiro. She was dressed nicely, as was he.
“Um, is my sister on a date with Hiro?” I looked at Grace.
Grace thought for a moment. “Maybe? Those two like each other a lot. It’s not a problem at work, but it’s obvious.”
“Hiro, not Marcos?” Jett asked. “Is her dating the son of a councilman better or worse than a police sergeant?”
“I don’t know,” Brennan replied.
“How’s Rose?” Grace asked. “She gave me the prettiest bracelet on Saturday.”
“She’s doing great with her summer classes and looking forward to seeing her dad,” I said.
We talked more as we waited for our food, sharing about our day.
“I really want to see Brennan in the sidecar,” Wes laughed.
Same.
“I’m glad Riley’s doing well at the internship,” I added.
“Tru is very excited. She wants to go to the adventure park again,” Grace told us.
“If we have time, I’m all for that,” I replied. The couple of hours we spent there for dinner, fireworks, and a couple of rides had been a good time.
“Terrance wants to have a playdate for his kids with her. Maybe at Everydoll or Stuff-A-Stuffie?” Brennan added.
Grace nodded. “I love it.”
The server brought everyone’s noodles along with some tea.
I took a bite and moaned. “Perfect.”
“How’s everything with Elaris’ case? Let me know if I can help.” Jett put chili sauce on his noodles.
“Thank you. They don’t need anything from me. It’s going to trial. There are several people directly involved. The organization might face charges as well, since they sanctioned it.” Spencer picked up his chopsticks.
“When’s your mom and dad heading back?” Grace, too, added chili sauce to her food.
Spencer took a sip of his tea. “They’ll be here for longer than they thought.
Given my father was declared deceased, even though there was no body, they now have to have him un-deceased before returning to Greece.
My grandfather is helping them. They’re planning on seeing some other friends here, but he wants to spend the day with me at the office tomorrow. ”
Grace beamed. “Send him over and I will show him everything.”
His look went fond. “He’s very excited about your projects.”
Grace looked at her phone and laughed. “Verity crashed a party today in Paris at Supressa. She looks stunning.”
She passed around her phone, showing us selfies of her sister and a photo of her on a runway.
Spencer turned to Brennan. “Oh, I might be buying shares in companies.”
“State Street? Your cousin warned me.” Brennan took a small bite of his noodles.
“No, the science complex they’re building over by the SpacePlex. At some point we’ll probably have to relocate Special Projects,” Spencer clarified.
“Oh. I didn’t even know they had that,” Brennan replied.
“I was considering moving my company to my building once enough leases are up to give me the space. Since I don’t own the building we’re in, and now I have one that’s not too far away, it makes sense.
No, I’m not going to evict the foundation. Especially if my father succeeds.”
“What exactly is he going to do?” I was so confused.
“Change it from a family foundation to a full foundation, which includes bringing on non-family board members and changing the name. There would be a program refocus, too.”
This was nice, but I missed Riley being here with us.
Me
Are you okay? Let us know when you need to be picked up.
Riley
I’m fine.
I got more pictures of fancy sushi.
A sigh escaped my lips.
Brennan shot me a look. “Is everything okay?”
“Our pack has a teenager.” Dating. My sister was dating and probably going into full-on teenager mode where she just wanted to be with her friends.
“Yeah, kids do that,” Grace replied.
Brennan and Spencer started talking about our foundation. Grace crawled into my lap and snuggled into me. She smelled of sex, Brennan, Jett, and sweat.
“Are you tired, my good doctor?” Spencer looked at her with concern.
She nodded. I stroked her hair as I finished eating.
Yeah, Spencer could tuck her into bed with him. I think I’d spend the night with Wes. But first, I was going to take my peaches home on my motorcycle.