Chapter 46
forty-six
I tap my foot while the people in front of me slog forward.
Going to a trendy, upscale coffee shop is never my first choice—but I needed a reason to get out of the apartment, and a coffee run seemed as good an excuse as any.
I woke up naked and warm, nestled up against Graham. For one blissful moment of half-consciousness, I couldn’t believe how happy I felt.
It all came back a second later.
Christian will wake up soon…I hope. What will I tell Abuelita when I get home? I should probably call her if I’m going back to the hospital with Graham to check on Christian. Who knows how long all that could take? And what do I say? I slept over with my…boyfriend?
I am with Graham, aren’t I?
I’m going to get fired when Mr. Stryker finds out.
What if Marco gets fired, too? Grayson wouldn’t do that. Would he? No… but he might fire Graham over this. And then Graham won’t be able to open G sumptuous velvet and satin cushions; a fluffy comforter rolled up beside us.
“It’s really beautiful,” I whisper, taking in the details. My gaze trails up to the blank projector screen. “What were we going to watch?”
Graham casts me a wolfish smile. “ Beauty and the Beast .”
My throat feels thick. He brushes a piece of hair behind my ear. “You said the other night that you’ve always hated fairytales. I thought I’d see if I could change your opinion.”
Sitting here, surrounded by his grand romantic gesture, watching how the sunshine lights his dark eyes, I feel like I can float. “You still might. The day we met, I swore I hated you, but you have a way of changing my mind.”
“Because I’m Graham Fucking Everett, baby.” He winks, and I wonder how he’s the only man in New York who can pull off such a cheesy move.
With an eye roll, I settle myself closer and start on my latte. Graham tips his head back as he watches the sky overhead, his expression contemplative. Thinking about his brother, I suspect.
“Tell me about him,” I say quietly, leaning my head against his shoulder. “Christian.”
He cups the back of my head, sweetly stroking my hair, and gives a deep sigh. “I guess I sort of gave you an abridged family history last weekend. The whole story is a lot more dramatic.”
He proceeds to lay out a story that feels far too familiar. A cheating dad, a humiliated mom.
A half-brother.
As an adult, finding out about my father having another baby… Maybe I would have felt differently twenty years ago; Graham certainly doesn’t seem bitter toward Christian at all.
Cuddling even closer, I brush a kiss under his ear. “Did you guys always get along?”
Graham rests his cheek on my crown. “It wasn’t hard to. I loved having a little brother—I taught him how to sneak out of class, how to get money from Dad’s wallet without him noticing, and where he hid the good scotch. Eventually, I took him out to drink and tried to get him laid.” He shrugs around me. “Big brother stuff.”
I picture the two of them out on the hunt. The image fills me with equal parts jealousy and amusement. “I imagine you taught him everything he knows—except how to dress? I noticed his cargo shorts.”
Graham grimaces. “Trust me, I have tried , but he’s hopeless. Too serious.”
For some reason, the word surprises me. I tilt my face back to look at his. “More serious than you?”
He cracks a crooked grin. “No one’s ever accused me of being serious before. I think working with you has been a good influence on me. I have to buckle down to keep up. But Christian was always quieter, smarter, more dependable.” Pain slices through his eyes. “Ironic, huh?”
My fingertips trace his bottom lip, hoping to dispel his frown. “You know it pains me to compliment you, pinchao , but I have a hard time imagining anyone being much smarter than you are.”
Instead of chuckling, Graham widens his eyes earnestly. “No, really. Chris is brilliant . Much better at what my family does than I’ll ever be, and he doesn’t even have formal training. He just knows things. He reads constantly, and his instincts are great.”
A small, sad smile flickers over his mouth. “When I was about to graduate and start at Everett Alexander, he helped me study for my broker licensing exam a few nights a week. Well, when you take the exam, you can put down the name of the company you’re trying to certify for. Obviously, I put down Everett Alexander. So, I took the test, and a month went by. The results came to the office. Two sets of results.”
Graham smirks fondly. “That little shit was barely eighteen, but he took the damn exam without telling anyone, and he passed . That brilliant asshole got a higher score than I did.”
Pieces of the puzzle fit themselves together in my mind. “So he’s the ‘C’ in G my brother was already doing drugs. I needed to get my shit together and grow some balls. I was just in denial. If anything, that slap woke me up.”
“You deserved it,” I grumble into my latte, fighting a smile. “Pig.”