Chapter 31
Chapter 30
— Remmy —
Escaping to forty-one thousand feet above the Earth didn’t prevent the scandal from following me back to Portland, though I saw no sign of the fallout until I found Bass waiting for me in the terminal.
“Full disclosure,” he stated by way of greeting. “Mom and Dad now know.”
Unease spread through my gut for the umpteenth time. “Great. Something else they can clutch their pearls at.”
My brother’s wide smile accompanied his burst of laughter. “Mom’s definitely clutching somethin’, and if it ain’t pearls it’s at least the short strings of her self-righteous composure.”
I snorted through my nose despite my complete lack of ability to summon humor. “Just another way I bring the family into disrepute.”
Bass’ brows pulled into a frown. “So, it’s true, then? The… what they’re saying.”
With my eyes slamming into slits, a flush of heat rose up my neck. “Yes. I thought you knew already.” The huffed exhale did nothing to ease the tension in my jaw.
He tilted his head to and fro. “I suspected you were doing something unusual to get all your money but never thought…” His gaze dropped to my sandaled feet.
I rerouted his judgy eyes with my middle finger brandished square in his vision. Defiance slashed through every cell of my body. “You don’t get a say in what I do. Not unless I start hurting people again,” I added.
That was the only caveat we’d set after he’d fought tooth and nail to lift me from rock bottom. I’d despised him at the time, but my gratitude on the “other side” far surpassed verbal expression.
Bass raised his palms. “I wasn’t trying to. I just—” He huffed out a breath. “It’s unexpected, is all.”
His expression softened, and he tipped his head to the side again. “Sooo… your apartment is nice…”
I threw up my hands. “I earn good money, no— great money from it, okay?”
The wide grin that lit the dark returned. “Damn, I gotta get into toeing someone’s asshole to pay my rent.”
“ Toeing someone’s —” I snapped up one hand while the other pinched the bridge of my nose. “I’m not even going to get into this argument, but I can assure you, I do not do that .”
Bass’ unbridled laughter filled the terminal. He clutched his stomach and threw his head back as I shoved past to seek out my luggage.
A minute later, he was still snickering and snorting when he came to my side.
“Don’t even comment,” I grumbled, conjuring another round of man-giggling. “You suck. And you can wheel my suitcase since you’re being mean to me.”
He slung an arm around my shoulders and jiggled me into him. “Oh, c’mon Rems. I’m just winding you up. And hella impressed that you’ve managed to keep this secret for, how many years?”
“Almost four,” I deadpanned.
A low whistle cut through the air. One I ignored while striding toward the exit, leaving him to manhandle my luggage with a dramatic grunt.
The car unlocked as we approached, and after he’d loaded my suitcase into the trunk, Bass slid into the driver’s seat.
He looked my way with a lopsided grin. “Next stop, the apartment of sin.”
I slugged his thigh. “Fuck you, Bastian!”
His only answer was a wicked laugh as we peeled away from the terminal.
~
“Uhhh… are you sure you want to be dropped off here?” Bastian said slowly as we cruised down the street toward my apartment complex, both leaning forward in our seats as if it would grant us a better view through the windshield.
“I’m assuming they’re all here for you, not the seedy looking guy in number three. He’s probably one of your clients, though,” my stupid-ass brother added with a snort.
I ignored his amused chuckle and gnawed on my lower lip. Trepidation lumbered around my lungs, making it hard to breathe.
“Pull over,” I murmured before we got too close.
Worry swam in my brother’s hazel eyes when I met his gaze. “It’s not safe to drop you here, Rems. Stay at mine for a few days. Until this settles down.”
I opened my mouth to decline, but hesitation gripped me. It froze both thoughts and actions as I stared at the gathered media commandeering the sidewalk outside my home.
“I—” Swallowing made it no easier to speak, so I nodded numbly. “Okay.” I met Bass’ concerned gaze again, nodding with more certainty. “Okay. Just for a few days.”
He nodded and did a U-turn, then aimed for his house with a frown deeply etched onto his brow.
“I honestly don’t know how this shit happens to you, Remmy.”
“As if I haven’t had my fair share of shit already, huh?” I tried for humor. It failed.
He hummed. “You’ve sure had… a lot.”
I had. I’d endured shit that broke me. That tore our family apart. Ugly reminders of the incidences in my past resurfaced unexpectedly no matter how much time had lapsed.
“I think I might have blown it.”
Bass glanced my way. “With Scout?”
“Yeah.” Weight bore down on my heart as I looked at my nails. “Almost made it to four nail cycles. A new record for me.”
My brother snickered. “You still do that?”
“It’s an effective measurement of time.”
He shrugged. “If you say so, but I don’t think you’ve blown it. And in my opinion, if he’s not going to fight for you, he doesn’t deserve you.”
A spiked lump formed in my throat. I blinked quickly to avoid succumbing to the prickling emotion. Bastian was a fierce little brother.
“Funny, because it feels like the other way around.”
Bass took his eyes off the road, frowning at me, for longer than what felt safe. “You’re a good human, Rems. It’s just taken you a little while to find your feet.” His eyes flared as he cut his attention to me again, holding back a snigger that came out his nose despite his efforts.
“Don’t fucking say it,” I warned with my iciest glare, seething at his feet reference.
His snorting increased, and his voice pitched an octave. “I wasn’t. It just came out.”
I waved my hands around and mocked him in a stupid voice. “It just came out.” It took everything not to punch the withheld laughter from his throat. “The fuck it did, Bastian. You’re an asshole.”
I huffed and angled toward the window so I didn’t have to see his dumb face trying not to laugh at my expense. Each snicker and snort grated on my patience until it broke.
“Just fucking laugh already and get it over with!”
Immediately, as if waiting for permission, Bastian barked out the loudest, most breath-stealing laugh I’d heard from him in the longest time. It made me gawk in his direction, then at the street out of fear we’d crash. I was on the run from the media—I didn’t want that to end in another media frenzy.
My brother wheezed and chortled for the next ten minutes, barely pulling himself together by the time we parked in his driveway.
“You suck,” I threw over my shoulder as I stomped from his car.
When the engine cut, his laugh filled the air as he got out. “I’ve offered up my humble abode—you have to be nice to me.”
I scoffed despite my heart softening. It wasn’t the first time I’d accepted his offer of a place to stay. After unlocking his front door and striding through, I asked over my shoulder, “Same room?”
“Yeah, Rems. Won’t be like home though: It doesn’t come with all the kinky shit you’re into.”
“Argh!” I yelled, then cursed and growled under my breath when Bass’ laughter chased me to the sanctuary of his spare room .