Chapter Twelve
Brody
Maggie may or may not have been trying to kill me.
Not only did she wake me up at five in the morning to jog, but she was also hellbent on leaving me in the dust behind her.
“Babe,” I huffed, forcing my legs to pump even faster. “Are we training for the Boston Marathon or something?”
She hadn’t mentioned it, but given the fact that it was Maggie, I wouldn’t put it past her to sign us up without telling me.
She didn’t even pause—just kept running straight ahead. The scariest part? She wasn’t even wearing headphones. Nope, she was absolutely rawdogging this run without any type of assistance.
And worse—she inflicted it on me, too.
“Margaret Brynn,” I stopped, feeling on the verge of passing out where I stood. “You come back here right now.”
Hands on my hips, I sucked in a breath of frigid winter air, trying to regulate my body back to a normal, human rhythm.
She turned, noticing that I’d fallen several paces behind her, and she began to make her descent back to me.
“What’s wrong?” she asked, still jogging in place.
“What’s wrong is I’m jogging around Boston at five thirty in the morning in January.” I held my arms out for emphasis. “You know what type of people do that, Maggie?” I narrowed my eyes at her. “Psychos.”
She scoffed.
“You gotta tell me what’s going on, babe,” I said, giving her an examining look.
Her eyes were puffy as if she hadn’t slept, and traces of eyeliner were still visible on her eyelids from the night before.
Considering Maggie was the type of girl to have organic, biodegradable, makeup-removing cloths from Turkey paired with some insane micellar water cleanser, both of those things struck me as a bit of a red flag.
“We’re running,” she said. “You didn’t have to come.”
It was my turn to scoff.
“You think I’d let you run around Boston before the sun rose by yourself?” I gave her an incredulous look. “Let me repeat: only psychos are out at this hour.”
She rolled her eyes.
It was times like this when she felt a million miles away. I couldn’t get inside her head, no matter what I tried. And until she was ready to talk to me, there was nothing I could do but wait.
Patience was a virtue I had in multitudes.
But, unfortunately, digging her heels in was something Maggie had just as much experience with.
I sighed, gesturing to the path in front of us.
“After you,” I said, letting her begin her sprint once more.
I looked up at the sky once, a silent plea to whoever was listening to end both my misery and this hellish jog in a timely manner.
After another twenty minutes of chasing after Maggie, I realized that request would go unanswered.
She cracked sooner than I expected.
But, I guess she had no choice, considering the topic came up by way of text.
CASSIE: What happened last night? Liam won’t talk about it but I can tell it must’ve been really bad.
I frowned down at Maggie’s phone lighting up on the table. She left it there while she showered, always leaving it in my care to make sure it wasn’t someone work-related trying to contact her.
There had been times when she had insisted that I bring the phone in, jet stream and all, so she could continue conducting business even when bathing.
But this?
I’d say it definitely warranted a conversation.
“Mags?” I asked, walking into the bathroom, carrying her phone in my hand like a bomb.
“Mhm?” she responded, voice muffled by the sound of the water stream.
“Did something happen at dinner last night?”
She pulled the curtain back rapidly, her heart-shaped face poking out with wide eyes.
“Why?” she started to ask, before her gaze went to the phone in my hand.
“What happened,” she reached for it, “did Liam text?”
“No,” I said, handing it to her. “Cassie.”
Maggie deflated, before clicking on the text thread with Liam, apparently dismayed at the lack of notifications from it.
Green eyes met mine and she whispered,
“I think I screwed everything up.”
“Maggie,” I groaned, rubbing my temples with such intensity as if I could erase myself from existence.
At least then I wouldn’t be caught between my two favorite people having the family feud of a lifetime.
“I know,” she groaned in return. “It’s bad, isn’t it?”
“I don’t understand what you were hoping to achieve by bombarding him with the guy he’s proclaimed to hate for as long as I’ve known him.”
“I thought it was a cover-up!” Maggie said. “I didn’t think he actually meant it that literally.”
“It’s just not your place to make that call for him, though, Mags,” I said as gently as I could. “If he didn’t want to see the guy, you should’ve respected that.”
“Well aware, thank you,” Maggie fumed, never liking to be told she was in the wrong about anything. “But this is Liam. It’s not like he’s going to hate me forever, right?”
I didn’t think so.
But like she said, this was Liam. The guy who loved and hated with equal intensity. There never seemed to be much middle ground as far as anyone else was concerned.
You either existed in one of those two categories or you simply didn’t exist at all to him. At least, not in any way that he’d acknowledge.
“I think it’ll be fine,” I told her after thinking about it for a minute. “But I think you really have to make it up to him somehow.”
“He was so mad, Brody,” she groaned, eyes getting watery. “I’d never seen him look at me like that.”
“It’ll be okay,” I told her. “We’ll fix it.”
“Yeah?” she asked hopefully, wiping her eyes.
“Yeah, everything will be fine.”
Everything was not fine.
The air inside the arena was frigid, having nothing to do with the ice and everything to do with a one Mr. Liam Brynn, who was apparently extending the cold shoulder not only to his sister, but also to me by association.
“Liam,” I urged, watching as he skated right past me for the thousandth time that practice. “Please stop ignoring me, it makes me feel neglected.”
Fragments of ice kicked up behind him as he skated past me without a glance.
“Have a fight with your boyfriend, Callahan?” Coach raised an eyebrow, having seen the whole encounter.
I rolled my eyes.
“Looks like it,” I agreed, attempting to skate after him once more.
“Liam, please,” I said. “I know you’re upset, but it didn’t have anything to do with me. I had no idea Maggie planned that.”
He answered back with a snort.
“You have to believe me—”
He turned to face me, finally.
“I do believe you, Brody. I know Maggie is more than capable of coming up with diabolical schemes entirely on her own.”
I frowned.
“I’d use the word mischievous over diabolical—”
“You let it happen though.”
“What?” My head jerked back in shock. “I didn’t—I told you, I had no idea.”
“Not that.” He shook his head. “I meant in general. Life. You let her think that every day is The Maggie Show, where she can do whatever she wants while screwing people over in the process.”
“She doesn’t screw people over, jackass.” I countered, protectiveness rising in my chest. “Believe it or not, she usually thinks she’s helping when she interferes.”
“But that’s what it is. Interfering. And she needs to learn to mind her goddamn business, which she never will since you go around enabling every shitty decision she makes.”
“That’s not true.” I shook my head. “You just expect people to be perfect all the time.”
“I expect people to know enough to have boundaries. Especially when they’re fully grown adults.”
“I get why you’re upset, I do,” I told him. “But she knows she messed up. She’s not going to do it again.”
“That’s what I thought last time.”
“Listen, Liam. You’ve got to get over whatever this is, because I have to talk to you about something important—”
“Save the lovers’ spat for after hours,” Coach bellowed from the sidelines.
I panicked. I felt like I was losing Liam and knew I might not get another chance to talk to him if I let him leave now.
Him and Maggie both were flighty like that. If I let them go, there was no telling when I’d get them back. The only answer was to act fast.
“Liam, wait.” My voice was a plea.
He turned to look, face impassive but expectant.
“I wanted to ask your permission,” I started, wondering if it was going to sound corny as hell. “I mean, I wanted to talk to you about—”
He raised a brow.
Inside my gloves, my palms were moist with anxiety. Was I really about to gamble the future of my relationship on a guy who was running high on emotions?
But I had to. I couldn’t afford to wait the excruciatingly long cool-down process that Liam would need to get over his issue with his sister. It was now or possibly never.
“Spit it out, Brody,” he urged, irritation rising as Coach glared at us once more.
My mouth opened, then shut. Liam sighed before turning to skate away, and then I let it all tumble out at once.
“I want to marry Maggie.”
His green eyes widened, pausing at the revelation.
I stared at him anxiously. “So, what do you think?”
“Why are you telling me?” he asked with furrowed brows. “Isn’t this a conversation to have with her?”
“Well, yeah. But you’re supposed to ask permission,” I rambled. “Usually to the father, I know. But the guy’s a jerk, so—”
Liam huffed a laugh. “Damn right he is.”
“So, I’m asking you.”
“For permission to marry my sister?”
“Yes, for permission to marry your sister.” I nodded. “You’re the only consistent man that’s ever been in her life. It’s only right I should ask you.”
He looked taken aback for a second, as if he’d never paid much thought to the role he played in Maggie’s development. Despite their spat now, I knew that growing up he’d done everything for her that a father would do.
He took care of her car. He drove her to and from school. He looked out for her in more ways than a normal older brother would usually have to.
He meant the world to Maggie, even if he wouldn’t admit it to himself. His approval mattered.
“Well, you have my permission.” He said it without reservations. “But, along with that, I’m giving you a piece of advice.”
I waited, knowing he wasn’t the type to throw his two cents in often. Not unless the situation was in dire need of being fixed.
So when he opened his mouth to speak, I listened intently.
“You can ask her to marry you, Brody. But Maggie has always and will always make her own decisions.” He paused, looking at me with sympathy, as if he were about to throw a blow he didn’t really want to throw.
“And going by her record, she’s never been one for making the right decisions. Just something to think about.”
And then he skated away.