14. Mason
FOURTEEN
Mason
I wasn’t surprised when Eli stalked into my living room because he’d been lurking by the pool scowling at the pool house as if it had personally affronted him.
I’d actually been waiting for him to come inside since I’d arrived at the pool house and began packing stuff into boxes.
He clearly had a lot more to say about the situation, and with Xander not here it was going to be brother on brother.
“We need to talk,” he announced in that tone only a big brother could get right.
“No, we don’t.”
“Yes, we do,” he snapped, and I rounded on him.
“I think you’ve said enough, Eli.”
He bristled and postured and then, as if his strings were cut, he slumped to the sofa and rested his arms on his knees, staring up at me.
“I don’t want to argue, Mase.” He sounded broken and lost. I put down the books I’d been packing and took the chair opposite him.
“I don’t want to argue either.”
“It’s just so fast. One minute you’re my kid brother staying in the pool house, the next you’re in some improbable love affair with a man I… ” He shook his head then scrubbed his eyes. “I don’t even know what I’m unhappy about.”
My heart hurt. He’d been there for me every day he could since we’d lost our parents, he’d been my rock, my father figure, and my brother all wrapped into one.
He’d encouraged me to go to college, given me a home, and he’d been part of every step of my life.
From the age of sixteen, it had just been him and me against the world, and here I was, tugging on that close bond enough that if we let it, we’d never be able to fix it.
“You’ve done everything for me,” I began, and he shook his head again as if he was denying that he had any part in me being the man I am today. “It’s true, Eli. You were there for school events, every one of them when you could be, you opened your house to me—”
“You’re my brother.”
I sighed. “You didn’t have to do any of it, Eli.
You could have had your career and your life and given me money, and it would’ve been enough, but you didn’t.
When all that shit happened with Aarni, you were right there next to me, and yeah you threatened to kill him, but when you calmed down, it was you who wanted to report it all, wanted to be by my side the entire time, even if it reflected on your career. ”
“Mase—”
“No, listen to me for once.” He made a show of zipping his lips, and I couldn’t help but smile.
My brother was an idiot. “Of course you’re going to feel upside down about it all, and I get that, but I want you to know that I’m ready to move on, and I can only do that because of the man you helped me become. ”
He closed his eyes and then sniggered. “I’m responsible for that?” He waved at my scarlet and purple shorts.
“No, that’s just my innate sense of style that missed you altogether.”
He looked serious for a moment. “I’m going to transfer you money.”
“I don’t need—”
“How will you afford to pay him rent?”
“It’s not like that.”
“It’s important that you aren’t… ”
“What?”
“That you hold your own, that he doesn’t take advantage because he thinks you owe him.”
That was what was worrying Eli? “You’re talking about Xander as if you didn’t know him.
Jesus, Eli.” I forced away the tiny niggling worries I had about my part in the finances of my new relationship.
“You genuinely think that the man for whom you’d stand in front of a hundred mile puck would seriously mess with me? ”
“I don’t want you to end up resenting… look, I just want it to work, okay?
You’re so perfect for each other”—he held up a hand to stop me from talking— “but I want you to know that if something happens, if it doesn’t work out, then I’d choose you.
Okay? You’re my brother, and I love you, and you’ll always come first in my life. ”
I stared at him for a moment, seeing the raw emotion in Eli’s eyes. It would kill him not to have his best friend in his life, but yeah, at the end of it all it was Eli-Mason against the world.
We both stood and found each other in a big hug that lasted a long time, and I knew in my heart that we’d mended something here. We’d always be brothers, and that was all that mattered.
“Which box first?” he asked, after clearing his throat and picking up the nearest box of books as if it weighed nothing—one of the benefits of being related to a man who could bench-press the weight equivalent of a small car.
“I’m just piling everything on the driveway, Xan will be here in ten.”
“I’m already here,” Xan said from the door. I didn’t know how long he’d been there, and what he might’ve heard, but his glance flicked to Eli. He looked uncertain—not an expression I was used to seeing from Xander.
Eli pointed a finger at him. “If you hurt him—”
“I won’t.”
Eli shoved him, and Xander shoved back, which led to the two big men rolling on the ground outside the door and ending up in the pool.
“My iPhone, you fucker!” Xander yelled.
“Serves you the fuck right!” Eli yelled back.
Then the two of them collapsed in laughter, not letting either out of the pool and in the end, I gave up and let them get on with it.
Idiots.
I couldn’t stop smiling though because the two men I loved might be idiots, but they were my idiots.
Something wasn’t right.
I hadn’t given any thought to the inside of the office, caught up in company issues and finances, but I’m sure this wasn’t the practical setup that we’d organized.
We had three rooms in the shared building in Quincy, an old, weathered building that came complete with parking and a rent lower than downtown.
One room, this room, was our back office with a small kitchen, then we had a consultation room and a family room.
We’d spent all our money on the people facing rooms, and this back room was supposed to be utilitarian, and nothing like what I was looking at.
“I didn’t order this,” I muttered and stared at the two large solid wood desks, complete with space-age chairs, copious shelving, printers plural, computers, and at least five boxes of what looked to be assorted stationery.
Photo frames were propped up against the wall, there was even a water cooler in the corner. “Who the fuck… ?”
“Wow,” was all Becca managed as she dropped the box of files onto one of the desks. “I call this one.”
I didn’t care what desk I had because this wasn’t the desk we’d ordered.
I placed my box on the other desk, the clatter of pens enough to snap me back from my shock, which was when I saw the note propped up against a mug addressed to both of us.
I opened the note and couldn’t believe what I was reading out loud.
“Good luck, guys, not that you need it.” I paused a moment and glanced around at what we had here. “Eli left the note.” He must have done all this before the argument, before we fixed things, and emotion choked me at the fact he’d always had my back.
“Wow,” Becca repeated. “Your brother is not just sex on legs, but he has a big heart.”
I shot her a glance because she sounded all kinds of dreamy, and that wasn’t like her. The last guy she’d dated had been a longtime thing that started in college but six months ago it had come to an end.
“You have a thing for Eli?” I teased.
“He’s a hockey god with those thighs, and now his heart… ” She stopped and blushed scarlet.
“Wait, I thought you liked Brady.”
“I love Brady’s hockey, but Eli… I mean, I backed off because he’s your brother, but you’re doing Xander, and maybe,” she mumbled. “Is that an issue?”
What could I say? My best friend liking my brother—there was a delicious irony in all of that—and I smiled. “I’m not doing Xander, but no, I have no issue at all.”
Becca returned the smile and winked, winding her long blond hair into a high ponytail then putting her hands on her hips and surveying the room. “You are so doing Xander. Now, where do we start?”
I picked up the mug the note had been propped up against and read the slogan. “I make families, what’s your superpower?” I couldn’t help smiling like an idiot. “Let’s get ready to help make families.”
We spent the entire day organizing the office, tidying the front facing spaces, scattering cushions on huge sofas in the living room, and unboxing a ton of toys and books that would be available for the kids attending meetings with their parents, plus the arcade machine that I know for sure we’d never ordered.
Between us, we made a snug place surrounded by bookshelves, filled with cushions and placed the electronics in there, along with beanbags, and finally we stood back and surveyed everything.
“We have food,” Xander announced from the door, with Eli hovering behind him. Both in Rebels jerseys and Xander grinning from ear to ear.
“We need to talk, Eli Norris Kingsley.” Eli slunk into the room, looking sheepish, but there was also a hint of something else in his expression, and I knew he was proud of me. “You shouldn’t have done all this.”
He shrugged as if it didn’t matter when it did.
I hugged him, and then Becca hugged him too.
Was it just me or did the Becca/Eli hug last that much longer?
Also, was my superstar brother always this much of a dork around girls?
He blushed scarlet and patted her shoulders when he let her go and then stumbled over his words like an idiot.
He’d never done that before, not in the six years they’d known each other.
We sat on beanbags, talked plans, and laughed, long into the evening.
I snuggled into Xander’s side and took detailed notes of how close Becca and Eli were sitting.
“I saw you looking,” Eli murmured as we rinsed mugs at the sink. Xander and Becca had stayed on the beanbags and from the pointed glances between Becca and Eli, I had the feeling I was going to be hit with news.
“At what?” I played innocent.