Chapter 18
Chapter 18
Leif
“I hear that the meeting of the parents went well,” Sebastian said as he leaned against the wall.
I sipped my beer and nodded. “Brooke’s met them a couple of times now, but dinner? Yeah, it went well.”
Everybody in this room already knew about Roger and the threats. The authorities knew, so there was nothing to do other than be on alert and try to live our lives.
Brooke was at home grading papers and having Luke time. She had almost finished by the time I had left after dinner, and now she just wanted time alone with her son. If I hadn’t had this guys’ night already planned, I would’ve been able to stay as well. As if we were a family.
That hit me like a ton of bricks to the chest and I swallowed hard, thinking about us as a family. I had almost run because I was too scared.
I was still worried about what Roger would do. He thought I had money that I didn’t have, or maybe he just wanted retribution for being in jail when I had my own life, but I had nothing to do with that. And maybe once the man understood that, or once the cops talked to him, things would be better.
Until that happened, the doors were locked, Brooke was behind the security system that my family’s company had put in, and I was trying not to be overwhelmed by the fact that they were being threatened because of my past. A past that had nothing directly to do with me, but that didn’t help me sleep at night.
“Earth to Leif. What’s up with you?” Leo asked.
I looked at my fellow tattoo artist, then Tristan, Nick, and Sebastian, and tried my best to push away all thoughts of the man who haunted my nightmares and focus on what was in front of me.
“Sorry, just thinking.”
“You better not be thinking about that asshole,” Nick warned, ever the best friend.
“If it helps, my thoughts started with Brooke.”
“That’s always good,” Leo said, grinning. “She seems nice… You know, I’m real nice. She have a sister? It would be killer to find a woman who doesn’t mind the ink and my job.”
“She doesn’t have a sister, but I know you can find someone. I didn’t realize you were looking.” I took another sip of my beer.
“I don’t know if I’m looking for forever actively, but I’m not not looking.”
Tristan rolled his eyes. “What my cohort over here is saying is that love looks good on you.”
Everyone was silent for a minute when I didn’t spit out my beer, and Nick’s eyes widened. “Well then. Love . Does Brooke know that?”
I shrugged and played with the label on my bottle. “Probably. I just haven’t actually told her.”
“You know, as the resident love expert here, I do have to say telling her is the first step. The most important step. Just like we men joke that we can’t read women’s minds. They, in turn, cannot read ours.”
Both Tristan and Leo glared at Sebastian while Nick and I burst out laughing.
“The thing is, of all of us, the hatchling knows what he’s talking about. It is not even a little contrived.”
Sebastian shrugged, though there was something in his eyes I couldn’t quite read. “I may be young, but I know things. I have responsibilities. And I know I love Marley. That’s all that matters, you know?”
“I know,” I said. I cleared my throat. “I’m going to tell her. I just don’t know how to do it.”
“Start with the words,” Nick said with a shrug. “What do I know? I’m not in a serious relationship. Not like the kid here.”
“Excuse me. I’m your business partner, not just a kid.” Sebastian raised his chin, his eyes filled with laughter.
“That is true. But until you can buy me a beer, I don’t know if I can stop making fun of you.”
“So, is that the age that you finally treat me like a grown-up?” he teased.
“No, I’ll just keep moving the finish line. Then it will be renting a car. And then the age where we have to go to bed early because life sucks. Which is thirty, by the way,” Nick added.
“You’re not kidding about the whole thirty thing. I thought people were joking when they said once you turn thirty, your body starts to give out, but I was picking up Luke the other day, and my back twinged.” I shook my head in disgust as everybody else jeered. “I would be annoyed that you’re laughing at me about my sad state of affairs, but honestly, I’m not an old man or anything, but I am thirty now. I guess this means I should start taking control of what I want.”
“Hear hear,” Leo put in. “Tell that woman that you love her. That you want to be with her and that Luke means everything in the world to you. Do it all. Then tell us exactly how to do it so I can take notes for when I find my lady love.”
“Okay, first off, don’t use the term ‘lady love,’” Tristan said with a laugh.
Nick smiled. “Ever, seriously. And more power to both of you for finding relationships and making them work. When I get to your age, though? I don’t see me falling like the rest of you. No, thank you. Relationships aren’t worth the headache. I’m good just like I am. Getting Montgomery Ink Legacy off the ground, making sure Leif doesn’t make any more stupid decisions, watching all of you Montgomerys and friends fall. That’s not for me.”
“Well, doesn’t that sound like a challenge,” Leo mumbled, and I held back a smile. No, I didn’t think my best friend would appreciate me grinning just then, even though it did indeed sound like a challenge to the gods of fate.
Although I had eaten dinner earlier, I still had a couple of wings that Sebastian had brought over, saying he had a nervous stomach, and I just sighed at the eighteen, nearly nineteen-year-old who could gorge himself on wings and root beer as if he wasn’t going to have heartburn later.
Leo and Tristan headed out, having dates, which I found ironic considering that Leo wanted me to hook him up with someone. He was going to have to slow down on the serial dating if he wanted something serious, but I wasn’t going to be the one to tell him that. It had taken me long enough to figure it out.
Nick headed out next, saying he had an early morning, and left it at that. Knowing how Nick was growly over the idea of dating, I figured he was actually going home, but I didn’t pressure him to say anything more.
That left Sebastian and me, and I knew he would be heading out soon because he had exams coming up, and I wanted to get back to Brooke. Although I had guys’ night tonight, I would be spending the night in her bed. Exactly where I needed to be. It still surprised me how quickly everything had changed. I was going to stop trying to look for every fault there was.
“Hey, do you have a minute?” Sebastian asked as we were cleaning up the last of the dishes.
I frowned at the worried note in Sebastian’s voice and nodded.
“Of course. What’s up?” I asked, sliding the final plate into the dishwasher.
“I don’t know how to start.”
Tension slid up my spine and I swallowed hard, reaching out to grip Sebastian’s shoulder. “Anything you have to say to me will stay between us. You know that’s always the case with us. We’re cousins. Family. Although, wait.” I paused. “Except for Brooke. I feel weird about keeping secrets from her.”
Sebastian’s eyes widened, then he nodded. “Yeah, you’re right. I wouldn’t keep secrets from Marley, especially after everything that just happened with Brooke. You shouldn’t keep secrets from her.” He let out a breath. “Hell. I should just say it.”
My eyes widened. “Did you ask Marley to marry you? Is that what you’re worried about? Because you know your parents love her. We all might think you guys are young, but you guys have been together forever.”
Sebastian shook his head. “No, it’s not that. I mean, I am going to marry Marley. I love her. She is my future. I know that. Damn it.” He cursed a few more times, then looked me straight in the eyes. “Marley is pregnant.”
I nearly dropped when I was holding and stared at my cousin. My teenage cousin. He might be an adult, might pay his own way, might soon own part of the business. He was in college and going towards his future.
But he was still only nearly nineteen.
“I don’t know what to say.”
Sebastian ran his hand through his hair, then began to pace through my kitchen. “We didn’t mean for this to happen. She was on birth control until her parents found out, and yes, she’s an adult, but her dad kept throwing it away. So we used a condom. Every time. We even used spermicide, and anything else we could’ve possibly done with her not being on birth control.”
“Hold on. Her dad threw away her birth control?” I asked, practically shouting.
Sebastian held up his hand. “Her parents are ultraconservative. To the point that they didn’t even want her dating me. I thought I had won them over. But it didn’t matter that Marley was in college, nearly nineteen. They didn’t want their daughter to have sex, so they didn’t let her have birth control. In their mind, that made sense. She was just getting on a new prescription, and she was going to hide it at my house when, well, apparently, condoms aren’t one hundred percent effective.”
My mind went in a thousand different directions as I tried to catch up. “I have so much to say to that. To begin with, I’m so sorry for Marley. For what her parents did because I feel like that’s illegal.”
Sebastian shook his head. “I don’t know. I don’t know. But it doesn’t matter, does it? It’s not like I can go back and add birth control. We never had a condom break, not to my knowledge, and were very careful. We’ve always been careful. There wasn’t one slip up, one accidental ‘oh, we can go back and fix it.’ We were always careful. But she’s pregnant. Marley is pregnant. We’re going to keep it.”
I reached forward and gripped his shoulders. “Okay. What do you need from me?” I asked softly.
Sebastian relaxed marginally before he pulled away and swallowed hard. “I’m an adult. I’m going to tell Mom and Dad. Because they deserve to know, because somehow my parents will be grandparents, and I have no idea how that’s going to go.”
I blinked and held back a laugh even though nothing was funny about the situation. But Grandpa Alex and Grandma Tabby had a certain ring to it.
“Her parents are not going to be okay with this. I don’t know what they’re going to do, but I’m going to take responsibility, and so will Marley. If we have to get married, we’ll get married early. I know everyone joked that we were going to get married young, but we were going to wait till after college. We had plans . And this throws a wrench in it, but I don’t want Marley to have to quit school. I don’t want to quit school, either. I don’t know. I just need to figure things out.”
“I’m here when you need me. And you’re going to need me. You’ll need all of us. But that’s what we Montgomerys do. We take care of each other. I know this is unexpected and so not the right time, but it’s okay. We’re going to figure this out. You and Marley are not alone.” Then I smiled, even though my stomach twisted at the thought of my baby cousin being a dad. “Well then, Daddy. It looks like you have to learn how to change diapers,” I teased.
Sebastian cursed under his breath before he laughed, though I didn’t hear much humor in it. “I’m so not ready for this.”
“I don’t think you’re supposed to be ready for parenthood. Even when you think you will be. So you’ll figure it out. Hell, you guys are helping me figure out how to keep Brooke and Luke safe. So, we will help you and Marley. You are not alone. You don’t get kicked out of our family for having sex and dealing with the consequences. And now I feel like a jerk for calling a baby a consequence.”
“I’m pretty sure I nearly did.” Sebastian let out a breath. “I can figure something out. I don’t know. But I just don’t want Marley to be scared. Or feel like she’s alone. Because her parents? They’re not going to be understanding about this.”
From the way that her parents sounded, no, I didn’t think they were going to be understanding about it at all. And while I knew with certainty that every single one of our family members would understand, some would still grumble at the thought because it was a scary and monumental event.
I calmed Sebastian down a bit and then made sure he headed home. He would talk with his family in the morning, and then the rest of the Montgomerys would hear about it soon and be on board to do what they could. I just had to hope that in all of our numbers, we would be enough to help when Marley’s parents made things difficult.
And from how Sebastian sounded, the fear he had, I had a feeling that was an actual worry.
I packed up my things and headed to Brooke’s, wondering what else would change. Because Lake seemed to be in a serious relationship, Sebastian was about to be a dad, and here I was, finding myself with a seemingly ready-made family. It was scary as hell, and yet, I was ready for this. Scared but ready.
I knocked on Brooke’s front door as I got there, and she opened it quickly, a smile on her face. “I saw you pull up. Would it be weird if I gave you a key?” she asked, tumbling over her words.
I grinned, my heart squeezing. “I was thinking I should give you a key to my place.”
“Oh? That would be nice. Though I feel bad that we always do things at your house because Luke’s here, and all his things are here. But then I end up feeling Luke and I are taking advantage of you.”
I shook my head. “You are not. I like your place. And you’re right, Luke’s things are here.”
“Maybe we can do better about taking turns. I don’t know, but we can try.”
I smiled. I leaned down and took her lips with mine. She groaned and I smiled, setting my bag down near the front door. “We can do whatever you want. I’m easy. A key sounds good, though. It would make things easier to help out around here more.”
“Oh?” The fire flared back into her voice.
“Only because I want to. You were just saying that you needed somebody to help with the air filter because you can’t reach it, even on a ladder. I’m a foot taller than you. I can help.”
“I can reach if I jump,” she said with a laugh.
“It’s like we were both just now saying, you don’t have to do things on your own, and we can try to help each other out. You have been doing most of the cooking because you like it, but I can help with other things. I don’t know, Brooke. I’ll be honest. I’ve never had a serious relationship like this before. I’m not good at it. So you’re going to have to be patient with me as I figure out what we’re supposed to do.”
“I’m going to try to accept help. You’re going to try to figure out what we’re supposed to do. Because I don’t know about serious relationships either, remember? I’m just as lost as you.”
I raised a brow. “I didn’t use the word lost.”
She rolled her eyes and then led me back to the house as we tiptoed past Luke’s room. “You didn’t have to use the word. I got it in context.”
I smiled and followed her back to her bedroom.
“Did you get your work done?” I asked as we got ready for the night. I didn’t comment that this felt more like we were living together, a married couple, than anything I had ever felt in my life, because I didn’t want to scare her away. But, hell, I was pretty scared too.
She piled her hair on the top of her head and then headed to her closet, probably to change into her pajamas.
I shrugged and then stripped down, keeping on my boxer shorts. Neither one of us slept naked in case Luke came in, though I had noticed that Brooke had locked the door.
She only locked the door if we wanted to keep Luke out.
And that was only for a certain reason.
My cock pressed through my boxer briefs, and I looked down, groaning. “Behave.”
The door opened, and Brooke stood in short shorts and a tank top that barely held her generous breasts.
“Or don’t behave.” I blinked.
“Our faces are washed, your beard is clean, our teeth are brushed. I guess you just want to go and read in bed.”
“Maybe. But it has been a long day. And I could use some tension relief.” In more ways than one, I stood at attention. I swallowed hard. And then I was moving, cupping her face, and crushing my mouth to hers.
She tasted of mint and Brooke.
My dick slid against her belly and I licked her lips, then mine, before thrusting slightly against her.
“Those boxer briefs do not contain you at all,” she teased, sliding her hand between us to squeeze.
My eyes nearly crossed and I groaned before picking her up and carrying her to the bedroom. She wrapped her arms around my neck as she held back a squeal.
“We have to be quiet. Luke will be able to hear us.”
“I’m just saying if one of us wants to do some renovations to either one of our homes, soundproofing this bedroom will have to be number one.” I tossed her on the bed, and she bounced, laughing.
“Oh, that was so sexy.” She rolled her eyes, and I fell that much more in love.
Then I was over her, taking her shorts down, my mouth on her cunt before she could take her next breath. She put her hand over her mouth and arched, cupping her breast with her free hand as I licked her, spreading her, tasting her.
She was sweet and tart and everything that I craved. I was practically humping the bed as I went down on her, eating her out.
She came on my mouth in a silent scream, wet and hot and nearly sending me over the edge. We moved quickly, stripping each other, knowing each other more now than we ever had before. We had been hot and heavy all those years ago in Paris. We had quickly learned each other’s bodies then.
But it was nothing like now. Our bodies had changed, we had changed, but this moment? We were more together now than we ever had been before.
When she rose above me and slid down, over my length, both of us groaned.
She rode me, cupping herself as I played with her nipples and her clit, both of us taking our time, knowing that even though the world might come down around us soon, this was our moment. And when she came, she clamped down around me, and I pulled her by her hair to my mouth. I took her mouth, kissing her hard, before I slid out of her and moved just as she was pressed against the bed. I pulled her hips, ass in the air, before I pounded into her, both of us groaning, trying to be quiet.
But there was nothing quiet about the heavy breaths, the sound of flesh against flesh, heat against heat.
And then I came, filling the condom, as I held back my groan.
I loved this woman.
I didn’t want to wait any longer.
While still in her, I lay down behind her, holding her close.
“I love you, Brooke. I’ve loved you for far longer than this moment. But I can’t hold it back anymore.”
Brooke stiffened, and I was afraid I’d said the wrong thing. She looked over her shoulder, tears sliding down her cheeks.
“I love you, too, Leif. Now turn me around so I can see your face.”
I laughed softly before I slid out of her, careful with the condom before I kissed her again.
“I love you,” I whispered. I kissed her lips, a sweet touch of promise. “I love you.”
“Love you, too.”
She held me, and I knew that, no matter what happened next, no matter who came at us, no matter what pressures came forward, I loved Brooke.
She was mine. And I couldn’t wait to tell the world.