25. Sawyer
SAWYER
N ow I’m the one giving him the look. I reach around my bedroom door and grab my sweat jacket, putting it on quickly.
“Your apartment?” I ask. “Who are you?” I ask again.
The girl scoffs and clicks her tongue.
“This is Brooks Everett.”
My eyes widen. Now I see it. The familiar brown eyes and perfect jawline. Their noses are different—and I much prefer the slight crookedness of my Everett’s—but I definitely see it.
Fuck.
“Now,” he says with an overly confident smirk, “do you mind telling me who you are and how you got in my family’s apartment?”
“Fuck,” I whisper. I dash to the counter and pick up my phone. He watches every move I make while the tall blonde rolls her eyes and smacks her gum, clicking her heels on the floor every time she alternates sticking one hip out. I dial Julian, biting my lip while I hold the gaze of the youngest Everett brother—funnily enough, the one who I’m closest to in age.
“Hi, baby,” he says in a hushed voice. “Everything okay?”
“Yes, I’m sorry. I know you’re in a meeting, but, uh…I think we have a problem. Your brother is here.”
Brooks’s eyes widen as he watches me on the phone.
“Yeah, okay,” I say, walking toward him and handing it over.
“So, is this the girl from Bedell House?” he asks, that same smug smile on his face. Shit. He knows about me? Or even worse… was there another girl at Bedell House? “Uh-huh. Yep, no problem. Oh, don’t you worry. I’ll wait right here.”
I swallow as he hands me the phone back.
“Hello?” I whisper, walking into my room.
“I’m so sorry. I’ll be there soon. Hang tight. I’ll take care of this,” he says. I nod, my heart pounding.
“Okay,” I say, having no choice but to do as he says and just sit tight.
When I go back into the living room, Brooks is apologizing and walking the blonde to the door.
“Unreal. Some fucking date,” she squeals as she yanks her alligator bag up over her shoulder. “We don’t even make it to the fucking restaurant, and now I’m supposed to just leave you in this janky apartment with some other chick? This is the last fucking time, Brooks,” she goes on, stomping across the floor to the door.
“Okay, sweetheart, apologies again.” He nods, holding the door open. “Adam is waiting for you downstairs. He will take you wherever you’d like to go. I’m sorry you weren’t satisfied with the evening, but feel free to keep the earrings. Remember, you signed the NDA at the start of the night, so none of this can be repeated. It was really great to see you, Candy,” he says.
She doesn’t say another word, just sticks up a perfectly manicured middle finger in his face and storms off. He chuckles and closes the door behind her, turning to me with a shrug.
“That’s the third time she’s broken up with me this month,” he says.
Gross.
“Well, it’s nice to see that the rumors about you hold no merit,” I say, walking past him toward the couch and sitting down, pulling the throw over me. I’m hungry, but I feel weird doing anything else in this apartment that may or may not belong to the strange man here with me.
He laughs as he turns to the fridge, helping himself. He grabs two Frescas, the only thing I have to drink around here, and brings them to the living room. He slides one across the coffee table to me then plops down on the oversized chair and puts his feet up on the table.
“I like what you’ve done with the place,” he says. “The new furniture looks good.”
I open my can and take a sip, nodding. I don’t know what I should and shouldn’t say, if anything.
“I don’t suppose you’re gonna give me much until my brother gets here, huh?” he asks with that same cocky smirk. “How you met? How you ended up here? Your name…?”
Is my name even safe? I have no idea. I have no clue how any of this works.
I just raise my eyebrows then take a long sip of my drink.
After twenty agonizing minutes, the door unlocks, and in walks my billionaire-in-shining-armor.
“There he is,” Brooks says as he leans back against the couch. “My wonderful big brother. Keeper of family secrets. Squatter. Professional bullshitter.”
Julian shoots him a glare as he closes the door behind him. He kicks off his shoes and waltzes across the apartment. He kicks his brother’s feet down off the table, ignoring his quip, and bends down right in front of me.
Before I can say anything, he lays a soft kiss on my lips. He smiles as we come apart, and I instantly feel myself relax.
“Now,” he says with a sigh and turning to his brother, “what are you doing here, Brooks?”
Brooks looks to me, then to him, then back to me with that same stupid smile on his face.
“Oh my,” Brooks finally says. “This is too good. Oh, no, no, Big Brother. I think it’s your turn to answer some questions.”
Julian sighs again then takes a seat beside me on the couch. He wraps an arm around me and pulls me into him.
“It’s okay,” he says. “He won’t say anything.” I nod and swallow nervously. Here goes nothin’. He turns back to Brooks. “Ask.”
“Where do I start?” he says in amusement, clapping his hands together. “Okay, let’s go with…who is she, how’d you meet her, and what is she doing in our apartment?” He opens his hand on my shoulder, and I slip mine into his, locking our fingers together.
“This is Sawyer. Sawyer, meet my idiot brother Brooks,” he says, pointing his hand in his brother’s direction. I smile and wave.
“Sawyer,” Brooks says with a smile and nod.
“We met on the Carrington campus, the day of the shooting,” Julian goes on. “I was just arriving for my guest panel when it started. She happened to be running in my direction and stopped us. She saved my life,” he says. I squeeze his hand subconsciously, my eyes dropping. Slowly, I look back at Brooks, whose face is much more serious now.
“Fuck,” he says. “I’m so sorry.”
“Thank you,” I say. “Your brother saved me too.” He raises an eyebrow, so I go on. “He got me off campus, brought me back to his apartment while campus was locked down, before they caught the guy. I’m from Seattle, so my mom couldn’t get here till the next day.”
Brooks shakes his head.
“I’m sorry, Sawyer. Glad you were there, Brother,” he says. Julian leans over and kisses my temple.
“So am I,” he whispers. “Anyhow, we kept in touch. Like she said, her mom doesn’t live out here. I wanted to make sure she was okay after everything.”
“He’s being modest,” I interject. “He flew my mom out here to be with me, got us a suite to stay in while campus was closed. And when it reopened, I had some trouble going back to my dorm. My roommate…she, um…she didn’t make it,” I say, feeling this familiar lump in my throat I’ve felt so much after these last few weeks. “Your brother…he, uh…he rented this place for me to finish out the semester. Or I guess bought it?” I ask, turning to him.
Julian clears his throat.
“My family owns the building,” he says. “This unit was vacant. I knew you’d try to fight me, so I made up the lease thing. I’m sorry.”
I smile and bring his fingers to my lips. How could I be mad?
“I’m sorry about your friend, Sawyer. I really am. And I’m really fucking sorry that you went through that,” Brooks says. His face is sincere, and I smile.
“Thank you, Brooks.”
“So this…” he says, motioning between us, “turned into a little something more than ‘making sure she was okay,’ huh?”
“It did,” Julian says. “We’re still figuring some things out—well, she is.”
Brooks raises an eyebrow again, and so do I.
“As far as I’m concerned, I’m all hers, and she’s all mine. But we’re doing things on her time. As you know, once she decides it’s time to tell the world, there’s no going back.”
He’s talking to his brother, but he’s saying it to me. I’m staring at him while he speaks with so much conviction, like professing his feelings for me is the most natural thing in the world. I slowly become aware that we are not alone again and turn back to Brooks, who has a surprised look on his face. He lets out a sharp whistle.
“Well damn, Brother,” he says, slapping his knee. “I never thought I’d see the day. And listen, I’m happy for you both. Really, I am. My lips are sealed. He stands up slowly, and Julian and I follow suit. He pulls Julian in for a long hug, patting his back, and I can see that he means it. Then he reaches around and hugs me tight too. “Be good to him, Sawyer,” he whispers in my ear. Then he pulls back. “It was great to meet you. Hope to see more of you. Big Brother, I’ll talk to you soon.”
He claps Julian’s back, and then he walks back out the door.
I turn slowly to Julian, my eyes big and my heart pounding.
“I’m sorry, baby,” he says, reaching out to take my hands in his. “I had no idea he was still using this place as his…I don’t know. And I don’t want to know,” he chuckles. “But I’m sorry. I promise he won’t say anything, though.”
I bite my lip.
“Did you mean what you told him?” I ask. My heart is thudding so hard in my chest that it feels like it’s moving my whole body. He pulls me into him slightly, wrapping one arm around my waist and putting the other palm on my cheek. His eyebrows knit together as his big brown eyes bore into mine.
“Yes, sweetheart,” he says. “Every word. If you want me, I’m yours.” I swallow, then I tuck my arms inside of his and wrap them around him.
“It felt good, telling someone,” I admit. His perfect lips tug into a half-smile as he looks down at me.
“Oh, yeah?” he asks.
“Mm-hmm,” I say. “Even if he thinks you’re my sugar daddy, which I guess you kind of are.”
He laughs, bending down to leave a string of soft kisses under my ear, down my jawline.
“I do kind of like you calling me ‘Daddy.’ But I’ll be whatever you want me to be,” he says. “However you want me to be it.”
Chills erupt all over my skin from his touch.
I want this. Every day. With him and only him.
“I don’t want anyone else to have you, Julian,” I whisper. “And I want everyone to know that they can’t have you.” He stops kissing me, our eyes locking as he stands up. He cocks an eyebrow, trying to decide if I’m saying what he thinks I’m saying.
“What…what are you saying, Sawyer?” he asks.
“I’m saying that I’m all in,” I tell him. “I want you, and I want this. I don’t want to sneak around anymore.”
Slowly, the intense look on his face eases up. His eyebrows smooth out, and his face breaks out into the biggest smile I have ever seen. He pulls me in for a long, hard kiss, scooping me up off the ground as he slides one hand under my ass and slides one up my back into my hair. I wrap my legs around him as he carries me through the apartment and into the bedroom.
We come apart for a moment, and he closes his eyes, pressing his forehead to mine.
“I don’t think I realized how badly I wanted to hear you say those words until you actually did,” he says. I smile, running my fingers through his brown waves and kissing his forehead.
“I’ve been wanting to say them for a while,” I tell him. He stares up at me, still holding me up.
“There are still some things I want to tell you before we make any moves,” he says. I smile, bending down to kiss him again.
“Okay,” I say. “But could that wait?”
“Wait for what?”
“Wait until after you fuck me like you don’t want anyone else to,” I say. I feel his cock twitch beneath me.
“Oh, baby,” he growls as he spins me around, carrying me to the bed and laying me down on top of it. “I’m gonna fuck you so that you don’t remember any other man that’s ever touched you. And so you never want to be touched by anyone else ever again.”