Chapter 18
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
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.