Chapter 32 Brotherly Love
Davey
The doorman rang around ten. I wondered if Eva needed help, but I had an unexpected guest.
“Sir, your brother is here.”
“What?” I asked.
“He is here, and he has a couple of friends with him.”
Derrick was training in California last I heard.
He’d been deployed, then back for a hot minute, but returned for test pilot school.
I didn’t ever know where the little asshole was.
He was in his early thirties and never quite sure of his next assignment.
The best part? He didn’t have to care. The Air Force told him where to go and when.
Why the hell was he here? And why didn’t Mum say something?
Why were there stragglers? It didn’t surprise me he showed up unannounced, but I didn’t expect a crowd.
“Hey man!” Derrick shouted. “Can we come up?”
“Let them up,” I sighed.
A few minutes later, Derrick arrived with two of his buddies known only as Scram and Bark. Everyone went by call signs. Derrick’s was Flipper.
“There you are, old man!” Derrick announced.
“Why the hell are you here?” I hugged him.
“It’s Scram’s bachelor weekend and we flew in. I didn’t tell anyone because Daphne would want us to come entertain her and Mum is Mum.”
He had a good point. Daphne was overdue by almost a week and pulling her hair out. I knew for a fact she corresponded with Eva all day. I half expected her to show up today trying to save the world. Mum would have insisted Derrick behave, something I didn’t expect he wanted to do this weekend.
“Where’s the little lady?” Derrick asked.
“Uh… she’s still at work. Please don’t call her that, man.”
Eva would hate that.
“You make your girlfriend work when you don’t?”
“No. I told her to come home. She elected to stay and clean some stuff up. We had an incident of sorts. She’s got it handled.”
“He got his secretary pregnant,” Derrick announced. “Or something like that.”
My eyes widened. “No, Der. Eva is an exec. She’s in the C-Suite and is not my assistant. Please, please, please never refer to her that way.’
“Is she hot though?”
“How much have you boys already had to drink?” I sighed.
“Not enough!” Scram declared. “We’re about to go out some more. Come with us.”
“Come on! It’s been ages. Come bar hop,” Derrick demanded.
I sighed. “I need to run that by Eva.”
“Ugh. You’re whipped, man,” Derrick groaned.
“I’m a responsible adult and you randomly showed up at my house. Eva lives here, too,” I protested.
“Fine.”
I stepped into the butler’s pantry off the kitchen to call Eva.
My goal was to have her deny my request so I could give Derrick an honest no.
It wasn’t that I didn’t want to spend time with my baby brother.
It was just that I was about to be forty and running around to bars with him seemed like a lot.
After all, that’s how Eva and I ended up in this mess.
“Yes?” Eva answered.
“So, my little brother randomly showed up. It’s apparently an ambush bachelor party. They want me to go out with them—”
“Go,” Eva said. “We have an issue. Can I sleep on your couch?”
“Baby, come home and sleep,” I sighed. “Don’t sleep on my couch.”
“I can’t,” she said. “Go spend time with him. You can take care of me tomorrow.”
“Oh… okay,” I stammered. “Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
“Okay. Well, I love you.”
“See you on the flipside,” she sighed.
I hung up and approached the guys again.
“Well, I suppose I’m off the leash.”
“Fuck yeah!” Derrick declared. “Let’s get fucked up!”
I did not plan to get “fucked up”. I intended to be an adult and babysit—as Eva and I had that fateful night.
However, after two drinks, I realized I was completely out horsed by my brother’s squadron.
These guys drank like Brits on a university Fresher’s Week—but with much better stamina.
That is how we ended up in a bit of a predicament.
“Next place! Next place!” Derrick announced like an excited caveman. “Bus! Now!”
“Where?” I groaned, already winded.
It was midnight and I had been up since six.
Somehow, we ended up renting a party bus.
Derrick made a big show of putting it on his credit card—as if that was something special.
My brother was odd. I suspected he just wanted to show off for his friends.
The lights disoriented me until I realized where we were. Somehow, the bus was on the Skyway.
“Where the fuck are we going?” I asked.
“The titty bar!” One of the guys loudly announced. “In Indiana.”
Indiana’s strip clubs had fewer rules than ours. If you wanted to enjoy yourself, you drove across the border. I was in no mood to go to a strip club and suspected it would anger Eva. But, what she didn’t know wouldn’t hurt her, right?
“I didn’t sign up for this,” I protested. “You said clubs.”
“It is a strip club,” Bark said. “It has club in the name.”
“Not what I was thinking, but sure,” I groaned.
“He is whipped!” Derrick cackled. “Boy, you are fucking broken. Where is the Davey I know?”
“He grew up in the past two years since we last did this,” I sighed.
“What? Do tits offend her? Women just put up with this shit, man. You’ll be in the doghouse for awhile. Flipper, tell him it’s going to be okay.”
I suspected Eva wouldn’t have a problem with boobs—she never had issues with boobs—but would complain about exploitation and me trying to pull one over on her.
“Jesus fucking Christ,” I sighed. “No, tits don’t offend her, but I’m afraid she’s going to be upset I didn’t clear it with her.”
“Clear it? Are you married now?” Bark laughed.
“I mean, I’m having kids with her, so yes,” I answered. “Pretty much.”
“Live a little, man!” Derrick smacked my back. “And drink up!”
I went in, resolved to hang out in back and touch nothing.
Derrick, however, took this as a challenge.
I got several uncomfortable lap-dances out of the deal and ended up spending more at the ATM than I wanted.
The fees were madness, but these kids had no clue.
They didn’t care. They had nothing but hazard pay to burn, I assumed.
When we finally headed back to my place to crash on every available surface, I climbed into bed next to Eva. Things must have resolved at the office. She stirred, rolling over to stare at me. I was drunk as a skunk, not remotely articulate, and had lived a little too large.
“Did you fix it?” I asked.
“Yeah,” she murmured. “The linen sale will hopefully succeed despite the best efforts of our shitty vendor. I think we need to look at other options before our notice period is up next month. I’m done.”
“Oh… okay.”
“David, you smell like a fucking bar. And…” She stopped. “Cheap perfume. What the fuck?”
“I… I didn’t ask… I didn’t want to.”
“What?” Eva demanded. “Did you fuck someone?”
“God, no!”
“Then what did you do?” Eva looked near tears, sitting up and glaring with the angriest expression I’d ever seen.
“We went to the strip club. I was already almost in Indiana before Derrick told me what was going on. I behaved. I promise. I—”
“Why would you do that? Why didn’t you tell me? God! You’re the fucking worst!”
As predicted, the move went over like I expected. I was in the doghouse.
Eva
“Why would you lie?” I demanded. “Am I so disappointing that you had to do that?”
I saw red. I did something I shouldn’t have in the heat of the moment with Davey—something that put my reputation at risk, not his. And he paid it back by going to a fucking strip club for lap dances!? Who did that!?
“What do you mean, Eva?”
“I gave you the best I could, and this is how you respond. You don’t even remember!”
He rubbed his temples. “Baby, my head hurts. I’m so hungover and—”
“I just slept on your couch until Sec Arch woke me up and told me they’d figured it out about 90 minutes ago.
I am miserable. Your babies are kicking me so fucking hard that I cannot sleep.
My hips are fucking on fire. And you go out and let a bunch of strange women grind on you? ” I flailed, climbing from bed. “No!”
“No what? Eva, I love you. I didn’t do anything bad. I swear. Derrick is the issue. I thought of all people, you’d be down with boobs—”
“Down with boobs and hearing that you went to a fucking strip club after I let you take me in your office are two different things. Was that enough for you? Do I just disgust you or something?”
Tears rolled as I stood there.
“Eva, you’re perfect. What are you talking about?”
“You degraded me!” I shouted. “And I’m going to go sleep downstairs!”
“There are servicemen on literally every fucking surface, Eva. My brother’s stupid friends—”
I sobbed. “You must hate me—”
“I really, really don’t. I love you. I don’t want to fight. You can yell at me after you’ve rested but please go to sleep. I’ll sleep in my office.”
Davey scuttled off. I sobbed until falling asleep, waking to the smell of coffee.
My eyes opened. It was nearly one and I had to pee like a racehorse.
I wandered into the bathroom, finding Davey in the shower.
He’d turned on the steam, casually whistling away like nothing was wrong.
Men were dumb. How could he think everything was fine?
Ignoring him and needing to go, I peed, and because I was saintly, didn’t flush.
I was washing my hands when I heard the shower turn off. I was ready to launch into a rant until a naked man—not the one I was presently with—appeared. This was Davey’s little brother.
“Oh, fuck. You really are pregnant!” Derrick declared.
I stood there in nothing but panties and one of Davey’s shirts while he was there buck naked and otherwise unfazed.
What an asshole! Why would he think this was fine and not rush to at least pull on a towel?
Also, how was everyone in this family so fucking attractive?
It made it worse. I turned away, facing the mirror, but couldn’t avoid him there.
I rushed to the linen closet and threw two towels at him—as if more was better.
“Calm down!” He laughed.
“I’m standing here in panties and you’re naked. What the actual fuck?”
“Ah, it’s nothing. I didn’t see anything. Stop freaking out.”
“This is my room! You’re in MY room! Get out!”
“I still gotta shave! And it’s Davey’s room.”
“Get out! Fuck your shaving! Why couldn’t you—”
“What is with all the shouting?” Davey appeared, looking miserable.
I almost felt bad for yelling at him.
“Your girlfriend is giving me the third degree!”
“He’s here naked and I’m here in panties,” I finally pulled on my robe. “I peed in there thinking it was you in the shower. He comes walking out completely naked!”
“How was I supposed to know you were in here?”
“It’s my fucking room!”
“No, it’s Davey’s.”
“Hey! It’s her room, too. Not yours,” Davey said. “Jesus Christ, Derrick! What a great first impression you’ve made! Eva, this is my baby brother Derrick. Derrick the Fuckwit, this is my girlfriend, Eva.”
“Charmed,” I growled, annoyed.
“She’s pretty—even pregnant,” Derrick said. “But damn she has a temper. They do say you marry your mother, though.”
“Oh god!” Davey said. “Fuck off! Why are you in here?”
“Bark puked in my shower and Scram was in the other shower.”
“Next time, fucking ask. Now, get dressed,” Davey insisted. “Go put on some clothes and get to work scrubbing the showers your friends destroyed.”
“Davey,” Derrick groaned. “Be cool, man.”
“Given that I just slept on the floor of my office due to your stupid plans, I have no more cool left. I am not getting sick because you all trashed the place.”
Derrick left.
“I’ll go,” I said.
“No,” Davey held me by my arms. “Baby, I’m sorry. I will grovel for an eternity if I must, but please don’t go. I am sorry this whole thing exploded. I thought I could control it but damn those guys can drink and I’m an old fuck. I am sorry my idiot brother thought this was okay. It wasn’t.”
Davey’s face showed kindness and regret, not superiority.
“I will make sure you don’t have to deal with shower puke and that the boys leave you alone, my love,” Davey said. “Go back to bed. I’ll bring you coffee and eggs.”
“Since when can you cook eggs?” I asked, surprised.
“Since Derrick’s friend gave me directions.”
“The one who puked?”
“Nah, different one. The one who was on the living room couch.”
“Ah.”
He kissed my forehead. “I’m sorry. So sorry. I should have been here when you got home. I shouldn’t have gone to the strip club—”
“I… I’m sorry for reacting in anger,” I said. “I genuinely missed you when I got home, yes. I also just… I gave a part of myself I never thought I would to you. And… you stomped all over it.”
Davey cupped my face in his hands. “No. That was special. It was hot and impulsive and special as fuck, Eva. The women Derrick paid to grind on me after I explicitly said no lap dances? They didn’t mean anything. Their tits cannot compete with yours, either.”
“Don’t lie, David.”
“I’m not.”
“Are you sure you weren’t just scratching an itch while my soggy ass languishes here?”
Davey smacked my ass. “That? Your totally grabbable little ass?”
“I have a big ass.”
“One I lose my mind over, Eva. Fuck, I love you. I don’t need anyone else. You’re gorgeous.”
“Even if I’m pregnant,” I joked.
“You’re sexy as hell. I just want all of you.”
I swooned at the way he said it.
“Okay,” I agreed.
“Go, get in bed. I will spoil you all day but just stay away from the boys. They are fucking feral and I’m sorry. They arrived out of nowhere.”
“I will take you up on your offer. I’m also taking all of Monday off after the scan,” I said.
He swatted my ass. “Good girl.”