Chapter 3 #2
They weave through the equipment toward us, and Alex strides right up to Brooke with his hand extended. “Brooke Bennett, as I live and breathe. You’re a hot shot New York City journalist now, right? You’re the last person I expected to see here.”
Brooke shakes his hand, laughing. “Hot shot, I’ll take it.
And yeah, I’m back in town for a bit.” She tilts her head as she studies him.
“Alex, right? God, you’re so grown up it took me a second.
I think the last time I saw you, I ran into you on your twenty-first at Rusty’s.
If I recall, you were so drunk you and your friends were attempting to line dance for what I’m guessing was the first time. ”
Alex laughs. “In my defense, someone kept buying me shots and I was too polite to say no.” He throws me a look. “So, should I call the fire department now, or are you two planning to burn the place down later?”
“We’re maintaining a very fragile ceasefire.” Brooke glances at me with amusement. “For the moment at least things are civil. Right, Dom?”
“Yep, very civil,” I say through my teeth.
Theo steps forward and shakes Brooke’s hand, his smile warm but uncertain, like he’s not quite sure what the appropriate greeting is for the woman who torpedoed his brother’s career but is now apparently having a civil conversation with him. “Uh, good to see you again, Brooke. It’s been a while.”
“It really has. You guys are still running Harbor & Ash, right? My parents rave about it, saying it rivals most of the places I’ve taken them to in New York. I keep meaning to stop by while I’m in town.”
“That’s nice of them,” Theo says. “If you stop in, Alex will make you something incredible and then pretend he’s not fishing for compliments about it.” His shoulders drop a little, seemingly relieved now that we’ve landed on something that isn’t a potential minefield.
“I don’t fish for compliments,” Alex says. “I deserve them. There’s a difference.”
“Humble as always,” I say.
“Humility is for people who aren’t sure if they’re good.” He shrugs, completely unbothered. “I’m sure.”
He’s not wrong. The arrogance would be insufferable if he couldn’t back it up, but the man can cook circles around anyone I’ve ever met.
I roll my eyes anyway. “Don’t you two have a workout to get to?”
“Well, it looks like there’s a pretty interesting show happening right here.” Alex grins, clearly in no hurry to leave. “I think the treadmill can wait.” He turns to Brooke, leaning in like they’re old friends sharing secrets. “So what brings you back to town? Besides tormenting my brother.”
“Alex,” Theo says, in the same tone he’s been using since they were kids.
Brooke laughs. “I’m doing a story on Dom’s fighter for The Sporting Standard, and Dom has graciously agreed to let me follow him and Roman around leading up to the big fight in New York.
There’s a lot of buzz around it, so my editor is chomping at the bit.
Apparently a comeback story with this much history is too good to pass up. ”
“Graciously agreed,” I mutter. “That’s one way to put it.”
“Oh, mind your blood pressure, Dom.” She shoots Alex a conspiratorial look that I don’t like one bit. “He’s a little testy about the whole arrangement. I can’t imagine why.”
“Dom? Testy?” Alex puts on an expression of exaggerated shock that belongs in a soap opera. “Our Dom? No, that can’t be right. He’s normally such a ray of sunshine. A delight to be around. Known far and wide for his easygoing nature and carefree attitude.”
“I’m going to kill you,” I tell him pleasantly.
“See what I mean?” Alex says to Brooke. “Sunny disposition. A real people person.”
I suppress a chuckle. Alex does somehow always manage to defuse my mood, though as his older brother I make a point never to let him know that. His ego is big enough already.
Brooke’s laughing now. “I don’t remember you being so funny, Alex. I haven’t been able to get so much as a smile out of your brother, but we’ll see how the next few weeks go.”
“Well, I think this is great.” Alex grins between us. “Get some water under the bridge, bury the hatchet, forgive and forget. All that good stuff. Maybe you two can finally move past everything.”
Theo coughs to cover what is clearly a laugh, and Brooke and I exchange a look that says we agree on exactly one thing: not a chance in hell.
“We should let you get back to it,” Theo says, putting a hand on Alex’s arm. “Come on, we’ve got a workout to get to.”
Theo shoots me a sympathetic look. Somehow he ended up the most mature of all of us despite being the middle child. Kind, steady, the one who smooths things over when the rest of us are ready to throw punches. Alex and Jack, meanwhile, have never met a bad idea they didn’t immediately love.
“Do we though?” Alex asks.
“Yes,” Theo says firmly, turning him toward the weight room. He glances back at Brooke. “Uh, good to see you again, Brooke.”
“You too,” Brooke says. “Both of you. And I mean it about the restaurant. I’ll try to stop by before I head back to New York.”
“You should,” Alex says, letting himself be steered away but twisting to look back at us. “I’ll make you something that’ll ruin New York food for you forever. That’s a promise.” He throws a grin at me. “Good luck, Dom. Try not to kill each other.”
“Mmhmm,” I grumble, waving him off.
His laugh echoes across the gym floor, and I can hear him saying something to Theo that I can’t quite catch but that makes Theo shake his head. Probably already planning how to bring this up at the next family dinner.
Brooke turns back to me, a smile playing at her lips. “So, where were we?”
I take a deep breath and remind myself that I promised to be professional today. “What else do you want to know?”
Her smile widens just a little, like she knows exactly how hard I’m working to keep my cool, and she’s enjoying every second of it. This is going to be a very long few weeks.