26. Amorette #2
“One question at a time.” Matías turned to Parker. “You’ve been playing a dangerous game with your spies and your schemes. You should have left that to Andre.”
Parker took a step toward Matías, then caught himself. There was a visible war going on inside of him. He wanted to know what Matías knew, but he wanted to fight him too. That was obvious from the hatred burning in his eyes as his fists clenched at his sides.
“Vicente cracked one of your rats, who wasn’t very good at whatever job you gave him. Regan, I believe his name was. He cracked so hard, he spilled every name he could and what they had planned.”
“Fucking fuck,” Parker cursed and pinched the bridge of his nose.
“It was a good plan. The public humiliation would have hurt Vicente’s image. Except, he came out on top, like he always does,” Matías sighed.
“You’re supposed to be his heir. If he finds out what you’re doing, if he doesn’t already know, you’re dead,” Andre half said, half groaned.
“If you hadn’t noticed, I’ve never wanted to be his heir,” Matías spat. “And he doesn’t truly want one. Otherwise, he would have tried to train me years ago.”
A thought occurred to me. What if Matías hated Vicente as much as the brothers did? They at least had each other to lean on. Matías had only had Valentina, maybe.
What if this whole thing wasn’t about me but him finding his way into their group?
None of the brothers said anything. I wasn’t sure what there was to say, not until they had time to digest what had happened at least.
“You’re safe enough here. For now. If I hear anything, I’ll let you know. I’d prefer it if you don’t die because you’ve been stupid and overestimated yourselves.” Matías stepped toward the door, but Parker stopped him with a hand on his arm.
“You still didn’t answer why you would take this risk for us. We’ve been nothing to each other. Not when we were kids, not as adults. It stinks of a trap.”
The coldness in Matías’ eyes would have seared me to the spot, but Parker acted as if he wasn’t phased at all. “That was never my choice.” He looked at Andre. “If you need something, call me.” Then to me. “It was a pleasure, as always.” He dipped his head, then left.
Parker didn’t stop him this time.
Once the office door was shut again, Parker swore.
“What happened?” I hopped off the desk, ready to pepper them with questions, but Andre groaned again.
“Long story. We’re good for now. I have to get back to my apartment.” Then he reached for the trashcan and lost his lunch.
“Shit, this is going to be a bad one.” Parker grabbed his arm and helped him stand.
“I’ll take care of Lafe,” Grey said, helping him out of the chair. “You’ll get Andre back to his apartment?”
“Yup,” Parker grunted. I rushed forward to open the office door. When they left, I followed Parker. I knew nothing about helping someone come down from drugs, but I learned a thing or two about migraines.
Parker’s gaze lingered on me as we stopped at Andre’s door.
“What?” I asked, almost defensively, as Parker fished out Andre’s keys and unlocked the door.
“What are you doing, Little Love?” he asked. Although, the playfulness was drained from both his tone and expression.
“Helping. What does it look like I’m doing?” The door swung open, and I raced ahead to Andre’s bedroom. The bed was made almost to military standards, which wasn’t surprising. I pulled down the covers and stood back for Parker to help get Andre into bed.
While he was situating him against the pillows, I took off his shoes.
“I’ll stay here with him to make sure he’s okay.”
I expected a clever comment from Parker, or some kind of tease. It never came. When I glanced back, he watched me with an indecipherable expression. Stepping forward, he pressed a kiss to my forehead and walked toward the door.
“Take care of him,” was all he said.
Distantly, I heard the door shut and the beeping of the lock.
I started prepping the room to ensure it was as comfortable as it could be while Andre was in this state. I closed the curtains and lowered the temperature. Then I grabbed a trashcan and stuck it by his bed.
“Medicine. Nightstand,” he groaned.
Opening the top drawer, I found the bottle rolling around. It wasn’t hard, since there was barely anything in here at all except a notebook and a couple of extra phones.
I got a glass of water and a cool washcloth. Then when I went back to the bedroom, he’d flopped onto his back and thrown the covers off.
“Here,” I whispered and held out the medicine and water. He clumsily gulped it down, only getting a little water on his shirt, and then he fell back, moaning.
I glanced toward the door, then back to him. Taking a deep breath, I made a decision. The bed depressed as I climbed on and stepped over him. I settled with my back against the headboard and touched his shoulder. “Put your head on my lap.”
He opened an eye, then shut it, but inched down the bed so he could place his head over my thighs.
I folded the washcloth over his forehead and eyes and started running my fingers through his hair and over his scalp.
Being careful, I massaged his temples and hit the pressure points the best I could without causing additional pain.
This was a fine line that I used to be good at walking. My roommate in college had terrible stress headaches and this used to help her.
I didn’t mind doing this for Andre. In fact, I enjoyed being useful. It was a rare feeling here, especially when things seemed to be going up in flames around them.
“You’re good at this,” he said groggily.
I hummed, not wanting to bother him with conversation.
“You act tough, but the way you’re taking care of me, you’re a fucking regular little wifey.” The words were almost intelligible.
There wasn’t an opportunity to reply because shortly after, he fell asleep. I kept up the movements, helping alleviate the pain as long as I could, but eventually I got tired and dozed off and on against the headboard.
Andre wasn’t as hard as he had made me first believe.
I just wasn’t sure what to do with that information. Not when I repeatedly found myself in the same position over and over again.
Vicente was escalating his attacks against the brothers. Who knew how long we’d be safe here.
Could I stay? Did I want to?
I wasn’t sure what to do with that information either.