Chapter 14 Brooks
brOOKS
The next few weeks have gone off weirdly smooth.
Like, too good.
So far, Cato has been a total gentleman.
Wren’s assignments at the office have been seemingly normal: data entry, lead follow-ups, meeting scheduling.
And an added bonus is that she’s making money, so she hasn’t had to take on any extra freelancing, which means her extra time has largely been mine.
She told me to “shut my dirty mouth” the one and only time I brought up that I could pay her rent if she needed, and I learned quickly that money is a no-no subject for us just yet.
Later down the line, maybe.
But later down the line, I might not have much left.
But every day with her, watching her be so wonderfully, beautifully normal by the world’s standards, the real world doesn’t seem as daunting. It feels like I could take it on and not mind, because I’m with her.
Outside of the Everett family drama, things have been even better.
I still can’t show her off to the world yet, which I am absolutely dying to do, so we have a lot of quiet dates to ourselves.
A lot of nights in my apartment, watching movies, ordering takeout.
We’ve spent some time with my brothers and their women, which has also been fun for her to get to know them.
And we’ve spent more time with Cole, who has quickly become one of my favorite human beings.
She’s great, but Cole is definitely the coolest Wright.
So far, he’s come to the city three weekends in a row. We had a talk with him about anonymity, and Wren is confident that he will keep it quiet. I wasn’t so sure, so I bribed him with a new gaming console and a virtual reality headset.
He stays in my guest suite and stays up all night ordering from the kitchen and watching Fresh Prince of Bel-Air reruns.
I really love having him here. Partially because I love the kid’s company.
But also because of how damn happy it makes her when she’s with him.
Every time the three of us are together, I have a moment where I wish I could freeze time.
Because she’s happiest when we are here, and I’m happiest when she’s happy.
And when she’s here, in my home, in my presence, I know she’s safe.
She’s been staying here most nights, and every morning when she wakes up and gets dressed, and I send her off to that office with my predator of a father, I feel this burning in the pit of my stomach.
This nagging, panicked feeling that’s screaming at me not to let her go.
From the conversations we’ve had with my father’s previous “employees” who were in the same position, they all say that this intro period of normalcy was standard.
He groomed them all into thinking everything was legit.
He teaches them the ins and outs of the business.
He lets them think they are meshing well with everything.
Everything seems fine, completely normal.
Until it’s not.
So, in these moments with her, when she’s tucked under my arm, when I let myself get lost in the bliss of caring for someone the way I have come to care for her, I have to remind myself that we are just waiting for the other shoe to drop.
I have a hankering for sushi. And since we’re still not going public until everything is said and done, I called up a buddy who is a sushi chef at my favorite place uptown.
He’s an old friend who I loaned some money to, to open his first location a few years ago.
He’s expanded now and has three locations across the city.
I asked him to do me a solid, and he’s coming to the apartment tonight to make it for us.
My brothers and their lovely ladies are also joining us.
Wren has gotten close with Evie and Sawyer over these last few weeks.
They are constantly checking in on her, which I like.
I’ve gotten the gist over the time that I’ve known her that she doesn’t have much time for friendships.
She’s mentioned a couple of old friends, but I think between her working like a dog and balancing her duties to her family, she doesn’t make a whole lot of time for herself.
I’d like to think I’m changing that a little.
We have hung out with the four of them a few times, and I have to admit, it feels good having someone steady.
My brothers and I took a while to get to a place where we felt like we could balance a real relationship with the life we have.
And now, with all of this going on, everything hanging over our heads, it feels like these women that we are lucky enough to have in our lives came to us at a time when we needed them the most. They have seen the face of the monster we are facing, and none of them have left.
They are holding our hands and walking into the fire with us, and I, for one, am extremely grateful for it.
Julian and Sawyer get to my place first. Sawyer brings so much light into every room she walks into.
I’ll never forget the first time we met, when my brother was hiding her in one of the apartment buildings our family owned.
She’s a lot younger than Julian, but she came into his life with a bang and totally turned it on its axis.
It’s been fun to have a front-row seat to watching this tornado of a woman come in and blow my very-put-together older brother’s world to shit.
Everything he thought he knew, she undid.
She softened him in the best way, and even though I give him shit for being an old man, I’ve never been happier for him.
Keaton and Evie show up next, as lovey-dovey and affectionate as they always were.
They were best friends all through their teen years.
I remember them taking me to Coney Island together when I was a kid.
I always liked Evie because she always put Keat in his place.
But then they grew apart when she met someone else in college.
It wasn’t until they reconnected not that long ago that things went back into motion.
It’s not hard to see that they have always been completely and utterly meant for each other.
They have always known about each other’s darknesses, but it never stopped either of them.
They just had to wait for their stars to align and for it to be their time.
And now, it finally is. They have all gotten drinks and are sitting around the table.
And while I smile at my brothers, I check the time again.
I’m waiting for my own happy place. And she should be walking through those elevator doors any minute.
“So,” Sawyer says, as if she has picked up on my anxiety, “how is our girl doing?” I smile. Our girl. I like it because it means that they all have accepted her, absorbed her into our orbit. That she now has a team behind her. A family.
“I think she’s doing okay,” I say with a shrug as I take a sip of my beer. “Better than I am. I hate sending her off to him every fucking day.”
Sawyer and Evie give each other a look then look back at me.
“What was that?” I say, motioning to them. Sawyer rolls her lips together, trying to hide a smile.
“Oh, nothing,” she says.
“It’s just that you are so deep in it I almost don’t recognize you,” Evie says, and Keaton and Julian both chuckle.
I want to protest, but I can’t, because they are so fucking right.
I have no interest in anything that doesn’t involve her.
Over the last few months, I haven’t been to a single party or fancy dinner.
No overseas trips, no paparazzi photos of me on yachts.
And the truth is, I haven’t even thought about any of that until right now.
Because none of it matters unless it involves her.
For someone who has the whole world at his fingertips, my whole world suddenly revolves around a cute little brunette from Jersey.
And I wouldn’t have it any other way.
“It’s true,” I say. “I don’t really give a shit about anything unless it involves her.”
Sawyer pats my hand.
“Awww, sweet Brooksie,” she says.
“We love this journey for you!” Evie joins in.
“Yeah, we do,” Julian says, “but—”
“Oh, great, here comes Mr. Dark Cloud,” Sawyer cuts in, rolling her eyes. She and Evie chuckle, but Julian just shoots her a look before he looks back to me.
“Brooks, I really am happy for you guys,” he says. “But I need you to also consider the stress she is under.”
Now, I’m a little irritated.
“Really, J? You think I don’t think about that every fucking day?” I ask him. He nods, holding his hand up.
“No, I know you do,” he says. “I’m just saying to take a step back for a moment. Consider whether or not it’s her or the situation that has you all fired up. There is a nonstop supply of adrenaline running for all of us right now. I don’t want her—or you—getting hurt in the end.”
I think for a moment, swirling my beer around and trying not to take anything seriously.
“With all due respect, big brother, you and Sawyer met during an extremely stressful situation. Things seem to be working out for you. I know I’m the family joke, but I’ve never been more serious about anything than I am about her.”
But as I finish, I notice all their eyes in one direction.
She’s here, in my apartment. And she heard everything I just said.
She’s standing in my foyer, looking as devastating as ever, her chest heaving, her eyes big and wide. They are all staring at her, but she’s only looking at me.
“Ya know, I’m pretty serious about you too, Everett,” she says with a smile as I make my way over to her. She bites her lip just as I bend and take it with a long kiss.
“Alright, alright,” Keaton says, “we get it. Now someone get me some fish before I lose it.”
The dinner is great.