Chapter 46
Brynne
“And this right here,” I say as I open a door, “this was where my bedroom was. Approximately. I had a nook where I would do my drawings. Remind me to show you some of the buildings I drew when I was younger.”
He takes me in his arms and kisses my neck. “It’s beautiful, Honeybee.” I give him a tour of the rest of the first-floor unit. There are two more apartments upstairs, and I show him those too. They’re slightly different and have less space than the first floor.
I save the basement for last. I’m not keen on living there, but I think it will work for a few years.
“What’s wrong?” he asks. “You were happy, and this sadness took over when we got to the basement.”
“Oh, nothing.” He takes my hand and squeezes it. “It’s just bittersweet to be here. This is where I grew up, and I lost myself for a bit when Oliver took it. I know it wasn’t my fault, but I felt guilty. Like I failed my mother somehow, but I know that’s silly.”
“Your feelings aren’t silly. You did good, baby. You got the house back in your family.” He wraps his arms tightly around me and kisses my forehead.
“I already have an application for one of the units,” I whisper.
He squeezes me, and I sigh into him. “Not surprised. This is a good location, and your units are perfect.”
“I made sure to change all the things I didn’t like about them. The previous design left a lot of unused space, so I ensured that didn’t happen this time. And I’m happy with how it came out.”
“Yeah? What are you? An architect or something?”
I look up and smile at him. “Something like that. Come on. I’ll buy you breakfast.” The plan was to eat at home, but he wanted to see the place first thing this morning.
“What did I tell you about you buying me things?” He takes my hand and leads me out the door. I pull out the key to lock it and put it in the lockbox for the realtor, but I get distracted by a slamming door and scraping on the sidewalk. “What the hell?” I hear Colin say.
I turn to see what he’s talking about, and that’s when I see Oliver pulling a large suitcase behind him. The car he must have just gotten out of drives away, and when he sees me, he stops like a deer in headlights.
I lock the door and look from him to the suitcase.
“Can I help you?” I ask. My voice sounds calm, but I can feel a pounding in my temple. I eye the suitcase again and shake my head because there is no way this fool thinks he’s moving in here. How the hell does he think he’s going to get in?
“I can take the basement,” he says. “You won’t be out any money that way.”
I turn my head to the side because I clearly did not hear what I thought I heard. “What?” I ask. I step closer, ready to shove him, but Colin walks with me, not fully blocking me from Oliver.
Oliver doesn’t reply; he grabs his suitcase and goes to the door, but I don’t move.
“You have five seconds to turn around before I call the police,” I warn. “I’m not going to discuss your living situation with you again. Get out of here.”
“I know you’re not about to do this, Brynne.”
“And I know you did not roll up in here with a suitcase expecting to live in my house. Were you planning on being a squatter?”
“I don’t have anywhere to go.” Oliver says it as if that’s my problem to fix.
“Would you do this if someone else had bought the house?”
He doesn’t answer. He looks away and stares at his pathetic suitcase.
“She said leave,” Colin says in a tone I’ve never heard from him. I’m used to him being playful. I’ve even seen him angry, or so I thought, but he sounds downright dangerous now.
“I looked up your little boyfriend,” Oliver says, pointing at Colin. “Colin Kincaid of the Kincaid family. I thought you were being foolish throwing pussy at your boss, but you’re smarter than I thought you were. He’s rich. Let him buy you a few houses, and let me have this one. It belongs to me anyway.”
I shake my head and decide I’m not going to waste my time arguing with someone as delusional as him, but he tries to go around me. Colin steps in front of him, and Oliver stops before they can make contact.
I pull out my phone, but Oliver knocks it out of my hand, and it falls to the ground. I bend to pick it up, but Colin grabs Oliver by the lapels of his coat and shoves him away. He stumbles a few times before he falls on his ass.
“Touch her again, and you’ll lose that hand,” he warns. He walks to him, grabs his lapels again, stands him up, and points to the suitcase.
“This is my house,” he insists.
“Oliver, have you had a break from reality?” I ask. “You lost the house. I bought it. It belongs to me. You have nothing to do with it. Are you nuts? Why didn’t you take care of this place when you had it? What did you think would happen once it got foreclosed?” Whatever issues he’s had, he’s never been delusional. “Go back to your mother’s.”
“That bitch put me out,” he says. I’d feel bad for him if he didn’t treat me like garbage all those years ago. I know firsthand how hurt he’s been over the years by his mother’s treatment of him, but he turned around and treated me the same way. “All you bitches are the same. My mother. You. As soon as things got rough with Shay, she left me.”
“You mean as soon as she and her kids were facing possible homelessness, Oliver? Because you mismanaged a house that was handed to you free and clear? Now you want to blame everyone else for your circumstances?”
“Free and clear? I had to pay taxes. The house was a piece of shit that needed constant repairs.”
My mom and stepfather had a list of vendors to fix whatever my stepdad could not do himself. The house still functioned, and they were never without tenants. It went into disrepair within a few years of Oliver getting the house, and everyone moved out, including the third-floor tenant who had lived there for over a decade.
“If it was so bad, why do you want to come back?” Colin asks.
“Because it’s fixed now,” he says as if it’s the most obvious answer in the world. “I’ll take care of it in exchange for rent.”
Colin chuckles, but I don’t find this funny. “Oliver, get the hell out of my face and off my property. You have five seconds.”
He grabs the handle of his suitcase, and I wait to see what he does next. I’m not a fighter or a violent person, but if I had on a stiletto right now, I’d take it off and shove the heel in his eye.
I think he’s weighing his options, but he must know he’s outnumbered. Colin is about four inches taller and is in better physical shape. Oliver looks frail lately.
“But I don’t have anywhere to go,” he all but whines.
“Neither did I when you kicked me out of my mother’s home,” I remind him. “Only I was younger than you and still in college. You’re a fully functional adult, Oliver. Find a job and figure it out.” I gesture for him to leave.
“So, this is about revenge.”
“I’m done with this conversation. Think what you want, but think about it elsewhere.” I pull out my phone again, but Colin snatches the suitcase from him and pushes it down the sidewalk. Oliver runs after it.
We stand there and watch until he reaches it. He looks at us, and I stand there with my arms crossed. He finally pulls the suitcase down the street. I watch until he turns the corner, and I can no longer see him.
“You know he was going to break in, right?” Colin asks.
“Yeah, but it would trigger the alarm.”
“You need security cameras.”
“They’re being installed on Monday,” I say, and he nods.
“I don’t like that guy. He’s desperate, and that can be dangerous.” I don’t refute his words. Oliver has never been dangerous, but people do change. Clearly, I don’t know him as well as I thought.
“Honeybee, what’s this?” Colin asks a few hours later. After the ugly scene with Oliver, I told him I didn’t want to spend time worrying or thinking about my former stepbrother. He can make all the scenes he wants but has no rights to the house.
Colin’s in my kitchen while I sit at the island and text Raven and Amira. I look up and he’s holding a brochure from my real estate agent.
“Oh, I’m selling this condo,” I say.
“Why?” he asks.
“Well, I spent more on the new house and repairs than I budgeted,” I say.
“I have the feeling you’re leaving something out.” He drops the brochure on the table, walks to me, and hugs me from behind.
When he kisses the shell of my ear, I shudder and move out of his arms to face him. “There is,” I admit. “But I’m not ready to talk about it yet.” I try to walk away, but he pins me to the kitchen island.
“No, you don’t get to do that. Talk to me.” He gently takes my chin between his thumb and index finger.
I take a deep breath before I blurt out, “I’m going to leave Kincaid Architecture.” The room goes deathly quiet, and he drops my chin. “Not anytime soon. In about a year, maybe two. I won’t be able to work for a while, so I’m cutting costs now. I want to start my own firm. In the time I can’t work, I will finesse my business plans and research potential clients. Things like that.”
When he doesn’t speak, I look away and try to slide past him, but he won’t let me. “I don’t want you to leave your job, baby. That was never my intention or Milton’s.”
My nostrils flare at the mention of my former mentor’s name. “To hell with Milton,” is all I can think to say. “Put yourself in my shoes for a minute.” I push against his chest, but he doesn’t budge. “It’s not only disrespectful, but it’s like a slap in the damn face,” I yell. “It’s humiliating, and everyone will think I’m sleeping with the boss. I have no credibility left in the office, and the only way to avoid being fucked over in the future is to work for myself.” I manage to slide past him and walk to my bedroom, but he’s on my heels and follows me inside.
“Fuck everyone in the office who has a problem with us. I’ll fire them all.”
My eyes widen at that, and then I throw my head back and laugh. “You clearly don’t get it, but I don’t expect you to.” I shake my head at his audacity.
“What don’t I get?” he asks, and I spin around to confront him.
“I’m a woman, Colin.”
“I know,” he says with a flirtatious grin.
I ignore that look and continue. “Not only that; I’m a woman of color. I worked my ass off for the past six years at your uncle’s firm. He made promises to me, and in a matter of seconds, he snatched them away and handed them to his nephew.” When he opens his mouth to speak, I shake my head. “And I believe you didn’t know and had nothing to do with it. I believe that, but it doesn’t hurt less. And if I didn’t have two mortgages and a depleted savings, I would have walked out that day. But you know what? Milton knew that, and he used it against me. Another form of betrayal from him, and I’m kicking myself for being too blind, na?ve, and stupid to see him for who he really is.”
“I’m sorry,” is all he says. “You’re right about Milton.” He takes me in his arms, and I let him wrap them around me. “But I still don’t want you to leave the company. Give me some time, and I’ll fix everything.”
“It’s not for you to fix,” I say. “And it won’t change anything between us. We won’t work together anymore. That’s it.”
“But I love working with you, Brynne. You’re brilliant and so talented.”
“And I want to use that brilliance and talent to work for myself,” I remind him. “And it won’t happen for a year at least.”
“That gives me at least a year to get you to stay.”
“I think you should get used to the idea of me leaving. It’s for the best, and—”
“And I’ll miss having you there and seeing you whenever I want. Despite you believing me, I feel guilty about it. I want the opportunity to make things right. Will you give me that chance?”
“There’s nothing for you to make right, Colin. Please, don’t make this about you or us. This is about me doing what is right for my career.” I step out of his arms and leave the bedroom, but he follows me.
“This is about me too. If not for me, you wouldn’t be leaving the company.”
“If not for Milton ,” I say, stressing his uncle’s name. “The truth is, I resent him, and I won’t show loyalty to someone who showed me none.”
He stands behind me and puts both hands on my shoulders. He leans in and whispers, “I feel responsible.”
“Don’t,” I say. “This is something I need to do for myself. It’s always been in my mind, but I got complacent. That was my fuck up.”
“What can I do?” he asks.
“Nothing,” I say, doing my best to reassure him. “I’m happy where things stand with us. Just leave it alone.” I look up and stare into the mirror across from me. Our eyes lock, and I can tell he’s waging a war within himself. “You’re forgetting something.”
He looks into my eyes as he waits for me to say more. “What am I forgetting?” he asks.
I turn around slowly while I mull my next words. As much as I hate saying them, I know Colin will hate hearing them just as much.
“The part where we break up and still have to work together.” The part where I have to see or hear about him dating someone else. Heath will likely take glee in letting it drop that he’s moved on. The other night, I had a dream he brought a date to the holiday party, and I was forced to watch as he doted on her the same way he dotes on me. “I’ll be doing us a favor. Can you imagine the drama?”
I try to slide past him, but he blocks me. “Honeybee, I’m in love with you.” He takes my chin in his hands and forces my eyes on him. I swallow the lump in my throat. “Leaving things alone is not in my nature. If I left things alone, we wouldn’t be together now. I want to fix—”
“You’re driving me crazy,” I finally snap. “How are you going to fix it?” He opens his mouth, but I speak first. “You can’t. I don’t need a savior. I want a boyfriend. I want companionship. I want romance and sex. I don’t need you to fix something you didn’t break.”
He finally raises both hands. “Don’t snap at me!” he snaps back. My head rolls back as if struck. Even when he was upset with me in the past, he’s never yelled at me. “A relationship is about two people helping and supporting each other. What about that don’t you get?”
I put my hands on his chest to push him away so I can move, but he wraps his hands around my wrists. He holds me in place, and his blue eyes bore into mine. I want to look away, but there’s something about the intensity of his gaze that forces me to stay in place.
“I can take care of myself.” My voice is soft, and something about his gaze has taken the fight out of me. At least for the moment.
“You can,” he concedes. “And you have, but you don’t have to do it by yourself anymore. I’m here. Regardless of how much you fight me, I will take care of you.” He puts both hands down but steps closer, pressing his body into mine. That must not be enough because he presses his forehead to mine next.
“There’s nothing for you to fix or take care of.” I take his hands in mine and press his palms to my face. He pulls away and looks down at me, but I close my eyes under his intense gaze. “I’ve forgotten how to be taken care of,” I whisper. “After I lost my mom and stepdad, I’ve been alone.”
His rough hands caress my cheeks before he pulls me close, kisses my forehead, and wraps his strong arms around me.
“You’re not alone anymore, and you can fight me all you want, but I’m going to be there for you.”
I press my face into his chest, and he tightens his arms around me. It’s been an eternity since I felt safe. After Oliver’s betrayal and losing my family home, I promised myself I’d never rely on anyone again. Still, being here in the safety of his arms and the comfort of his heartbeat, I want nothing more than to allow him to take care of me.
“I’d really love that,” I admit. Each beat of his heart lulls and comforts me. Maybe this time, I’ve finally found safety. Maybe this time, this will last, and I can rely on him and trust his promises. “But—”
“No buts,” he practically groans.
“Not about the job. Not when it comes to my career.” When I look up and put my hands on his cheeks, he turns to kiss the edge of my hand. “And I want to take care of you, too.”
“You will get no pushback from me. Take care of me however you want, and I will do the same with you.”