Chapter 28
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Audrey
Brian being possessive was the last thing I’d expected. I fully expected him to be pissed off that he didn’t have anyone to greet him when he arrived and then having to sleep in a separate bedroom. Neither of those things phased him. He’d yanked me into his arms like a man desperate for air. His mouth claimed mine in a searing kiss like never before. His hands wandered but stayed above my clothing. Then he’d pressed a chaste kiss to my lips and went right to bed. The whole thing was weird and unnerving.
Unsurprisingly enough, he was missing from the breakfast table just a few hours later. He was probably exhausted.
Griffin slid into the chair beside me. “Brian is a real charmer.”
I couldn’t tell if he was being sarcastic or not.
“Is he up?” I looked around him to the entryway that led to the stairs.
“Oh, no,” Griffin immediately dug into a stack of waffles. “We welcomed him in last night.”
“We?”
“Wasn’t that sweet of Alexei?” Emeline asked as she breezed into the dining room.
My appetite disappeared immediately. Sweet wasn’t the word I would use to describe that particular brother. Or rather any of the brothers.
Dimitri tossed his plate on the table and sat down. Oh, it was a full family breakfast. Where was Alexei? Ace? Ugh. What was going on? “He’s got quite the handshake.”
“All of you met Brian last night?”
“Who do you think showed him up to his room?” Ivan said from the doorway as he sipped out of an ivory mug.
I needed Carina. Why had I thought it would be a good idea to face off with the brothers without her?
“You look kind of pale, honey, is there anything I can get for you?” She waved for the butler. “Please get Ms. Wilde some apple juice. She might need the sugar.”
I didn’t know what I needed. I needed fresh air. I needed to get out. Alexei staged something. It only made sense. What did they say to him?
“He was very polite,” Dimitri said around a mouthful of eggs and it sounded more like, “he wub airy delight.”
“Polite?” I squeaked.
“Oh, exceptionally, we can’t wait to spend the day with him.”
My eyebrows shot up on my forehead. “What?”
“Oh, yes, Alexei planned a whole guy’s trip out to the range!”
The range? “The shooting range?” The room was starting to spin.
“Doesn’t that sound fun?” Alexei leaned in the doorway and I could have jumped up to strangle him. I had to remind myself that there were too many people in the room, too many witnesses. He must have seen the murder in my eyes because his small smile turned into a mischievous one.
“That kiss must have made him tired.” Alexei chomped on a slice of bacon.
He’d seen the kiss? He’d seen me in the hallway? Where was he hiding? Oh my gosh. This was only getting worse. This was a game I didn’t know how to play. This was a game I couldn’t even participate in.
“I thought the range would give us a good amount of time to get to know each other and show off our skills. What do you think, Mother?” Alexei played innocent. He was anything but.
“I think it’s a fantastic idea, did you invite your father?”
Alexei’s eyes went dark. “No.”
“I think he would enjoy it.”
Dimitri chuckled. “No thanks, I would rather be in a very public area for when we shoot with Father. He could kill us all and no one would know.”
The blood drained from my face. I was going to be sick. The room spun slightly and how I managed to stay upright was beyond me.
Brian hated guns. He didn’t see the point in them. Even though his father was an avid, prolific hunter, he still hated them. He fought for gun rights in our little town. He was all about things being safe and guns were not that in his book. I didn’t care either way. My parents were hippies. My father insisted the only reason he owned a gun was so they could protect their camper. I was pretty sure he’d never shot it before. I didn’t think he knew how to shoot it. My brother on the other hand? He loved guns and owned several when he was in the US and not living in Japan.
The worst of all of it was that Brian was already out of his comfort zone and this would just take it right over the side of a cliff. Based on the look in Alexei’s eyes, that was his plan. Where was Ace? Ace knew Brian and knew this wasn’t a good idea.
Unfortunately, when Ace came down the stairs in a ball cap, jeans, and a t-shirt I knew my case would fall on deaf ears. This was not going to end well.
When Brian came down the stairs, there were circles under his eyes and his smile was strained as he leaned forward to kiss me. Alexei practically skipped forward to smack him on the back. Brian fell forward but his smile stayed put. It was the fakest smile I’d ever seen but it was a smile.
“I hear I have a full day of bonding with the Cristof brothers.” His voice was just as tight as his face.
“Mhmm,” I hummed. I didn’t know what to say. He pulled me into him and nuzzled my neck. Another new thing he’d never done before.
“I was hoping I would get to spend the day with you,” he whispered against my skin. It ignited hope within me, but not desire. Not passion.
“I know,” I whispered back. Alexei was somewhere close. I didn’t know where, but I could practically feel him and how smug he was.
“Tonight?”
I pulled back confused. “What about tonight?”
“I know there’s a big party but maybe we could sneak off somewhere.”
At least he wasn’t thinking he was going to die out there. That was what I was worried about or him getting ‘accidentally’ shot. Alexei was ten steps ahead of all of us. I didn’t know what his angle was but I planned on figuring it out.
“Sneak off?” Since when did Brian want to sneak off?
“You ready to go Brian boy?” Alexei said cheerfully from the doorway. “We are about to set off. I’d hate for you to get left behind without a golf cart to get there. It’s about a twenty-minute walk.”
He’d love for Brian to get lost on the rolling property and probably die out there, I just knew it. I narrowed my eyes at Alexei. He smiled politely. Who was this Alexei? That was the scariest part.
“Yeah, I think so.” Brian dressed casually, like the rest of the group, thank goodness. I was still worried about him going alone, but he was a big boy, he could handle himself, right?
“Alexei is up to something,” Carina said as we ate finger sandwiches by the pool. A large pitcher of lavender lemonade sat beside the big assortment of finger foods we’d been nibbling on for entirely too long.
“I don’t want to talk about Alexei,” I groaned. He was the last thing I wanted to talk about because I couldn’t stop thinking about him. I needed a break. I needed a mental break from all of it.
“Okay, how about wedding dress shopping then?”
I perked up. “How about Sunday?” That would give us enough time to get through all the parties happening over the weekend and get back to the city.
“I’ll have Emeline set something up.”
“You don’t want your mom there?” I knew better than to ask but I also didn’t want her to forget.
She looked out at the pool and her face transformed into devastation. “I want nothing more than for my mother to be here, but I’ve given her ample time, explanation, and money. She still will not come. The ball is no longer in my court.”
“I hate this so much for you. I wish she would at least try.”
Carina took a sip out of her fancy, cocktail glass and sighed. “One day she will regret it. When she doesn’t know her grandchildren and she’s all alone. I tried to get her to move here. I tried to pay off all of her debts. She won’t speak to me.”
As if right on cue, my phone rang. Carina peered over at me. It was my mom. They’d been driving through the mountains on the other side of the country and hardly had good cell reception. I still hadn’t told them about my proposal to Brian or my traveling with Carina. Though I did update my stories on socials. I just didn’t think they saw it. My brother and sister did, though they never commented or sent me a message. Communication was a two-way street and they’d never reached out. I was always the one bridging the gap and I was tired. I was tired of others not putting in work when it came to our relationships so I let it die. If they wanted me, they knew where to find me… or rather, they used to. Now I was a world traveler.
My mom’s youthful face popped into the frame and she grinned! Dad whooped and hollered in the background. “We did it! This stupid, RV satellite WIFI finally works!”
It was a little choppy but I wouldn’t burst their bubble. Mom’s hair was grey and long past her shoulders. Today she wore it up in a bun held together with wooden chopsticks. There wasn’t a lick of makeup on her face and she didn’t need it. She’d never worn it. She said it made her feel claustrophobic. My dad rested his chin on my mom’s shoulder and beamed at me. My chest hollowed out at the sight of them. I’d missed them so much and it never hit me until I talked to them after months of spotty cell service.
“Hi sweetie! We have been following your adventures on social media! How exciting that you’re doing all sorts of traveling.” My mom’s voice cut in and out but I got the gist of what she was saying.
Dad’s hair was combed back away from his face and hadn’t lost all of its dark color like Mom’s had. There was just a sprinkling of grey here and there. He insisted the color in people’s hair went away because of a lack of zinc in their diet. Mom said she didn’t care and loved the silver so she didn’t need any more zinc. Dad on the other hand was scared of getting old and looking old so he took more zinc than he probably needed to. “Brian finally decided he was ready to leave the safety net of home?”
Dad hated Brian. He would never say it or admit it, but he did. Carina laughed and hid it behind a cough. I cut eyes at her.
“Is that Carina?” My mom interrupted. “Tell her ‘hi honey’!”
“Hi!” She called out but didn’t enter my camera frame. She was now sporting some large black sunglasses and I had a feeling she was hiding unshed tears behind them.
“Carina is getting married!” I said excitedly.
“Oh, we know, dear, we saw it on socials already,” Her tone said duh . “He is certainly a looker!”
Before I could stop her, Carina was up out of her chair and grabbing my hand. She shoved my hand into the frame and said “So is Audrey!”
Dad frowned and Mom’s face seemed to freeze. “What?”
That wasn’t exactly the reaction I was hoping for but it was also why I hadn’t told them yet. I should have told them before this though. What a mess.
I tried to smile for them. “Brian proposed.”
Dad backed out of the camera and swore, not under his breath either. Way to go, Dad. I shoved Carina out of the way and fought the new emotions warring within my head. She did it on purpose to make her feel better about herself and her messed up situation with her mom. They were on the rocks and now me and my parents would be too. Misery loved company and it was a usual thing with Carina. I loved her to death but she wasn’t perfect.
“Have you picked a date?” My mom’s voice was too high-pitched to be happy.
“Does that even matter?” I turned the camera around. “I mean look at this place! I didn’t get to show it to you yet.”
Mom pressed her lips together. “We already saw a slow-mo of it on your social this morning.”
Right. I flipped the camera back around. “I didn’t know how to tell you guys.”
My mom looked at something above her phone. It was probably my dad throwing a hissy fit. “Congratulations, baby. If you’re happy that’s all that matters. All we want for you is love, passion, and acceptance.”
The last word had me stopping in my tracks. Acceptance? There wasn’t any of that. I couldn’t eat my weight in queso. I couldn’t drink whiskey. I wasn’t lady-like enough. It hit me like a ton of bricks. There would never be acceptance because I wasn’t really what Brian wanted and he wasn’t what I needed. He didn’t satisfy my needs sexually, nor did he care about learning or expanding his horizons. He didn’t want to travel. He didn’t want to be here but he was here because of the silly video. I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop and here it was. I’d just been entirely too blind to see it. Blind and stupid.
“Is everything okay? Did we lose you?”
I stood up from the table and walked around the other side of the pool in a daze. I was too upset with Carina to have her listen in on this. “Can you get away from Dad for a minute?”
Mom’s sliver brows tented on her forehead. “Yes, but you know we tell each other everything, he will eventually know.”
“It isn’t a secret from him. I just don’t want to hear what he has to say yet.”
Mom nodded. “Go ahead.”
“I’m not good enough for him, Mom.” There was so much heartache in my words, that I fought from crying right there.
“Stop right there.” She pointed her finger right at me as if we were together and not thousands of miles apart. “You are too good for that boy. You’ve always been passionate, smart, and fun. We raised you to dance to the beat of your own drum. It isn’t your fault that he can’t see that or appreciate it. That is not on you. It is his flaw. You deserve the best. I hate that it’s taken you this long to see that.”
Could I see it? What did the best look like?
“It may take years to heal. It may take months. But I feel like your relationship with Brian has been done longer than you want to admit. You should radiate joy.” She always knew what to say. But this was why I hadn’t spoken to her sooner. I knew it would finalize things for me. “Also, who picked out that ugly thing on your finger?”
I grimaced. “His mother.”
My mom’s laugh caught me off guard. “I always hated that woman.” She slapped a hand over her mouth and I rolled my eyes. “Don’t drag it out, honey. It’s time to lose some weight and not your own.”