Chapter 16
Sis: Well, you’re uncle #1 again. A Marvel city tour - You suck up.
I laughed and thumbed into my phone.
Me: Listen, what the kid wants, the kid gets.
Sis: Thank you. He had the best time. And say thanks to your sidekick. I miss her! Make sure you bring her over for dinner soon.
Me: Will do.
I threw my phone onto the passenger seat and pulled the truck into the street.
For the first time in what felt like forever, last night was pretty quiet. We had been busy up until the middle of the night and blessedly I was able to get a solid four hours sleep. Coupled with the nap I had taken late yesterday afternoon, this morning I wasn’t dog-tired.
We were a random bunch on Ladder 177. Brooks had been promoted to captain and had appointed me temporary lieutenant until the exams came around. I was young to hold this position, but I’d been lucky enough to have been selected straight out of college, having sat my entry exam at age twenty.
You could start the application as young as seventeen and a half, but I’d needed a college degree no matter what. So, I’d crossed my fingers and hoped to get through in the next round—which I had done.
Everything had fallen into place from that moment forward, and I’d been one of the lucky few to be accepted into the fire academy thanks to one of my uncle’s friends and his mentorship. He’d helped my cousin, Theo, through the process four years before me and was all too happy to support me.
So yes, I was young, but I had nearly eight years of service and experience under my helmet, the right leadership qualities, and the drive to succeed.
I also stuck to policy and could step away from a situation, even if I only had seconds, and was able to see a clear course of action—a trait I’d inherited from my dad that I saw as more of a gift than what my brothers’ thought, which was that I was boring AF.
That left Renee, Rambo, and Killian in my charge, hopefully for the foreseeable future.
This morning Rambo had asked if I’d help him paint his little girl’s nursery. And knowing he needed all the help he could get, I’d nodded and told him I’d follow him back to his place.
Now it was past noon, and I was finally headed home. I’d been texting with Jenna this morning, but she was busy working on some new icing designs.
She’d had another big order—this time from someone at the wedding she’d made all those cookies for. Apparently, they’d gone down well, and she’d had six commissions just from that one event.
I was so proud of her, but Jenna being so busy had given me too much time to think, and I still couldn’t shake the conversation we’d had about her wanting to date.
I felt lost.
My phone buzzed in the cup holder, pulling me out of what was sure to be another thought spiral, and I clicked the button on the steering wheel that was set to dictate incoming texts.
Case: Ace has finally pulled his head out of his ass and is looking for Wren, but she’s here and talking about leaving town.
I shook my head, but as my apartment building came into view, so did my brother. I got more satisfaction than I probably should at seeing his exasperated expression.
Pulling the truck up to the curb, I lowered the passenger side window.
“Get in,” I sniped, and he did so, silently.
“I forgive you,” he said as he buckled up and I barked out a laugh that was genuine and hearty.
What a fucker.
“You think I’m sorry about taking in a girl who had nothing and giving her a place to crash while she tried to win my dumbass brother back? You won’t find any guilt here.”
His head was so far up his ass.
“You’re fuckin’ annoyin’.” And whiny.
I scrunched up my face as a wave of Tom Ford stung my eyes. “You smell like you swam in a vat of cologne.”
“No, I don’t!” But the fucker cracked a window and I smiled at making him doubt himself.
He sat quietly for a while, but this was Knox, and it didn’t take long for him to start yammering again.
“For someone whom you claim has nothing, she’s certainly made her stamp on your apartment.”
I exhaled a long sigh because he’d got me there. Wren was a hot fucking mess.
“Tell me about it. She tries hard to keep her mess to a minimum but if you catch her unaware, it’s total chaos.”
“It kinda serves you right.”
I narrowed my eyes at his little dig. “Just remember my situation is temporary. You’re the one who’s about to go into forever with that whirlwind of a chick. Aren’t people as smart as she is meant to like things orderly?”
That shocked him into another beat of silence. Suppose it’s quite the statement considering he’d just spent the last few months ignoring me and basically pushing the self-destruct button on his more than charmed life.
He was sitting here beside me, the best right winger in the league, and had almost thrown it all away because he couldn’t get over himself for ten minutes to hear the poor girl out. I heard my dad gave it to him good and he thoroughly deserved it.
Not that I’m taking away how fucked up he must have been over Wren’s return, but come on, this was the New York Wolves, not some chump junior team.
If I’m honest, he’d pissed me off, pushing me away like he did, trying to work through it by himself, but I suppose we’d all got our Achilles heel and Wren was his.
“You should have seen her while she was prepping for the SATs,” he said quietly.
“She was . . . shit, I don’t even know how to describe it. It’s like her brain works faster than the rest of her and she somehow thrives in the chaos.”
I nodded and signaled to take the bridge. “Also, what’s with the bubbles?”
Half-empty bottles in all shapes and sizes were littered around my apartment.
He sighed and his face got all soft. “No idea, man. Started when she was little. She just loves ’em. I think it’s some sort of lingering connection to her mom. She split when she was about five.”
Her parents really were the worst. “That’s pretty shitty.”
“Thank you,” he said after yet another uncharacteristically subdued moment.
“For what?” The light gave and I edged onto the George Washington Bridge.
“For looking out for her when I couldn’t. I needed to get my head on straight and knowing you had her back gave me the space to work through it. I’ve been a dick and I’m sorry.”
I chewed on the inside of my cheek. I hated the way he’d dealt with all of this, but fuck if I don’t know how loving someone can tear you apart from the inside out.
“Look, man, whether her intentions were good or not, she ripped your fucking heart from your chest. You have been a dick, but I get it. All you could see was what looked like your siblings turning on you. Taking someone else’s side over yours. It was never like that, okay. We’d never do that to you. I don’t say it very often, but I love you, Ace. To death. I would literally take a bullet for you. Any of you. You and Wren were meant to be together, and it was so hard watching you fuck up. I’ll only ever, ever want the best for you, little brother. I hope you know that, and that hot mess of a female is what’s best for you. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
He stared at me for a minute solid. “You’re shitting me, right?”
“No? Fuck, what now? I just gave an epic big bro speech. What the fuck was wrong with it?”
“Ah, man, you are dumb as shit,” he said, laughing.
“The fuck?”
“I’ve seen it, Scott. I have seen it when two people are made for each other. I’ve seen two people who are so fucking oblivious that if cluelessness was a sport, you and Jenna would be gold medalists.”
I lost the fight to not react and scrubbed my face with my hand, trying to keep from taking all my brotherly love back.
“Will you fuck off with this, already? A man and a woman can be best friends. That’s all you’re seeing.”
“Okay then,” he snarked.
“Okay then,” I gritted through my teeth.
“You know, Coralie was talking to her in Miami . . .”
I had tried really hard not to react again because I never knew what was going to come out of his mouth when it came to my relationship with Jenna.
“The company she gets her specialist coffee from, I can’t remember the name, but the fancy shit she’s always so proud of, the one that’s owned and run by those slick rich fuckers that are always splashed over page six . . .”
I bore down on my molars. Do not react.
Do. Not. React.
“I know the company,” I answered calmly, “where are you even going with this?”
“Oh right, yeah. So, the youngest kid, the brother, he’s been making special visits out to the city to deal directly with her, and recently he’s been suggesting she take a tour of the plantations, as his guest of course. There’s some kind of retreat there and she’s considering it.”
My hands tightened on the steering wheel as I tried to keep a lid on the green flamed jealously that was threatening to engulf my entire being.
What the fuck was that fucker’s name? I couldn’t for the life of me place him at the bakery or even picture him. He’s?—
“He’s putting in some serious groundwork, you gotta hand it to him. Flying into the city on his helicopter to visit her at that little bakery and taking her out for swanky lunches. But this isn’t news to you, right? Your pretty pal filled you in on the billionaire with a crush...Right?”
But she was always so busy during the weekdays. As soon as the lunch rush was over, she’d immediately start working in the kitchen again.
Did she always drop everything for him? And how long had this been going on? Was it a regular thing?
What, what was his game?
The jealousy roared out of me, and I hit the dashboard with my closed fist.
“Best buds my ass,” he muttered as my entire world came caving in around me. This was it.
The moment I’d been dreading for nearly half my life.
The day I found out that someone with actual prospects, someone who could give her everything she deserved, someone with whom she could have an incredible life, had just set the clock on that ticking bomb.
Time was up.