Chapter 18 #2
“Miss Brown, we’re not here to help you find a boyfriend. You said you wanted to help your friend move.” The annoyance in Alex’s voice is hard to miss.
Natalie looks between her friend and Alex. “Sarah?”
“Oh.” Sarah looks over her shoulder. “This is my boss, Alex Hunter. He’s the reason I have had to travel to Staten Island for the past two months. Mr. Hunter, this is Natalie. And you know Ethan.”
“Nice to meet you.” Natalie looks confused. “I didn’t know you would be bringing your boss.”
“I wasn’t going to. He invited himself.”
Alex shoots her a look, correcting her. “I offered to drive her since she doesn’t like taking the ferry, and a bus was going to take two hours.”
Sarah rolls her eyes. “I would have been fine. I picked up some ingredients. Thought I’d make you something to eat as well.”
Her smile is sly as she looks at me. “You should invite your brothers in.”
“They’re fine where they are,” I retort. “And we’re not blasting the news of Natalie’s pregnancy just yet. So try not to bring it up.”
“That’s the first smart thing you’ve said. Alright, I’ll put the food together—” She shoots me a look. “—and you call in your very single brothers. My mom always says the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach.”
She takes the plastic bag from me, and Alex snatches it from her, his tone disapproving. “I’ll do the cooking.”
“But—”
“I thought you were here to help your friend pack.”
“Well.” Sarah makes a face.
“Sarah, I’m planning to sell this place,” Natalie tells her friend, her tone somber. “I think Lucas knows where I live. He sent me some threatening letters in the mail.”
Her friend stiffens. “What?”
Natalie glances at me, and I say, “We’ve handed them over to the police who are investigating, but it’s for the best that you make other living arrangements as well.”
“This is very last minute.” Sarah looks uneasy. “Where will I stay? How will I move my things?”
Natalie steps forward and takes Sarah’s hands in hers, her voice steady.
“I wouldn’t do this if I didn’t think you could be in danger, too.
I hired a moving company. They’re bringing boxes, and they’ll put everything in my storage unit.
You can put your things there, too, for as long as you need.
In the meantime, you can get a nice motel room, and I will pay for it till you find an apartment.
” Her voice lowers, but I’m close enough to hear her say, “I’ll give you my credit card for the room. It’s still good.”
My lips press together into a thin line. Her money situation isn’t good, and considering she must’ve been cashing in everything to pay off the penalty fees for breaking the contract, she must be really hard on finances right now. Not that she will ever tell me.
“I’ll pay for it,” I interject. “My parents own a few apartment buildings on Staten Island. I’ll get you in touch with the property managers so you can go to take a look at those apartments. They’re occupied at the moment, but they’ll put you on a waiting list. ”
“There’s no need for that.” Alex clears his throat. “She can come stay with me. I don’t have an apartment, but I have a house. I have too many rooms. You can stay in one of them.”
Sarah blanches. “I don’t want to stay with my boss. I see enough of you at work.”
Alex gives her an easy smile. “Would you rather stay in a motel room for the next couple of months?”
“Better than living with a tyrant,” Sarah mutters under her breath, and I hide my smirk. Alex isn’t going to have an easy time with this one.
“I heard that,” her boss says sharply. “And I think your friend has enough on her plate without you adding further financial strain on her.”
“This is between us,” Natalie says sharply.
“I wasn’t going to make her pay for my housing.” Sarah sounds indignant now. “Really, Nat. Don’t be silly. I can pay for it myself.”
“Want me to pull up what motel rooms are charging these days?” Alex counters. “And I’m talking about the safe ones, where you won’t get robbed or stabbed while walking to your room.”
“That basically never happens.”
“Should I pull up statistics?”
“Fine!” she snaps. “Fine. I’ll stay with you. But only till I find a new place. Or I could also just stay at the restaurant. I don’t need much space. I’ll just sleep in the office on the pull-up couch.”
“No,” Alex says shortly. “Go pack.”
“The movers are already downstairs.” Natalie looks at me, and I nod, looking at the two women.
“You two get your things together. I’ll bring them up.”
She looks relieved and drags Sarah into another bedroom with her. Alone with Alex, I buzz up the movers and fix my vest. “You really have it bad for Natalie’s friend. ”
He checks the contents of the bag in his hand idly. “I’m just looking out for her.”
“Out of the kindness of your heart, I’m sure.” I smirk. “I guess all your employees are lucky to have such an involved boss, who would take them into his own home rather than let them be homeless temporarily.”
Alex just shoots me a dirty look. “You’d better tell your brothers that Sarah is off-limits.”
Tucking my hands in my pockets, I ask, amused, “Does Sarah know that Sarah is off-limits?”
He carries the things into the kitchen, tossing over his shoulder as he does, “No. She will soon, though.”
I open the front door and look outside. I can’t see Caleb anywhere, but Jake is on a call with someone down the hallway. I wait for him to be done before walking over to him.
“What happened with you and Natalie?”
“Nothing.” My brother looks guilty.
“You’re lying. I can tell. Whatever you said to her hurt her. She’d been crying.”
His head jerks up, and I continue. “Now, she wouldn’t tell me what happened. She won’t even take your name, but I know you well enough to know that it was you. Caleb doesn’t poke his nose in my business.”
I see the guilt in his eyes.
My voice hardens. “Let me make this very clear. You’re my brother, and that will never change, but she is mine.
We are not children. You don’t need to protect me.
I’ve always tolerated your interferences—but not when it comes to her.
She comes first, Jake, and you had better understand that now, before you cross a line there is no coming back from. ”
He looks ashamed. “I didn’t mean to make her cry. I just didn’t like the way she was treating you. She talks to you so callously?—”
“No, she doesn’t. She is the way she is, and I like her that way.
I have a long way to go to earn her forgiveness,” I respond harshly.
“Her life fell apart because of me. I can’t give her back any of those years.
And even if she doesn’t blame me, it is not something I can overlook.
But this is the woman I want to spend my life with.
I will not let you jeopardize that. If you cannot get along with her or look past the end of your nose, then stay away from her.
If you ever make her cry again, you and I will have a problem. ”
Jake flinches, but nods. “It won’t happen again.”
“It shouldn’t.” I take a few steps away from him towards the elevator and then pause.
“She’s carrying my child, Jake. Before you jump to any conclusions, I offered her everything I have on a platter, and she refused to take it.
That was before I found out about the baby.
She’s moving in with me to give us a chance. Don’t fuck it up for me.”
Jake is frozen in place. “She’s pregnant?”
“Yes. So stop putting your nose in my business if you want to be an uncle. She’s taking a chance on me, Jake. Understand that.”
I leave him with that.
I know how protective my twin is. It goes both ways. I’ve always looked after him from the shadows as well, but unlike Jake, I know where to draw the line.
I hope he learns to do the same.
The moving company has sent a couple of men to transport the bigger pieces of furniture, excluding the beds and the cupboards. Through the windows, I can see the neighborhood lights coming on as dusk settles over the city skyline.
“Don’t you think you’re being a little hasty?” I overhear Sarah ask Natalie. “Emptying this place out so quickly? Seems a little bit of an overkill.”
The two are standing in the kitchen, preparing coffee while the rest of us carry down the suitcases, supervise the remaining movers, and clear up the mess.
“Maybe,” Natalie admits, “but I will never feel safe here again. You don’t know how terrified I am of Lucas, especially now.
You didn’t read those messages. You know, from the moment I found out I’m pregnant, it’s like I’ve begun to wake up bit by bit.
I want my mother and Lucas to stay away from me.
I want to have no ties with them. I don’t want them near my child.
I want to get away from this place, from the city.
I want to go somewhere they could never find me. ”
“Breathe,” Sarah instructs, and I hear a chair scraping. I’m about to move when I hear her continue. “I don’t think Ethan is going to let anything happen to you. He cares about you.”
“Yeah.”
Sarah laughs lightly. “Now try that with a little more conviction. Have more confidence in yourself.”
“I am confident.” Natalie sounds weary. “But I also know—I just. Forget it.”
“No, say it. You have to say it to somebody.” Her friend’s voice is sharp. “You think he’s going to leave you one day, don’t you?”
My hand clenches into a fist, a cold emotion piercing in my chest. Is that what she really thinks? Natalie thinks I’m just going to get bored of her?
“I’m not saying it will happen today,” she whispers.
“Do you think the man spent all these years looking for you only to walk away from you? Do you think that just because your mother and brother put you through all that bullshit, everybody else is going to do the same? Have I ever abandoned you? Three years, and I’m still attached to you like glue.
And you and Ethan are going to have a child. That also changes a lot.”
“I know it’s stupid.” Natalie’s voice is hollow.
“No, it’s not,” Sarah retorts. “It’s normal to have these fears.
It’s also important you live in the moment and you don’t let these fears affect your relationship.
Do you think my parents haven’t had problems in all of the thirty years they’ve been together?
You think their marriage was smooth as whiskey?
Every couple has problems. You have to work through your problems. I believe that man loves you.
And I know you have feelings for him you’re constantly trying to bury. ”
“I’m not—I just don’t want to be hurt. I’m so tired of being tossed away by everyone. I just?—”
“It’s going to be fine, Nat. Nothing is set in stone. And yes, couples break up, but not all of them. And if you go into this expecting the relationship to implode, then that’s what will happen. Have some faith in yourself and in him. Right now, he seems to be the only one fighting for you two.”
“I know. I’m trying?—”
“No, you’re not. You’re hiding. You’re waiting for it to explode so that you can go back to your safe space where you have no attachments. But you’re forgetting this baby.”
Silence follows Sarah’s words, and then she asks, “Do you love him?”
“Ethan?”
“No, the Easter Bunny! Of course, I mean Ethan.”
I know that eavesdropping is wrong. But my heart is in my throat as I wait for Natalie’s answer.
“I think so.”
“What the heck does that mean?”
“I feel safe around him,” Natalie whispers. “He makes me happy. He makes me laugh even when I don’t want to. And he makes me want to wring his neck sometimes.”
“That’s love for you,” Sarah chuckles. “Focus on that. You have a chance here to be happy, Natalie. You’re moving in with him.
My mother always says, ‘you can either manifest negativity or you can manifest happiness’.
Things are moving for you, girl. I know it may be too fast, but this man loves you.
It’s okay to love him back. And it’s okay to be scared as well.
The past is the past. He’s changed, and I know you see it.
You need to show him you do because this isn’t just about you.
If you keep him at arm’s length, waiting for him to walk away, you’re not the only one whose heart will break.
He’s also got one. I’m sure it’s made of stone or something, but it’s there. ”
Natalie’s weak laugh makes me straighten up.
I don’t want to hear anymore. I turn around to slip away, but as I do, I see Alex standing a short distance from me. It’s apparent that he, too, has heard the conversation.
He gestures with his head, and I head to the living room where the last boxes are being carried down, and I hear him say, “I’m going to heat up the food if you two ladies are done with the coffee.”
A couple of minutes later, Natalie carries out a tray with six mugs of coffee. Before I can move, Jake takes the tray from her, and she comes to sit down beside me on the two-seater.
“You okay?” I ask, pretending I don’t know that she just had a heart-to-heart with Sarah over me.
She looks around. “Three years, Ethan. It’s strange to know I will never come back here. But I’m ready to move on.”
She smiles at me, a slow hesitant smile, and her hand slips into mine.
“A new start.”
My heart warms, and I kiss her cheek, repeating, “A new start.”