Chapter 15
RYAN
Isaac, my older brother, had stopped in New York on his way from Cairo to Chicago. When he’d asked to meet me for lunch, I’d been excited to see him, even if I hadn’t quite understood why he’d make a pit stop here.
As soon as he smirked across the table when I sat down, however, I realized that he hadn’t only wanted to have lunch because he’d missed me. In fact, I doubted the bastard had missed me at all.
“So, I hear you’ve had an interesting week, little brother,” he said without even saying hello first. “I’m under strict instructions from Jasmine to get as much insider info from you as possible.”
“So you came all the way to Manhattan because your wife wants gossip?”
He shrugged. “Apparently, there’s a serious lack of good gossip in Cairo at the moment, so yes. She sent me here to interrogate you.”
I groaned. “Great, and here I was, looking forward to actually spending some time with you.”
He laughed. “Relax. I was already planning on stopping by to see you. It just got more interesting when I heard who you’ve spent the last week chasing around.”
“I wasn’t chasing her around,” I muttered. “I’m trying to help Mom. That’s it.”
“Ryan.” Amusement sparked to life in his eyes as he arched his eyebrows at me. “Ryan, Ryan, Ryan.”
I closed my eyes. “Don’t go there, man.”
“Maggie Pembroke?” he said her last name emphatically. “It’s her, isn’t it? The same Maggie you had a crush on when you were, what, seventeen? Eighteen?
I huffed out heavy breath. “It wasn’t a crush.”
He laughed. “Ryan.”
“Stop saying my name like that.”
“I will,” he said, laughing again. “As soon as you tell me the truth.”
“That is the truth.”
“You spent an entire summer talking about her. Just admit it, man. This is the same girl you had a little thing for a lifetime ago.”
“Fine,” I finally admitted begrudgingly, but if I knew Isaac, he wouldn’t let it go unless I did and I desperately needed him to let it fucking go. “I had a crush on her a lifetime ago, but it was severely misplaced. I blame it on the hormones.”
“Severely misplaced?” He grinned. “I don’t think so. I remember her. A little bit, anyway. She was hot. Way too young for me, obviously, but pretty.”
“Sure, but she might actually be a demon.”
Isaac laughed. “Come on, she’s can’t be that bad.”
“She is,” I reiterated. “If not a demon, then at the very least possessed. I’ve never met anyone like her. Seriously.”
He took a pointed glance at the window. “Well, we’re about three blocks away from the Catholic Church. They probably make house calls for exorcisms, or you could just admit that you might like that demonic streak. It’s okay, Ry. I won’t judge.”
I was about to laugh and tell him to go to hell when the restaurant doors opened and Daniel walked in.
There were three other guys with him, tight-laced finance bros by the looks of it.
They all wore dark suits and had perfect hair, the looks on their faces suggesting that they truly enjoyed expensing every meal.
Naturally, Daniel spotted me before the door had even closed behind the last of their posse and Isaac followed my gaze, his eyes widening when he saw who I was looking at. “Isn’t that him? The jilted groom.”
“Yep, but maybe don’t call him that to his face.”
Daniel turned to say something to one of the guys with him, then changed direction and made his way directly toward us. I sighed, honestly not knowing how this conversation was going to go, but it looked like he was intent on having it.
“Good luck with that,” Isaac muttered a second before Daniel stopped at our table.
“Ryan,” he said politely, surprise flickering in his eyes when he glanced at my brother. “Isaac? I could’ve sworn I heard you were living in Egypt now.”
“I am, but I had a few meetings in Chicago, so I thought I’d pop in to see Ryan on the way. He’s been so busy lately that he hasn’t gotten around to visiting for a few months.”
Daniel chuckled. “Yeah, I’m sorry about that. I’m afraid the situation I’m in currently may have contributed to his lack of free time.” He looked back at me. “On that note, can we talk privately? I won’t keep you for long.”
I pushed my chair back. “Sure.”
“It was good to see you, Isaac. Take care.” Daniel shook with him before turning and walking toward the bar, and Isaac shot me a look that said this is definitely going to be good.
I rolled my eyes, but tension wound through me as I followed Daniel to an empty section of the counter at the far end of the bar.
He slid an elbow on the marble, at least not seeming angry when he turned to look at me again.
“I meant it when I said I wouldn’t keep you long.
It sounds like it’s been a while since you’ve seen your brother, so I’ll make this quick.
I’ve spoken to Maggie’s parents and Marcus. ”
“Well, that was fast. I mean, he said he’d talk to you, but I thought it would take some time.”
Daniel shrugged. “He’s one of my closest friends. That’s why he was my best man. I know everyone thought it was because he’s Maggie’s oldest brother, but we’ve known each other a long time. He called me as soon as he left you.”
“In that case, I’m not sure why you want to talk to me. I can’t give you any more information than he probably already has. I don’t know anything else.”
“I believe you,” he said, and it looked like he actually meant it too, which was odd. “Marcus told me everything and I actually just wanted to thank you for getting through to Maggie.”
“Uh, sure, but I don’t think I got through to her as much as simply making her realize that staying away wouldn’t be as easy as she seemed to think.”
The corners of his mouth inched up into a half-smile. “Whatever you said, it got her back here. That’s all that matters, really.”
“Is it?” I asked. “I tracked her down and I brought her back to the city, but I’m not sure there’s anything else I can do.”
Daniel leaned against the bar, exhaling a soft sigh as he let his eyes drift to the windows. “I’ll be honest with you, man. This isn’t easy for me either. I know Maggie feels like it was all decided for her, and to be fair, it was, but I know I could be a good husband to her.”
Strangely, there was no arrogance in his voice.
It didn’t even really sound like he felt anything other than confidence about what he’d just said at all.
When he looked back at me, his expression was the same as his voice.
He wasn’t angry, offended, or sad. He was just sure about what he was saying.
“I can give her the life she’s used to, Ryan.
I’ll take care of her and be good to her.
If you’re really the only person she’ll talk to right now, I thought you should hear that.
Let her know that I don’t have any outlandish expectations and that we can take it slow. There’s no pressure from my side.”
Surprised that he’d say any of this, I realized that he had to be serious about it if he came to me to give her the message even if it meant opening up to a near stranger.
“Yeah. Okay. I’ll tell her. I don’t know if it’ll make a difference, though.
I’m sure Marcus told you that you’re not the issue. ”
He gave me a tired sort of smile. “Yeah, he told me, but she trusts you. Just let her know that as far as I’m concerned, it’s up to her. Please? I know you’re not a messenger. I just think she’d take it better coming from you than if I just text her.”
I frowned. “She’s your fiancée.”
“Nah, she’s the girl whose father signed a contract with mine,” he said. “If she wants to call off the wedding, so be it. Again, I’d never pressure her into anything.”
“Would you really be okay with that?” I asked. “If she calls it off, you’d really just let it go?”
“Of course, I would.” He arched an eyebrow at me. “You know how this goes, Thayer. Maggie and I aren’t really together. We’ve never been romantically involved. We were pledged to marry each other. That’s all this is.”
“I…” I trailed off. In all my experience with arranged marriages, I wasn’t sure I’d ever come across anything like this before.
My sister and her husband had fallen in love shortly after their courthouse wedding.
The other Westwoods and my brothers had been in love even before they’d said their vows or very soon after. “Right.”
Daniel shrugged. “I don’t hate her or anything. I can’t even fault her for taking off on the wedding. It’s just that until I hear from her, I consider it off. Or at least paused. Whatever makes more sense, I guess.”
He glanced toward his friends at the other end of the bar. Drinks had just been placed in front of them and they’d already set their menus down. Daniel straightened, signaling that he was ready to join them before they ordered. Then he looked back at me.
“I have obligations to my family, too, Ryan. Regardless of how I feel about Maggie or this situation.” He gave his head a short shake. “If she doesn’t want to marry me, I’ll need to move on.”
“Yeah. I hear you. I don’t think she expects you to put your life on hold indefinitely.”
He opened his mouth, but instead of saying whatever he’d been about to, he simply extended a hand toward me. “I should get going. Thanks for all this, Thayer. I really do appreciate your help.”
After shaking with me, he walked away and I went back to our table, but I didn’t have any idea what I was supposed to do with all the information he’d just given me. Convey the message to Maggie, sure, but what then?
When I sat back down, Isaac smiled like he’d been handed front-row tickets to his favorite show. “How did it go?”
I shook my head. “He’s so nice.”
Isaac frowned. “That’s supposed to be a good thing, isn’t it? If he wasn’t nice, he might’ve punched you for sticking your nose in where it doesn’t belong.”
“I didn’t stick my nose in anywhere. They all literally keep begging for my help.” I scrubbed a hand over my face. “Fuck, he’s just really, really nice. You won’t believe how reasonable he’s being about all this.”
“Again, that seems like a good thing.”
“Yeah, maybe, but she’s staying at my apartment and Daniel has no idea. Maybe he would’ve punched me if he’d known that.”
Isaac stared at me for a long beat, then burst out laughing. “Oh, man. This really does just keep getting better and better. Jasmine is going to be thrilled.”
I shot him a look. “This isn’t funny.”
“No, you’re right,” he wheezed between laughs. “It’s hilarious.”
“She doesn’t have anywhere else to go, Isaac.”
“Sure. Of course. Absolutely nowhere else. It’s not like her whole family, her fiancé, and his whole family live right here in this city.”
I glared at him. “First, she refused to go live with any of them. Second, he’s not her fiancé, and third—”
“So, wait.” He suddenly stopped laughing, his eyes widening as he stared at me. “If he’s not her fiancé, does that mean they’re broken up?”
“For now, it sounds like it.” I picked up my drink and took a long sip.
“At least according to Daniel, they are. In fact, it doesn’t sound like he even considers it a breakup.
It’s more like he really does think of it as a deal between their dads.
Like either he and Maggie will both show up at an altar at some point and get married, or they won’t. Nothing else to it.”
Isaac nodded thoughtfully, then grinned. “Oh, this really is going to be fun.”
I scowled at him, but somewhere deep down inside, I had a feeling he was right. I just wasn’t sure fun was the word I’d use for what it was going to be.
Spectacular clusterfuck sounded better. Impending disaster? Now that would probably be right on the money.