I shake my head when I realize how far ahead I’m dreaming. Who knows how long Brooks will be in town.But he’s in town now . . .
“I didn’t know that place was for sale.” I thought it was abandoned, actually.
Brooks shakes his head.
“The owners are renting it. I guess Roddy knows the investor, some horse guy who plans to retire there one day or something. But he was talking to Roddy about making some money off the place in the meantime, so Roddy put in a word for me. Anyhow,the guy called me last night and said the place is mine if I want it. The rent isn’t much more than the apartment I’m in.”
My lips twitch at the corners, that urge to smile bigger than I should, hard to hold back.
“So, it’s a deal?” He looks at me with one eye squinting, and I swear he’s holding his breath. I know he’s desperate for the help. I saw the legal paperwork he was working through on the counter in his apartment the other day, and he mentioned his paternity test coming up to prove to the state he’s Holly’s father. He fell into fatherhood, but damn if he’s not putting in the work to do this right.
I hold out my hand to shake on our arrangement, but curl my fingers away when he reaches for me.
Holding up a finger with my other hand, I add one more ask to our deal.
“I still plan to go to school.” I hold my breath and meet his gaze with my own, biting down on my lower lip like a bad poker player who just pushed her chips to the center of the table. Maybe I should have waited until we were literally sharing a roof before I threw the school thing out there. It’s only that I have spent the last few days building myself back up for it after feeling so dejected after my meeting with the dean. I understand the hill I’m climbing . . .from the bottom.I owe it to myself.
“Of course,” Brooks says, and I sink onto my heels with relief.
“Thank God!” I grasp his hand in both of mine and begin shaking it profusely. My enthusiasm must tickle him, because he starts to throw his head back with laughter.
“Ahem.”
The sour tone that colors the increasingly familiar disdain in my ex’s fake throat-clearing kills the temporary joy in the air, and I drop my hands from Brooks’s and twist my body so I’m facing Brandon as he stands at the edge of my parents’ lawn.
“You’re late.” I glare at him with the same hard look he’s giving me.
“Someone forgot to pack the boys’ clean underwear, so we had to make a stop at Target this morning so they don’t show up to pre-school commando.” He’s dangling their backpacks in both fists on either side of his body while his eyelids flutter in that judgmental way I’ve become numb to.
“Hi, Mom! We’re ready! Let’s go!” Deacon races past me toward the van. He likes to be the one to pull the sliding door. Riggs stops at my side long enough to throw his arms around me, and the embrace lands more like a punch to the bladder.
“Good morning. Get in the van with your brother,” I say, dropping a kiss on what smells like dirty hair. I scrunch my nose as I bring my focus back to Brandon.
“I suppose you didn’t make sure they showered since I didn’t pack a whole damn bath for them?” I purse my lips, and he responds with his typical fake laugh.
“Who’s this? Pool boy?” He glances toward Brooks, then lowers his gaze to the sweet baby playing happily in her carrier by Brooks’s feet. My frown picks up into a smirk. It’s pretty fucking obvious who Brooks is, and it’s not a pool boy. He’s wearing Maverick’s team gear,for the love of Pete.
“We don’t have a pool here.” I decide giving him a non-answer is a lot more satisfying, but Brandon brushes my snarky comment off and heads right to Brooks to introduce himself.
“Hi, I’m Brandon. I’m their father.” He takes Brooks’s hand with a firm grip, and I can’t help but titter lightly at Brooks’s reaction. His mouth curves up on the side closest to me, and he glances my way with a flash of an expression that readsthe fuck?
“Are you going to be hanging around here?” Brandon continues. “Because I should know anyone who might be around my boys for longer than a short interaction.”
“Ourboys. And are we really doing this?” I step into my ex’s personal space enough that he seems compelled to drop his vice grip on Brooks’s hand.
“Doing what, Linds?” His fake smile is as gross as the pretend laugh.
“Pointing out new people who might be hanging around our boys all of a sudden?”
I’m, of course, insinuating Caitlyn, his former student who I caught him having an affair with, and who I amcertainjoined them all for the birthday festivities. Not to mention their stay in the penthouse suite.
Brandon rolls his eyes as he peels his glare away from me, gesturing toward Brooks before sauntering toward his Land Rover.
“I’m his freaking nanny, dumbass. Not a cougar,” I bite out. Not that I’m that much older than Brooks. Hell, maybe four years at the most. And Brandon’s older than me. And Caitlyn just graduated from college.Grrrr!I hate that he’s made me feel defensive.
“Hey, Brandon,” Brooks says all of a sudden. I swallow down the dry knot lodged in my esophagus. I want to reach for his arm and stop him from following my ex to his vehicle, but my feet seem firmly planted in the earth. Probably because a small part of me is hoping Brooks is going to punch my ex in the teeth.
“What, kid?” Brandon’s words are purposeful, meant to belittle me and put Brooks in his place. It’s because my ex has always been an alpha without the street cred to back it up. He’s an academic nerd. He gets off on being smarter than other people and throwing big words into conversations where they don’t belong.
