Chapter Three
Brenden walked into the FBI building and headed straight for the locker room to change into his suit, hoping he’d be relaxed and mentally ready by the time he made the short trek to his office. Brenden was tying himself in knots trying to avoid Stephen for the past few days. He also felt sorry for breaking up with Paige, he hoped she would move on with her life. He wasn’t disappointed that their relationship didn’t work out. But since his talk with Stephen about Nicholas, he hadn’t been able to keep his head on straight. He couldn’t pretend that there was chemistry between him and Paige when there was none.
After thinking about it, he realized he used her term of wanting to be his wife as an excuse to end the relationship. Not counting his baggage, Brenden hoped that he and Paige could ultimately be friends. He walked out of the locker room and made his way over to the bullpen by passing the cubicles filled with coworkers steady working. It was nice having an office, that way he could hide away from everyone he didn’t want to talk to. He noticed that one cubicle especially was empty.
Must be nice to be related to the boss. Come and go whenever you like.
Brenden wasn’t jealous of the relationship between Stephen and Tucker. Tucker pretty much left him and Jaxson to their own devices. They were senior agents and got the job done. But he’d also heard the chatter between some of the agents who already thought Stephen was getting preferential treatment because his uncle was the boss.He scoffed as he walked into his office and pulled open the file on the new case.
Brenden realized that he was a bastard, but he couldn’t help it. Brenden promised himself he would never get involved with office politics and had kept that promise so far. But if anyone knew Tucker the way he and a few of the other senior agents did, they would know he’d never treat Stephen any different from how he treated the other agents in the office.
Brenden had his own issues with Stephen, he was intentionally avoiding being in any close quarters with the other man and for more than one reason. He’d left earlier to check on a lead and to get the hell out of the office. He was pissed and had every right to be.
How dare Stephen keep my son away from me? Did he think that suddenly springing the information on me would make me happy about the whole thing?And why the fuck did he look so good?
He’d put on a bit more weight since the first time they met at the diner. Brenden shook his head and went back to his paperwork just as Jaxson walked into his office and stood there staring at him. He tried to ignore his best friend, but Jaxson was one of those guys that couldn’t easily be overlooked in size and presence. He was the nagging work wife Brenden didn’t remember marrying.
“Are you going to stand there and stare at me all day? One of the reasons we now have separate offices is so that we can give each other some space.”
Jaxson grunted, “Admit it, you miss me.”
“Fuck no,” Brenden answered, still not looking at his friend.
“And for your information, I will stand here until you tell me what the hell is going on with you lately.” Brenden looked up from his paperwork ready to tell his partner that nothing was going on with him, but Jaxson stopped him. “Don’t lie to me, man. You walk around here all week brooding and snarling at anyone that comes in your path. The entire office promised to buy me lunch for a month if I could manage to calm the savage beast.”
“Won’t your darling husband get jealous?” Brenden asked, he still had his head down looking at the paperwork in front of him.
“Once I explain what I had to do to get such free service, he’ll understand. Hell, he’ll probably add in a few bucks for my hard-won effort.”
Brenden threw his pen on his desk and leaned back in his chair. It was eating him up inside keeping his anger boiling in. The person he was angry at was Stephen, not Jaxson or anyone else they worked with.
“Come inside and close the door,” he told Jaxson.
Jaxson did as he instructed, sitting in the chair in front of his desk and looking at him expectantly. “I’m just trying to work out some shit,” Brenden said, looking at his best friend.
“Okay, like what? Talk to me,” Jaxson asked him.
“Seriously, don’t you have work to do?” Brenden asked, and Jaxson didn’t budge, he simply raised an eyebrow. “Fine,” he said giving up. “I just found out a few days ago that I have a kid.”
“What? Congratulations, man!” Jaxson told him until he saw the expression on Brenden’s face. “Wait, why are you not happy about this? I know how much you want to have children.”
Jaxson was right, before Stephen had told him the news he’d talked about wanting kids. But he wanted to make sure that he was in the proper headspace. He wanted to be sure that he and the other parent were in a committed relationship before bringing a child into the picture. “I wouldn’t say I’m not happy about it. It’s just the situation is a little complicated.”
“Fuck, I didn’t even know you were dating someone. So, who’s the happy mommy or daddy? Do you know what you’re having?”
Brenden looked away from Jaxson and out in the bullpen expecting to see Stephen sitting at one of the empty cubicles, or talking with another agent with that sexy-ass smile on his face.
“Wait! What the fuck?” Jaxson said, getting his attention. He must have figured it out. “Stephen, he’s having your baby?”
“Unless that’s another thing he’s hiding from me, he already gave birth to my son. Four years ago, his name’s Nicholas but likes to be called Nick.”
“Wow? Shit, man… I!” Jaxson stuttered.
Brenden did not answer, he understood Jaxson’s shock. That was how he felt when Stephen had told him. He went from shock to anger after seeing his son the other night. The more he thought about not being there for the first four important years of his son’s life the angrier he got. He looked back out in the bullpen that time not looking for anyone or anything, he just needed a distraction.
“When did you find out?”
“Just before he started working here.”
