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Roman recovered quickly and shook his hand and then peeled his sunglasses off. Whatever surprise might have been in his gaze had been carefully schooled into a blank expression. It was something Roman was an expert at.
“Gray,” Roman said in acknowledgement before shifting his gaze to Luke.
“Luke, this is my brother, Roman Blackwell. Roman, this is Luke.”
“Half-brother,” Roman corrected as he shook Luke’s hand. Gray sighed at Roman’s words – no matter how many times he referred to Roman as his brother, Roman always pointed out that they weren’t quite real brothers.
“Why don’t you guys head inside to talk?” Luke suggested as the breeze kicked up. “I’m going to finish some stuff up in the shed,” he added. Luke didn’t move until Gray nodded in agreement.
Gray remained silent as he led Roman into the cabin since he didn’t have a clue as to what to say to the man who’d only ever resented him. Not that Roman didn’t have reason to, Gray supposed, now that he had the luxury of hindsight.
“Coffee?” Gray asked once they reached the kitchen. It looked surprisingly clean even if the cabinets were all still missing but it looked like Luke was making good progress.
“Yes, please,” Roman said stiffly.
It took just a few minutes to get the coffee going and while he waited for it to brew, he got a mug out and put it on the table in front of the chair Roman had sat down in. “Black, right?” Gray asked.
Roman seemed surprised by the comment but just nodded.
Gray got himself some of the lemon-lime flavored water that proved to be the easiest on his palate and then carried the coffee pot to the table and set it down in front of Roman.
“You’re not having any?” Roman asked as he poured himself a cup while Gray settled into the chair across from him.
Gray shook his head.
“Never thought I’d see the day when you turned down a cup of coffee,” Roman murmured as he put the pot back down.
“Yeah, well, it doesn’t exactly agree with me anymore,” Gray said as he pulled his cap off. Roman’s hard gaze flashed with something as his eyes shifted to Gray’s bald head. There was a brief moment where some undeterminable emotion lingered in Roman’s expression but it didn’t last long.
“You’re sick,” was all Roman said.
Gray was too drained to go through all of this for a second time in less than an hour so he just said, “What are you doing here, Roman?”
“Victoria was worried about you.”
Gray had been in the process of taking a drink of water and nearly choked when he heard his mother’s name. It wasn’t unusual to hear Roman refer to their mother by her first name since it was what she had told Roman to call her when he’d made the mistake of asking if he could call her “Mom” after their father had brought him home the day after Roman’s mother’s funeral. Gray hadn’t known much about Roman when his father announced that he had a little brother. He’d managed to garner bits and pieces of information over the years but even that was limited. What he did know was that his half-brother had been the product of one of Gray’s father’s dalliances with one of many mistresses and that the boy’s mother had killed herself when Roman was only ten. For some unknown reason, Gray’s father had decided to take the boy in since he had no other family and Gray’s mother either hadn’t been given any say in the matter, or his father had found some means to gain his mother’s acquiescence. Neither scenario had meant that Roman was a welcome addition to the family and at seventeen, Gray had had no interest in connecting with the little boy who’d initially followed him everywhere. By the time he’d matured enough to see how cruelly he’d treated Roman, his brother had checked out of any potential relationship they might have had.
“Mom asked you to come and check on me?” Gray managed to get out. Since he hadn’t gotten even one phone call from his mother in the weeks since he’d left L.A., he found the idea unbelievable, but then again, what other reason would his brother have for searching him out?
Roman just shrugged and took a sip of his coffee. It struck Gray then how he and his parents had failed Roman. Not once but over and over again. The young boy who’d been thrust into their lives hadn’t had any choice in the matter and instead of being welcomed by adults who should’ve helped him grieve the loss of his mother, he’d been ridiculed and openly disparaged.
“How did you find me?” Gray asked.
“Marina let it slip.”
Marina, his realtor who’d boasted about her ability to maintain confidentiality for her many celebrity clients. Since Roman was a property developer, it didn’t surprise Gray to learn he and Marina knew each other.
“I wasn’t aware she knew you and I were…”
He’d been about to say brothers but knew Roman would correct him which would only piss him off further so he settled for saying “related” instead.
Another annoying shrug but it was the way Roman dropped his eyes to his restless hands for a moment that had Gray saying, “She didn’t know, did she? Jesus, Roman, did you fuck her just to find out where I was?”
Roman’s chilly gaze lifted once more. “Marina was all too eager to dish about you after that shit with Cavelli went down. Fucking her was a perk.”
Fanfuckingtastic.
“How long have you been sick?” Roman suddenly interjected.
