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“He doesn’t just get arrestedmore than the average person.He gets arrested constantly. Sometimes I think he does it on purpose.”
“I heard about the pigs.”
Gabriel accelerates, passing another car so smoothly I barely feel us change lanes. “There’s always a noble cause and a funny story. That’s his cover.”
“Cover for what?”
“That baiting the cops isn’t a reasonable fucking hobby. He makes it seem like he and the cops are buddies, but they’re not always gentle. One of these times, he’s not going to make it out alive.”
“Is that why you’re so worried?”
“He’s been like this since our parents died, and it’s not getting any better. The only reason I got him to stay in school was because Remy needed the example. Now he just walks the line between a life of crime and his job at Phoenix. Nothing he does rises to the level of affecting the stock prices, so Mason lets it go. He has three lawyers on retainer to negotiate Jameson’s fines and charges and a direct report in his PR department.”
“Just for Jameson?”
“Just for Jameson.” Gabriel’s mouth turns to a thin line. “Mason thinks he’s protecting him.”
“But you don’t think so.”
“I think Jameson is scared shitless that if he stops getting arrested, we’ll forget about him. Mason’s safety net is only making him escalate.”
“Do you wish you had one?”
Gabriel meets my eyes. I get a flash of green, a hint of suspicion, and he’s gone again. “Do I wish I had a safety net?”
“Sure.”
I’d be lying if I said I didn’t wish for one sometimes. It’s nothing my parents can give me. Everything my parents have to offer has a thousand strings attached. There’s one string in particular that I might not be able to resist.
“What makes you think I don’t have one?”
“You have your own company. I bet you have your own lawyers, too.”
“Mason’s been trying to get me to merge with Phoenix for years. That’s my safety net. We had a fight about it the last time I was at brunch.”
I knew Mason wanted to merge companies, but not that there had been a fight. “What?”
“He announced that he wouldn’t take no for an answer, and I told him that I’d already joined the consortium. He wasn’t happy.” A sidelong glance. “I’m surprised Charlotte didn’t tell you about it.”
“She told me things were tense, but not much else.” Because, of course, I told her about the breakup. I didn’t tell her about Gabriel’s meeting with my dad, but she’s my best friend. She had to know that whatever game we were playing was over.
“Why do you look so shocked?”
I shake my head, hoping that clears my expression.
“Because you would have taken it.” Gabriel’s sure he’s right.
He is. I would have taken it. If I had an older brother who was willing to protect me that way, I would have let him. The ideathat Gabriel is dead set on leaving all of this behind is already terrifying.
The fact that his brother is reaching out a hand, trying to stop him?
I open my mouth to answer him, but Gabriel slows. “This is our exit,” he says. It’s the end of the discussion for now.
We take surface streets to the jail. I go with Gabriel into the fluorescent-lit reception area. It seems needlessly complicated to fill out the forms and pay the bail amount. Almost forty minutes later, Jameson is delivered to reception by a cop. He salutes the woman behind the counter, takes the clear plastic bag with his wallet in it, and walks back out with us.
Neither of the brothers say a word as we cross the parking lot. We’re almost at the SUV when Jameson turns his head. “Hey, Elise. Did you have a day off from the bakery today?”
He has dark circles under his eyes, and his hair is loose and slightly wild. Jameson smooths it with his hands. I’m not the only one who notices the wince he tries to hide as he lowers his arms.
