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“That’s none of your business,”I replied.
Gideon’s eyes snapped to me and narrowed. I knew right away it was the wrong answer, however, I didn’t trust that Gideon wouldn’t track down my sparring partner and hurt himfor leaving a mark on me. Which was utterly ridiculous, but fell right within Gideon’s capabilities.
“My business? You are my business, Brooklyn. Your safety is my business. You can be your independent little self, but when it comes to you being hurt, I will know how it happened,”he practically yelled.
I was so torn. Having someone care about my safety was a warm feeling. But the control of how he did it sat like a rock in my stomach. He didn’t say anything else. His thick arms were crossed across his chest and his legs were planted. If we weren’t in the middle of a fight, I would be focusing on how fucking hot he looked.
“This conversation is done. It’s going nowhere. I’m sleeping alone. Do not follow me,”I finally said.
I spun, just as I saw the pain lance across his face and I felt tears burn at the back of my eyes. But I refused to allow him to see it. I went to the door and flung it open with more force than necessary. The bang of it reverberated through the room and made me jump. Steeling myself, I stepped into the hallway and practically ran to my room before Gideon could stop me. I threw the lock on the door the moment I entered, though it wasn’t really going to stop them if they wanted to get in.
My room. It wasn’t really though, was it? All the clothing inside had been purchased and chosen by Oliver. And though I appreciated the gesture and thankfully he had fantastic taste, I never even got the chance to have a say in it. Since Lyle had broken into my apartment and destroyed all of my things, I had only bought myself a handful of items, things that caught my eye or basics I just didn’t have anymore.
I looked around at everything and I felt more angry as the moments went on. I kicked my shoes off and shoved them into the closet, closing the doors so I wouldn’t be reminded ofeverything that I hadn’t controlled in the last few months. I threw the dress into my hamper and ran myself a hot bath.
As I lowered myself into the water, my side sang with pain and I knew I really needed to apply ice instead. But there was no way in hell I would leave my room now. I thought I heard the door handle in the bedroom jiggle once and I ducked lower into the tub, as if that would ward off any of the arguments that were coming. But no one entered, and the sound stopped. I let out a pent up breath and laid my head back to let the tears fall.
Chapter
Twelve
Oliver
Downstairs in our office,we could hear doors slamming upstairs and what sounded strangely like Brooklyn running down the hallway. I looked over at Jaxon, who was behind his laptop.
“That doesn’t sound good,”I said.
“No, it doesn’t,”he said, his face wearing the worry I was also feeling.
We had heard raised voices moments before, but we dismissed them, thinking Gideon was having more fun with Brooklyn before bed. Jaxon and I were both totally distracted by what we were trying to dig up online.
Missy. Seeing her at Club 4 was a gut punch. I hadn’t thought of the woman, not in a serious manner in years. When she hugged me, she smelled exactly the same, and it went to my head for a moment, pulling back memories. Most of those memories were horrible, so I didn’t feel the need to stick around and have a catch up with the snake.
As soon as we got back to the house and Gideon took Brooklyn upstairs, Jaxon and I went to work to try to figure out what Missy could be up to. Aiden had been three sheets to the wind when we had found him with Missy. I hoped that didn’t mean he couldn’t distinguish reality from fantasy where she was concerned.
I hadn’t missed the pain in Brooklyn’s face when she saw how Aiden let Missy hang on him. Aiden could be a bastard on his own at times. I loved him. He was my brother, if not by blood but by choice. I had never regretted the way we tied our lives together. However, his behavior with Brooklyn was confusing to the rest of us.
“I can’t find shit,”Jaxon growled as he slammed a fist on his desk.
“She couldn’t have disappeared and then just reappear when she felt like it,”I replied.
I scrolled through the search I had tried, but her name wasn’t unique enough to be sure I was even looking at the right person. We needed more details on her, and Gideon was the one that had those. I looked toward the stairs, wondering if I should go and get his file on Missy. Gideon had files on anyone that could be athreat to our family. And there was a time Missy knew some of our deepest secrets.
“Think she saw Brooklyn in the tabloids? Wanted to come and mess with what we had going on?”I asked.
“Missy is sadistic and self serving enough to do exactly that. The way she behaved tonight could be explained by that.”
The ending of our relationship with Missy was explosive and definitely not amicable. After she had broken it off with Gideon and Jaxon, she tried to pit Aiden and me against each other. We were young and dumb, thinking with our cocks, so her drama just about worked. It was Jaxon’s cool head that was able to break through the haze and make us see what she was doing.
Back then, we were just four guys in our late teens, working the drug business with Jaxon’s father. Missy had initially been a customer, but Jaxon had taken an interest in her. Jaxon was busy using the same products we were slinging, so he and Missy hit it off. The four of us lived in a dingy apartment together, but we were paying for it on our own, so it felt like the best place any of us had lived.
Missy started to stay over, walking around the apartment in nothing but her panties, tempting the three of us. At first, Jaxon was too high to even care that he was sharing his girlfriend. By the time he was sober to understand, all four of us were deeply involved with her. However, the issues weren’t with us. It was Missy’s drama that caused the fiery end that came.
Dating Missy together, for a time, made the four of us feel closer. We were caring and providing for the same woman, something we could do as a team. And it was something that didn’t have to do with the business we were buried in with Jaxon’s father. It was something we were building as a family. I could admit that if Missy hadn’t been as fucking nuts as she was, we would have stayed together because we felt stronger together.
The break up had been the big push that got us out of drugs and on our own. Aiden had been scrimping and saving, using his financial skills, to build us a nest egg. No doubt that if Missy had known about the money, it would have been spent. That thought lead me down another thought process.
“What if it’s about the money? She’s come back because she wants what we’ve built?”I asked.
