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Jaxon nodded, and I knew he’d already considered that. That would be in Missy’s bag of tricks. Now it was just up to us to make sure she didn’t get her claws into any of us. Aiden included. Even if he didn’t want to be with Brooklyn for some insane reason, Missy wasn’t a decent alternative.
A shadow fell into the office, and I looked over to see a disheveled Gideon in our doorway. I swiveled in my chair to look him over. He looked upset and furious. I heard a crack and looked down to see his hand squeezing his phone as if it had insulted him and he decided to teach it a lesson.
“Lighten up, man. Your device wasn’t built for violence,”I quipped.
“Just got off with Frank. Brooklyn’s been taking secret self-defense classes every day at lunch,”he said quietly.
Jaxon’s head snapped up now, and we both stared at him.
“Secret? How was she doing that?”Jaxon asked.
“She convinced Frank to take her. I’m moments away from firing him. At least he fessed up when I called to find out what had happened to her side.”
“Wait, what happened to her side?”I asked.
“When we were undressing for bed, I found a huge bruise over her ribs. According to Frank, she wasn’t focusing on class today and her sparring partner nailed her with a kick she was supposed to defend against,”Gideon explained.
“What the fuck? She was sparring? That’s exactly what we were trying to prevent,”Jaxon said.
“I should have known something was up when I saw her fighting off the guy in the club,”Gideon continued.
“Wait, what do you mean, fighting off a guy in the club? Why do I feel so fucking confused right now?”I asked.
“Sorry, didn’t get a chance to explain between dancing, fucking Brooklyn in my office and Missy showing up. Shit! Missy showed up. What the fuck is up with that?”Gideon rambled.
“Back up. You said Brooklyn fought someone. What happened?”Jaxon said, preventing Gideon from completely derailing.
Gideon ran through a quick story of a man being too forward with his advances. When he talked about Brooklyn kneeing the guy in the stomach, I let out a low whistle. My brothers and I had agreed that the idea of Brooklyn getting hurt, because she was trying to do right for herself, wasn’t how we wanted to protect her. We wanted to make sure it never got to that point. But here she was showing that even in the middle of our own club, with Gideon and his men watching her, she needed to handle business, and she did.
“Maybe we were wrong about the self-defense,”I mused.
“Wrong about what?”A slurring Aiden said, as he entered the office as well.
Great, it’s a damn party now, I thought to myself.
“Tell me you don’t have that evil witch with you,”Jaxon said, standing to look beyond Aiden.
“Huh? Who?”Aiden asked, his alcohol infused brain addled and lost in normal conversation.
“For shit’s sake, Aiden. You smell like a fucking liquor store. Go to bed,”Gideon barked angrily.
Aiden blinked up at him and even I had to stare. It was unlike Gideon to be very harsh with Aiden. He would tell Aiden the truth, even when it hurt. But it was always done in a calm, neutral manner. Gideon had never gotten beyond his need toprotect Aiden, as he had done since they were in grade school together.
“I’m an adult, Gideon. I can drink as I’d like,”Aiden shot back.
“Maybe if you weren’t making yourself and Brooklyn so miserable, you wouldn’t need to drink. Just a thought,”I said.
That earned a middle finger from Aiden, but he didn’t deny my accusation. I knew the reason he was so out of sorts was because he pushed Brooklyn away and he regretted it. Instead of fixing things, he drank and tried to ignore it.
“Where’s Missy, Aiden?”Jaxon asked.
“How should I know?”Aiden replied.
“Because you, man who can’t stand straight, were with her when we left the club,”I said.
Aiden wavered a bit again and squinted at me. I would swear I hadn’t seen him this trashed since we were kids.
“Oh. Yeah. I told her to get lost.”
