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She squeezed his arm. “You have nothing to worry about. Nothing is going to tear us apart.”
“Your mother might.”
The words slipped out before he could stop them. But, surprisingly, he was glad they did.
“She—”
“Don’t make excuses for her, please,” he said through clenched teeth, cutting her off. “I own half the bar with my brother. We’ve had a pretty volatile relationship the last three years, so he’s not involved much. Not on a lack of my part. His choice. She reached out to him wanting to buy his half of the bar. She tried to threaten me, and I don’t take kindly to threats.”
“Oh, Brick, I’m so sorry.”
“Don’t apologize for her either.” He softened his expression, wanting her to know he held no part of her mother’s actions on her.
“You saw your brother today to talk about the bar. What did he say?”
His eyes glided to the ring on her finger, the same hand that was holding his arm. “As long as he gets our grandmother’s ring back, he won’t sign the papers.”
“Okay, then.” She started to take the ring off, but he stopped her.
“I said I don’t take kindly to threats, and that includes from my brother.”
“Then I’ll talk to my mother. This is ridiculous. If she thinks she can play these little games and I’ll dump you, she’s wrong. I won’t give up on us that easily.”
One would never know the whole engagement was a sham by the way she spoke so vehemently.
“Don’t do that either. I’ll figure this out.”
“Brick…”
He hopped up some and leaned across the counter to kiss her. Light and breezy because otherwise he’d forget about the conversation, forget about supper, and have his wicked, dirty way with her once again.
“Trust me, okay?”
She eyed him briefly before nodding. “I do trust you. Why does your brother want the ring so badly? You said he wanted it back. What does that mean?”
He explained how his brother was meant to get it before he stole from his grandmother and she changed her mind.
“That’s what started the animosity between us. He struggled so much when our mom died from a heart attack. It came out of nowhere. It was a surprise to us all. He started doing drugs and going down the wrong path. I tried to help him as much as I could, but when he stole from our grandma, enough was enough.”
“Did he steal a lot?”
“Actually, that’s the first time he ever stole anything that I know of. But people do desperate things when they’re on drugs.”
“How did she know he stole it?”
He looked at her, his brows dipping as he thought about it.
“I’m sorry. I’m acting like an amateur detective. It’s a sad situation all around. Nobody is a winner.” She fiddled with the ring.
If she tried to take it off, he’d stop her again. She deserved to wear it.
Yet…
She asked a great question.
How did his grandmother know Corey stole all that money? He had never asked, and she had never said.
Corey always swore he never stole the money.
For the first time, Brick felt like a colossal ass. He didn’t see the one thing that should’ve been glaringly obvious.
His father had a hand in it somehow.
What or how, he wasn’t sure.
But tomorrow, he’d find out.
