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Mark
“Are you telling me you were taken out by an eighty-year-old man?”
I scowled at Brian. “We weren’t fighting.”
He smirked. “Bro, you need to work on your game. That’s just sad. Don’t you want this baby to have a little brother or sister?”
I flipped him off. “And have them miss out on fun conversations like this? I would never deprive my child that way.”
Brian’s smile dimmed a little. “Sometimes I wonder what it would have been like if we were raised together.”
It was the first time that he had ever opened up about our shitty past, and the fact that I grew up in opulence and he in near poverty.
“Yeah.” I nodded. “Me, “me too.”
“Do you ever hear from him?” Brian looked down, his voice gruff.
I knew who he was talking about: our father who had disowned him even after a paternity test.
“No,” I said shortly. “I haven’t spoken to him in years.”
“He has been reaching out the last few months. Calling the office phone and leaving messages. They are all as fucked up as he is. He usually begins with telling me I am a bastard and then moving on to say that I will never see a dime of his money.”
“What the fuck? Shit, Brian, I don’t know what his problem is.”
Brian shrugged, running a hand through his short hair. “Me either. I called mom, who was horrified and said that she would contact him, but I strictly forbade her. If that jackass wants to take someone on, he is welcome to come to my door. I have laid low and made something of myself. I am no longer afraid of the man and I haven’t been for a long time.”
I didn’t even know what to say.
“He’s a sadistic fucker who delights in hurting everyone around him,” I said finally. “If you ever need my help...”
Brian shook his head, smiling. “Thanks, but I got this. Let’s talk more about how you took two women and a geriatric man to break into a church. There are all kinds of issues there that a therapist would delight in.”
I snorted. “You know what they’re like. You have, you’ve lived here long enough to know that some battles you won’t win. The last thing I wanted was Sutton to go without me. And yeah, we did intentionally go while you were staying with Maggie at the hospital. You can thank my future wife for that smart planning.”
Brian smiled. “I like her, your Sutton. She’s nothing like I thought she would be and everything that is good for you. Shit, look at you! CEO of one of the largest companies in the world and you’re taking time off in Nowheresville, USA just because you know that she needs you. You are nothing like him, you know?”
I didn’t know. There were times that I worried I was becoming just like him.
“It’s because of her,” I said, and as soon as the words were out, I knew it was true. “She gave me a heart and sense of purpose. I know that sounds crazy, but she did.”
Brian nodded. “I get it. I don’t want it, but I get it.”
“You can’t see yourself ever settling down?” I had to ask, “Will I never be Uncle Mark?”
He paled before bursting out laughing. “Don’t scare me like that! Fuck, Mark! That is deep shit.”
I grinned at him. “Someday someone will come along and knock you on your ass. You think you are impenetrable, I know. I did too. It’s the ones that you never suspect that do it. They sneak under your defenses, and before you know it, you are a goner.”
Brian made a face. “You make it sound like a disease—a fatal one at that.”
I hummed a few bars of “Death of a Bachelor” just to get my point across and Brian scowled.
At that moment Maggie came walking down the back stairs into the kitchen. Brian jumped off of the stool that he had been sitting on and raced over to her.
“Why are you out of bed?” he growled.
Maggie looked up at Brian in confusion. “I was lonely.”