Page 105 of Broken Brothers

The funny thing was, I did. To go back and speak to them was a dangerous game, especially with everything that had happened and was still happening, but…

“Morgan,” I said, interrupting. I grabbed my phone, sent off a quick text, and then pulled the bacon off of the pan. It was a little crispier than normal, but it was still edible. I placed some in front of Morgan, who took a few nibbles. He groaned with a weird mixture of pleasure and pain, but at least he let out a pleasurable sigh. “Let me take care of it. I have an idea.”

“You know someone?”

I smirked.

“You could say that.”

44

Istood at the outside of a dive bar a few days before, contemplating the absurdity of it all.

I was going back to Layla Taylor just a few long weeks after telling her to fuck off and calling her the devil. Maybe things had gotten better between us, but that was only because we were humans, not sociopathic assholes. We could make peace, especially as it was coming to light that she was not as culpable in this spot as it might have seemed at first.

Still… us hanging out not because I was feeling sorry and empathy for her but because I needed help from her felt… ironic, perhaps? Maybe not ironic, but it certainly had come full circle.

She had come into my life because her family’s business needed investment money, and she had set something up with an unusual source—an intern at a major company, no matter how big of an intern I was. Now, I needed her into my life because our family “business” needed advice, and I was getting it from a girl just two years older than me, not twenty or forty years older than me.

She’d used me before, and now I was using her for help. Strange, wasn’t it, how life could seem so symmetrical sometimes.

By now, I was sure that Edwin was tracking me and Morgan, but the fear of it had started to wear off. I had become less paranoid of it and more just accepting of it, as much an annoyance in my life as taxis honking down the street. Annoying, but easily tuned out.

What was Edwin going to uncover? He surely knew even before the MCH situation that Layla and I had fucked—actually, he probably used that very knowledge with Craig Taylor to get a deal. By now, he probably knew Claire and I were fucking, and it sucked that Rising Sun was experiencing difficulties, but so long as we did not lose out on Virtual Realty, our portfolio could afford a small loss in relation to the potential unicorn that Virtual Realty could become.

In some ways, I wanted Edwin to track me. I wanted him to know that I was having the time of my life, talking to beautiful women and enjoying their company, and he was just an old fucking aloof man who probably couldn’t even get an erection. And when Sarah Hill came to town—forget it. I gave brief thought to recording the whole thing and sending it to the old man with the title “What Edwin Hunt will need fifty Viagra pills to accomplish.”

I could be a dick, but who fucking deserved it more than that asshole?

I glanced down the street after my short laugh just quickly enough to see Layla crossing over. She looked a little better than before, although that still wasn’t what she was before. Granted, she’d never looked the picture of collected and stress-free, but still. She wore nice white heels, a blue work dress, black pants, and a coat for the cold.

“Hi Chance,” she said.

No fancy introduction, no charming words, but also no begging or hoping for me to turn around and come to her.

“Hey hey,” I said, throwing my arms out.

When she hugged me, I was surprised to find that the hug was lasting longer than expected… because I didn’t want to let her go.

How was I suddenly feeling so protective of the girls I cared about? I was never this way before—the experience of Sarah had turned me cold, and I had thought the experience of Layla had turned me even colder, but something had happened that made me extraordinarily defensive and cautious of Claire and Layla.

Maybe it was the situation. Maybe Edwin being so predatory to me and those I cared about turned me into a mama bear, ready to rip to shreds anyone who dared fuck with either of them. That might have made me a little too overbearing, but the behavior of both of them suggested anything but.

When I looked into Layla’s eyes, I could not help but say that she was very attractive. But it was a different type of attractive than before. It wasn’t so lustful, it wasn’t even objective like it had been since our fight.

It was…

I tried to dismiss the thought as she started speaking. I never answered what it was, but the words nevertheless lingered, not so easily dismissed as I had hoped.

“Sounds like life has gotten a little crazy for you, huh?” she said.

“Oh, I’ve only given you the movie trailer version,” I said with a wink. “But let’s head inside. I prefer the privacy and intimacy of a place like this.”

“Are you going to pick a booth again?”

It took me a couple of seconds to get what she was referencing. When I did, I just playfully smacked her arm, drawing a laugh from her.

If this was flirting with someone I shouldn’t have, I sure didn’t care. In fact, I daresay it felt kind of good.