“ZOO!” Ellie screams in agreement.
I giggle and nod, “The zoo it is.”
The group up of us ate breakfast at the house, Christian and I both had enough caffeine to keep us awake for 40 days before we left to go to the zoo, where on the car ride we had the most awkward conversation about how Christian is my boyfriend. By we, I mean Christian flat out told them. There was no coaxing or easing into it. It was full throttle, “I’m dating your sister!”
Jesus. What have I gotten myself into?
Luckily, the distraction of the zoo comes quickly, all the kids excited for different reasons. Luke is already thinking about the food the zoo has to offer, typical of a teenage boy, while Sabrina and Ellie are asking to go immediately see their favorite animals.
“Whoa, whoa,” I say, not being able to hold back my chuckle at their excitement. We almost never get to do things like this because we can’t afford it, or I am always working. If Christian could give me any worthy gift, this is it. “We are going to take our time and see and do everything. We are going to enjoy this. Can you have a little patience?” I asked of them, not sounding as stern about it as I perhaps should.
Christian comes strolling up with one of those wagons that can be rented at the front, and both Ellie and Sabs squeal happily, getting in. “I think this will help so they don't get too tired out,” Christian says with a charming wink. The girls are going to worship him after this. It is funny how simple it seems to get everyone on board with me having a boyfriend, especially a Steele. Though, I can see the skepticism in Luke’s eyes every time he looks Christian over. It is both sweet and maddening to see my little brother so protective of me.
“Now, which way should we go first?” Christian asks, to which he gets a pointing finger from Ellie as she bounces up and down with uncontrolled excitement.
We take off in the direction she points, straight for the gorillas and the other primates, and as Christian pulls the wagon, I get a strange look from Luke. “I didn't expect him to be so nice to kids,” he whispers to me, and I can’t help but laugh at his assessment of my supposed boyfriend.
“I think there are a lot of layers to him,” I say back, looking up to see that Christian is smiling back at me as the girls get their first look at the gorillas. We all need this day, and I hate to admit it, but he deserves a big thank you for this.
The rest of the day goes by, and it is so much more fun than I even remembered. We end up seeing every animal in the place, even getting to watch the elephants take a bath and the snakes get fed. The kids are thrilled, and at the end of it all, Luke got his food; a huge Italian pizza to share at the café and milkshakes.
Chapter 18
Christian
We all knew that this day was coming whether we liked it or not. There was no stopping fate or cancer. Mason fought a great fight. He was a fearless old bastard who told it like it was, and that’s why so many of us loved the man. Today is his funeral, a day that will destroy Brook. I know it, and Logan knows it too.
I was lucky or unlucky enough, depending on how you look at it, to be there when he passed. He refused to be hooked up to tubes and oxygen in a stuffy hospital room, so I had hospice coming into his apartment to take care of him when it got bad. I will be forever thankful that the old man didn’t fight me on having people there to help him when he needed it.
I remember the last words he spoke to me. Even in his last moments, he wasn’t concerned about himself or the amount of pain he was in. His main concern was always his girls; Ashley and Brook. He told me to watch over them, even Ashley, and told me that no matter what, the Steeles better be watching over Ashley too because he’d be haunting the fuck outta us if we weren’t. I chuckled at that, even on his deathbed he was making threats, or promises, as he would call them. There was one more thing that he said that resonated with me, he told me not to fuck it up with my princess. I would never do that, and he knew it. I’ve come to realize over the last couple of weeks that, yes, I am in love with Selena Jacobsen, the woman with the weight of the world on her shoulders.
Today is about Mason and the great life that he had lived. He was never just a bartender to any of us, especially Brook. He was everything to her, an adoptive grandfather if you will.
“I don’t think this is a good idea. I should not be meeting your brothers or soon to be sister officially at a damn funeral, Chris,” Selena chastises me, pacing her bedroom like the nervous wreck that she is. “Do you know how fucked up that is? For me to meet your family at a funeral?”
“It’s not fucked up at all, Cinderella,” I assure at her, walking across the room to grab her hands with my own. “There is nothing fucked up about me wanting you beside me when we put to rest someone who was so important to me. Mason and I may not have known each other for as long as he and Brooklyn did, but we bonded. I am going to miss that old shit more than anything, and I’m going to need you there. Okay?”
I hate admitting when I can’t be the strong one. As the man, it’s my duty to be strong all of the time, but today is different. Today is something that I knew was coming but could never prepare for no matter how much I tried.
“Okay,” she mutters, rising up on her tippy toes to give me a gentle peck on the lips. “Your fearless shield maiden is here!”
“You are no Lagertha, dear, you’re more like an Aslaug.” Her eyes go wide at the comparison. I know very well that she will hate me calling her Aslaug.
We binge watch Vikings almost every night, even the episodes that we’ve watched previously.
“I am not some witch bitch who seduces married men to fuck them and have so many sons so Thor or Odin or whatever the hell his name is can be happy! OKAY?” She snaps, making me chuckle.
“You are no Viking. You are my Cinderella, my princess, got it?”
“Princesses like to be spoiled, and I hate it.”
“No. You just act like you hate to be spoiled, and I know that for a fact.” She does a great job at acting like she doesn’t like me to spoil her, but she does.
“We’re going to be late,” Selena tells me, changing the subject like I knew she was going to. She was right, though, we were going to be late if we didn’t get a move on it, and I’d be damned if I didn’t get to say goodbye to my friend one last time.
***
“It was a beautiful service. He’d have loved that all of you showed up, and he’d hate that we’re all standing around in a circle not drinking to him. We’d better fix that real quick before my Pops comes back and haunts the living fuck out of us!” Ashley sadly chuckles, walking around the bar and pulling out a bottle of Mason’s favorite brandy. I know the bottle well, Mason said it was saved for something special, I just never expected it to be this day.
Ashley begins pouring us each a heavy glass, and everything is great until she gets to Brooklyn who shakes her head. This prompted my attention; my curiosity got the best of me. I’ve learned a lot about women’s bodies over the past few weeks, and especially what happens after pregnancy. Like for example, women who are breastfeeding can drink because they can do this pump and dump method, where they pump their breastmilk out, test it for alcohol content, and then dump it. When they pump and there is no alcohol content, then they can feed the baby.
“Uh, well, I was going to tell this to you in private, but since I’m kind of making a scene about this now, I’m just going to tell you that we’re having another baby, and no it’s not a fluke. I had Reggie take me to the doc, and we confirmed. I was shocked, doc was shocked, but she said it wasn’t impossible to get pregnant again this early!” Brooklyn dotingly smiles at my brother, he shakes his head and belly laughs.
“I told you, she wants a fucking basketball team!” Logan kisses her roughly as the rest of us smile. I can’t help but pull my Cinderella closer to me. One day that will be us, announcing a pregnancy. I just can’t wait for that to happen. After a few minutes, we all settle down and sit in dead silence, each sipping on our brandy.
“Mason was
a great man, one that I think we all owe a lot to,” Logan says to the group of us, pulling Brooklyn into his arms.
She offers a half smile to my brother and nods, then looks to Ashley. “He was the greatest man I knew, treated me like his own granddaughter from the very first moment that I entered his life, and he even treated Seb the same.”
“Yeah. I know Seb hates that he can’t be here right now,” I tell her. Sebastian is Brook’s little brother, and he’s out of the country on a business trip now.
Ashley groans, pulling up the barstool that Mase always sat on whenever it got a little slow. She sits back and stares out at the entire bar. We’re the only people in here, figuring that this would be a great way to remember Mason – by going to his bar and having a drink. Ashley had said he didn’t have too many friends and pissed off most of the company that he encountered, so she opted for a quieter service.
“I don’t know what the hell I’m going to do with this place. He left it to me, and I have no plans to throw away my career and manage this bar. It’s his legacy, I’m too career driven to honor him.” Brook tears herself away from Logan’s arms and goes around the other side of the bar to comfort her friend. I pull Selena up on my lap and watch as Brook and Ashley talk amongst themselves, both nodding with forced smiles on their faces. It’s then when I get the most brilliant idea on planet earth.
“Let me buy Mason’s,” I tell Ashley. She turns her head over to my direction, and before she can speak, I’ve already started. “I’m not kidding. Sell me Mason’s. I’ll make sure that his legacy stays alive. You don’t want the burden of having to manage this joint while your career is skyrocketing, so let me do it. I don’t mean to seem insensitive, Ashley, I really don’t, but I think that this is a feasible option for both of us. Don’t you think?”
Ashley is quiet for a moment and then nods.
I didn’t buy this bar for me.
I bought this bar for the woman who is sitting on my lap. For the woman who has always wanted to manage a bar for as long as she lived but had to give up on that dream because of her mother abandoning her and her siblings, and then her father passing away.
My Cinderella would get exactly what she’s always wanted, and we’d be keeping Mason’s memory alive every single day. It was a win-win for all parties involved. I just hope Selena thinks so too when I tell her.
***
It’s been three days since we put Mason to rest. Three days, and it still feels like I’m living in a dream, or maybe nightmare is a better way to put it. Summer has slowly shocked us all. Most of the days we’re in the high eighties, and today I have an interview with the lovely Summer Poole, who happens to be the biggest bitch on the planet and one of the top celebrity news gossip reporters. The baby Perez Hilton of sorts.
She called my office early yesterday and wanted to speak with me directly about my current status, being dubbed Atlanta’s most eligible bachelor, and then she brought up how she was giving me a chance to address a rumor directly. I tried hard to find out what this rumor was, but no matter what I did, I was no match. She wasn’t going to give up, and I was the fucking idiot who made it apparent that I was eager to find out what this rumor was. It could be anything, from my family’s status in our legal or illegal businesses, questions about Logan and Brooklyn’s wedding date, or even her pregnancy, which hasn’t been announced yet.
I position myself in my desk chair, laptop on and ready for the impending skype call that I know will be coming in at any moment.
The ringing comes through my computer. I move my cursor over the green button and accept the call. Summer hasn’t changed much in the last few years, she is still entirely California plastic with big fake tits, a caramel tan that never compliments her skin tone, and I can practically see the syringe holes from where her docs must’ve been putting her fillers in her lips. Some guys were into the plastic Barbie doll look, but I sure as hell never was. I prefer my woman all natural.
“Christian, what a pleasure!” she exclaims, smiling into the camera. “How have you been doing?”
“I’ve been great, Summer, and you?” I instantly reply. She’s a smart woman and knows that I’m eager to discover whatever it is that she has up her sleeve. For some reason, I’m nervous, and I have never been before. We’re used to being attacked by the media, it’s a constant struggle when you’re in the public image. This time it feels different, though.
“I’ve been fabulous, thank you so very much for asking! Now, I wanted to talk to you about what it feels like to be announced as Atlanta’s most eligible bachelor? Are you surprised one of your brothers hasn’t taken the crown yet?”
“I’m pretty shocked Jordan hasn’t gotten it, to be honest, the ladies eat him up down here.” I chuckle. “It feels like an honor. I appreciate it so very much.”
“I bet you do, Christian. I am curious about one thing, though, how does the woman you’ve been paying for sexual acts feel about it? I believe her name is Selena Jacobson, oh yes – a stripper who you sent a hundred thousand dollars directly to her account, who you’ve been seen fenagling numerous times and then there are these.” The screen changes to a series of photographs, of me with Selena out to dinner, my hand on her leg and whispering in her ear. It’s hardly anything atrocious. Next, it changes to another photo of Selena and me, it’s when we took the kids to the zoo, maybe five minutes after Luke had taken Sabrina and Ellie to go get some food. I had groped her in a quiet corner, where apparently someone had taken a fucking photo of us.
“I don’t see what you’re trying to do here, Summer. It seems like you’ve found some photos of me ogling over my girlfriend.”
“Oh. I’m so sorry, I didn’t show you the last photo.” I see something that instantly boils my blood. Varca with his meaty paws on my girl. The photos change quickly until you see him forcing himself in her, her face is against the wall, covering in her hair. “You said she’s your girlfriend? Is she his too?”
“Summer. You don’t know what you’re showing me,” I hiss, which causes her to smile.
“I want to know, on the record, how will it feel when everyone knows the girl who you’ve been with is an escort, and I wonder…I wonder how Child Protective Services will enjoy these photos.”
Summer is known for being a selfish bitch. She doesn’t care what she puts into the public eye if there is any sort of gain to her career she is all for it. Right now, I’m afraid that she’ll do whatever it takes to further herself and knowing her and her reputation – she will.
“You don’t know what you’re looking at, Summer, and I swear to God if you do anything with those photos I will ruin your career. My entire family will back me up, and you will become nothing. I will reach out to every news outlet, every PR, and social media icon, and ruin you until you are nothing but a memory. No one will hire you. No one will even speak to you. When I’m done with you, no one will even remember your name.”
With that warning on my tongue, I go home to Selena, to her place. That has become my new normal. It feels like I belong there; like I am family to everyone in that house just as much as I am to my brothers. I never thought I would feel more at home in a place like that than in a place costing millions, but I do. I feel at home where Selena is.
Unfortunately, this visit is for more than just seeing her after a long day of work. I must tell her what happened. Well, I have to tell her some of it, anyway. I don't believe in hiding things, especially from Selena. It just isn’t part of my code of principles, but she doesn’t need to be freaking out about every detail of what went down during the interview. There is no need to drag this up and make her feel pain again. I will not let this happen to us, anyway. Even Summer knows what happens when you cross a Steele, and if she doesn’t, she’s about to.
I have some good news to buffer it with, though, and I think my Cinderella is going to be so happy.
I walk in the door and am greeted by Ellie who comes to give my leg a hug. She is such a sweet little girl. I can see why Selena is s
o protective of these children.
“Hey, Luke!” I call to him. He is in front of the television again, studying, as he calls it. I think he really is going to be in the major leagues one day. He puts in the work to deserve it. A Steele backing him could always help him along, though.
Luke turns around and looks at me. “I need to talk with your sister. Can I get you to watch Ellie and just make sure she is content?” I ask, and he nods, calling Ellie to him, a stuffed toy in his hands. I nod thanks and go to Selena, who is in the middle of plating dinner when I kiss her ear and whisper. “I need to talk to you for a moment, and then I would love to sit down and eat this delicious meal with you,” I tell her. She giggles at the touch of my lips to her ear and turns around, taking my hand so we can go to the bedroom.
To be honest, I want to take her right here and now as we sit on the bed looking at each other. But I know there are more important things to discuss.
“How did the interview go?” she asks.
I look at her with a grin as I relay to her what Summer has heard; that she has received some compromising pictures of Selena and me, and that it looks like a good story that she is an escort. Selena is shocked and saddened by it. “Don’t even worry about this,” I tell her, picking her chin up to look at me. “I threatened to ruin her career. I can do that. You know I can do that. Logan and Jordan can help do some damage control as well. I doubt this will ever make it to the public eye, alright? But I had to be honest with you.”
Stripping a Steele (Steele Bros Book 2) Page 13
