As Good as New

by Jennifer Dawson

  With the plans for a career under way, he picked up the phone and dialed his mother. Time to play clean-up. Again.

  When she picked up, he said, “Hi, Mom, I wanted to apologize. I didn’t mean to ruin Maddie’s last night before she went home, or the news of James and Gracie’s engagement.”

  The silence that stretched over the line was so long, Evan checked to make sure they hadn’t gotten disconnected. “Mom?”

  There was a ping in the background. “Apology accepted.”

  He wasn’t ready to share his plans yet, with anyone, but he wanted his long-suffering mother to know he was well on the way to getting his shit together. “I want you to know that I’m better. I know I scared you for a while, but I’m getting stronger every day.”

  “And is this because of Penelope?” Her voice was curious, and a bit sly.

  He sat forward on his couch and picked up a coaster, spinning it like a top on his coffee table. “She’s part of it, but I can assure you I’m not playing with her emotions.”

  “I don’t think that.”

  “You don’t?”

  “No, I do not.”

  Well, at least there was one person who didn’t think he was such a prick he’d start up with Penelope for sport. “Thank you.”

  His mom cleared her throat. “Your father . . . he, um, mentioned once he’d seen the two of you . . . in the basement.”

  It shouldn’t surprise him—his parents’ marriage had been strong, loving, and open—but the news still did. At least he had confirmation that his dad had probably gotten quite the eyeful. They’d been deep into the clandestine relationship at that time and there wasn’t much they weren’t doing. He blew out a breath. “He was pretty mad at me.”

  “He spared me the details.”

  Evan laughed.

  “But it worries me—”

  Evan cut her off. “I promise I only have Penny’s best interests at heart.”

  “That’s not what I was going to say.” She sighed, long and heavy. “I think he was wrong, to tell you to stop. I understood his reasons, and I don’t know if things would have worked out between you, but maybe you’d think differently about yourself if he hadn’t said those things to you.”

  “Mom, I feel fine about myself. I’m okay. Yes, I had a rough go and life threw me a curveball—but in the grand scheme of things, I know I’m about as lucky as a person can get.”

  “Oh, my sweet boy,” she said, her voice cracking a bit. “I’m not talking about things, I’m talking about how you believe that football is all you have to offer, when that’s not true.”

  It’s what Penelope had said, but he didn’t buy it. “I don’t think that, Mom. I’m fine. I promise.”

  There was another beat of silence. “At least I know Penelope will take good care of you.”

  The statement sent a jolt of irrational anger through him and he pressed his lips together to keep from saying anything stupid and impulsive that would result in another apology phone call to his mother. Through a clenched jaw he said, “She’s not going to take care of me. I’m going to take care of her.”

  “Evan.”

  “Yes, Mom?”

  “I believe you.”

  “Thank you.” At least he had one person on his side.

  “You need to make up with your brother.” She got that tone in her voice she’d use back when they were kids and in trouble.

  “I will.”

  “Promise me, or I’ll tell Aunt Cathy you’ll fix the Beast.”

  “That’s playing dirty.” Evan shuddered. Aunt Cathy had an old yellow Buick that took up about three lanes of traffic and was her pride and joy.

  “I want your word.”

  He sighed as though he was put-upon, but the truth was he had every intention of having it out with Shane. “Fine, I promise.”

  “Good,” she said, sounding oh-so-pleased.

  “Good-bye, Mom.”

  After they disconnected he called his sister.

  When she picked up, her tone was not friendly. “Yeah?”

  “I know you’re mad at me, but I’m calling to apologize.”

  “Did Penelope forgive you?”

  “Of course she did.” She hadn’t really been mad at him. She’d been afraid. But he had no intention of sharing that with Maddie.

  “She did? Just like that?”

  “Yeah, she did.”

  “Why?”

  Evan dropped the coaster and toyed with the Xbox controller on his coffee table. “She’s mad at Shane, not me.”

  There was about thirty seconds of silence before Maddie tsked into the phone. “You couldn’t have picked Sophie, huh?”

  He laughed, shaking his head. “You’d have been okay with Soph?”

  “Yeah, actually, I would have.”

  “And why’s that?” The thought of being with Sophie was so preposterous it bordered on ridiculous. She was cute as hell, sexy and fun, and had more energy than she knew what to do with, but he’d never once had a sexual thought about her. No, his focus had always been on Penelope.

  “Because she’s Sophie, she’d be able to get over you. I know Penelope better than anyone. She hides it under all that polish and reserve and she’s so damn capable nobody ever thinks to question it, but at the end of the day, she just wants to belong someplace. She was so lonely growing up and we’re her someplace. I don’t want her to lose that.”

  “Mads,” he said, his tone as deadly serious as he could make it, “I’m going to tell you something I haven’t even told her, and I’m only telling you this because I know how important she is to you and I want you to understand. But you can’t tell her, okay?”

  “Okay.” The word was delivered slow and suspicious.

  “I love her. I have loved her since I was seventeen years old. A long time ago, I hurt her and now I’ve got to pay for it, but I’m not going to let it happen again. If it ends, it will be because she left me, not the other way around. Do you understand?”

  Maddie didn’t speak for a long, long time, but when she did, her voice was considerably softer. “Yes, I think I do. I have one question.”

  “What’s that?”

  “Why haven’t you told her?”

  “Because she’s not ready to believe me.”

  “And are you working to fix that?”

  “Besides football, it’s the only thing I ever worked this hard at.”

  “Good, because that’s what Penelope deserves. Somebody who will work for her.”

  “And that’s what I’m going to give her.” If it went down, it wouldn’t be from lack of trying.

  After he hung up with his sister, there was only one thing left to clean up, but he wasn’t going to do it over the phone.

  No, he’d be dealing with Shane in person.

  Everyone wanted Evan to man up, and that’s exactly what he was going to do.

  * * *

  Evan was supposed to pick up Penelope at six, so he went to his brother’s office at five fifteen, hoping that at the end of the day Shane wouldn’t be tied up in one of his endless meetings. He was in luck; when he got there Shane’s door was open and he sat behind his massive desk. He wore a white dress shirt with his sleeves rolled up to the elbows and no tie.

  Evan knocked on the door frame and Shane looked up, his expression widening in surprise. Evan gestured to the chair. “Can I come in?”

  Shane glanced at his watch. “I’m supposed to talk to Penelope in a few minutes. She’s . . . um . . . pretty mad at me.”

  Evan nodded, came in and shut the door behind him. “I don’t think she’ll mind. She probably doesn’t want to talk to you anyway.”

  Shane rubbed his jaw. “She doesn’t.”

  Evan sat down in the chair across from his oldest brother and awkwardness settled between them. Determined to be adult, he sighed. “Can we stop all this? Aren’t you tired of it?”

  Shane narrowed his gaze. “Yeah, I am. Despite my best intentions I always turn into a raging asshole around you.
”

  Evan laughed and some of his tension seeped away. “I just want us to be brothers. Like we are with James.”

  “I don’t know why I ride you so hard. I don’t mean to.” Shane sat back in his chair and he shook his head. “I think, out of all of us, you just seem like you’ve had it easy. Everything has always fallen into your lap. And, maybe, in a twisted way, after your injury I felt it was my responsibility to toughen you up. I’m sorry I took it too far.”

  Evan had never really thought about it like that. How it must have looked to Shane, busting his ass while Evan went off to Ohio State to do nothing but play football. In high school there’d still been some perspective, and he’d had his family to keep him grounded, but once he’d gotten to college, he’d been treated like a god.

  There was truth in what Shane said; everything Evan wanted had, to some extent, fallen into his lap because he’d been blessed with an innate talent that no amount of training or playing could make up for. Yes, he’d honed his skills, worked his ass off, sweated, hurt, and played hard—but none of that would have mattered if he hadn’t been gifted. And he’d had nothing to do with that. He’d just hit the genetic jackpot.

  Maybe it was time to show his brother some respect, instead of acting like a defensive kid. “I guess I never said thank you.”

  Shane scoffed, running a hand through his hair. “You have nothing to thank me for. You were the one person who never cost me anything. You had a free ride and you’ve always done your own thing. You don’t owe me anything.”

  Evan grinned. “It kind of eats at you, doesn’t it?”

  Shane laughed and shrugged. “Maybe just a little.”

  “Well, if it makes you feel better, I had the freedom to do that because of you. I know that and appreciate all that you’ve done, even if I never say it.” Evan sat forward, putting his elbows on his knees. They’d cleared the air on their history enough for now, and it was time to address the elephant in the room. “I understand how it looks, with Penelope, but I’ll tell you the same thing I told our sister this afternoon. She matters and I’m going to do whatever it takes to make her happy.”

  Shane blew out a breath and looked out his window for a few moments before returning his attention to Evan. “She’s important to me. We went through it all together. She’s really the only one who knows how lean and tough all those years at the beginning were. She stuck by me, didn’t make a big deal if I had to short her paycheck to pay a contractor. She is the one person in this company who is indispensable to me. Anyone else can leave, but her.”

  Evan nodded, maybe for the first time really grasping Penelope’s importance to the empire his brother had built.

  A smile lifted the corners of Shane’s mouth. “Did you know she had to force me to hire her?”

  “No,” Evan said, sitting forward to learn more about that time in her life that had nothing to do with him.

  Shane laughed. “She was relentless. I think I told her no about twenty times.”

  “How’d she convince you?”

  “I’d been working out of this hole-in-the wall trailer I’d drag with me to every site, and the guys had been busting their asses to make schedule, so I took them to lunch. While I was gone, she picked the lock, broke in, and when I got back she’d organized the entire office. It was small, but it was spotless, everything was filed, and she’d had all the invoices I needed to sign neatly stacked on my desk with little color-coded flags.”

  “That sounds like her.”

  Shane looked off in the distance over Evan’s shoulder. “Anyway, she acted as though I’d been expecting her, explained some system for the colored paper, and then handed me a stack of messages. I hired her on the spot and she’s by far the best business decision I ever made. To me, she’s family. And, as I reminded Cecilia last night during our blow-out argument, I did have a hell of a fight with Mitch when I found him with Maddie that first time. I’m protective of the women in my life, and maybe I went about it all wrong, but I only had Penelope’s best interests at heart. I don’t want to see her hurt.”

  Evan sighed and sat back in his chair. “I understand. And I get that I’ve been with a lot of women, but Penelope’s the only woman who has ever mattered to me. You and I, we’re not that much different when it comes to her. I can only promise you she’s as indispensable to me as she is to you.”

  Shane shook his head. “How is that even possible?”

  “When we were teenagers we used to meet down in the basement.” Evan cocked a brow. “And you remember what used to go on down there.”

  Shane’s eyes went wide. “Oh really?”

  “Really.” Evan went on to explain the barest details of their relationship, as well as the last conversation with their dad, and to his surprise Shane just listened. He didn’t interrupt, didn’t look disapproving.

  He just nodded, and when Evan was done talking, he said, “That’s one I never saw coming.”

  “Yeah, well, you can thank her for pulling me out of the deepest parts of my depression.”

  “Oh?”

  He nodded. “She came to me.”

  Shane smiled. “How exactly did she do it?”

  Evan grinned back at his brother. “She slapped me across the face and called me a pussy.”

  Shane roared with laughter, shaking his head. “Yeah, that would do it.”

  Evan glanced at his phone. “It’s about that time.”

  “I have one question.”

  Evan raised a brow. “Yeah?”

  “How are you doing? Without football?”

  Evan shrugged. “It’s not easy. Especially when I still feel like I can play. But I’m taking steps to move on and I’m sure it will get better as time goes on.”

  “Just as long as you’re okay.”

  “You know, I think I am.”

  Shane nodded and stood, and Evan followed suit. Shane gave him a sideways glance. “For the record, I don’t think you’re a fuck-up.”

  “Glad to hear it.”

  Shane jutted his chin toward the door. “I’ll walk you to her office.”

  “Does that mean I have your blessing?”

  Shane gave him a long look, then nodded. “You’re my brother. I’m never going to stand in the way of what makes you happy. But, Penelope doesn’t have any brothers looking out for her, so if you make her cry, I’m going to have to treat you the same way we’d treat Mitch if he made Maddie cry. Fair enough?”

  That’s the kind of statement that would normally rub him the wrong way, but the conversation had the intended effect and eased the tension between them considerably. And it was fair. Penelope deserved someone who cared about her with such ferocity. Evan could live with that. “Fair enough. But since we’re making ourselves clear, I’ll say this one last thing and then we can put this subject to bed. I owe you for taking care of her for all these years. But I’ve got it from here.”

  Shane grinned. “Yeah, I think you do.”

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Evan and Shane stood in her office doorway, one dark, the other blond, both big and beautiful. Matching green eyes stared at her, and she raised a brow. “Everything okay? I don’t have to call security, do I?”

  Shane chuckled, looking calm and relaxed. “I think we’re good.”

  She shifted her attention to Evan. He nodded. “We’re good.”

  “You boys made up?”

  Shane stepped inside her office and slid his hands into his pockets. “I still owe you an apology.”

  “You do.” She kept her voice implacable. She wasn’t quite ready to forgive yet.

  “I was wrong,” he said, sounding contrite.

  “Yes, you were.”

  He flashed his most charming grin and she couldn’t help but thaw a bit. “You’ll have to find it in your heart to forgive me. I’m not rational when it comes to your well-being.”

  Full of questions, she darted a quick glance at Evan, who just shrugged at her. “He’s an idiot, but he means well.”


  Shane turned and punched Evan in the arm. They were more relaxed than she’d seen them in a long time, and for that she couldn’t help but be happy. At least there was one good thing that came out of this mess, and for that, she was thankful.

  She looked at Shane. “I’m still mad at you.”

  “I know,” he said.

  She picked up a pen and clicked the top. “I want you to stop treating him like he’s a frat boy who can’t keep his dick in his pants.”

  “Done.”

  The corners of Evan’s mouth tilted and she read the amusement in his eyes.

  “And I don’t want to hear about the endless parade of supermodels anymore.”

  “That’s fair.” Shane’s lips twisted into a smile that matched Evan’s, and standing there together, they were quite the picture of seeping testosterone and charm.

  She never could stay mad at Shane long, even when he deserved it, and while her anger started to thaw, she could still have a little fun. “You still owe me dinner at Alinea for the Hayes contract.”

  “I haven’t forgotten,” Shane said.

  “Evan will come too, and since it will be your treat, I can promise you he’ll have very expensive taste in alcohol that evening.”

  Shane jerked his head toward Evan. “He’s a millionaire.”

  “So are you,” she shot back.

  “Fine,” Shane said, giving a good show of being put-upon, but she knew the truth.

  He wanted her forgiveness, and knew she was giving it to him.

  She gave Evan a sly glance. “Well, isn’t he agreeable? What else should we rake him over the coals for?”

  Evan’s gaze flickered over her mouth. “I could do without hearing the story about how he took the rap for me so I wouldn’t get kicked off the football team when I pulled the fire alarm back in ninth grade.”

  She nodded. “Sounds fair.”

  Shane sighed.

  Evan scrubbed a hand over his jaw. “I think you deserve a raise.”

  She let out an excited little gasp. “I think that’s a fantastic idea.”

  “Fine. Five percent,” Shane said.