Every Way (The Brush Of Love Series, #4)

by Lexy Timms

  “We even have each other,” he said against my skin. “And to me? That’s the most important one of all.”

  My hands slid up his back and dug into the meat of his muscles. His hips connected with mine time and time again, bouncing my chest against his. I could feel his girth throbbing against me, growing bigger than I’d ever felt as his lips kissed my neck. He nibbled and sucked. He bit into my shoulder and cupped my breasts. His hips rolled into mine as his tightly-wound curls raked against my clit, and it curled my toes and spiraled me into yet another oblivious state.

  Only this time, Bryan’s mouth swallowed my groans.

  I climaxed against his body again as he smiled against me. I was shaking underneath him, pressing my hips up toward his. I wanted his thickness as deep as I could get him. I wanted him to touch me in all the ways no man had ever done before. His hand snaked around my waist, drawing my hips closer to him as his lips wrapped around my nipple.

  And I shivered as he continued his assault on my body.

  Chapter 13

  Bryan

  I was sitting in my office going through some financial reports when my cell phone rang. I slid it from my pocket and picked it up without looking at the number, and I cursed myself for not seeing who it was. Because the moment my mother’s voice hit my ears, I knew I was in for a treat.

  And not the good kind.

  “Hello, Bryan.”

  “Mother,” I said. “Is something wrong?”

  “Would something need to be wrong in order for me to call my son?” she asked.

  “When I’m at work, yes.”

  “How is work going, by the way?” she asked.

  “It’s fine.”

  “So the foundation is still alive and well?”

  “Mother, what do you want?” I asked.

  “I just want to talk with my son. Can’t you afford me that? Haven’t I lost enough?”

  “You don’t get to use John’s death to get what you want,” I said.

  “That is not what I am doing, and you know it,” she said.

  “Really? Because it sounds an awful like what you just tried to do.”

  “I miss my son. Our family dinner is coming up soon, and I want you and Hailey with us.”

  “Then you know what you have to do,” I said. “All you have to do is apologize to Hailey for how you talked to her.”

  “I do not. She has said plenty of things to me over these last few months that should have warranted apologies, and never once did I get one.”

  “Like what?” I asked.

  “Like that fun little tirade she went on right before the art gallery showcase when she accused your father and me of being pompous and allowing our money to change us. You remember that dinner? She was the one who stormed out, not me.”

  “Because she had a point, and she was tired of you trying to degrade her for the profession in life she chose. Which is funny, because that’s exactly why she and her parents aren’t close now. Because they did the same thing. They looked down their noses at her for choosing a life of art and passion instead of a life of money and misery,” I said.

  “I will not apologize to Hailey until she apologizes for some of the things she has said to Michael and me.”

  “Then it sounds like this dinner won’t be put on the books,” I said.

  “Why are you doing this?”

  “Doing what?” I asked.

  “Why are you isolating us from our grandchild?” she asked.

  “Because you insinuated that Hailey would be a bad mother and then threatened to step in and intervene if you didn’t like the way things were going. You threatened to take our child away from us, and if there’s one thing I’m determined to do, it is to not raise my child the way you raised John and me.”

  “You make me sound like I am some ... some sort of monster, some witch who abused you and ruined your lives!”

  “There were plenty of mistakes made that I intend on correcting as a parent myself,” I said. “That’s all I’m saying.”

  “No, what you’re saying is that John’s death is my fault.”

  The statement halted my anger in my tracks.

  “What?” I asked.

  “That’s what you’re saying. You’re saying that the mistakes I made with John led him down the road he took, the road that ultimately killed him.”

  “Mom, John died protecting the mother of your grandchild. His own actions to try and save another person got him killed, not your parenting style,” I said.

  “Look. Whatever you might think of how I raised you, it will not cause me to apologize. Just because John’s situation ended up the way it did, it does not change anything about what I believe to be a proper and fitting lifestyle for a child. If anything, it reinforces it.”

  “How in the world did we jump from you feeling guilty about John’s death to you taking our child away again?” I asked.

  “I do not feel guilty about John’s death. His decision to dive into drugs instead of dealing with things the way a man needed to deal with them is what drove him down the road he took. Not the fact that I took away his watercolors. Now, all I am asking is that we sit down as a family and have dinner. This child deserves a proper family to be born into. Our grandchild deserves better than this.”

  “Exactly. Which is why we will not be a part of a family dinner or any other familial function until you apologize and learn your place with the mother of your grandchild,” I said.

  “My place? Listen here, you ungrateful child. You will not keep me from my grandbaby. I have every right to that child.”

  “You have no rights when it comes to that child, first off. And mother, do you realize that all of this has spiraled simply because you refuse to apologize? Two words, minimum! Two words, and a heartfelt look in your eyes. You can’t even admit when you’ve crossed a line. Dorothy, you threatened to take away our—”

  “You will not call me by my first name. I am your mother!”

  “Then start acting like one,” I said.

  The silence on the phone was deafening. I knew there was someone standing outside of my office because I could see the shadow. I was wondering how much of the conversation was overheard as I planted my elbows on my desk.

  I didn’t have enough coffee in my system for this conversation.

  “I don’t want you calling me until you’re ready to apologize to Hailey,” I said.

  “Bryan—”

  “No arguments. No bickering. No defense. That’s the bottom line. I’m at work, and the last thing I need to be doing is arguing with my mother over why she won’t apologize when she’s clearly in the wrong,” I said.

  “I suggest you think long and hard about the woman you’re about to spend the rest of your life with. The truth of the matter was that she was involved with people who were caught up in drugs. And that says something about her as a person. You need to take a good, hard look in the mirror and figure out if that’s someone you want to be spending the rest of your life with. Children can be co-parented peacefully, but making a marriage work is hard. And pasts always catch up to people. Always. Especially the pasts of those addicted to drugs. If this is the last time we’re going to talk, then at least I’ve said my piece.”

  “Are you seriously just now denouncing Hailey as my wife?” I asked. “We’ve got less than two months until this child is born, and you’re resolving yourself to that statement?”

  “She was in so deep with these people, Bryan, that your brother felt the need to give his life for her. When the truth of the matter is had she not gotten involved in the first place, John might still be alive.”

  “If it wasn’t for her, John would’ve actually overdosed on the street. It was because of her that John cleaned up his act.”

  “And it is because of her unwillingness to guard herself purposefully that John is dead!”

  I looked up and saw Ellen standing in the doorway. Her eyes were dripping with pity as she held a folder in her hands. Fuck. I’d completely
forgot about the lunchtime meeting I had on the calendar with her. I raked my hand through my hair as I sighed into the phone, knowing that there was only one course of action I could take.

  There was only one other door I had to travel through in order to protect my family.

  “If you don’t stop this sort of talk and evaluate what it is inside of you that’s creating all of this anger, Mom, then you won’t be allowed around the baby. Period.”

  “What a disgrace,” my mother said.

  She hung up the phone in a huff, and I allowed my cell phone to clatter along the top of my desk.

  “Would you like me to come back another time?” Ellen asked.

  “I’m fine. Just give me a second,” I said.

  I heard Ellen come into the room as I swiveled my chair around. The disdain that had dripped from my mother’s voice was shocking. I had known her to be a cold and insensitive woman, but the anger she was holding inside was destructive. Her tongue was sharper than I’d ever known it to be, and I could only imagine the blowback my father was receiving from this. I had no idea how to deal with my mother when she was like this because I had never seen her like this. She had always been cold and emotionally removed.

  But all of this was emotionally fueled, and I didn’t know what that looked like on my mother until now.

  “Do you get along with your parents?” I asked.

  Ellen drew in a deep breath before she sighed.

  “I do now. But when I married my late husband, I didn’t.”

  “Why not?” I asked with my back turned.

  “They didn’t approve of how much older than me he was.”

  I turned my chair around and met her stare as she offered me a light smile.

  “Was it his death that prompted the rekindling?” I asked.

  “No. They eventually came around.”

  “Because they saw you were happy?” I asked.

  “Because they saw they no longer had control,” she said. “Look, it’s not my place, but I did catch some of the conversation. I know your mother. Not well, but enough to know that she’s the one who runs that household. And for someone who needs control to feel important, it sounds like she’s spiraling out of it. The news of your brother’s death rocked this community, even though she didn’t want to acknowledge it. Now, she’s coming to terms with the fact that the only other child she has is no longer under her control either.”

  “You make her sound crazy,” I said.

  “In a way, it is. But it’s how people like your mother operate. I might be wrong, but it’s worth a spared thought anyway.”

  It made sense, in a way. Growing up, my mother was the one who always made the decisions. Dad did two things. He worked, and he showed up somewhere whenever Mom said he needed to. There were times where Mom would even set out the tuxedo or the suit she wanted him to wear to a specific function. Maybe Ellen was right. Maybe this sense of control my mother exerted was her way of feeling grounded. And when she’d lost John, she lost that control. She lost the ability to control someone she cared about, so that control was blowing back onto Hailey and me.

  Either way, it required professional help. And I still stood on the rule I laid out on the phone. She needed to apologize and take a good hard look at herself, or else she wouldn’t be around her grandchild. I had a responsibility to protect my growing family from any outside threats.

  And right now, no matter how much it hurt, my mother was an outside threat.

  “Well,” I said with a sigh, “I’ve got nothing but time. Are those the project budget folders?”

  “They are. I know you also wanted to take a specific look at Anna’s project, so I’ve got a detailed breakdown of her finances in her folder.”

  “Thanks,” I said. “Anything, in particular, you want to talk about?”

  “Actually, yes. Anna’s breakdown of her project doesn’t line up with the budget.”

  “Too much money in the end?” I asked.

  “No. Not enough. Her bottom line is just shy of twenty thousand dollars for the summer. We approved her at thirty-two thousand.”

  “What’s wrong with that?” I asked.

  “I just want to make sure she’s not cutting corners she doesn’t need to cut. We’re here to help her give a service to the community, not loom over her head financially. These funds are hers. They’re in her designated account. Just talk with her. Make sure she understands there’s still money for her to use if she needs it.”

  “I can do that,” I said. “Anything else?”

  “I’ve got three new projects that have been proposed and approved for budgets. I’d like you to take a look at them and run the numbers in play. Compare them to what you can find with your research. You know, the whole nine.”

  “When are they due to go in front of the board for budget approval?” I asked.

  “Not until the beginning of next month, but I wanted to hand them to you now because I’m not sure they all fit with the foundation’s mission. I don’t want to say anything other than that because I don’t want to sway you. But give them a good overlook and give me your thoughts,” she said.

  “I can do that. I’ll get started on them now.”

  “You’ll get started after lunch,” she said. “Go eat, Bryan. I don’t run a sweatshop.”

  “Then I’ll start on them after lunch,” I said.

  “And Bryan?”

  “Yep?”

  “If you’re sitting there questioning whether you gave your mother the right ultimatum, you did.”

  I sighed as Ellen gave me a final nod before she left my office.

  I set the folders down in front of me and picked up my office phone. I had this sub place down the street on speed dial and put in an order for my usual lunch. I looked at the files on my desk and reached for one of them, flipping it open to take a look at the numbers.

  “Shit, Bryan, there was one last thing.”

  Ellen poked her head around the corner just as I flipped the folder closed. She narrowed her eyes at me.

  “I’ve got lunch ordered, but I need something to distract me,” I said.

  “Then don’t clock out for lunch and leave an hour early to go home,” she said.

  “What was it you forgot?” I asked.

  “The foundation wants to do something for you, Hailey, and the baby. We were thinking about throwing a baby shower, but we thought it might be better to do something else. Like a food chain or something.”

  “A food chain?” I asked.

  “Yeah. It’s where people sign up for specific meals on specific days and then they drop food off to you guys. You know, so you don’t have to worry about cooking for yourselves with a newborn around.”

  “That actually sounds really nice,” I said.

  “Good. I’ll let them know. Thanks, Bryan.”

  “No. Thank you, Ellen.”

  Chapter 14

  Hailey

  I was sweeping up the floor and eyeing my easel as I cleaned down the gallery. It had been four days since I’d had a chance to paint. The gallery had been so busy with interviews and people coming in to purchase pictures that I hadn’t had a chance to finish the painting I had started over a week ago. I swept the dirt out the back door and sighed, taking a breath of fresh air as the wind kicked up a bit. It swirled the leaves around and rocked the trees as it ushered in the warmth of summer. I couldn’t wait to dig my toes into the sand and take my newborn child to view the expansive beauty of the ocean.

  The bell dinging over the front door caught my attention, but when I turned around and saw who it was, I froze.

  “Hello, Hailey.”

  He was back, the man with the ragged clothes and the dirty nails and the horrendous teeth. His eyes were hazed over with his high as his lopsided smile made me shiver. He brought a stench with him into the gallery that made me want to heave.

  “I was so rude to you the last time we saw one another. I didn’t even introduce myself. My name’s Ben.”

 
“I don’t give a damn what your name is,” I said.

  “Which is fine. To each their own,” he said.

  How in the world was this man catching me while I was alone in my shop? Was he watching me? Tracking me somehow? The idea alone made me sick. I could feel my lunch teetering at the back of my throat. I clutched the broom tightly in my hand as I made my way to the cash register. I clutched the broom in one hand and grabbed my taser with the other, readying myself if he lunged at me in any way. I had no idea if he was coming to collect or just send me another warning, but if he was here to collect, then he would probably try to hurt me.

  Because I didn’t have one hundred thousand dollars yet.

  “Have you thought about our little chat?” Ben asked.

  “I have. But I’m not sure I can trust your word,” I said.

  “I don’t really think you have a choice,” he said.

  “There’s always a choice. How do I know you’ll go away if I pay you the money you tell me you’re owed?”

  “I guess it simply depends on how much the health of your family means to you.”

  What did that even mean? The health of my family? Holy shit, was Anna in trouble? Had Bryan somehow gotten into the middle of this? He couldn’t possibly mean my parents back in Phoenix, could he?

  Was he tracking me that deeply?

  “All I want is what my family is owed,” Ben said. “We’ve gone through a great deal of loss and heartache over the money you owe us.”

  “You mean the money she owed you,” I said.

  “And now, it’s the money you owe us,” he said.

  “I don’t have your money for you yet.”

  “Well, at least you’ve decided to pay us. That’s a smart move. Wouldn’t want anyone else ending up hurt because of your poor choices.”

  “What the hell does that mean?”

  I watched his eyes glance over at a picture of John, and my stomach rolled. I bent over and vomited into the trash can at my feet, feeling my lunch choke me half to death. I panted and moaned as involuntary tears ricocheted down my cheeks. I spat out chunks into the trash can before I wiped my mouth on the back of my arm.