The Better Brother

by Rye Hart

  “It’s not hurt that I feel,” Nikki said flatly. “It’s concern for my daughter’s well-being, even if you are right about the age thing.”

  “I care about Penny,” I said fervently. “I need you to believe that. And you know the type of man I am when I love someone.”

  The word “love” slipped off my tongue before I could process it. I swallowed down the tumult of emotions that went through me at that. I loved Penny. That was what drew me in every single time I was around her. We had an indescribable connection, and I realized now that it was because we were falling in love with one another.

  “You love her?” Nikki asked, looking skeptical.

  “Yes,” I said. “I do. I love her, Nikki.”

  Nikki eyed me for a moment and let out a breath. “I can see that I’m not going to dissuade either one of you from this. I swear to you Gabriel, if you hurt my child, I will rain hell down on you the likes of which you’ve never seen.”

  I smiled at her and nodded my head. “I would expect nothing less.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY – PENNY

  I spent the rest of the day pacing around the living room anxiously. There’d been no word from Gabriel and no word from my mother. I wondered if she had actually greeted him at the hotel door with a gun in hand. It was something my mother would do, just to make a statement. Clutching my phone tightly, I kept checking to see if Gabriel had read my text messages yet. It remained unread in his inbox.

  No one was picking up the phone in my mother’s hotel room, either.

  I tapped a finger against the side of my phone impatiently before Googling the hotel number to check with the front desk.

  “It says that Ms. Lewis checked out about thirty minutes ago,” the clerk told me.

  The pit of my stomach dropped at that. She had gone back to New York City upset. I sank down to sit on the edge of the couch while tears filled my eyes.

  Maybe this wasn’t going to work out after all. It thrilled me to know that Gabriel had developed feelings for me, the way I had for him. But it didn’t feel right if my mother was upset over the two of us being together. She might not be perfect, but she was still my mother. I didn’t want to hurt her.

  And even if she ended up accepting my relationship with Gabriel, I knew for a fact that Alyssa would be upset when she found out, too. I didn’t want to hurt her, either. All of that weighed heavily on my shoulders as I sat there numbly for what felt like hours.

  After another hour passed with no reply, I called Gabriel’s office. Maybe he had gotten tied up in a meeting somewhere and didn’t have a chance to reply back. I didn’t like the panicked feeling in the pit of my stomach. I needed to hear his voice, to reassure me that everything was indeed all right.

  “Mr. Bradley left a few hours ago,” the receptionist told me. “I can take your name and number down to deliver a message the next time he is in the office.”

  “That’s okay,” I said, clutching the phone tightly to my ear. “Did he say when he would be back in this afternoon?”

  The receptionist sighed into the phone in obvious irritation. “He said that he would not be back in today at all. Are you sure there isn’t a message you’d like to leave? Someone in the office can try to get ahold of him if you need us to.”

  “No, it’s fine. Thank you for your time.”

  She hung up quickly after bidding me goodbye. I stared out along the city skyline while I played absently with the corners of my phone. The last thing I wanted to do was call Alyssa to see if she could get ahold of Gabriel. I didn’t want to cause alarm, but sheer panic was starting to build in me, given what had happened the past few days.

  The front door opened, and I jumped to my feet. My mother followed Gabriel inside with her suitcases in tow. I let out a relieved breath when I saw them. Not caring that there were tears streaming down my cheeks, I rushed forward to wrap my arms around my mother in a tight hug. She returned it, a bit startled.

  “I couldn’t get ahold of either one of you,” I said. “Do you have any idea how panicked I was, trying to get in touch with you?”

  Gabriel fished through his pockets with a guilty expression. “I left my phone on silent when I took off from my office.”

  “My phone needs to be charged,” my mother said, glancing at her own phone. “Sweetheart, you look like awful.”

  I wiped away the tears from my eyes. “I was worried about the both of you. Gabriel was confident that you were going to put a bullet between his eyes.”

  “Don’t think the thought didn’t cross my mind,” she said wryly. “And I still might, depending on how things go from here. But no, Gabriel and I have been at lunch to talk about everything.”

  “You have?”

  “Yes,” Gabriel said, closing the front door. “I figured it would be a good idea for your mother and me to talk in private without anyone around.”

  “I see.” I scanned the suitcases in the foyer—a subtle sign that indicated she planned on staying for a few more days. “Does that mean you’re okay with this?”

  My mother shrugged out of her coat to place it on the coatrack. She strode across the foyer to cup my cheeks in her cold, soft hands. Her eyes burned into mine.

  “You are my child,” she said firmly. “I will always love you, even when you make decisions that I don’t agree with.”

  Tears burned my eyes again as she pressed a kiss against my forehead. I clutched at her elbows in sheer relief.

  “Thank you,” I whispered.

  “It’s going to take a bit of adjusting to the idea, but if this is what you want, then I will support you. We still need to talk, though.”

  “I’m going to change,” Gabriel said. “I’ll give you both some time.”

  I glanced over to find him smiling at me in wordless encouragement. He left the two of us alone in the foyer before my mother took my hand to pull me into the living room. We sat together on the edge of the couch, facing the fireplace. Silence stretched on between us while I played with the end of my braid nervously. I didn’t know what they had talked about for the past few hours, but it made me uneasy to think about it.

  “You’re killing me with the suspense,” I burst out, bouncing my legs anxiously.

  “It’s just hard to even comprehend it, Penny. You can’t expect me to just be fully, one hundred percent on board with everything.”

  “I don’t expect that at all, Mom. I don’t know what you want me to say, aside from what I already told you.” I swiped a hand over my eyes in agitation. “Things just happened between him and me. I don’t know how it started or why I feel the way that I do, but I just want to be with him. That’s all I know.”

  “The feelings that Gabriel made clear to me tonight are serious ones. You haven’t dealt with this type of relationship before.”

  I tilted my head up to meet my mother’s eyes bravely. “I haven’t. You’re right about that. Don’t you think it’s time to let me experience it for myself though?”

  “I’m trying to protect you from a broken heart,” she replied, shaking her head at me. “That’s all I’m trying to do here, Penny.”

  “I don’t get it,” I said. Frustration brimmed in me. “You said that you were going to be supportive, and that you and Gabriel talked about everything. Why are you drilling me about this?”

  “Because I want to make sure that you are capable of understanding the consequences of this type of relationship. Being in love with an older man is going to put you in some awkward positions, Penny. Not to mention that you have to finish college still. What are you going to do when you have to return back to school?”

  “I don’t know,” I said. That thought hadn’t occurred to me yet, but I didn’t want to concentrate on it at the moment. “All I know is that I love him. I love Gabriel, and I didn’t intend for any of this happen, but it did. I want to be with him.”

  “What the fuck?”

  I jumped in surprise to hear Alyssa’s voice. She stood at the end of the hallway leading into the living r
oom, staring at the both of us with a shocked expression. A cold fear rose into the back of my throat while I rose from the couch on unsteady legs.

  “Alyssa,” I started.

  She backed away from me with a shake of her head. Her eyes glittered angrily as she stared at me with disgust.

  “Did I really just hear you say that you’re in love with my dad?”

  I glanced over at my mother who sat rigidly on the edge of the couch. I didn’t know what to say, but I watched as the realization spread across Alyssa’s face. She took another step back from me in disbelief.

  “What the fuck is going on?”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE – GABRIEL

  The sound of Alyssa’s angry voice echoed down the hallway. Panic shot straight through me, and I quickly pulled on a shirt and rushed down the hall to find Alyssa backing away from the living room. She twisted around to look at me with eyes full of disgust and anger. Tears welled in there, too, as she shook her head at me.

  “Please tell me none of what I just heard is true,” she said, her voice trembling with emotion. “Please tell me that the two of you aren’t--”

  She couldn’t finish the sentence. I looked over to where Penny stood with tears streaming down her cheeks as well. No more lying. I couldn’t utter one more lie about my relationship with Penny. It only had hurt everyone around us in the process of trying to keep it a secret.

  “Try to hear me out, baby girl,” I said as placidly as I could. “It happened. Neither one of us wanted it to happen, but things developed between the two of us. It’s true that we want to be together.”

  Alyssa’s eyes fluttered shut while a horrified expression crossed her face. She twisted around to compose herself, and when I tried to reach out to rest my hands on her shoulders, she jerked away from my touch. My heart collapsed in the center of my chest at the coldness radiating off her. I knew the only reason she reacted like this was because something painful waged a war inside of her.

  “It’s a lot to take in,” I said. “I know that it is, Alyssa. Just trust me when I say that Penny and I never intended for it to happen like this.”

  “You both lied to me!” Alyssa burst out, turning to glare up at me. “You’ve never lied to me in my entire life, Dad. Why now? Why this?”

  “We were trying to figure out what was happening and what we wanted to do about it,” Penny added, rubbing her hands together in agitation. “We weren’t sure what was going to happen between the two of us, so we didn’t want to tell you until we both knew for sure what we wanted.”

  “So you wanted to figure out if you were going to keep fucking each other before you told me? Is that it? Oh my God, you two are so disgusting! You were supposed to be my best friend, Penny, and you have been fucking my father?”

  “Alyssa,” I interjected when her voice raised a pitch. “Please, calm down. Let’s sit down and talk about this rationally.”

  Alyssa swatted my hand away from her. Tears were dripping down her cheeks as she took a step back from me.

  “No, I’m not going to sit down. I’m leaving. I don’t want anything to do with either of you right now.”

  She yanked the door open and slammed it shut behind her. Footsteps hurried down the hallway before the ding of the elevator doors echoed.

  “Oh my God,” Penny cried out, cupping her face in her hands. “I should’ve known things would go down like this. She hates us both now.”

  “You need to talk to her,” Nikki said, rubbing at Penny’s trembling shoulders. “The both of you together. It might help to have you both calm her down because it’s a lot to take in. Trust me.”

  My heart ached while I hurriedly grabbed my coat, in case I needed to chase Alyssa out into the dark night. Penny grabbed her sweater from the living room and followed me out into the hallway. She didn’t say a word as we hurried down the stairs to hopefully catch Alyssa before she disappeared.

  I should’ve known this would happen. Shame intermixed with guilt while I hurried through the lobby, with Penny at my heels, into the dark, cold night. I spotted Alyssa pacing the curbside around the building with her phone in hand.

  “Alyssa!” I called out. “Hold on a moment. You can’t just go running away from this!”

  Alyssa looked up from the bright screen of her phone. “I can run away from this. That’s exactly what I plan on doing.”

  “You need to hear us out,” I said, reaching for her hand. “I’m not kidding you, Alyssa. You need to be mature about this and talk about it.”

  “Mature about this?” Alyssa repeated dubiously. “I just heard that my best friend is in love with my father. It makes sense now, all those weird interactions between the two of you. It’s fucking disgusting, knowing you two were sneaking around behind my back. The two people I trusted most in the world. I feel sick.”

  “We’re both adults, Alyssa,” I said. “Nothing that happened between us deserves this sort of behavior from you. Has it occurred to you that maybe I’m in love with Penny, too?”

  Her eyes widened in visible shock at that. I glanced over at Penny, who was watching us with wide eyes as well. I reached out a hand for her to take, and she grabbed ahold without hesitation. The feeling of Penny’s warm fingers against mine soothed a bit of the ache lingering in me.

  “We are going to see each other,” I said, turning to face Alyssa, who shook her head. “Yes, we are. I hope that you can come to accept it, but Penny makes me happy. The one person I feel like I can be myself with is standing right next to me.”

  “It’s not right, Dad,” she said. “I don’t care how much you two try to spin it, but it isn’t right. It won’t ever be right. Not to me at least.”

  A taxi pulled up to the curb. Alyssa reached for the door, but stopped to look at us with cold eyes.

  “You know, if the two of you would’ve been honest about this in the first place, it wouldn’t feel like so much of a betrayal. But you both lied to me. I’m not okay with that, and I won’t ever be okay with this, either.”

  She pulled the door open to hop into the passenger seat. I attempted to grab the door before she could shut it, but the car pulled away a second later. Alyssa kept her face turned away from the us as the taxi drove by and exited the parking lot.

  We stood together in the icy wind of the night with Penny huddled against me. She cried softly into my shoulder.

  “What are we going to do, Gabriel?” she asked, her voice thick with tears. “First, my mom. Now it’s Alyssa. I don’t think she is going to be convinced as easily.”

  “No,” I replied, smoothing a hand along her shoulders. “You’re right. She won’t be easily persuaded like your mom. She’s very stubborn, like me.”

  “What do we do now?”

  I noted the trembling in Penny’s shoulders. Rubbing at them, I steered us back in the direction of the lobby. I didn’t know what would happen next, but I knew that Alyssa needed a bit of time to cool off. My daughter, while short and sweet, had a temper when she felt threatened.

  “We’ll give her some space,” I said, even though a part of me ached to hop into a cab after her. “She just needs to cool down for a little bit, is all.”

  Penny glanced up at me as we entered the warm lobby to head in the direction of the elevators. “You aren’t going to go after her?”

  “No,” I said, sighing painfully. “As much as I want to chase after her, I know that it will only make her angrier. She’s an adult, Penny. I can’t run after her to explain things to her every single time something happens that she doesn’t agree with. That’s just how it is.”

  “I don’t want this relationship if it is going to cause problems with Alyssa. I’m being serious when I say that, Gabriel.”

  The elevator doors opened. Ushering Penny inside, I waited for the doors to slide shut before I turned to cup her face in my hands. I backed her up against the mirror hanging in the elevator to kiss her deeply, to feel a bit of something that made my heart warm over.

  “I am not going to give you up,�
�� I whispered when I pulled back to look into her eyes. “The world will have to accept it, and Alyssa will, too. That’s just the way it’s going to be.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO – PENNY

  Despite what Gabriel believed, I knew that Alyssa wouldn’t be happy about any of this. No matter how indifferent he appeared while we walked back to the condo, I knew that a part of him hurt badly over Alyssa’s reaction.

  My mother greeted us at the door the second she heard us coming down the hallway. She scanned the air behind us before pushing the door all the way open.

  “No luck in talking to her?”

  “No luck,” Gabriel said, stepping aside to let me in first. “I think she might need a few hours to cool down.”

  “Perhaps I could talk to her,” Nikki said. “It might help hearing it from someone else.”

  I glanced over at Gabriel while he closed the door. He turned to look at my mother while he weighed out the suggestion.

  “You could try,” he said. “She might listen to you better than listening to Penny and me at the moment.”

  “What’s her number?” she asked. “I can step in the kitchen to try and convince her to come back to talk to us.”

  “Let me write it down,” Gabriel said. “I have a pen and pad in my office.”

  The second that Gabriel stepped into the living room, I swept my mother up into a tight embrace. Tears filled my eyes with appreciation and relief as she hugged me back just as tightly.

  “Thank you,” I whispered. “For everything that you’ve done, Mom. I really appreciate at it.”

  “As long as you’re happy,” she said, patting me on the back. “That’s all I care about. But for now, I need to make sure Alyssa is all right. This is going to be hard, no matter what I say to her.”

  “I know. She’s pretty upset about it.”

  Gabriel returned from the living room with Alyssa’s phone number scribbled on the top of the notepad. He handed it over to my mother, who took it with a small smile. She disappeared into the kitchen with her phone to talk privately without either one of us listening in on the conversation.