“Oh yeah, I didn’t think of that,” Brooklyn said and looked at me and smiled, “Thanks, Fin.”
“Anything for you, baby,” and realized my mistake when three sets of eyes landed on me. When I looked over, the three moms wore identical looks and I thought I heard my mom mutter “About time.” Which had to be wrong.
“That’s all well and fine, Fin, but you won’t need to bother,” Ms. Maddie said.
“No bother, we need to get your room ready.”
“Fin, we already sent your father and Anthony Sr. to check on renting one of those adjustable beds. The doctor said it would be hard on Madeline to pull herself up for a while without causing pain in her chest.”
“Great, Ma. When will it be delivered to the house?”
“It won’t be,” my mom said and glanced toward Sonia, then Ms. Maddie.
Hmmmm.
“Oh, do we need to send a few of the guys to pick it up?” Tony asked and I watched as the women looked between each other before answering. Fuck, they were up to something.
“Well, no, it is being delivered. Just not to Fin’s—” And before I could speak, Tony cut his mother off.
“You can’t have it delivered to Ms. Maddie’s house. It is not safe for her to stay there. We already had it planned that she was coming to the house to stay with Brooklyn and us. I’ll call Dad and have him change the address,” Tony said, pulling his phone out.
“Don’t go calling your father, it isn’t getting delivered to Madeline’s house, Anthony,” Sonia said.
“It’s coming to mine and your father’s, Fin. Madeline is going to stay with us and Sonia is going to come over during the day and help too. We have it all covered,” my mother said, with the finality in her voice that said there would be no argument.
“Ma, Reese and I were planning to take care of you. Why are you going to Mrs. O’Malley’s?” Brooklyn asked and I caught a note of hurt in her voice.
“Oh, honey, I know you want to help me but this is for the best. It will only be for a couple weeks and I am sure the boys will have figured all this trouble out or the police. I already told Reese to stay at Michael’s and not to worry about me and now I’m telling you to stay with Fin and Tony. You and Reese can come by the O’Malley’s and visit with me but Sonia and Olivia will help me with anything I need, okay?” Ms. Maddie said.
“Are you sure? I could stay with you there and take care of you,” Brooklyn said and if she didn’t look so confused it would be almost comical because Tony and I looked at each other, each of us knew that was what the moms were up to. We’d officially been outmaneuvered. I’d fought opponents with less calculation in their moves than our mothers.
Before anymore could be said, Carmen walked in, “Fin, glad you are here. Did you get the message about Brant?”
“Hey, Carmen, sure did. Is he awake? I hadn’t had the chance to come down and check on him since I brought Brook back to see Ms. Maddie.”
“The doctor took him off the drugs this morning, the swelling is gone in his head and he is healing nicely. He woke about thirty minutes ago,” Carmen said and smiled as everyone in the room said “Thank God.”
“Can I see him?” I asked, hoping to ask a few questions before the cops came in to talk with him. We needed some answers and some leads if we were going to find out what in the hell was going on.
“His voice is a little hoarse from the tube being in but he is lucid and knows where he is. Which is great. Means no lasting damage from the head injury. The doctor is about finished checking him over so it should be alright if you want to stop in before you leave.”
“Great, we will be down in just a few. Thanks, Carmen.”
“No problem. I should get back, I was on break and didn’t want to miss you. I’ll still be on when you come, just let me know,” Carmen said, then walked out.
“Damn, good news all around today,” Tony said.
“Brant needs a friend or two, boys. He only told me about the fighting. Wouldn’t give up whose doing it. He’s scared but the good in him wouldn’t let him keep it all in. I figured I could get a little more out of him as the days passed, didn’t count on this though,” Ms. Maddie shook her head, “and I bet that sorry excuse for a mother hasn’t checked on him once. Keep me posted, will you?” Even while down Ms. Maddie would put the community ahead of herself.
“Brook, you stay with your mom and our moms while we go check on Brant, alright?” I said and looked at my mom who nodded. I could count on her to stick around until we got back.
“I’m ready when you are, Fin,” Tony said, then as though it was something he did every day, he went to Brooklyn and gave her a peck on the lips. And damn, if she didn’t blush. Not one to be out done.
“Yeah, let’s go,” I said to Tony, turned to Brooklyn and touch her cheek with one hand, drawing her attention. “We shouldn’t be long, baby,” then I moved in and touched my mouth to hers, lingering for a minute. When I stood straight and turned, it was to see our mothers and Ms. Maddie watching with glistening eyes. Who needed words of approval?
“We’ll be back,” I said as Tony and I headed out.
Tony
“Those women are scary as hell,” I said as we stopped in front of the elevators to wait.
“You aren’t telling me anything new,” Fin said and chuckled.
“Yeah, but you realize without saying a word they have more or less given approval of the three of us together. I at least thought my mom would freak a little, but instead it is like she is pushing me toward it. And tell me, doesn’t that make you the least bit curious as to what our own mothers know about threesomes?” I had to put that out there and now I couldn’t get it out of my mind. My mother knew of ménages. And frankly, I didn’t want to know how.
“Seriously, don’t go there. I have a ménage in our family and I still don’t want to know how much my ma knows about it. Some things are just better when you leave them alone. That, my friend, is one of them,” Fin said and I had to agree.
When we reached the nurses’ desk, Carmen was there and stepped around the counter. “He is awake and the doctor just left. He is talking a little better but he is weak. He should make a full recover with no permanent damage. You aren’t going to be able to stay long, he needs to rest. And try not to get him upset either, okay?” Carmen pushed the door to Brant’s room open.
“No problem, Carmen. Thanks for this. We want to help him and in doing so, maybe we will get a little help in figuring out what the hell happen,” I said as we walked in the room to find Brant sitting up in bed, his head now void of the bandage, and the bruises on his face were taking on the yellow coloring, which reflect the healing.
“Hey, Brant, you got company already,” Carmen said, and straightened the blankets around Brant. “Buzz if you need anything. I will be just down the hall at the desk.” Then she headed toward the door, passing Fin and I, “Remember, not too long, he needs rest,” before leaving us alone with Brant.
“I guess…the cops will be stopping by, huh,” Brant spoke first, his voice strained, causing him to pause frequently to swallow.
“Yeah, they will probably be here in the morning,” Fin said, moving to stand by the bed while I stayed at the foot.
“What happened, Brant?” I asked, drawing his eyes toward me. The one still swollen but with a visible slit, showing it too was on the mend.
“This sucks,” he said and turned his face away from us.
“Brant, look at me,” Fin said and Brant turned his head to face Fin.
“I know, I need to come clean. I wanted a better life. I wanted to feel good about myself. Achieve something. Be known as someone other than the tweaker’s kid. Look what that got me. What do you want to know?” he asked and looked between the both of us, his voice taking on a resolve as so many others who felt like life kicked them down every time they’d get a step ahead.
“Do you know who did this?” I asked as Fin said.
“Knock off the crap. I don’t want to hear that s
hit, you hear me? You have worked your ass off in school and at the gym. You are achieving something and yeah you’re the kid of a tweaker, so the fuck what. You think you are the only one? You’re hurt, Brant, I get that. But you survived it. Now you can lay here, feel sorry for yourself and cry the “oh, I have no way out” or you can show everyone exactly what you are made of. Show them that even though you get knocked down doesn’t mean you are pinned, there is a way out of it if you want it. Depends on how bad you want it.” Fin was hitting below the belt on the young man but with each word he said, I witnessed the strength being pulled back up in Brant. He sat a little straighter, his chin pushed out, and his one fully opened eye had the flicker of fire.
I’ve watched Fin fight over the years, winning some and losing some. I’ve watched him put the spark of want in grown men’s eyes while he trained them, giving them something to work for, making them feel better about themselves, but watching Brant take that final step into manhood at my friend’s words, made everything we’ve done in the three years we’ve been back worth every second.
“Tell us what happened, Brant? Help us get the shit closed down and the people locked up.” Fin and I both watched as Brant swallowed, took a deep breath, then looked toward the ceiling, making his choice in life.
“I knew it was wrong, but I didn’t have a choice. Mom has been tweaking more than usual. Has been for a while. I didn’t pay too much attention to it, it wasn’t going to change so why? Been like that since I can remember. You all know that. Your gym, Fin, is what gave me a purpose. I will always be grateful to Ms. Maddie for pointing me in that direction. Anyway, Mom told me a few weeks ago that since I was turning eighteen I needed to start contributing to the household or I could get out. She was tired of spending money on me. Like she spent a whole lot, we’ve been on government assistance my whole life. I never even knew who my dad was until recently. I blew what she said off as her being high and shooting off at the mouth.
“I’d heard of the underground fighting but never went or even knew where it was being held. I was approached by Martina’s on and off boyfriend about it. Said I could make some cash and help my mom out if I would fight. Said I should do pretty good since I been spending time at Mic’s gym, that was if I was getting trained right. Told him I wasn’t interested and he dropped it for a few days, then mentioned it again the one night when he came out of my mom’s bedroom to grab a beer and I was sitting at the table in the kitchen doing my homework.
“He told me even with a degree from college I could make more money than any job if I could hold my own in the fights. I turned him down again and that went on for a few months. Every time he would get a little more pissed when I would say no. In one of my classes at school a guy walked in covered in bruises that were fading, his arm in a cast, all after he’d been absent like a month. I didn’t know his name, he hung with a rough crowd though and I heard them talking about the fighting that day as I walked behind them to my next class. How people placed bets on the fights, big crowds, people from the city with money coming to watch. The fights are mostly kids, ranging from ten and up, only because they found out even crappy people didn’t want to watch anyone young getting the shit beat of them. It made me mad when I heard that and I decided to tell Ms. Maddie, but the day I was to tell her, my mom’s boyfriend finally revealed himself, telling me instead of asking, that I would be fighting the next night. Seems my mom owes him a shit ton of money for the stuff she’s been using and he’s tired of carrying her debt. I fight or she dies. I told him I would tell the cops. He laughed, said go ahead, he knows a few of them and if they couldn’t help him it didn’t matter because he would just make sure she got a laced delivery the next time and poof, no more problem. Said he would plant shit so the cops would look toward me and since I was going to be eighteen they’d try me as an adult,” Brant stopped to grab the cup by his bed, drinking a little and setting it back down.
“So you fought?” Fin pushed.
“I told him no again.”
“Then what the fuck happened?” I asked as I clenched my fist and noticed Fin was doing the same thing. Not in anger toward Brant, but because this was going on around us and we’d had no clue.
“He grabbed me up and screamed at me that I would do it, there was no choice because the dope he had been keeping my mom in wasn’t his, it was his boss’s. The boss wanted his money and he didn’t have it to give him so he and my mom were going to be dead if I didn’t earn it in the fight. Told him it wasn’t my problem, it was his and my mom’s. That’s when he told me the boss knew their secret,” Brant reached for his cup, taking another drink and when he spoke next, I wished I’d had a drink too. Only something stronger.
“I didn’t understand him and asked what damn secret. That’s when he said his boss knew I was his kid and they would kill me too.”
“Who’s your dad, Brant?” I asked.
“Hector Sanchez.”
A pin could have been heard hitting the floor the room was so quiet, until Fin pulled himself together and spoke for both of us.
“Sonofabitch!”
Chapter Seventeen
Brooklyn
They left me in mother hell. Rationally, I knew they had to go and check on Brant, but after they dropped the bomb of “you are what we want”, a girl should get to process that without the prodding of mothers. The women hadn’t even given me time to breathe before they attacked after the guys walked out of the room. Kissing me in front of our mothers, really? I hadn’t even had time to get used to the idea of a relationship with them and bam! they put it on display for our moms. Our moms! Then hightailed it out the door and left me with them. Jerks. I would have yelled that at them as they walked out the door if my heart hadn’t been beating so hard in my chest and my lips weren’t still tingling from their kisses. Which brings to mind, what was going to happen when they touched me for real? And that didn’t help ‘cause the thought only sent moisture to my panties. Great, if those two only touched on half of my fantasies about them, I was going to have to purchase more panties because I would need to change them frequently if I didn’t want to stay chapped. The thought of that discomfort made me cringe.
“Oh my, look at her blush,” Sonia said and it brought me right out of my stupor and into the interrogations from hell. Spies would falter and tell world secrets to these women so what chance did I have. Ugh.
“Come here, honey,” my mom said, patting the side of the bed for me to sit. Then Fin’s and Tony’s moms pulled chairs up beside it and settled in.
Screwed, that was what I was. And confused, so I dropped my face in my hands and burst into tears.
“Ah, sweetheart,” my mom said, patting my back.
“What have our boys done, honey? You tell us and we will smack some sense into them,” Sonia said and shoved tissues into my hands as she pulled them away from my face.
“They…they,” was all I got out as I tried to pull myself together.
“They what, baby?” my mom’s voice starting to show concern, which helped me pull myself together because, if for nothing else, she had been through a lot and it made me feel selfish for adding any type of stress on her.
“What happened with the boys, Brook?” Olivia asked.
“They told me. They told me I was what they wanted,” I forced out, keeping my eyes down so I wouldn’t have to look at the women sitting in front of me.
“Oh, well, umm…sweetie, and you don’t want that?” my mom questioned and no one else said a word so I raised my head and looked at each woman with matching concerned looks, waiting.
I stood and walked to the window to look out, no way I could face them if I was going to tell them what was going on in my mind.
“No, I mean yes. Crap, I have always dreamed of them wanting me. Even before I knew what wanting a man was. I spent so much time wishing I could be what they wanted, that I have a hard time understanding why? I mean, now. What has changed? Why would they want to be with me now?” I paused, then turned to face
the moms who each wore the biggest smiles I’d ever seen.
“They wised up, grew up. You grew up. Sweetie, the best answer to that is they are men. It alone covers so much,” my mom chuckled.
“But they never showed any interest. They used to ignore me. I’m shy and plain. It’s not just them, most men don’t pay attention to me. I can’t wrap my head around it I guess. I don’t know, a part of me wants it, but the other part is telling me they are just showing kindness because of everything that’s happened,” I said and watched the women pass glances between them.
“Oh, Brook, you have had those two confused and flustered since the day your breasts came in.”
“Olivia!” Sonia said and laughed. “Way to put that out there. You make them sound like, crap, I don’t know what.”
“Oh please, you know it and so does Madeline. We have discussed this for years and wondered if either of them would break down and admit to themselves she was theirs,” Olivia tsked.
“You can’t be right. They never paid attention to me. Ever,” I could hear my own desperation and maybe a little hope that what they said was true.
“Yes, we did discuss it,” my mom said to the women and then looked toward me, “Brook, you and Reese were young when your father died and you both took on different roles in the household. Reese, being a bit older than you, took on the role as the protector and man of the house. You, my dear, took on the nurturer. And to a point I am to blame because you were so young, but I was grieving and so were the both of you. By the time I realized, it was easier to let you both be because I worked every day and you seemed to thrive. You’ve always been my thinker. Shy but in control. You were smart as a child and smarter as a grown woman but, honey, you are oblivious to what goes on around you. Always have been.” She smiled as I shook my head at her.
Vengeance: MMA/Ink Romance (KO Ink Book 1) Page 13
