Awake My Heart (The Bentini Brothers Book 3)

by Jaye McCloud

  Obstinately she persists, “But mom, something isn’t right here. What about Todd?”

  Mr. Walters’s voice lashes out, enunciating each word falling from his stiff lips, “Not now Emily!” It has an immediate effect, as Emily falls quiet, yet continues to shoot daggers at Will. Will, not appreciating the attack, and furious at the mention of the other man, return daggers of his own—his gaze now becoming hostile. Looking at the distraught family, he offers, “I will give you privacy. This is my personal number,” he says handing an expensive business card to Mr. Walters. “I will not be gone long. I have to check-in at the office. Please call me if anything changes… anything.” He holds Mr. Walters gaze until the older man acquiesces.

  If either of them had bothered to look closely at the woman lying on the bed, they would have seen the slightest pucker of a frown, there and gone in an instant.

  Chapter 4

  Alison Donavan, William’s fiancée, finds Mrs. Bradley, his old-guard-dog-of-a-secretary (her words) to be a bit much… meaning, Alison considers her a cantankerous old bitch and has suggested to William, on several occasions, that she be put out to pasture.

  Sneaking past her and into William’s office is far more difficult than Alison anticipated, but she’s successful.

  She doesn’t want to take the chance of being seen because she has returned to the States unbeknownst to William and wants to give him her special surprise in person…and she knows just how to go about it.

  In William’s dressing room, Alison stands nude in front of the floor length mirror, admiring her professionally tanned, outrageously sexy body. Her thoughts flow to her indifferent lover… “It’s all his fault that I’m in such desperate need. If he didn’t ignore me, then I wouldn’t do reckless things like turn to other men for attention. But he won’t touch me; hasn’t touched me in months!”

  As Alison ponders the pathetic state of her sex life with William, she allows her hands to roam leisurely over her sensitive, semi-aroused flesh. Her long eloquent pink-tipped fingers slowly caress her firm high breasts, circling the areolas before closing around twin pebble-hard rosy peaks. She moans sensually as she gently tugs on her nipples and then glides one dainty hand down to her quivering mound. Oh, how she misses the feel of William’s strong masculine hands on her body…

  Hearing William enter his office, she gives herself one last caress, shivering deliciously as she saunters out of the dressing room and into the well-appointed bathroom. Tiptoeing up to the door, she places her ear on the cool wood listening to William’s movements around the room. Twisting the doorknob, Alison slaps a giant smile of anticipation on her face.

  The sudden, unexpected intrusion of loud voices immediately has her drawing her hand back from the doorknob. In a near panic, she dashes back into the dressing room to grab her clothes so that she can make her presence known. But then, just as quickly she changes her mind, convincing herself that this will be a brief meeting, over shortly and she will have William all to herself as planned. So, she stays put, naked and pressed against the solid cool wood of the bathroom door listening intently.

  “What the hell is this, a Three Stooges mini convention?” Will grouches, directing the question towards Antonio, Robert, and Nicholas as they enter his office boisterously.

  “Sorry Will, I tried to tell them that you probably didn’t want their company, but you know how that is,” Robert apologizes soberly, and then in the next breath inquires about Katherine as they all take seats near William’s massive well-organized desk.

  “No change.” Those two simple words come from the tortured soul of a man in love and hurting for his woman. Each man in the room understands that and sympathizes with the brother in pain.

  “William forgive me for bringing this up, but—”

  “Don’t Robert. It’s no one’s business but theirs,” Nicholas intervenes in a hard voice.

  “I have to, mom and dad are barely speaking to each another…we have to hash this out and now seems as good a time as any.”

  “How can you be so cold-blooded, can’t you see that now is not a good time to—”

  “Damnit Nick, mom and dad are not speaking! It was bad enough when they started sleeping in separate bedrooms, but now they are at such odds that the only time they make an attempt at discourse is when their grandchildren are in the same room with them. We have to discuss this! We have to find a way to fix it,” the eldest brother declares.

  “So, what do you suggest, Robert? That Will and I give up the women we love to please the family, to please mom?” Antonio’s, words drip with angry indignation.

  “I don’t know what the solution is. I only know that we need to try to find one!” Robert fires back.

  In the other room, Alison freezes against the door. What the hell is Antonio talking about! How is she and Will’s relationship causing problems with the family? The Bentinis have approved of her from the beginning. In fact, Mrs. Bentini has been encouraging her to hurry William to the alter. Totally forgetting about her nudity, Alison stays pressed against the door seeking answers.

  “Look Antonio, Robert isn’t blaming you or Will for what’s happening with the parents. Everyone is concerned and a little worried, that’s all,” Nick interjects, ever the peacemaker.

  Not willing to be pacified, Antonio barks, “Will can speak for himself, but as far as I’m concerned, I don’t give a damn if I’m being blamed or not. Tiressa is my lady and I’m not giving her up to appease the fucking family!”

  “Calm down, man! No one is asking you to!” Robert snaps.

  “Mom is!” Antonio snaps back.

  They fall silent for a minute, thinking about that truth. Will and Tony make eye contact. Into the silence, Will declares, “I’m not giving Kathy up either.”

  “Don’t take this the wrong way, Will, but are you sure you’re in love with Katherine? Maybe she’s nothing more than a lusty diversion from—”

  “I’m going to stop you right there Robert!” Will’s eyes blaze, “Kathy is not some lusty diversion. I’ve been fighting my attraction to her almost from the first time Nick brought her home. We’ve been seeing each other off and on for several years now. I should never have started a relationship with Alison knowing that I was heavily involved with Kathy. And I should never have gotten myself engaged. I’m not proud of the deception. I’ve wronged both women, but I intend to straighten this mess out. As soon as Alison gets back, I’m going to break the engagement.

  In the adjoining room, Alison can’t believe what she’s just overheard. Did William really say that he and Kathy…that he and Kathy…it can’t be true! No. They are engaged! He’s marrying her, not that red-haired slut! And then it suddenly hits her. William has been having an affair with Katherine Walters! …right under everyone’s nose…right under her fucking nose! …the entire time he’s been with her! And he’s calling off their engagement! That dirty rotten bastard!

  “I’m sorry to interrupt you, Mr. Bentini, but your brothers, Adam and Jason, are heading your way.”

  “Thank you, Mrs. Bradley.” Two seconds later, Jason and Adam enter Will’s office exactly as their other brothers had—without invitation and without even a courtesy knock.

  “Why the hell are we always the last to know anything that’s going on?!” Jason shouts as he enters.

  “We are a part of this family too and we have a right to know what everyone else knows,” Adam tags on.

  “You have the right to sit down and shut the fuck up,” Antonio responds, grabbing a small marble paperweight off Will’s desk and tossing it at the twins. Adam catches it easily and returns it to his brother’s desk, playfully punching Antonio in the arm as he pulls up a chair next to him.

  “Contrary to what you believe, Disney and Disney Jr., the world does not revolve around you and everything isn’t about you.” Will exhales a tired breath.

  “In other words, this has nothing to do with you, so your input is not needed or wanted,” Antonio adds, sympathizing with Will’s wish f
or some semblance of privacy where his personal life is concerned.

  “If it’s about the family, then you are going to get our input whether you want it or not, Jason replies defiantly, moving a chair closer to Will’s desk and sitting down next to Adam. They both eye their older brothers as if daring them to try to make them leave.

  “Okay infant, what do you want to know?” Robert asks with a smirk, looking at Jason. Before Jason can reply, Adam cuts in, “We want to know why you are all huddled together in here? Does it have anything to do with mom and pop fighting?”

  “In a way,” Antonio hedges.

  “Yes,” Robert and Nick answer at the same time.

  “What’s going on? Their fighting can’t be entirely about Tony and Ti. What else has happened?” Jason asks, judging his brothers’ peculiar expressions.

  Exhaling a heavy breath, Will answers. “Mom and dad found out that Kathy and I are involved—we are seeing each other. Now you know, are you happy?”

  “What the hell are you saying Will! You’re engaged to Alison!” Adam exclaims in disbelief.

  “It’s complicated.”

  “What are you going to do? I mean, Tony and Ti are free to date each other, but you… you’re engaged to be married to another woman.”

  “Thanks Einstein. I’m fully aware of that!”

  “So, is that what this meeting is about?”

  “Not really. We are trying to come up with a way to get mom and dad back on speaking terms.”

  The room falls silent again as each man contemplates possible solutions. Slowly, one by one, the brothers put forth their ideas and suggestions; but each plan is rejected by one or two brothers or by all of them. Then Adam perks up. “I know what we can do. We can run a bombard campaign on mom.”

  “What?!”

  “Hear him out, his idea can’t be any worse than the ones we’ve heard so far,” Jason says, his twin’s biggest defender.

  “I don’t know about you old-timers, but when we were younger, Jase, me, Ana, and Chris would run a bombard campaign on mom to get her to change her mind about something she was dead-set against. Remember Jase?”

  Jason smiles as memories come floating back to him. “Yeah, I sure do. It was highly effective.”

  “Okay, so tell us how it works. Do we bombard mom with bricks until she gives in?” Robert snorts derisively, “Because that is what it’s probably going to take to get mom off her mulish pedestal.”

  “Oh yea of little faith,” Nick chides.

  “Here’s what we’ll do…” Although the older brothers are skeptical, they listen attentively. “We will each take turns gently bombarding mom with comments about how the family is broken and she’s the only one who can hold us together.” Adam is sure he can convenience all his brothers, except Robert—he’d never take sides against mom, not in a million years.

  “Yeah, we’ll tell her how we miss her Sunday dinners with everyone at the table…you know, light-weight stuff like that. Mom loves knowing that she is the glue that binds this family.” Jason smiles, rubbing his palms together liking the challenge of getting his stubborn mother to see things their way.

  “We can even have the kids drop hints to her.”

  “You are not using my children in this scheme of yours,” Robert states vehemently.

  “It’s not using them if it’s their true feelings. They miss Ti, Angela told me so. Gigi has even asked me why she doesn’t come to the house anymore,” Nick argues with the oldest brother.

  “They are smart kids Robert, they know something isn’t right. Let them express how they feel,” Jason grumbles, backing Nick up.

  “What can be the harm? Like I said, it’s their true feelings, so it’s not as if we are telling them what to say.”

  Robert relents enough to compromise. “I’ll ask Angela what she thinks about involving the kids, and how to go about it.”

  “This will take a family effort, all of us including your wives. Will—you—Tony and dad won’t participate of course; because that will only make mom dig her heels in deeper.” Adam continues, looking at the other brothers, “You know you can’t handle mom in a confrontational manner. It only results in her being even more unreasonably stubborn. That’s probably why dad’s sleeping in a guest bedroom. No, we have to gently blast mom until she realizes that she loves and values family over her pride and personal bias.”

  “Adam’s right. Mom needs to feel the loss of family unity so much that she capitulates.”

  “I understand what you’re saying, really I do, but I’m not sure that I agree with it,” Robert is clearly split between wanting to help his brothers and not wanting to go against his mother.

  “Damnit Robert, mom needs to know that she can’t keep trying to dictate our lives,” Antonio faces his eldest brother, the paragon. “What’s the matter with you? When are you going to stop living your life to please mom so you can be the number one son, the paragon?! In case you haven’t realized it, you’ve won Robert, you’re number-fucking-one!”

  Robert jumps to his feet ready to punch Antonio right in his sardonic face. Antonio gets to his feet unhurriedly, “Careful big brother, I’m bigger and stronger now,” he warns in a taunting drawl. They face off, neither brother willing to be the first to back down. Nick, the diplomat, puts himself between the two tall, dark, imposing figures. “Come on guys, we are here for a solution, not to fight each other.” After a few more seconds of sour glaring, both men sit back down.

  “Tony’s right. Mom’s got to realize that her way isn’t what the family wants.” Then looking at each brother, Will says, “Not that it really matters, but how do you feel about my being with Kathy? Can we count on your support or will you shun her?”

  Before any answer is given, Antonio addresses the group, “Since Will asked, I’m going to ask as well. Will you ostracize Tiressa or will you welcome her to the family; because make no mistake about it, she will be a part of this family! I don’t want her hurt by your callous rejection. We face enough of that bullshit as an interracial couple. We don’t need it from people who are supposed to love us.”

  Looking from Will to Antonio, Jason doesn’t hesitate to give his support, “I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, we are family. I love you both and I willingly accept the women you have chosen to love. You have my support, you always have and you always will.”

  “Well, I can’t top that little speech of brotherly love, but I definitely give you my full support as well,” Adam pledges, with a toothy grin.

  “Me too,” Nick chimes in. “As a happily married man, I want to see everyone as delirious as I am.” They all laugh, and then look to the last holdout.

  “Well, Robert?” Antonio and Will wear matching tense expressions. Robert is the oldest sibling. His decision can go a long way in their favor or a long way against them, making things more difficult.

  Meeting their challenging gazes head on, Robert responds, “In all honesty, I understand and sympathize with mom. We have a certain standing in the community and have worked hard to achieve a high level of success. That success brings with it, not only a great deal of responsibility, but also a certain expectations from many of the people we associate with.”

  “Then maybe we are associating with the wrong kind of people. Maybe we need to stop being so narrow-minded and look beyond our own noses to see that there are other people in the world. People who may be of different backgrounds and cultures and skin colors, but are just as important as we obviously think we are.” Antonio doesn’t disguise his contempt for this brother who values his and the family’s position in elite society.

  William springs to his feet, “Status be damned! And to hell with you Robert if you think—”

  Robert surges to his feet as well, “I’m not saying anything derogatory about Kathy or Tiressa. I’m not against you or Tony! I’m merely stating that I understand where mom is coming from. Looking at it from a business and social point of view—”

  Now Antonio is out of his seat
again, “This isn’t about a gawddamn business deal, and fuck so-called high society! Do you have any idea what kind of shit goes on in some of the best homes in this city? Well, I sure as hell do and I can tell you things that will set you back on your pompous ass! Money and status does not make them better people Robert!”

  Now all the men are standing, glaring at the eldest brother. “Look, I’m not saying it does!”

  “Answer the damn question Robert. Tell us straight, are you with us or are you against us!”

  Hesitating, Robert finally answers, “You are my brothers. Although I do not agree with either of your decisions, you have my support.”

  “And will you welcome Tiressa—”

  “And Kathy,” Will adds heatedly.

  “...and Kathy, into this family. Will you let go of your own bias and make them feel truly welcomed into this family?”

  “Yes, as much as I can.”

  “That will have to do for now,” Nick rushes to say, cautious of Will and Tony’s thunderous expressions; it’s obvious they are ready to go at Robert again.

  “This calls for a little celebration,” Jason shouts in an attempt to break the tension. He and Adam go over to the liquor cabinet and prepare drinks. When each man holds a glass of the amber-colored liquor, Nick raises his glass in a toast. “Here’s to cupid. His aim was sure and true, causing love’s arrow to penetrate the asses of two of the toughest asses in Christendom.” A loud chorus of here-here rings out as they all click their glasses and share a relieved, yet strained, heart-felt laugh. Once the noise quiets, William reminds them, “Not that I haven’t enjoyed this bonding session, but it’s getting late and I need to get back to the hospital.”

  “Are her parents here yet?” Antonio inquires.

  “Yes, they arrived late this morning.”

  “How are they holding up?”

  “As any parent would, they’re devastated.”

  “Do you want me to come with you?” Antonio offers.

  “No, you go see to Ti, I know how upset she is and that can’t be good in her condition.”