by Nikki Mays
I sigh and push my chair back from my desk a bit. I decide to get comfortable since I’m always the one who has to talk to these two. It really sucks being the middle brother some days.
“You need to stop acting like this.” I tell him, my voice solemn and serious.
He looks over at me with narrowed eyes. “Acting like what?”
I purse my lips and just shake my head. “You know exactly what I’m talking about Noah.” I give him a meaningful look. “This can’t continue. She has done nothing wrong to deserve this attitude from you. Either decide to take a chance and ask her out or treat her truly professionally. Those are your only options.”
He scoffs at me. “I have no interest in her romantically.”
“You can lie to yourself all you want, but don’t lie to me. We all can see it. If you don’t want to ask her out, that’s perfectly fine. But you need to stop acting like an asshole over the fact that other guys have no problem stepping up and asking her on a date.”
He drums his tattooed covered fingers on his desk. “Is there a point to this conversation?” he asks annoyed.
I give him a long look. Most people would never realize that Noah was once wild.
Before he met his ex, all he did was drink, go out, hookup, get tattoos and God knows what else. Dad was still around handling the business, so Noah was able to run around as he pleased.
Then he met Chelsea and he seemed to change overnight. He became as straight laced as they come. No drinking, no smoking, covering up his tattoos, hair done a certain way and well... you get the picture. She tried to make him into the perfect man.
Thinking back, it kind of makes sense that she did that. Afterall, she was hiding the fact that she was a lesbian from everyone. Of course, she would want him to be as perfect as possible.
Mom and Dad were happy that he finally straightened up and took on more of a role in the business. I was just happy as long as he was happy.
But it’s been years since she left him. And he has never really gotten over it. It didn’t help that Dad died almost right after and Noah pretty much took control of the business since our other brother has always been a waste of life.
Noah needs to get his shit together and figure out what he really wants, instead of just doing what he believes other people think that he should do. And that’s really the problem here.
“Answer me truthfully.” I look him dead in the eyes. “Do you really not like her, or do you think that you aren’t supposed to like her because of the age difference?”
“It wouldn’t work out. We’re at different places in our lives. She’s just starting hers. This is the time she’ll want to party and date around.” He growls out that last part and it takes every ounce of my self-control not to smirk.
“So, you’re not even going to give it a shot? Just tell yourself that it won’t work out instead of putting yourself out there to see what could be? Even if it may actually be a great relationship, even though you are both polar opposites and don’t have much in common?” I’m breathing heavily by the time I finish.
Noah is giving me a curious look. “I feel like only some of that was about me.” He states cautiously.
I slide my chair back and get up. I start walking around the small makeshift office. Noah is watching me warily like I’m going to snap at any moment.
“Some of it’s about you, some of it is about someone else.” I snap while pacing back and forth.
He sits back in his chair and steeples his fingers in his lap. “Who’s the other person that is currently agitating you, besides me?”
“Jessie.”
He pauses for a moment while looking at me. “Jessie, as in Kellie’s friend?”
I snap my fingers and give him a humorless chuckle. “That’s the one.”
He nods his head slowly. “And I’m going to guess that she didn’t want to go on a date with you because you’re both very different? Or something along those lines?”
I run my hands through my hair and pull. “We had an incredible night together, even though we were hammered.” I see the shock on his face before he schools his reaction. “Then when I try to get her to talk to me,” I pause my pacing and look at him, “after skipping out before I woke up, mind you.” I resume my pacing and fortunately miss his smirk. “She just completely ignores me. Then on Halloween when I finally corner her and ask her why, she gives me some bullshit about how it won’t work out so we shouldn’t even try!”
“And you think that you both should try, even though you both are extremely different?” He asks.
I stop and look at him. “We’re not that different.”
Noah doesn’t even bother hiding his smirk. “She’s pretty much the old me before I met Chelsea.”
(It will be much later before I’ll realize that he said her name. Something that he hasn’t done in four years.)
“She doesn’t go out partying and sleeping with anyone.” I growl in her defense.
His eyes widen. “How do you know? You just said that you both were drunk during your night together. How do you know that she doesn’t get drunk a lot and take random guys home?”
“Because she isn’t like that! She said that she left that morning because she’s never had a one night stand before and didn’t know the protocol or whatever the fuck you want to call it.” I hiss.
“And you believe that?” Noah scoffs. Making my imaginary hackles rise.
“You’ve seen her. She doesn’t exactly look too innocent.”
Unable to help myself, I storm over and grab Noah by his collar. He’s pinned up against the wall before he realizes what’s going on. “You sound like a judgmental asshole.”
There’s not much of a struggle but my forearm presses underneath his chin firmly.
“No, what I am is an older brother trying to make sure that my little brother looks at everything objectively and not through the lens of a rose-colored pussy,” he grits out.
Our eyes lock in an intense stare off. “Don’t ever talk about her like that.” My voice sounds like an inhuman growl. Our faces are so close that our noses are touching. “Just because she looks a certain way doesn’t mean that she’s some cheap, drunken whore like the ones that you used to screw.”
“I’m glad that you can tell the difference.” He says with a roll of his eyes ignoring the fact that I have him up against the wall.
I open my mouth to respond, but shut it quickly as confusion takes over. “What?” My hands release him from the tight hold I have on him. Swatting me away like an annoying fly Noah smooths out the rumples in his shirt.
When he’s done, he levels me with a stare “I’m glad that you know that she isn’t what everyone in town says about her.”
Grinding my teeth I huff out a breath. “How do you know?” It unfortunately comes out as more of a hiss than a question.
From the giant ass smirk on his face Noah is amused. “Because, as you just said, I used to screw women like that, I would obviously know the difference.”
I cough into my hand and move back a bit. “Right, yeah, that makes sense.”
Noah resumes his seat and crosses a leg over his knee. He looks up at me and raises an eyebrow. “A word of advice?”
I sit back in my own chair and nod my head. “Sure.” I mean he did basically let me have a temper tantrum and man-handle him. I can hear him out.
“She may have spikes on the outside, but she’s a glass figurine on the inside.”
I pick up a pen and twirl it around my fingers. “I have no idea what that means.”
Noah leans forward and looks into my eyes. “It means that a lot of her appearance is like a knight’s armor. She uses it to protect herself. Hell, watching her with Ella on Halloween proved that even more. She’s too sweet for a world that has probably treated her like shit.” He sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose. “I’m not really saying this right. Just be careful with her. Fragile things are extremely breakable, especially if they’ve already been broken.”
“Well, for starters, I’m pretty sure that she doesn’t actually want you to leave her alone.” He holds up his hand when I go to ask him a question. “Trust me, she was enjoying looking at you on Halloween when she thought no one was looking. But she’ll definitely give you a run for your money. I can almost guarantee that she won’t give in easily.” He chuckles.
I frown. “Why do you say that?”
He throws his head back and laughs. “Because, you look exactly like the type of asshole who would give someone who looks like me and her a huge ass attitude. Face it Ben, you look like some douche bag who would look down on her instead of the one dating her.”
I look down at my jeans and flannel work shirt. “I don’t look like a douchebag.” I grumble.
He wipes the smile off of his face but his eyes are still dancing with humor. “No, but you definitely look like a guy who has no clue how to let loose and have fun either.”
“I know how to have fun.” I counter.
“Spontaneously?”
“So, I liked things being planned.” I huff out and cross my arms over my chest. “What’s so wrong with wanting to make sure that everything goes easily like it should?”
The smile he gives me couldn’t be any more condescending. “Nothing at all Benjamin.”
“Shut up,” I grumble. “Just help me figure out how to get the girl without being so damn annoying.”
“Just be consistent.” He eyes me up and down. “We all know you know how to do that.” He murmurs.
I’m about to reply when my phone rings. I look at it with a frown when I see Mason’s name flashing. I hit the green button with a smirk. “How the hell could you have given her enough junk food to make her sick already? You just picked her up from school for fuck’s sake.” I chuckle and Noah joins in while shaking his head.
I lose my smile as soon as Mason begins to speak and tells me what happened.
The next few hours are a whirlwind of fear, anger, relief, sadness, joy and even some comedy.
Luckily, Ella was found safe and sound thanks to my brother’s dog Bosco. He mauled the hell out of that crazy bitch who stole my sweet little niece. And yes, she’s my niece, whether she has our blood or not. Plus, she’s the only sweet one out of all of the kids.
We’re all sitting here at Mason’s after the craziest day of my life. And that’s saying something since life with my mother has never been what anyone would call boring.
We’re all currently laughing at my mother giving Kellie the finger for making her and Jean explain why they want to get Kel and Mase drunk enough to give Ella siblings. It serves those two right though.
Maybe it’ll teach them to stay out of everyone’s business, I think before starting to chuckle to myself.
“What’s so funny?” Rocco asks me.
I look at him with a smile. “I was just thinking that maybe this will teach those two to stop being up in everyone else’s business.”
The room grows silent before everyone starts laughing even harder.
My mother looks over at me with a glare. “Watch it Benjamin. I brought you into this world and I can just as easily take you out of it.” She grumbles before going back to trying to explain her evil deeds to Ella.
The rest of the night is spent pretty much like that. Everyone just sitting around thankful that the day turned out like it did. Also, there’s been a decent amount of drinking going on.
Well, mainly just Kellie, Jessie, Jean and my mom drinking a ton of wine, while the rest of us watch on with smiles.
Mason carried Ella off to bed about an hour ago, with Bosco following right behind.
After that, the girls got even drunker, which has been quite entertaining for the rest of us.
“What should I get a bunch of bikers?” Kellie hiccups out of nowhere.
Mason tilts his head with a smile. “Baby, why are you thinking about buying stuff for bikers?”
She’s currently sitting with Jessie on the floor in some makeshift fort of pillows and blankets. They called it a nest or some shit. It just looks like a big fucking mess to me, but hey... what do I know?
She rolls onto her side to look at Mason. “Because, Jessie made them hop onto their bikes to look for Ella. I want to get them something to say thank you.”
Mason looks over at Jessie in surprise. “You’re friends with a biker gang?” The shock evident in his voice. Truthfully, I think we’re all a bit surprised.
Jessie holds up her index finger and looks at us through glassy eyes. “First, they’re a club not a gang. Saying the word gang is a no-no,” she corrects with a wag of her finger. “And third,” we all snort at her wonderful counting ability. “My buddy Nico owns the tattoo shop that they were all at. I called Nico to see if he could keep an eye out. When he asked out loud, all the guys responded by getting on their bikes.” She shrugs nonchalantly while taking another sip of her wine. “They’re all really nice guys. They even hook up my car for me at cost price instead of charging me labor.”
Noah leans forward. “Are you talking about the Rebel Chasers MC?”
Jessie looks at him and nods her head. “That would be them. Do you know them?”
He nods his head slowly. “Yeah, Wolf, Ink, Brick and I go way back. I’ve known them almost my whole life.”
I look over at my brother. “Nico is Ink, right?”
“Yup.” Jessie answers instead. “He said he got the nickname because he was always drawing something and usually covered in ink.”
“They’re such good boys.” My mother croons into her wine. “Always so sweet and respectful. The whole lot of that group still hold open doors and even carry out my groceries to my car if they’re around.”
“That doesn’t sound very bikerish.” Marc states.
Anthony’s the one who answers. “Eh, they got a bad rep, but they aren’t bad guys. Hell, when I was Chief of Police, I had more trouble from the suit types than I ever had from any of the Rebels. They have always kept pretty much to themselves. And any bar fights are handled in house at their place. All in all, good guys.” He starts nodding his head. “Some damn good mechanics too.”
My brothers and I nod our heads because that’s where we take all of our vehicles. I trust no one else with my babies besides Wolf.
“My Stang (I’m guessing she means Mustang) always purrs so pretty.” Jessie singsongs.
Ma just looks over at Jessie and Kellie all cuddled up on the floor together and shakes her head. “You two need to get a damn tolerance. You’ve only had four, maybe five glasses of wine.” She hrmphs.
Jessie peeps at her through one eye. “Dee,” she slurs, seemingly getting drunker by the minute. “I barely drink. If I’m going to drink my calories, it’s going to be hot chocolate with whipped cream, not wine.”
“Mmmm.” Kellie says dreamily from beside her. “Hot chocolate sounds really good.” She tries and fails miserably to sit up fully, much to everyone’s amusement. “Masey, do you have any hot chocolate here?”
Mase puts his hand in front of his mouth to hide his smile. “Sure babe. Why don’t you go get ready for bed and I’ll bring it in to you, in a little bit?”
“Sweeeeeet.” She smiles while practically crawling to his bedroom. I mean none of us offered to help her, but still, she crawled.
“What about this one?” Marc nods his head towards Jessie, who’s not in any better condition.
“I’ll take her home.” I say before anyone can say anything.
My brothers and Anthony just give me a smirk. Rocco and Marc simply nod. Jean and my mother are looking at me a little too closely.
“What about Sally? How is she getting home?” Jessie asks.
“Who’s Sally?” I question. “There isn’t anyone else here.”
“I drove her here.” She blearily blinks at me.
I blink as th
e dots connect in my mind. “You named your Mustang, Sally? Like Mustang Sally?”
Jessie gives me what I assume is meant to be a droll look but in her current state, she isn’t really pulling it off. “What was I supposed to name her? Bob?”
“She has a point.” My mother chimes in. “At least you’re redeeming yourself a bit since you have such a pitiful tolerance for alcohol. You’re half my age and can’t keep up.”
Jessie looks at Dee. “Dee, I’m pretty sure that most people can’t keep up with you. I’m not even sure that you have a liver. I think that it was taken out years ago and that all the wine just flows through you.”
Her words make me smother a laugh behind my hand.
My mother purses her lips and then turns her head to look at me. “Shouldn’t you be taking this one home?” She asks as she tilts her head towards Jessie.
“I don’t get hot chocolate too?” Jessie asks in a pitiful voice and full on pouty lip.
She looks so damn cute that I don’t even think about my next words. “We’ll stop at Dunkin Donuts on the way home and get you one with whipped cream.”
She gives me a full mega watt smile. “Thanks Benny Bear.” She says before laying back down and promptly passing out.
I ignore my mother’s looks while I pick up my drunken bundle and hightail it out of Mason’s house.
I’ll deal with her questions later... much, much later.
Chapter 5
Jessie
Oh my God! I think I’m dying. There is no way that I can feel this bad and not be dying. I’m pretty sure that I only have moments to live.
I roll over and promptly wish that I hadn’t. My stomach is lurching thanks to my careless move. I moan loudly and regret that decision as soon as I do it as well. My head feels like it’s about to explode out of my skull.
“I’m never drinking again.” I mumble into my pillow.
“You definitely shouldn’t be drinking with my mother, that’s for sure.” A deep voice says from beside me.
I shoot straight up, forgetting about my poor head and stomach until they make their presence known with a vengeance. One hand goes to my head and the other my stomach, as I squint to make sure that it was Ben who spoke. Because I wouldn’t be able to pick out his voice in a crowd or anything. Nope, not me.
