Chapter 13

Of all the days to be stuck in Boston, this was a bad one. The interpreter gig came with a deluxe hotel room and all the perks including the lavish dinner we had to attend later. Unfortunately, shit was hitting the fan back home, and I was stranded at a hotel bar waiting for my client to wake up from his siesta so I could go around translating everything into Basque for him.

I blew up the group chat like any self-respecting Burns brother. From what I could tell, the altercation took less than five minutes, but the fallout would last for days. Jasmine's ex had shown up parked outside the office and acted a fool when Drew told him to clear out. They weren't giving me details about how Drew got him to leave, but my bet was it was force with the threat of more force. I knew my brother.

When nobody answered my direct questions on the messaging app, I got the idea maybe he did something illegal. Fine, I'd talk to him in person tomorrow. Until then, I needed to hear Jasmine's voice and make sure she was okay. I knew she was physically safe from the messages I'd read on the group. But after yesterday, the seismic shift in our relationship, the way everything had changed, it was bad enough that I'd had to leave at five in the morning.

It was worse to be away from her when her stalker ex showed up. She'd be rattled, feel guilty for whatever Drew did to protect her. I wanted to be there, and my obligations kept me on the ground in Massachusetts.

I dialed her number and she answered as soon as it rang.

"Hi," she said. "How's Boston?"

"It sucks because you're not here. I'm on some boring job hours away and you guys had all the fun without me."

"I wouldn't exactly call it fun. We did book a job for the pediatric foundation carnival in April though."

"I know you're trying to act like nothing is wrong but tell me how you are. Please," I said.

"I'm okay. I've got Eli, Drew, and Jake all here watching me so I don't spontaneously combust or anything. I'm not that delicate. I can hear his name without falling apart."

"But can you say it in the bathroom mirror three times and summon him?" I wisecracked and she laughed.

"It never crossed my mind to try that. Why would I want to summon him?"

"You wait till I get back tomorrow. Then we summon him in the mirror so I can drown him in the toilet and we're done with the whole thing."

"You clearly don't listen to crime podcasts. That's a terrible idea."

"Of course it is. I'm joking. If I had to get rid of evidence you think I'd talk about it on the phone and discuss my plan?" I said.

"Probably not," she said and I heard a tinge of wariness in her voice.

"I'm sorry, Jas," I said. "I wish I was there. I'd do something to make you feel better. Tell them I said they have to get you Chinese takeout tonight."

"I will. Thanks for calling."

"Anytime. Listen, you need anything, call me. I don't care if I'm in a meeting, I'll step out. You understand?"

"I appreciate it. But I'm not calling you at work. Have a good evening and I'll see you tomorrow."

"Or sooner if I find a way to ditch the monolingual asshole scientist."

"Don't alienate a paying client for my sake. Be good," she said.

"Bye," I told her, and as soon as I hung up, I messaged the guys and said they had to do Great Wall with extra black bean stuff immediately.

Jake got on board with that and said he'd order it right away. At least I could do that for her from a distance.

I started a separate group with only my brothers and suggested we meet for a late breakfast after I got home tomorrow. We needed to talk about Jasmine, how best to keep her safe and how we were going to manage a relationship going forward if that was what she wanted. I had no problem sharing, but I didn't want any animosity with my brothers. They were my best friends, and we ran a business together. I didn't want anything harming that bond or creating bad feelings between us.

As far as I was concerned it could be something we shared like a home and a business. But I needed us to be up front about it so there was no jealousy or bad feelings. The last thing I wanted was to start a rift among us in any way.

I stressed about it until I walked into the restaurant the next day. We all arrived about the same time and settled in at a table. After we ordered, they all looked at me in unison as if they'd rehearsed it.

"What?" I said.

"You called the meeting. You sounded dead serious," Drew said. "What's wrong?"

"Just like I said in the message. We need to be on the same page about Jasmine. How we're going to protect her from her stalker ex and how we decide which one of us is going to pursue her," I said and then heaved a sigh just relieved to have the words out in the open.

"What, are we going to arm wrestle for her?" Jake asked. "Because I'm in good shape but Drew works out like twice a day, so I think it makes sense to forfeit and save ourselves the humiliation. Also, the last time I arm wrestled Eli, he tried kicking me under the table to distract me because he was losing. He's a cheater. Just know that going in."

I laughed. Eli made an offended noise, and we all looked at each other. We laughed and slapped Eli on the back good-naturedly. Then we ordered heaps of food and devoured it.

Drew spoke again first. "I want to know what you think about—nobody bowing out. We don't make a big deal and stand in a line like we're on the stupid Bachelorette show for her to pick one of us."

"Well," Eli said, "it makes sense. She's amazing."

"Can't argue with that," I said with a nod. "So what do you all think about what Drew said? We share a business. We share a home. What if Jasmine is someone we have in common as well?"

"I think that's the lady's choice," Drew said.

"Agreed. If she's up for it, I can't think of anything better," I said.

"I'm in if she's in," Jake said.

Eli replied, "Same, brother."

I gave a sigh of relief, "That would be perfect. As long as Jasmine's into it, I don't see a problem. The last thing I wanted was to have hard feelings between us."

"If it comes to that, we'll figure it out. We haven't let anything come between us yet. And I think we all care enough for Jasmine that we don't want to put her in a position where she's uncomfortable in any way," Jake said.

"Exactly," Drew and Eli said in unison.

"That sounds about right," I said.

We toasted to family and set about planning a strategy to keep Jasmine safe from her ex without any or all of us committing a felony. Jake had a list in his phone of security measures to switch up or add. Eli offered to call in favors to get her out of town in a hurry thanks to a lot of his friends in private aviation.

Drew favored direct intimidation—track him down, scare the shit out of him, and run him out of town. I offered to call him vulgar names in several languages. When nobody laughed, I mentioned a couple of associates I had in the State Department who could be called on in a dire emergency.

"Could we have him deported?" Drew said.

"He's from Alabama," Eli pointed out.

"Ok, could you borrow a plane and dump his ass over the border in hostile territory, maybe wearing an offensive t-shirt?" Jake offered. "Something nasty about the religion or government of the area?"

"Apart from being severely illegal and violating his human rights, it isn't logistically possible given the fuel capacity of the private jet that I'd request access for on short notice," Eli said seriously.

"On the other hand," I said, "I could supply the t-shirt. I know a lot of dirty jokes. Ones that only land in certain languages and cultures."

After that, the discussion turned serious again and we strategized a way to keep Jasmine safe. Even though she wasn't a paying client, she was now our top priority.