12. Chapter Twelve

12

Chapter Twelve

Brittany

I ’ve never felt like this before and no I don’t mean in love. Absolutely not. I mean I’ve never wanted to be in the presence of a man. Men make me wary. They have ulterior motives and they are inherently evil. I especially do not like men that are so much bigger than me but Kieran is proving that he may be the exception not the rule. He just makes me feel so comfortable. His presence calms me and his cock is huge.

What? A girl’s allowed to appreciate all the aspects of her hook up buddy.

I think we’re just hook up buddies? Do hookup buddies spend half the day snuggling and watching movies? Probably not, but it’s fine. Like Kieran said; we make the rules here.

I’m pulled out of my daydreaming by Mr. Hall tapping on my desk. My eyes lift up to his to find an amused smirk on his handsome face, “Daydreaming on the job, Ms. Mitchell?”

“Busted. I’m sorry, Mr. Hall, what can I help you with?”

“Well first off you can call me Jackson or Jax like I’ve been asking you to since your first day.”

Now it’s my turn to smirk, “Besides that, Mr. Hall.”

He lets out a loud belly laugh, “Okay, fine. I’ll try again tomorrow. I just wanted to check and see if you have my notes all ready for court Monday?”

“Yes, I have them right here.” I hand him the file folders, labeled, and notes in the exact order he’ll need them.

“Brittany, you save my life daily.”

“And I’ll continue to if you let me call you Mr. Hall.”

He thumbs through the folders, “Yeah, probably not, but I like your enthusiasm. Got any big plans since we’re off this weekend?”

“We’re off this weekend?” This is the first I’m hearing of it.

“Surprise.” Mr. Hall does ‘jazz hands’ and smiles at me.

Jackson Hall is a beautiful man in his own right. About six foot four inches, light brown hair, whiskey eyes, and freshly pressed suits. His jaw is squared with a constant five o’clock shadow. He’s extremely handsome. We’re friendly and he’s a really good boss to have. There’s no feelings there on either side. He’s not asking to be sleazy, he’s asking because he really is curious. We never have more than a day off a week, and that’s fine with me because I need the money. This sudden weekend off is not typical at all, but far be it from me to bite the hand that’s giving me an extra day off.

“Well I guess so. I’ve got a date tomorrow with a friend, besides that I’ll probably sleep until I can’t sleep anymore. What about you? Why are we off this weekend?”

“A date with a friend? Sounds dramatic. I will be doing things my employee shouldn’t know about. Especially when she’s practically a baby and we’re off because I say we are. I think we need a weekend to reset we’ve been working nonstop. I’m tired, so I can only imagine you are too.”

I can’t help the scoff that comes out, “You’re barely older than me.”

He turns to head back to his office waving me off, “A win is a win, Mitchell. A win is a win.”

* * *

The rest of the afternoon moves at a snail’s pace. I’ve got everything done and ready to leave by seven. Which honestly is a step up from the eight I’ve been leaving at. Knocking on Jackson’s door as I’m passing it I give him a wave and keep moving. I hear him get up first then his voice right behind that.

“Hey Britt, are you headed out?”

“Yeah, I’ve got it all ready to go. Anything I forgot just text me and I’ll do it from home this weekend.”

“Perfect, I’m heading out too. Let’s walk together it’s already getting dark.”

We live in the same complex. I just have a two bedroom apartment, while he has the penthouse. It’s on the tip of my tongue to tell him that it’s fine and I’ll see him Monday, but the thought that Robert’s out there somewhere has me second guessing myself.

I’d be ignorant to think he’s not going to come after me. I’m the reason he was locked up and the reason his alleged “one billion dollar” trafficking business was busted.

“Actually, that’d be perfect. You know how finicky the city can be at night.”

He nods and moves to grab his things. “Yeah, it makes me nervous that you walk home alone when we pull these late nights. It’s not safe.”

“I’m fine, I can fight if I need to.”

He shakes his head at me, something I can’t decipher flashes in his eyes.

“I’m sure you can Rousey, but it’d still make me feel better if you let me walk you.”

He leads us out of the office and home to the apartments. We talk about work and cases that are coming up quickly. When we make our way inside the lobby we say our goodbyes and part ways. He has an elevator that’s just for his apartment and I have to use the one for the commoners.

After making my way inside, taking my shoes off, tossing my purse on the kitchen island, and pouring a big glass of wine I get settled on my couch. Checking my phone I see that I have two missed calls from Rowan. Pressing his name and bringing the phone up to my ear I wait for him to pick up. I don’t have to wait long, he answers on the first ring.

“Brittany.”

“Rowan. Are my people okay?”

I can hear the fondness in his voice as he answers, “They’re fine. I just left them in the backyard, actually. I was calling to talk to you about the other week.”

My hackles instantly rise, “Okay.”

He takes a deep breath before slowly letting it out, “Listen, I was an asshole. It wasn’t fair to be mean, or treat you poorly because I was insecure.”

“What do you have to be insecure about, Rowan? You’ve got them, they’re yours. You rescued them from a lifetime of hurt and destruction. Honestly, it’s the main reason I tolerate you.”

He scoffs, “Tolerate me? What have I done?”

I guess it’s only fair to be honest if he’s going to be up front. “You took them from me. I’m not sure what you know about me, Byrne, but I don’t have much family. I didn’t come from a place like yours, but I’ve had them. My sister and nephew by choice. Then you and your brothers, in all of your big, grumpy, gruff, and sex on legs glory. You guys decided to open your kind, secretly sweet hearts to a family who wasn’t yours to take. They were mine, but you took them anyway. Now I’m the sad family dog that was left in the rain. Just watching through the window outside trying to be happy that they’re happy. So yes, Rowan, I tolerate you.”

Rowan doesn’t answer for so long that I check to see if he hung up, he didn’t.

“I didn’t know you felt like that. Does Clara know? I’m really sorry. You’re not the dog in the rain, Britt. For one, we don’t leave Parker in the rain.” He lets the humor in his voice come through just briefly before he switches back to his typical all business tone.

“You’re just as much family to me as they are. They didn’t abandon you for me. They brought you with them. You’ve just been too stubborn to see that. I feel insecure because you knew them before me. You saved them Britt, not me. You know things I have no idea about. Important things like his migraines. What else did I miss out on because I didn’t get to them sooner?”

His voice sounds so vulnerable that it hurts my heart. He’s really grappling with this. Before I can respond my phone beeps with an incoming call, checking I see it’s Kieran. Well, that’s weird. Letting it go to voicemail I focus on my conversation with Roe.

“You can’t blame yourself for what Preston did to them. That’s not your cross to bear. You’ve loved them and helped them heal from the moment you stepped in the picture. Yeah, you were mean to me and I didn’t deserve that. At the same time, you don’t deserve to beat yourself up about things that are out of your control.”

“Thank you. Promise I didn’t call to get a pep talk, but I can’t say I didn’t need it. I’m really sorry for going all Papa Bear on you. That wasn’t fair of me and I should have dealt with my emotions better.”

Deciding to accept his apology, he seems sincere, “I appreciate the apology, and am glad we can put this behind us. I miss your patio couch.”

Rowan barks out a laugh, “What?”

“I said what I said. It’s just so comfortable. My eyes close every time I snuggle into it, and you know what they say.. If you can’t be rich, have rich friends.”

“I can’t say I’ve ever heard that phrase before now.”

“Of course you haven’t, you’ve always been the rich friend.” I smile at our light hearted banter. I really do like Rowan, not to mention Clara’s going to be so happy about us making up. My phone beeps, Kieran’s trying me again. “Hey, Rowan, I’ve got another call coming in, but we’re all good. Thanks for the call.”

“Thank you for accepting my apology. I expect to see you over here soon?”

“You got it.” We say our goodbyes and I click over to Kie right before the phone goes to voicemail.

“Britt.” He says my name on a relieved exhale. “I was worried. Are you home?”

“Worried? About little ol me? I can handle myself, Byrne.”

“I’m sure you can, but that doesn’t stop me from worrying. How was work?”

“Work was work, another long day. But I have a rare weekend off so I can’t complain too much. How was your day at— er— just how was your day I guess?”

His loud intoxicating laugh rings through the phone, “It was a full day. I’ve actually just got home and cleaned up not long ago.”

“Yeah, I just got in too.”

“It’s past seven? What do you mean you just got in?”

“I mean I was fortunate to get off work an hour early and I’m home now.”

“Speaking of your boss, where are you working? And why does she have you working fourteen hours a day? Is she Satan?”

Laughing at his true personality coming out, it’s an honor to not have gruff and stoic Kieran. I feel good that we’ve seemed to have moved past that. “ We weren’t talking about my boss, actually. But since you asked so nicely, I’m a personal assistant at Philips and Grant law firm in the city. My boss isn’t Satan, he’s actually pretty nice. He just works long hours and I like the overtime pay. Because I know you’re about to ask, his name’s Jackson Hall.”

“He, huh? Keeping his pretty, young assistant to himself fourteen hours a day. I don’t like it.” Gone is his playful tone and in its place is his serious tone.

“Kieran Byrne! Are you jealous of my boss right now?”

He almost sounds like he’s pouting, “No. I’m not jealous of some old man. ”

Okay, so definitely don’t correct him on my bosses age, got it. Jax is all of twenty-six, and objectively speaking he’s a really attractive man. However when your body only reacts to a certain Byrne brother, all other men are duds by default. “If you say so. I am really excited for our date tomorrow.”

“Me too, is it okay if I pick you up at four?”

“Yeah that works.” Before I lose my nerve because if I’m honest with myself I did miss being around him all week, I take a chance.

“Hey, Kieran?” My voice radiates the nervous energy I feel.

“Yes, Brittany?”

“Can you come over? Maybe stay the night?”

“I’ll be there in five.” The call disconnects before I can respond and I can’t help the laugh that bubbles up inside of me. Deciding that I’m going to turn this day and weekend around, I turn on my heels and head into my room to find the perfect outfit before Kieran gets here.