I hold the phone away from me, looking at it in an incredulous rage, "did he just— just fucking hang up on me?" My grip tightens on the device wanting nothing more than to crush it in my grasp. Everything in me longs to throw it on the floor and stomp it until there's nothing more than fragments left.
"Do you blame him?" I slowly lift my head to look at the man across from me. "My brother and I have low tolerance for people telling us they're going to rip our innards out and string them up as decor." He holds his hand out for the phone and I just stare at. I want to rip his arm out of its' socket.
"You hurt my sister." The words came out a lot calmer than the inner turmoil I'm currently feeling. "You had a gun on my father." The muscle in his jaw twitches as he looks to the side of the room. "Your brother is—" I can't make myself say it. I can't vocalize it or I will lose my damn mind.
"My brother is doing as told, nothing more, nothing less. You should understand that better than anyone else in this room." His angry green gaze finds mine, pinning me in much the same fashion I am him. "And, for the record, your father is the one who got my brother involved with the Albanians. He wouldn't even be in this situation if it wasn't for your family; for you." He's saying what I already know. This whole fucking things is my fault.
"Torey, give him the phone." My father's words have me holding out a hand and dropping the thing into the man's hand.
"You better go make shit better with my sister." The way she'd rushed into the guest house, like a mini tornado of tears and limbs freaking out for the life and job of the man in front of me, told me she cared far too much for him. More than he fucking deserves, that's for sure.
"I suggest that you do as my son has said."
"Sir," he turns his gaze back to him, "I apologize for the misunderstanding."
"You mean for pulling a fucking gun on him?"
"It's in the past, Braxton. From here on out I expect your full cooperation. Is that understood?"
"Yes. It is fully understood sir."
"What happened today stays in this room." He looks between the three of us seriously, tone holding a hint of something I've never quite heard. "Malyssa and Denver," he looks directly at me, "your parents are not to know about this." I hold my hands up but I make no promises because I caught the distrustful looks my dad threw Braxton's way. He knew something was off from the start and if asked I am not going to lie to him.
"I'm not to know about what?" The man I'd gotten my size and build from enters the room, glaring directly at him. "And why the fuck is our daughter packing all of her shit and demanding to leave?" The way his eyes shift to Braxton in a sinister manner has me plastering on a smirk. He knows exactly who is the reason behind that.
"I— Denver, I thought you were staying behind..."
"I don't trust those fucks after they helped Mal pull a fast one on us. I don't want anything to do with them. Then you started acting all sneaky and I am tired of having my spouses hiding shit from me." The last part was growled out. "Now are you going to tell me what the fuck is going on or what?" He crosses angry arms over his chest as he assesses my father in a knowing manner.
"Excuse us." He gestures for the three of us to leave.
The moment Braxton shuts the door he catapults himself down the hallway without a backward glance. It would appear that he does have genuine feelings for my sister. She's always been a temperamental thing, though. Him breaking her trust was a sure fire way to push her to peak mercuriality.
Speaking of that, I look over to Brooks who hasn't said a single word since I'd busted into the room and lost my shit. His lips are pursed, eyes narrowed on the floor as we continue to walk toward the exit. I'm surprised he isn't furious after hearing about the engagement.
Once we're in the confines of the guest house I finally ask, "why the fuck are you so quiet?" He doesn't say anything to me, doesn't even look at me before going into the bedroom and slamming the door. What the fuck? "Brooks?" I go to the door and try the handle, it's locked. "You care to share why you've locked yourself in the bedroom like a teenage female on the rag?" To my surprise he tears open the door and looks at me angrier than he ever has. "What the fuck did I do to you, for fuck's sake?"
"What did you do to me? Nothing. Fucking nothing, Torey."
"Uh, clearly that's a false statement. You look rip-shit pissed."
"Because I am rip-shit pissed!" He pushes my chest, makes me stumble backward slightly. "Do you ever think about anyone other than your-fucking-self? Hmm, do you? Or does the whole fucking world just have to revolve around Torey? Did you think about Dani for one minuscule of a second before telling her to hand the phone over? Did you ask about her? Did you ask about your son? No. You let your stupid fucking jealousy and pride control the conversation. Do you not think she wanted to talk to you for more than a split second? Or me? Did you not think that I wanted to see her, to talk to her? You're so fucking selfish." He storms past me, leaving me completely dumbfounded. He snatches the keys from the counter and that's when I realize he's about to leave. When my hand goes to grab ahold of his he rips it away from me. "No, I've fucking had it with you, Tor."
"You've had it. With me." I reiterate the words, not liking the taste of them on my tongue. "Right. Gotcha." I turn away from him and walk toward the bar. If he wants to leave then let him. The door slams shut telling me that he's left. Fuck him, anyway. I snatch a bottle of vodka, feel my pocket to make sure there's a pack of smokes and a light, before going outside. His car revs to life and I don't give him a backward glance. I toss up a middle finger for good measure as I make my way to the patio area that overlooks the city, giving him one last fuck you. The squealing of tires on the pavement is what I get in response.
Just as I get situated I hear a man cursing under his breath furiously. Braxton looks like he's feeling much the same way I am. When I light up a cigarette he looks over in my direction. Fuck it. I hold up the bottle and nod my head to the space next to me. No point in drinking alone. He eyes me as if debating the same thing before the fuck it bell must've rang in his head too.
"Those are some serious tire marks in the driveway."
"He'll get over it."
At least I hope he will. Because what Brooks doesn't understand is that I could hardly look at Dani in the face without feeling riddled with guilt. I was so fucking ashamed and angry with myself as I looked over her hollow features. She was back to being that shell of herself and I fucking hated myself for it because I am the reason. Now she's engaged to this guy's brother, a fucking Marling, no less.
"My brother is a good guy." Rolling my head to the side, I give Braxton a glare. "Hey, I know it's not what you want to hear but he cares about Daniela."
"The same way you care about my sister?" He doesn't reply, pleading the fifth with a swig of vodka. "That's what I thought." I snatch it away from him when he finishes and do much the same. "Want a smoke?"
"You go from wanting to shoot me to wanting to share a bottle of vodka and offering me a smoke?"
"What can I say?" I give him a shrug. "You've definitely got some big balls on you pulling a gun on my father and then aiming it my way. Not to mention you somehow are managing to tame Adri."
"There is no taming Adri." He grabs a cigarette from the pack and lights it up before taking a long drag. "I suppose that's what I love about her." He lets out a wry laugh before leaning forward on the railing.
"Love huh?" His eyes widen slightly and I know he hadn't been aware of the word he'd let slip from his mouth. Braxton takes another swig from the bottle. I take one directly after. "Never thought I'd be getting shitty with a Marling."
He snorts out a laugh with, "catch me being friendly with a Warner-Riley— yeah right. Let alone feeling disappointed when one prefers the company of someone like Thomas to me."
"Fuck Thomas."
"Yeah, fuck that guy." He blows out a deep, smoke-filled breath. "I mean, she better not fuck him. I will chop that asshat's dick clean off. Not that she would fuck him. She loathes him but—"
"Ho ho ho hooooo."
"What?" He swings his head in my direction.
"Adri has always been rather promiscuous." He frowns at that. "I'm just saying, as you've said, there's no taming her. You start getting all possessive and shit she'll be out the door faster than—" a loud banging of the front door has both Braxton and I looking in that direction. Adri is storming out of the house with both of my fathers trailing behind her. "Welp, looks like she's already out." Braxton grabs the bottle and takes several hearty gulps. "Want to take this inside?" I nod to the guest house.
"You're not going to shoot me, are you?"
"It's a possibility."
✩✩✩
After a few hours, and a few bottles of vodka shared between Braxton and I, I can officially say I am shit-faced. Braxton looks equally worse for wear. I think he's even farther gone than I am.
He'd told me about the whole situation between his brother and Daniela, what Dedaj expected of them. If I wasn't so fucking inebriated I probably would've raged but I can barely focus on anything, let alone go on a murderous rampage. Knowing certain key factors made the situation more irritating and I'm sure once I'm sober those things will sink in. You know, like how Dedaj wants Tristan to father my son and marry my fucking woman. Stuff like that. Also, stuff like how it doesn't seem like he would mind all that much. Who would mind? It's Dani. She's got this whole sweet and innocent looking thing about her. Those eyes too. God, those fucking eyes are so beautiful. When she looks up at me while—
"What the fuck is going on here?" I blink a few times trying to make out the figure that'd just walked into the room. "Torey?"
"Oh hey, Brooks." Braxton slurs from his seat. "I shhhoul—" He goes to stand up and crashes to the floor before passing out. The laugh that comes out of me sounds like it belongs to someone else. Wait, maybe it does? I don't even know.
"Are you fucking serious, right now?"
"Oh I am the farthest thing from serious." I look him over noticing a mark on his neck. "What the fuck is that?"
"What's what?"
I shoot to my feet and immediately regret it because I'm doing much the same as Braxton just had. Brooks catches me with a grunt. Even though he caught me I can't seem to make anything work. Not even a second later my world goes completely black.
A/N:
Whoever thought they'd see the Warner-Riley family working with the Marling family?