Sebastian sat on the edge of the bed watching Harlow's every step.
"You can stop watching me like that."
"I didn't mean anything about last night."
"You were drunk, right?"
"Harlow." Sebastian moved toward her.
Harlow stepped back, "Hey I am just the one night stand right?"
Sebastian dropped his head when her bag slammed against the back wall.
"I didn't mean it."
Harlow as already out the door when Sebastian dropped to the floor.
"God I never meant that."
--
Chris pulled the towel around his body while I turned the hot water off. I pushed my hair from my face to see his body move through the bathroom.
He grabbed his underwear while water beads still ran down his back.
I shook my head grabbing my towel.
Chris ran his hand across the mirror as his eyes found mine in the reflection.
He cracked a smile back at me.
"Brooklyn?"
My head went toward the door to see Elsa standing in her sweatpants. "Hey, what are you doing up here?"
"We should talk." Elsa glanced back at Chris then to me. "Now."
I nodded my head grabbing some clothes heading out of the room.
Chris dropped his head as I vanished from the room.
Elsa was standing on the edge of the back deck with her arms crossed.
"Hey, what is going on?"
"Are you ready to go back home?"
"Yea, I will have Chris with me."
"And Sebastian."
"I can't and won't do that to Harlow."
"He knows who you are. I see the way he looks at you. He knows. It's awaken in him."
"It shouldn't have been. It should have gone dormant."
"Something like that doesn't go away."
"What do I do to keep it silent?"
"You can't and you won't. If anything is to happen to you. Let Sebastian do his job."
"Oh and what freak Chris and Harlow the fuck out?"
"You are not to mess with it. It wasn't something some old man just thought up. Russia isn't a place of sleeper cells and Romania is not a place of gorgeous mountains. He didn't get the role because he was good, he got the role because of what he can do."
"I know what Sebastian can do, I trained him." I snorted back at her.
"Then let it go." Elsa shot back.
"You didn't bring me out here to give me that speech."
"No, apparently someone has reached out to Charlie."
"Wait Charlie?"
"I think you should watch yourself going back home."
"He is my brother. Your baby brother."
"I know who he is. But he can't be trusted. He can't be trusted Brooklyn."
"I will always trust him."
"Child, don't go home with open arms for everyone."
"You still think I am that kid in London who is in love. You think I am just following him. You only see that girl that fucked herself up for a guy. I am not that person anymore. I am not her."
"Chris is a good one. But Brooklyn, you are damaged goods."
I cracked a smile back at her, "Wow, thanks Elsa."
"You don't have a clear vision on things. You don't understand how it all works!"
"I know that I am better. That I am fine. That I can trust Chris again. Don't tell me otherwise with anything else. Right now your advice stops. It all stops right here."
"Wake up and see the pain. See the sun for what it really is." Elsa said stepping closer to me. "You already lost something back in Romania, don't repeat yourself."
My bottom lip started to shake.
"You want to feel that pain again? You want to have that blood on your hands?"
I pushed her back as she stumbled back into a chair, "YOU KNOW NOTHING! YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT HAPPENED THAT NIGHT!"
"I don't care what happened. I don't want to know. That was their blood. That was your choice."
I shook my head back at her, "You should leave."
"Have a safe flight home."
I looked back over the water when Chris walked out of the house, "Babe?"
"I just want to go home. I just wanna be in our bed. I wanna see Dodger." I cracked a smile back at him.
"Soon enough. Soon enough babe." Chris wrapped his arm around me pulling me closer to him. "We will be home soon."
I closed my eyes fighting back the tears. Fighting back the pain.
--
Harlow sat in the chair swirling the wine around.
I grabbed the wine glass from her, "I am sure the doctor told you no wine."
"I am like 2 months along. Bloated as hell and I freak out about everything."
"Has Sebastian said anything?" I asked tossing back the warm wine. I shook my head as that was horrible.
"He probably thinks I am just getting fat."
"So he hasn't?" I smiled back at her.
"I can't deal with this anymore. None of this is how I wanted to do this. And of course he said something last night."
"Last night? You mean when everyone was drunk?"
"He said she is just a one night stand, why does it matter?"
I rolled my eyes, "OH Sebastian."
"Yea, you wanna tell me how he can come back from that?"
"You can't."
"No, he fucked up. He said something you can't take that. I think cheating wouldn't be as bad as what he said. He called me nothing."
"He doesn't think of you like that. He would never think of you like that."
"Really? Has Chris ever looked at you and called you nothing?"
I narrowed my eyes back at her, "He left me and went back to Scarlett. It's kinda the same if not worse."
"True...sorry."
"It's ok Harlow. Some things are just working out differently. Everything is different for us."
Harlow looked out over the water, "Did you ever think that when we moved to LA that this would be our lives? Sitting in Australia, me knocked up, you a little knocked around."
I smiled back at her, "No Harlow, I didn't picture this."
Harlow rubbed her growing stomach. "I can't wait to meet this little guy."
"So it is a boy." I grinned back at her.
"I think so. He kicks a lot when sebastian is around. Like it sucks having to keep moving so Sebastian doesn't feel it."
I looked at her stomach, "Sounds like magic though Harlow. It sounds exciting."
"Besides having to pee every 2 minutes."
I nodded my head back at her when I saw the guys standing up at the main house looking down at us. "But it will be magical having him around when he does appear."
"We shall see." Harlow rested her head back against the chair.
--
Sebastian tossed another shot back.
Chris sipped on his beer, "You want to slow down. 16 hours is a long flight being hungover on."
"I fucked up."
"Again?"
"I really fucked up. I called her nothing. I said she was nothing to me but a one night stand."
"Just talk to her."
"She doesn't want to hear it."
"Give her time, Brooklyn will fix this one."
Sebastian glanced back at him. "Why do you think Brooklyn keeps allowing you back?"
"I don't know, I hope it is because she loves me."
"She also loved Theo."
"I didn't put my fist through her jaw." Chris snorted out.
"I mean, Brooklyn has been through a lot why do you think she keeps allowing you back?"
"Maybe because I have proved myself to her. I walked away from Scarlett. I walked away from a friendship that was toxic."
"I love Harlow. I really wanna marry that one."
"I know you do. You were looking at rings last week." Chris sipped on his beer.
"I am pretty sure you were too."
"What?"
"You really need to do it a little better. I know you got her a ring."
"How the fuck do you know that?"
"Hemsworth thought so and a guy I know back in LA said he knows you got one too."
"Fuck man." Chris rubbed the back of his head in frustration.
"But we are in the same boat, we both love them but have a hard time showing it."
"Yea, we sure do love fucking this up."
Sebastian grinned back at him, "I can't lose this one. I lose her, I lose myself."
"She won't go anywhere." Chris pushed a beer over to him.
"We go home tomorrow morning, Brooklyn is going home with you and I am going home with someone who barely wants to look at me. I think I really fucked up."
"She will come around. You two have been through enough."
Sebastian looked back at him, "I have another week before I start filming. I think I know what I should do."
"What?" Chris asked him back confused.
"I am going to take her to Romania. I am going to take her home."
"You want that at your parent's place right now? She can't even look at you."
"Family is family. You fight and you fix it. You love each other through it all."
Chris glanced down at Brooklyn, "My brother already called me about this."
"What did he have to say?"
"That I am stupid getting with someone barely 25."
"Nothing wrong with a little fresh tail."
"And that is why your ass is in the dog house. Harlow loves you, she watches you like you walk on water. You are her hero man."
Sebastian leaned against the railing, "Yea well it feels like for the past couple of weeks she has been pulling back from me. Just not herself anymore. She used to love me waking her up for something in the morning and now, nothing. She jumps up and runs out."
"You know girls get weird sometimes."
"No, I know what you are talking about. We have still done it during that time. But now, it's like we are drifting apart."
"Harlow loves you. Shut up."
"When we get back to LA, what are you going to do about Theo?"
"Nothing, I mean just keep him away. I have already warned Marvel Studios. He comes to set, I will leave. I don't need that around anyone else. I mean Scarlett already has him around her daughter, that is hard for me enough."
"What about Brooklyn?"
"She isn't going out of my sight. Where she is, I am."
Sebastian looked down below them, "I called her a one night stand when she means the world and beyond to me."
"We sometimes say stupid shit when we are drunk."
"I want her in my life for the rest of the time we have here. I love watching her sing in her underwear in the kitchen. I love her smile in the morning. The way she laughs at our jokes. She is the best thing to ever happen to me."
"Then maybe talk to her and stop with me." Chris nudged him.
Sebastian nodded his head taking the last drink of the beer, "I have a job to do."
"Good luck." Chris toasted his beer to Sebastian as he went down the steps to the beach and to Harlow.
"My sister really likes you."
Chris jumped when Elsa came out of the main house pulling a sweater over her shoulder, "I hope we didn't wake you."
"No, one of the twins woke up."
Chris grinned back at her, "Joys of parenthood?"
"I hope you experience that one day."
Chris looked back at her.
"My sister is a lot and I mean a lot."
"I know."
"But I want you to know that you are perfect for her. You are perfect for her bad days, the one that is gonna pick her up and make her smile. The man perfect enough to keep her from slipping."
Chris looked at her.
"You have to keep her from slipping. She has a lot going on. She needs you to keep her grounded. To keep her balanced with everything going on."
"I have your blessing?"
"As long as you promise me that Theo will be handled if he ever comes near her."
"He won't leave alive." Chris confirmed back to her.
"Then yes, you have my blessing."
"I will protect her."
Elsa nodded her head when I came up the steps with the wine glass in my hands. "Good night everyone."
I walked over to Chris ignoring her. "I don't want to know."
Chris nodded his head kissing me on the forehead, "You ready to get back to our bed?"
"God yes." I laughed back at him.
Chris grinned back at me, "You want a beer?"
"Babe, really?"
Chris handed the beer over to me, "Think they will work it out?"
"Yea, Harlow can't stay away from him. Not now I mean."
Chris tossed his empty beer to the side, "Think we will work it out?"
"I thought we were worked out?"
"When we go back, I go back to working with her. I go back to that life."
"Who are you coming home to?"
"You."
"Then we are good." I took a drink of the beer.
"Just like that?"
"I am so tired of fighting. I am so tired of us being against each other. I love you and I want this to be our last. So yes, when you walk out of the house I have to know you are going to be coming home to me. That you are going to be faithful to me."
"If you only knew how faithful I want to be to you."
I smiled back at him, "The only thing we have to worry about is how much time we are gonna be apart."
"Your phone does have video."
I spit some of my beer out as Chris laughed back at me.
"Babe, you ok?"
"You want videos?"
"I not saying that! I am talking about video chat!" Chris held onto his chest as he kept laughing at me.
I wiped the beer from my chin, "I was about to say, you have never asked for that before."
"And I wouldn't mind it if it started now." Chris cracked a smile when the bottle came to his lips.
I shook my head back at him with a little smirk forming on his lips.
--
Los Angeles, California
Theo walked out of the coffee shop pushing his sunglasses back into place. He grabbed his phone checking his messages.
There was several from Scarlett.
"Crazy ass bitch won't leave me alone for more than 3 minutes."
"Maybe because she just wants to make sure you aren't cheating."
Theo's head snapped around to see Charlie standing behind him.
Charlie grabbed the extra coffee from Theo's hands, "The fact you are still in town is shocking to me."
"What are you doing?"
"I want to warn you and warn you once. Brooklyn is off limits, you need to leave."
"I am not with that psycho bitch."
"Right but you did double dip over into Scarlett, which still confuses me to why she would get with you. Her last husband had over $25 million in offshore accounts, you, you my friend can barely afford good coffee." Charlie put the cup he took a sip from back into Theo's hands. "I just wanted to come to you as a friend and tell you to get your shit out of LA."
"You don't control me. You don't control her."
Charlie cracked a smile, "You think I am doing this over Scarlett?"
"I know her past just like everyone else."
"Oh you do? You think I was with her?"
"You dated her for a couple of years. I know enough."
"You actually know nothing. But I need you to leave."
"I am working out here. I won't leave."
"Your job was cancelled. The show is over. Leave." Charlie grinned back at him as he walked over to a motorcycle. "Leave before your next threat is a little more serious."
"Your family doesn't scare me." Theo shot back at him.
Charlie grinned back at him, "You shouldn't fear us, you should fear them."