Brotherhood of District 23 Complete Series

by Amy Briggs

  I was meeting the buyers at a local coffee shop to go over the transaction and expectations, and then we were going to go to the gym so that we could look over the property together and meet with the current owner. It still needed a new appraisal, which I could oversee with one of my contacts, and they would all need to agree to terms. Since the buyers and sellers had agreed to the private sale and they had both decided to work with me, the full commission was mine, which was pretty sizeable. It was the first time that’s ever happened for me, and I was excited.

  I checked myself out in the mirror. I was wearing my beige shift dress, beige heels, and a matching beige blazer. I always dressed conservatively; it was just my nature. It seemed kind of bland to some, but keeping my look toned down like that was more appealing to a wider audience. Marketing yourself was part of the job too. And in my profession, you just always wore some kind of a suit most of the time anyway. Being only five foot three inches, I almost always wore heels so I could at least be closer to looking people in the eye. I glanced at my watch and realized it was definitely time to go, I grabbed my keys and my huge Louis Vuitton purse then ran out the door thinking about how many purses I could afford after this sale went through.

  As I looked around the coffee shop waiting for this real estate chick with Isabel and Matt, I thought about what I wanted for my future. As long as I could remember, I wanted to be a fireman, and then when the opportunity arose to serve my country, I was all about it. I loved being in the military; it gave me a sense of real purpose for a long time, and I love my country. After two long deployments, one to Afghanistan, and one to Iraq, I had enough of being overseas, had seen a lot of tragedy and wanted to come home and go back to the fire department. I thought that setting some roots down might make me happy.

  It wasn’t that the tragedy was more than I thought I could handle seeing when I was in the military, but I couldn’t do anything about it. Fixing things isn’t really what we did, even though we tried. I spent most of my time getting shot at or waiting around in the desert to get shot at. At least at the fire department, I was truly helping people. I was also a paramedic and occasionally rode the ambulance or helped people medically when needed in addition to fighting fires, performing rescues or whatever came our way. That job truly made me feel like I made a difference, like I had a purpose. Even if I had forgotten it sometimes lately, it was still there.

  “Hey, you alright?” Isabel shook me from my thoughts.

  “Me? Oh yeah. Just daydreaming.”

  “Anything good? It’s certainly not the coffee here; it’s not as good as ours.” She laughed.

  Smiling back in agreement, I noticed her as soon as she walked in. As she approached our table, I took note of her long, blond hair, which was almost sparkling in the sun through the coffee shop window, her perfect sunkissed skin, and as my eyes made their way down her petite frame, I also noticed the insanely high heels she was wearing. As she stopped at our table, I felt my cheeks get warm. She was stunning, just like her pictures that I immediately recalled seeing.

  “Hi there, are you Matt?” she said to me. I was still taking in her beauty and didn’t respond while she stared at me with her beautiful blue eyes; I was completely lost in them immediately.

  Pulling me out of my second trance of the day, Matt stood up and introduced himself and Isabel. “Hi, I’m Matt Cavanaugh, and this is my girlfriend, Isabel Cruise.” Then pointing over at me, he said, “This is our good friend, Jax, who does know how to speak. He works with me at the fire department,” he looked at me like I was crazy, and with good reason. I had totally frozen up.

  “Seth. My name is Seth Jackson. My friends call me Jax.” I took her hand.

  “Well, it’s an absolute pleasure to meet you all.” She had a nice, firm handshake like she meant business, but her tiny hand was so soft, I wanted to hold on to it for a moment longer. “Mind if I sit down?” she asked as she pulled up a chair.

  “Of course not, please do,” Isabel motioned. “We’re very pleased to meet you. We’ve heard great things about the work you do, and you’re certainly well represented in your advertising across town.”

  Letting out a slight laugh, she replied. “Yeah, I’ve always thought it was a strange practice for realtors to put their picture on everything, but hey, whatever works. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, I guess.” She began pulling papers out of her giant purse. It looked expensive. This girl was fancy; way too fancy for someone like me. She sure was nice to look at, though, and spunky.

  “Well, it helped us find you, so it definitely works,” Matt said. “So, what do we have here?”

  “First things first. Since both you and the seller have verbally agreed to a private sale, we will need to get all of that in writing. I’ve drawn up a standard contract that states that I will serve as both the buyer and seller’s agent. If you all agree to that, then we move forward with getting a fresh appraisal of the property. Before we do that, I’d like to go over to the property with you and take a look, which will give us a chance to document any issues with the building we’d like addressed before the sale, or that you would be willing to take cash back or a lower sale price for. I have looked into the property of course, but it’s always much better to look around ourselves and take notes on things. So, can you tell me a little more about your plans for the gym? I know we talked briefly over the phone about it, but I’d like to hear more about your thoughts and plans.”

  “Okay, well we are looking at this as a long term investment property,” Isabel began. “Our goal is to refurbish some of the gym, but keep it’s current vibe, which is kind of no frills; it’s a place to work out, not a place to get your wheatgrass and chill all afternoon.”

  Vivian laughed, the cutest laugh I’ve ever heard. “I totally understand. When we go over there, I’ll make notes of some things for us to discuss with the seller and all that jazz. Understanding your short and long term goals with the property just helps me get a better overall picture of what your needs are,” she said.

  I watched her talk, staring at her perfectly pink-glossed lips, when my thoughts turned to where I’d like her to put those lips on my body; I simply couldn’t help myself. I was mesmerized not only by her obvious beauty, but also by how smart she was. I listened to her talk about property value and taxes and some other things I don’t care about, and all I could do was watch her. That conservative little dress she had on left so much to the imagination that it had me thinking about what was under there. Did she wear matching panties and bra? I bet she did. She was perfectly matched from head to toe like a little Barbie doll, which was giving me all kinds of dirty thoughts.

  As I quietly listened and observed, Matt and Isabel quizzed her on a multitude of things related to the gym, and then the young realtor stood up and started shoving the papers back in her purse.

  “Okay, so let’s go over to the gym to talk to Murphy and let me get an in-depth tour of the place. Sound good?” Matt and Isabel stood up as well, so I followed suit. I hadn’t even noticed it was time to go; I had been too busy staring and daydreaming.

  “That’s great. See you in a few minutes,” Isabel said.

  As Vivian walked away, Matt smacked me in the arm. “What is with you, dude?” he hissed at me.

  “What? What did I do? I didn’t say a word.”

  “No, you didn’t, but you eye fucked her the entire time. Don’t be a creepy douchebag, man. She’s our realtor, for Christ’s sake.” He rolled his eyes at me.

  Isabel on the other hand started to laugh. “I actually don’t think she even noticed. She is ridiculously pretty in person though. Can you blame him?” she asked Matt.

  “Oh, I’m not walking into that trap, Detective. Nice try. She’s a realtor and that’s all I noticed, so there,” he said firmly, causing Isabel to laugh even more.

  “All right, all right, let’s get out of here. I’m totally interested in seeing this gym for myself now too,” I said.

  “Our realtor is a no-fly zone, Jax.�
� Matt looked at me sternly.

  “What? That’s ridiculous.” I hadn’t given any legitimate thought to trying to get with her until he said that; now it was stirring up some more desire. The forbidden fruit will get you every time.

  “No, I’m serious. Until this deal is done, you keep your hands to yourself. She needs to focus on the deal before you distract her and break her heart.”

  “Dude, I’m no heartbreaker. Come on now. I’ll heed your wishes, though, because I love you so much, Matty,” I started to sing to him like a song and tried to hug on him.

  “Ugh, you’re ridiculous. Get away from me.” He started to laugh, shoving me away.

  “Good lord, boys, let’s go. I’d like to move this paperwork along, because once we get this situated, we need to decide what our long term living situation is; we live like hobos right now,” Isabel settled us down. Her comment made me wonder what she meant by ‘long term living situation’, though. I had just assumed they would move into her condo together at some point, although they still spent quite a lot of time at my house with me.

  The thoughts of being completely alone began to creep over me, almost like a chill in the air. I had known deep down they would end up having their own place, but the reality hadn’t hit me until that moment for some reason.

  It looked like soon, I’d be all alone more often than not. Alone with my thoughts. I was unsettled by the notion, but tucked it away as we piled into Isabel’s classic Camaro to head to the gym.

  As I headed to my car to get over to the gym before the buyers did, I could feel their friend Seth’s stare burning into my back. From the moment I had walked in, he’d stared at me with those hazel eyes, and while it didn’t make me uncomfortable necessarily, it did catch me off-guard. He was so handsome and also so quiet. Normally, guys like that talk and talk to get your attention, yet he just sat and observed, listening the entire time. When he shook my hand, his giant hand engulfed mine, and something about his touch made me linger for a moment.

  While I was sure he was a perfectly nice guy, I was on business. The trip to the gym was short, and when I pulled up, I grabbed my notebook out of my purse to make some notes on the exterior of the property. The first thing I noticed was that the roof needed to be inspected; I could see some loose shingles, which here in Florida was definitely a problem.

  It was getting hot out, so I took my jacket off and tossed it back in the car. That was the only thing about working in Florida; trying to look conservative and professional could be difficult without sweating like a dog. By mid-day, there was no way you could keep wearing a suit jacket and not be on the verge of passing out; and I was always warm anyway. I stood there fanning myself for a moment with my notebook while I waited for them to arrive.

  As a rumbling hot rod rounding the corner caught my attention, I realized that it was them as they pulled into the parking lot next to me. I found it amusing that Isabel was driving the two guys around in her car. Something about it made me smile, perhaps because she was such a tiny little thing herself, while her boyfriend and his friend were so tall and muscular. As I watched them get out of the car, I caught a glimpse of Seth Jackson’s beautiful stature. He had been covered up in a long sleeve shirt when we’d met at the coffee shop, but now his body was on display and perfectly framed by a dark gray t-shirt. I could see that both of his muscular arms were completely covered in tattoos down to his wrists. It was incredibly sexy and instantaneously caused me to suck in a breath in surprise when I saw them.

  As they approached, I held the door open for Isabel to walk in ahead of me, when Jax jogged over behind me to take hold of the door. “Ladies first, Miss Deveraux.” He smiled, waving me to go ahead of him.

  “Thank you very much.” I blushed and returned his smile. I could sense his eyes on me as I walked in, even through his sunglasses. I felt an intense attraction to him. He looked like a bodyguard or a rock star, which was a complete turn-on. Something about the way he looked at me made me want to get him to talk more. So far, he had only spoken two sentences to me, and I was intrigued, mostly by his appearance; but whatever, I’m only human.

  The pungent smell of sweat and mold in the gym hit me immediately, and as I took a step back in surprise, I bumped right against his rock hard frame. Of course I didn’t realize how close behind me he was, and he grabbed me to keep me from falling backwards saying, “You alright there, darlin’?”

  Looking up at him over my shoulder, I replied, “Yes, yes, of course. I’m so sorry about that, Seth.” I could smell his fresh, masculine cologne, and realized that I hadn’t righted myself yet. His hand fell lower, resting on my hip, turning me to Jell-O on the spot.

  He flashed that million-dollar smile at me again, still resting his hand on my hip. “You can call me Jax, darlin’.” I’d have called him anything he wanted if he was going to keep calling me darlin’. I’ve never been such a clumsy nerd before in all my life, but this man was a specimen, causing me to lose my poise entirely.

  Finally righting myself and surrendering the moment, I said, “Ok, Seth, thank you.” Then turning to everyone, “Let’s find Murphy and have him show us around, and we’ll make a list of potential improvements, etcetera, and go from there?”

  “Sounds great. Obviously, we’ve been here a few times, and Isabel works out here almost every day.” Matt put his arm around Isabel, who looked a bit apprehensive about the whole situation.

  “Isabel, why don’t you show me around, and Matt, why don’t you and…Seth find Murphy for us, so we can all walk and talk?”

  “Will do,” Matt replied, and Seth followed in tow.

  “So, Isabel, why don’t you tell me more about your plans for this building and this location, so I can get a better understanding of your needs, your budget, and your strategy for this project?” I felt that having a chat with Isabel alone for a moment would give me more perspective than in the larger group, as it seemed this was more her dream than anyone else’s.

  “Well, I’ve been working out here for as long as I can remember, really. I like the no-frills approach, but obviously it could use some work. I’m looking for an investment that I can give a shit about, that brings me some satisfaction in between working cases, of course. Retirement as a detective will probably not pay that great with the way things are going, and I’m looking for a business proposition with long term potential that I can stand behind and be involved in.” She looked off in thought for a moment before she continued, “I want to turn this into a legitimate training center for fighters.”

  “Wow, really?” I certainly loved an ambitious woman and wanted her to have her dream, but this gym was in kind of crappy shape.

  “Ok, so let’s talk budget, realistically. Are you looking to renovate and pay someone for those renovations? I can see some things that are out of code that Murphy will have to pay for in order to transfer the title to you, so you don’t have to worry about those as long as he can foot that bill, but there are other things here, obviously.” I looked around at the shabby equipment, the boxing ring that looked like it needed to be replaced among fresh paint and some other things, then looked back to her.

  “Here’s what I want. I want Murphy to pay for the things it needs to get up to code, and then Matt and I are going to take care of the rest. We’re planning on doing much of the renovations ourselves. The way his shift works he often has several days in a row off, and I’m home most nights and weekends lately, so we are going to work on it. It’s our baby. We’re planning to put professional fighters through here at some point, and between us we have enough money to cover a reasonable down payment, and our salaries will afford the rest. It’s important to us. I know it doesn’t look like much now, but I have a vision.” She gave me a sweet smile, and I understood. This was going to be her project and their legacy.

  “Ok, well, I see the boys coming this way, so why don’t we find a place we can sit down and I can get the information I need to draw up the paperwork. Sound good?” I asked.

  “
Sounds great. I’m really excited about this, and I’m glad we found you, Viv—can I call you Viv? You look like a Viv to me.” She winked.

  “You sure can.”

  Murphy came over and introduced himself, “You must be Miss Deveraux?” He reached out his hand to me.

  “Yes, sir, I sure am. It’s a pleasure to meet you in person.” I returned his handshake and smiled. He was older and looked like he spent most of his time in that gym, trying to keep it going.

  “Is there a place we can all sit down and talk about the property, the codes, and things like that so I can draw up the paperwork?” I asked.

  “There sure is. Follow me. I have a small conference room in the back set up. We can all sit and talk there without any interruptions. Does anyone want coffee?” he asked.

  “Yes!” Both Jax and Isabel said in unison, while Matt shook his head no.

  “Isabel, you know where it is. Why don’t you get some java for you and Captain America over here, and meet the rest of us back in the conference room?” He pointed at Jax when he said Captain America, which caused me to giggle out loud.

  “Captain America? Well, I’ve been called worse,” he said with a slight southern drawl and a chuckle.

  We made our way back to the conference room, where we settled around the long rectangular table. Jax sat across from me, watching the conversation take place after he’d gotten his cup of coffee, which seemed to make him extremely happy. As I started talking to the actual parties involved in the sale, I couldn’t help but glance at him out of the corner of my eye, which he caught me doing at least twice, to my total embarrassment.