“So…this is what you want to do for the rest of your life?”
“This is what I want to do for now.”
“What about savings and retirement?”
She quirked her head at me, her eyes twinkling just slightly. “Would you believe me if I told you that I have plenty of money in savings and I even started my own 401K?”
“Really?”
“Hey, just because I don’t have a guided path in life doesn’t mean that I’m totally foolish.”
“So, is this something that you want to turn into a business? Like, maybe buy out the bar and make it your own?”
She rolled her eyes at me. “You just can’t stand that I don’t have a grand plan like you do, can you?”
“I just don’t see how you’re going to make it to one hundred the way you’re going. How can you live knowing that if something happened, you could get royally screwed over? Do you even have health insurance?”
“Why? Do you think I need it?” she asked, her eyes comically wide.
“Yes!” I practically shouted. “These are basic things that people need.”
“No, basic things are food, shelter, and money. I have all three of those. And health insurance is a scam. I just pay out of pocket when I have to go to the doctor.”
“And what about if something serious happens? Your savings would be wiped out.”
She slammed the spatula down on the counter. “Seriously? Do I tell you how to live your life?” I opened my mouth, but she held up her hand to stop me. “I don’t want to live some cookie cutter life that everyone else does. I like living free and doing shit I want to do. I’m sorry if that doesn’t fit the mold you have in mind, but I happen to like my life very much.”
“And what about me and Evie?”
“Are we back to that again? Do I need to hand over my whole life to you in a matter of days? Do I need to change everything about myself to please you?”
“I’m not saying that-”
“No, you’re saying that the way I live my life isn’t good enough for you,” she all but shouted. “I told you that I would give this whole thing a go, but you’re already criticizing everything about me, and asking me to change the way I live. Is there anything about me that you like besides the sex?”
“I just don’t see how the way you live your life fits in with mine and Evie’s.”
“Well, maybe I don’t fit. Did you ever think of that?”
“Is it really too much to ask you to work a normal job that has normal hours?”
“I already told you that I would get a different job. I have no problem going to work somewhere else. It’s just money.”
“It’s more than money. It’s about being happy and having security.”
“No,” she shook her head. “For you, it’s about that. For me, it’s just a part of life. My job has nothing to do with happiness. I find happiness in people around me. I find my happiness just by going out and living my life. Why is that not good enough for you?”
“Because you have no fucking ambition!” I shouted. She tilted her head at me again and I immediately regretted what I said. It was a shitty thing to say. Who was I to criticize how she lived her life? I mean, so she didn’t have a job that was secure, and she didn’t have health insurance. And she was recently placed under house arrest for going psycho on her boyfriend….She definitely had some issues in my opinion.
“Well,” she said in a voice that was way too calm for the situation. “At least I know where I stand now.”
She set down the spatula and walked out of the kitchen, leaving me alone with Evie and some pancakes that were about to burn on the pan. Being the dumbass that I was, I made it worse.
“Aren’t you gonna finish the pancakes?” I shouted.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
Brooke
For the second time in two days, I called Reese and begged her to come over. She wasn’t exactly happy to be called over, but I had a feeling that it had more to do with the fact that apparently, she was suffering from morning sickness, and I was interrupting her throwing up time.
She walked into the room and plopped down on my bed, flopping backwards and holding her belly. “This had better be good,” she groaned.
“Oh, it’s good alright. You’re not gonna believe this.”
She rolled over and held her stomach. “I’m just gonna lay here while you tell me what happened.”
I paced the room, trying to get myself under control. I was so pissed, and as much as I didn’t want to have this conversation with Rocco in the other room, I needed to talk to my friend, and I wasn’t allowed to go anywhere.
“He has a problem with me because I’m a bartender.”
“Okay,” she groaned. “Why does he have a problem with that?”
“Well, apparently, I have no ambition, and bartending doesn’t work with the little life that he has all planned out for us.”
“Wow. What happened to both of you thinking that this might work out between the two of you?”
“I don’t know! It’s like he woke up this morning and decided that we were already on the path to marriage. He wants to know how me tending bar would work with a family.”
“Well, how would it?”
“I don’t know,” I said incredulously. “Yesterday, I was barely able to do more than fuck him, and now all the sudden, we’re planning on what job I’ll have that’s conducive to having a family!”
“So, you’re pissed because he’s not giving you any time to adjust.”
“Yes!”
“So, this has nothing to do with his comment about lack of ambition?”
“Hey, I know that it’s true and so does he. What’s to be upset about? I mean, am I happy that he pointed it out to me? Well, not really, but it’s more the way he said it. It was like I’m just a huge disappointment. And I can handle being a disappointment. I’ve had plenty of practice with my parents, but I don’t want the guy I’m dating to feel the same way. I mean, why does it even matter anyway? So what if I don’t care about what job I have? Is that really the matter that we should be focusing on?”
“It’s probably just because all these guys are so…planned out. That’s the way it is in the military. Their whole lives have this schedule that they have to follow. When they get out, either they stick with that way of life, or they go all chaotic. I’m not sure there’s an in-between.”
“And that would make sense for me, if I was in the military!”
“Can you stop screaming?”
“Sorry, I’m just a little worked up.”
“I can see that.” She sat up and took a deep breath. “Look, this is something that you need to talk to him about. It doesn’t do any good to bitch to me about it.”
“I know, but I needed to get my anger out now. The last thing I need is to go off the rails with him and start yelling at him like a crazy person.”
“So, you’re yelling at me instead?”
“Well, he thinks I’m this sane and logical woman. He actually told me that it’s one of the things he loves about me.”
Her lips twitched in amusement. “He does remember that you were arrested for assault, right?”
“I know! I told him, I don’t sweat the small stuff-”
“But this is not small.”
“Not really?” I said questioningly. “I mean, you should have heard him, talking about all this stuff with Evie and our future. I feel like we just started dating and he’s already planning our wedding.”
“Well, you guys did go about this all backwards. I mean, you kidnapped him, and even Craig didn’t kidnap me until after we’d had our coffee date. And even then, he asked me out a few times first. You guys just jumped to fucking each other on the run and then finding out if you were compatible in other areas. Seriously, you’re living together already.”
“Well, it’s not like it was my choice,” I grumbled.
“Actually, it was exactly your choice. You could have gone to jail.”
I glared at her, but she just shrugged. “It’s the truth. If anyone gave up something here, it was Rocco. You can’t blame him for wanting to know what the future holds for the two of you. Especially since his daughter is involved.”
“I know that, but I tried to talk to him about that last night. His answer was to let everything fall in place. Then this morning, he’s the man that needs all the answers. I don’t get it!”
“Brooke, can I give you some advice?”
“Please do.”
“Guys don’t make any sense, and the more you try to figure them out, the less you’ll understand them.”
“That’s not advice,” I pointed out.
“Yes, it is. Don’t try to understand them.”
“Tell me why I called you over again?”
“I don’t know, to make me miserable with you?”
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
Rocco
I cringed when the bedroom door slammed shut. I sat down and turned on the TV to entertain Evie while Reese was talking to Brooke. Craig sat down across from me and stared at me like he wanted to murder me.
“What?”
“You dragged my wife out of bed when she’s sick.”
“I didn’t do anything!”
“Did you piss Brooke off?”
“Yes,” I said hesitantly.
“And who is Brooke’s best friend?”
“Reese.”
“And who did Brooke call when you pissed her off?”
“Reese.”
He nodded with a grin and leaned back in the couch. “So, you dragged my wife out of bed.”
I heard yelling behind the bedroom door and cringed.
“So, what did you do?”
“I uh…well, I probably pissed her off when I said that she had no ambition.”
He cringed. “Wow. That’s kind of harsh.”
“I didn’t actually mean it. I mean, I meant it, but I didn’t mean to say it to her.”
“Nice,” he grinned. “So, you were just hoping to keep that shit bottled up inside and never let it slip out.”
“Look, she’s a fucking bartender.”
“And?”
“And how the fuck am I supposed to build a life with her when she has a shit job like that?”
He leaned forward, scrubbing at one of his ears. “I’m sorry, did you just ask how you could build a life with her because of her job?”
“Yeah.”
He nodded. “That’s what I thought.”
“What?”
“Correct me if I’m wrong, but aren’t you the one that could be killed any number of times in a year? Pretty much any time you go out on a job?”
“Well, yeah, but my job is…”
“I’d watch how you answer that. Especially around Brooke. The ladies get a little pissed when you tell them their jobs are meaningless.”
“It’s not that her job is meaningless. It’s just that my job is…not meaningless.”
“Right, nice dodge. But seriously, what the fuck do you care if she’s a bartender?”
“It’s not that she’s a bartender. I really don’t give a shit what she wants to do. It’s more the attitude behind it. She literally doesn’t give a shit about her job at all. It could be anything, and she wouldn’t care.”
He shrugged. “So, she’s easy going. We all knew that.”
“Yeah, but this is beyond easy going. This is…”
He nodded as understanding dawned. “She’s too easy going for your life.”
“What if she’s like this about everything? It’s like she says fuck off to anything that’s a responsibility.”
“That can’t be true. If she wasn’t responsible, then she wouldn’t have her own shit. I mean, before she moved in with the douchebag, she had her own place. From what Reese has told me, she has pretty much been raising herself since she was a kid.”
“So, you don’t think this is a big deal?”
“I think that after having to be her own parent, she’s just decided to live her life the way she wants to. That doesn’t mean that she’s irresponsible. I mean, aside from the fact that she beat the shit out of her boyfriend. Which, by the way? Totally fucking hot.”
“I know, right?” I grinned.
“See? You’ve got nothing to worry about.” He cringed when there was more yelling. “Well, maybe not nothing. You have to figure that out, but aside from that, you’re good.”
“Right, so any advice on how to patch shit up?”
“Oh, do I have advice for you.” He leaned forward, motioning me toward him with a crook of his finger. “Women don’t make any fucking sense, and the more you try to figure them out, the less you’ll understand.”
I shook my head slightly. “That’s…that’s not advice.”
“Read between the lines, man.”
“What lines? That was just stating the obvious.”
“I know. That’s shit you need to take to your grave with you. Pass it on to your future children.”
“Pass what on exactly?”
“Dude, you know.”
I clenched my jaw in frustration and tried my best not to leap across the table and pummel him. “I don’t fucking know. What the-”
The door opened down the hall and he stood, slapping me on the shoulder. “Remember what I said.”
And then he was hustling Reese out the door, leaving me wondering what the fuck was the take away point of that little nugget of information. I already knew what he was saying, but that didn’t actually help me work out how to fix the mess I had created.
Brooke stood at the end of the hallway, hands shoved in the back pockets of her jeans as she leaned against the wall. “So…”
I waited, trying to gauge how she was going to respond. Would she start yelling? Would she immediately go for the throat punch and break things off?
“I think we have some communication issues.”
Well, I hadn’t expected that. “I suppose we do.”
“Look, I get that you need a more structured life. It’s what you’re used to. But I need you to give me some time to adjust to all this. I’m not used to answering to anyone but myself. And I don’t mind trying to do all the shit you’re asking for-”
“What shit?” I asked curiously.
“You know, get a more stable job with insurance and whatever else you think I need.”
I sighed and ran a hand over my face. “It’s not about that. I was worried that if you didn’t care about that stuff that it would bleed into other areas of your life.”
“So, you were worried that I’m irresponsible?”
I nodded, hoping she didn’t come beat the crap out of me.
“Well, I can see that. I mean, I did end up in jail. Perhaps I went a little off the rails.”
“And I may have pushed a little too hard, too fast.”
She smiled a little and pushed off the wall, walking toward me. “So, we’re good?”
“I think so?”
“You don’t sound so sure.”
“Well, I was expecting biting, spitting, and definitely a kick to the balls.”
“I could still do one of those things for you,” she said, strutting right up to me and running her hand up my chest.
“I don’t really need a kick to the balls.”
“I wasn’t referring to that one.”
“I get spit on by Evie all the time,” I said, trying not to stare at her lips. But then her tongue flicked out slightly and my eyes were glued.
“I’m not into spitting.”
I groaned when I felt her hand slip down to my pants and brush over my cock. There was nothing we could do. Evie didn’t go down for her nap for hours. I grabbed onto her wrist and brought her hand back up to my chest so that we didn’t start something we couldn’t finish right now. She sighed and nodded.
“I know,” she said sadly. “Maybe we should take some time this morning to talk some more.”
“So, no more fucking right now.”
She no
dded and we sat on the couch, trying to keep our hands off each other as we watched Evie play. You could cut the sexual tension with a knife, but we were both good and kept our hands to ourselves. At least until nap time.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
Rocco
Derek, Hunter, and I sat in the conference room waiting for Ice’s team to join us. Cap had called us all in for a job, and considering that he was using two teams, it must be something big.
“Are you sure you’re up for this?” I asked Derek.
“My foot is fine. I’ve been training all this week. I haven’t felt even a twinge.”
“Because I can tell Cap that you need some more time to rest.”
“What the fuck?” Derek spat. “You’ve been wanting job after job, and now you’re trying to-” He grinned at me and leaned in closer. “So, you’ve finally got Brooke where you want her.”
I shrugged with a smile. “We’ve talked.”
“And?”
“And none of your fucking business. She’s good. I’m good. It’s all good.”
He leaned back in his chair and grinned at me. “Man, I just never really thought this day would come. Rocco has switched teams.”
My face dropped. “Don’t say that shit. I didn’t switch teams.”
“You sort of did,” Hunter cut in. “You went from the alone team to the married team.”
“Well, let’s not push it that far. We’re in a good place, that’s all.”
“So, you want to stay home more and spend all your time fucking her,” Derek smiled.
“Something like that,” I said with a roll of my eyes.
“Well, enjoy it, because it doesn’t last forever.”
I nodded just as Ice’s team walked in, taking a seat around the table with us. Cap followed and shut the door behind him.
“I have a job for all of you.”
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